Supplements for long distance training

I did do a search but the most recent thread I could find was almost a year old so I hope this is ok. Mods I'm happy for it to be locked if I've missed something

I've only recently started thinking about supplements and so far I'm taking a multi vitamin, iron, a post run recovery shake 2:1 carbs:protein), electrolytes and magnesium.

I'm trying to get as much as I can from my diet.

Am I overthinking it? Or am I missing anything?

What supplements do you guys take?

adrian522

I think supplements aren't really necessary. I take a multivitiman at certain times of the year. As far as Carbs/Protein etc are concerned I try to get what I need from actual food rather than a sports drink or whatever.

I do take a bit of a recovery mix (Kinnetica) after hard sessions if it's going to be a while before I get to eat a proper meal, but I think a banana and/or some chocolate milk would be just as good.

menoscemo

When you say post run recovery shake, do you mean after every run?

I wouldn't take anything to be honest outside of normal food. Maybe if I wasn't going to be able to get something to eat for a while after a very long or hard run, I might buy a chocolate milk (or just drink a pint of normal milk) but that's about it.

After standard/easy runs there is definitely no need to be taking anything.

rom

It all depends what your goal is from taking recovery drinks. 500 calories of 2:1:1 recovery is probably the same as a big Mac. If you haven't burned a multiple of that on your run then straight on the hips.

RacoonQueen

Deleted User wrote: »

I did do a search but the most recent thread I could find was almost a year old so I hope this is ok. Mods I'm happy for it to be locked if I've missed something

I've only recently started thinking about supplements and so far I'm taking a multi vitamin, iron, a post run recovery shake 2:1 carbs:protein), electrolytes and magnesium.

I'm trying to get as much as I can from my diet.

Am I overthinking it? Or am I missing anything?

What supplements do you guys take?

I take a multi-vit and acidophilus(this is more to reintroduce good bacteria killed off by medication)

Do you have low iron? I would only take extra iron if I'm feeling particularly fatigued or around the time of my cycle but I get a lot of iron from my diet.

I think we've a tendency to over think what we need, like you say, it's more beneficial to get something from your diet. My coach is an advocate of a banana and an electrolyte drink straight after a run (presuming you're then jumping into the shower and it'll be around an hour before you eat properly to refuel)

I'm a chocolate milk girl as well...despite the thread over in triathlon today I'll continue to go with the post session choc milk (don't even like it)

Thanks guy.

Recovery drink would be a kinetica shake, full serving after long run (around 300 cals), and half serving after semi long runs or really hard gym sessions.

I've been advised by a few athletic type friends to take iron as it helps the body recover, I was particularly knackered the past two weeks so I figured it was no harm. You're probably right though, I'm likely getting enough from food.

My diet is pretty good. I eat decent amounts of protein, though I definitely think I was overdoing the carbs so I've decided cut back on them. I eat loads of veg too. I probably am getting all I need, but once I started thinking about it I started worrying I was missing things! I just really want to keep my body in shape. I'm new enough to running, and would only have done weight lifting before so my diet is changing to reflect that and there's just so much info out there it's mind boggling.

Chocolate milk is good, I love chocolate milk

average_runner

Deleted User wrote: »

Thanks guy.

Recovery drink would be a kinetica shake, full serving after long run (around 300 cals), and half serving after semi long runs or really hard gym sessions.

I've been advised by a few athletic type friends to take iron as it helps the body recover, I was particularly knackered the past two weeks so I figured it was no harm. You're probably right though, I'm likely getting enough from food.

My diet is pretty good. I eat decent amounts of protein, though I definitely think I was overdoing the carbs so I've decided cut back on them. I eat loads of veg too. I probably am getting all I need, but once I started thinking about it I started worrying I was missing things! I just really want to keep my body in shape. I'm new enough to running, and would only have done weight lifting before so my diet is changing to reflect that and there's just so much info out there it's mind boggling.

Chocolate milk is good, I love chocolate milk

Only take Iron, if you have low iron levels, otherwise you could run into other health issues.

To be honest a mutli vitamin, cod liver oil, and sambucol to keep the colds away is all you need.

Eat plenty of veg, its the way to go

RacoonQueen

There should be iron in your multi-vitamin, but yeah I don't think it's any harm to take an iron tablet (for women) when feeling fatigued or during your cycle when you can get very low in iron.
How long is your long run? A tub of nesquik is probably a lot cheaper than the kinetica shakes and would do pretty much the same thing (protein, carbs, fat, rehydration) after a long or hard run. I think choc milk is disgusting but can't take milk without it. It probably a placebo really to take it after a hard session but I try to do it anyway.

Oh wow, I'd never ever have thought of buying nesquik! would have been thinking more along the lines of the avonmore milk, that's a brilliant idea thanks

No iron in my multi vit, though perhaps I could get a better quality one? I'm taking Kelkin Revive at the moment. I bought three months worth of pharmaton and puked (sorry) after the first one

Long runs are/will be anything from 12-22 miles.

TFBubendorfer

RacoonQueen wrote: »

There should be iron in your multi-vitamin, but yeah I don't think it's any harm to take an iron tablet (for women) when feeling fatigued or during your cycle when you can get very low in iron.

I was at a talk by a nutritionist who was advising a group of international runners last week, and he strongly recommended that if you take a multivitamin it should be one WITHOUT iron.

Only take iron supplements if you get your blood tested and the iron levels come back as low. Supplementing iron if you do not need it can have serious health implications.

His strong warning came as a bit of a surprise to me because I do take a multivitamin supplement myself, and I specifically had picked one with iron.

That particular risk is lower for women, that is true, but I'd still recommend getting tested first.

RayCun

I have heard that Irish people as a population are more likely than others to have problems with high iron levels, and in general there is no need for iron supplementation. But distance runners are more likely to have low iron levels because of foot strike hemolysis

I get my levels checked when I give blood, and have had to miss a few months donating because of low iron levels, so I take a supplement.

RacoonQueen

Yeah no harm to get checked by your doctor but you'd want to let them know that you run as our levels would expect to be higher due to even activity levels.
I can't imagine the amount of iron in a multi vit would be anything to worry about unless you've unusually high iron levels, but I'm not a doctor so what do I know.

thehamo

Beta Alanine has been shown to increase endurance in Athletes in long distance events.

Something to look into.

Dubgal72

You know your body better than anyone so if you have an inkling something's lacking you're probably not wrong. But I agree with the natural food ethos, can't beat it. The only supplement I use is a powdered one called ISO energy (Holland & Barrett) for after long runs or a hard session along with a handful of nuts and raisins...or chocolate milk

ECOLII

Regarding supplementation I think many people lose sight of what these products are by design, these are aids to "supplement" certain substances when your normal diet can't provide the nutrients. This means that they are not designed to replace and as such you should always look to get these sources naturally if you can (calorie intake and particular pathologies aside)

Also in relation to supplements also be wary to some extent, people can advise on X, Y or Z and have good science to back it up but these studies are done with an isolated variable within a controlled environment as such even if X correlates to increased performances levels as a result of its effect on the body, unless you can control other variables which may have an impact.

To take an example a calcium supplement in someone who is vitamin D deficient is not going to be as effective as someone with normal vitamin D levels.

I don't have the paper off hand (will link it when I am home) but research has also been done to show that dietary supplementation in the absence of deficiency can also have an inhibitory effect (simply put due to homeostasis nature of the body if there is no demand for the body to produce a certain substance the body will reduces levels of production of said product)

tunguska

I always take antioxidants after training and it has made a big difference to my recovery and overall health. Honestly I cant remember the last time I was sick and Im not trying to talk myself up or anything, I just really think the antioxidants have made a difference. Theres a scale called the ORAC scale which is a measure of how powerful an antioxidant a substance is and every day I'll have a smoothie that is packed with things high on that scale.
Plus I take astaxanthin, superphyte and alpha lipoic acid. The astaxanthin in particular is one that I always take after training.

Larry Brent

From http://www.outsideonline.com/fitness/nutrition/Pounding-Pills-Truth-About-Multivitamins.html

The debate, she explained, isn’t whether supplements are good or bad for athletes. Rather, it’s “are they useless, or are they worse than useless?”
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That rule also applies if you’re an athlete who takes supplements because, say, you assume your training requires an anti-oxidant boost to speed recovery. Gomez-Cabrera and her colleagues at the University of Valencia have shown that antioxidant supplements suppress the oxidative stress that signals your body to adapt and get stronger. The result: regular use of something seemingly innocuous like vitamin C can actually block gains in endurance-boosting mitochondria.

Thanks for all the info lads, plenty to think about.

I'll just stick with my berocca for now and my kinetica after long runs and my regular protein after heavy lifting sessions. They may or may not be helping at all it would seem but worth a shot.

I might go get my bloods done too - not harm at all. I am tired, but I'm extremely busy and I do a fair amount of exercise so I suppose just eating and resting properly is the way to combat it