Nutrition while Marathon Training

Sosa

I am into week 8 of 18 for Dublin and all is going well ( so far )
Just one thing though...Nutrition

Now,i dont have the best of diets,my main meals are fine but i have an awful sweet tooth.

I was wondering what do people eat while training.
I suppose i am looking to find out if there are any foods out there that i like and are good for building the glycogen stores back up again.

This is roughly what my meals are :

Breakfast:
Porridge or Granola or weetabix
2 slices of toast and Jam + Coffee

Lunch:
Maybe 4 slices of bread with some sort of meat,crisps,Tea

Dinner:
Varies
Potatoes,rice,pastas,meats etc

I wont bother telling you what cakes,chocolate,biscuits i eat...not good

I decided that for the last 6/8 weeks of training i would cut down drastically on the sh!t food...like lent ( i give up all sweets,chocs,desserts...with ease )

Bambaata

do you eat fruit at all? I try to get in 1 to 2 banana's, an apple, fist or two if grapes and whatever else a day and find it great to keep me from 1) overeating (i.e. eating for the sake of eating!) & 2) prevents me from snacking on bad food. if i get severe cravings for bad food i just grab a banana or some nice sweet red grapes. it works a treat

Sosa

Bambaata wrote: »

do you eat fruit at all? I try to get in 1 to 2 banana's, an apple, fist or two if grapes and whatever else a day and find it great to keep me from 1) overeating (i.e. eating for the sake of eating!) & 2) prevents me from snacking on bad food. if i get severe cravings for bad food i just grab a banana or some nice sweet red grapes. it works a treat

I do but not nearly enough.
The odd banana,kiwi..
What would be considered a good fruit to eat for re-fueling ?
I would have thought kiwi.

Or,are fruits just for well being ?

scottreynolds

Sosa wrote: »

I do but not nearly enough.
The odd banana,kiwi..
What would be considered a good fruit to eat for re-fueling ?
I would have thought kiwi.

Or,are fruits just for well being ?

I read somewhere (no idea where now sorry) that you should start by cutting out half the crap foods -- its easier mentally. So if you are having 2 sesisons of cackes and bikies then replace one with some fruit (apples and bananas). The second session can continue.... enjoy those cakes.

Just do a review every few months and reduce the badness.... thats if you want to change for life.

Conor20

Try reading Eating for Endurance by Ellen Coleman.

It's regarded as one of the best books on endurance nutrition and it's very simple.

It has sections on combating salt imbalances, heat illness and other endurance related problems but in general it just deals with diet. The main point I took from it is that the food pyramid is bang on the money with what you should be eating and the only maths involved dieting is working out portions according to how many calories you're expending and whether you want to put on, maintain or gain weight. She is against taking excessive protein or supplements (she points to extensive research saying supplements have very little positive effect in sports). If she's right, it means sports dieting is a lot simpler than a lot of people (with financial interests, perhaps) would have you believe.

Conor.

RJC

Some nuts are always good - not for glycogen but for general well being (good fats, protein and so on).

+1 on the book. I bought it and found it very useful.

scottreynolds

Conor20 wrote: »

Try reading Eating for Endurance by Ellen Coleman.

Cool -- good tip - purchased it ... Amazon sucked me in -- I bought three books in on of there people also bought these deals.

aero2k

Hi Sosa,

Your diet sounds a lot like mine used to be, especially the sweet tooth thing. Now I say "used to be", to be honest I haven't made sweeping changes but over the last two years or so I've reduced my meat intake, and greatly increased fruit and veg. I actually like eating fruit, I just can't seem to get in the habit of eating it. What I did eventually which might work for you was get in the habit of a post-session smoothie. This is good for replacing carbs. A friend of mine got me onto whey protein after runs (he's mad into supplements, I don't know if it's any good but it certainly doesn't seem to do any harm) so when I'm making it up I throw in a banana and maybe a Kiwi and blend it all up. I find it easier to get liquid in immediately after a run - despite being hungry I often find it hard to eat solids, except for the aforementioned biscuits and chocolates.
I think the main thing is to get a good balance between carbs, protein and fat, probably at least 50% carbs. I don't think a few bickies is much harm, but I believe overdoing it messes up your blood sugar levels and might leave you lethargic.
If you do want to reduce the sweets etc, I reckon the only surefire way to do this is to make sure there are none in the house. If they're there, they'll get eaten. I decided to give up the beer until the marathon - not a big drinker, used to have one of those little .22L bottles every day - and I just stopped buying it. I'll still have a beer the evening after a race, as a reward.
Slightly OT, for nutrition during training, I tried High5+ gels for the first time last Saturday. Either they're very good, or I was having a particularly good day...
Sorry for the lack of science, there are some nutritional experts on here who'll be able to point you in the right direction. I think the advice so far has been on the button, especially keeping it simple.
Good luck with the rest of your training, I lurk on the logs occasionally and from what I've seen you're very consistent, so you should have no problems.

Sub430

Eating for Endurance by Ellen Coleman

Too late for scottreynolds but if anyone else wants this, just PM me.

I have the Anita Bean book which I prefer.