Runners need carbohydrate for energy. Runners need protein for muscle repair. Heard this before? Me too. Grand. So I eat lots of carbs and lots of protein and walk around my little day thinking in my little runner head that I’m doing all the right things to get my running form on its merry way. Not so.
Most people probably already get enough protein in their diet without even knowing it. Most runners do too. In fact, most are likely consuming far more than they actually need.
The Protein Breakdown:
Protein is one of three macronutrients, the other two being carbohydrate and fat, which provide us humans with energy, or calories, essential to sustain life. Each gram of protein provides 4 calories of energy and makes up approximately 15-17% of a person’s body weight.
What is Protein? Protein is made up of organic compounds called amino acids. There are 20 amino acids, which can be strung together in different sequences and lengths to form different proteins and it’s this amino acid structure that differentiates one protein from another. For example, the amino acid sequence of an egg white is different from that in the protein in a glass of milk.
Amino acids are often referred to as “the building blocks of proteins”, with proteins being the building blocks of muscle mass. Of the 20 amino acids that your body uses to make body proteins, there are the ones you eat and the ones that your body makes. Those that your body cannot make are called “essential” because they have to come from your diet. There are 9 of those rebellious aminos.
The Rebels (ie. essential amino acids): histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan and valine.
Most proteins don’t contain all 20 aminos. Proteins that contain all 9 essential aminos are referred to as “complete” proteins and these include animal sources – meats, fish, poultry, eggs, milk and milk products. Plant proteins found in foods like beans, lentils, nuts and whole grains and – with the exception of soybeans (and food derived from soy) lack one or more essential amino acids, so they’re considered “incomplete”.
Why Do We Need Protein?
Protein is crucial to the regulation and maintenance of the body and plays a role in blood clotting, fluid balance, hormone and enzyme production, and cell repair. DNA structure, cell formation, enzymes (proteins which make everything happen, e.g. break down food for absorption; regulate the entry of nutrients through cell walls, and the removal of waste-products; to grow, develop, move, reproduce…), haemoglobin (the protein which, with iron, carries oxygen around your body), myoglobin (protein in muscle fibres), bones, the production of antibodies, which circulate in your blood to protect you against viruses and keratin which forms your hair and nails… It’s important, got it?
Oh, he got it.
How Much Protein Do We Need as Humans?
The Institute of Medicine (US) recommends that 10-35% of daily calories come from protein;
The World Health Organization recommends that only 10 % of daily calories needs to come from protein to maintain health;
The International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN), recommends that exercising individuals should aim for protein intakes of 1.4-2.0g / kg per day, while endurance athletes should err on lower end, intermittent sport athletes (e.g. soccer) in the middle and strength athletes on the higher end;
Runners Connect note that the amount of protein a person needs when they are not training is .8 grams per kilogram of body weight.
So what does that mean? If I weigh 59 kg, I have a basic need of 47g of protein every day. To give you a real idea of what that looks like, a 200g portion of fish is about 39g of protein; a 200g fillet steak is 42g of protein; and a 200ml glass of skimmed milk is 7g of protein. So, if you had your steak and a glass of milk in day, you’d already have enough.
High protein diets have been a topical issue of debate in the media in recent years, with concerns being voiced about possible resulting health risks. Kidney problems, constipation and an increased risk of heart disease among them. But even if you take all of that away, more recent studies would suggest that your body can only actually use a certain amount of protein at any one time and if you go above and beyond this, your body simply cannot put it to use effectively and will either (a) get rid of the excess out of your body as waste or (b) convert it and store it as fat or eventually (c) use it as an energy source- my understanding it that it’s the last source of energy that your body will revert to as a source of energy because of the difficulty in breaking it down and will always look to carbohydrates as its first source of energy, before then moving on to fat.
If you’re in the UK (or are creative on the internet 😉 ) you may have seen the BBC programme Trust Me, I’m A Doctor. I don’t believe everything I see on Telly but this was really interesting and really worth a watch. In Season 4, episode 4, Dr Chris Van Tulleken conducted an experiment in which he investigated whether consuming extra protein after exercising actually increased his muscle mass.
Focusing on whey protein, they recruited 24 volunteers (aged 20 to 67), put them on an 8 week weight-lifting programme. After each session each volunteer consumed a drink containing either 20g of whey protein or 20 g of maltodextrin (a carbohydrate which acted as a placebo). Neither they, nor the scientists involved, knew which drink they were getting. Lifting capacity, lean body mass (using a body composition chamber), knee strength and thigh muscle thickness were measured at the beginning and end of the experiment.
After the 8 weeks, all the participants became stronger. On average:
Lifting capacity increased 33%
Knee strength increased on average 31%
Lean mass increased 1%
Thigh muscle thickness increased 4%
BUT, they found that there were no significant differences between the protein and the placebo groups. What they found was that taking the protein supplements had NO EFFECT on strength or muscle growth.
Dr Chris found, in conducting this experiment that in a window of approximately four hours, our bodies can only use around 20-30 grams of protein (depending on the lean mass of each individual). Of this, a mere 2 grams can be used to repair muscle. Any additional protein will be burnt as energy, stored as fat or excreted in urine. They concluded that if you’re healthy and eating a balanced diet, then spending money on protein shakes or supplements in the hope of building more muscle is a waste of money and that ultimately, you’re basically just peeing away expensive urine (sorry to be crass).
How Much Protein Do We Need as Runners?
But if I’m running miles every day, every week, breaking down muscle proteins and damaging muscle fibers, don’t I need more protein to help my muscles repair and recover?
According to Runners Connect, protein requirements do increase when you embark on endurance or resistance training and if you fail to consume enough protein when training hard, your body will break down muscle to fuel your body on training runs. The goal with running is to build and maintain lean muscle mass, not break it down for fuel.
RC note that endurance training combined with the correct amount of protein will facilitate faster recovery and allow you to train harder on workout days by repairing and growing lean muscle mass. They say that getting enough protein to match the amount of running you do is important and that a typical diet doesn’t always supply enough protein for the serious runner.
The Runners Connect recommendation for optimal recovery during endurance training is 1.2 – 1.7 g of protein per kg of body weight, depending on both the intensity of a particular training day and the mileage you’re doing. They suggest monitoring your body response and experimenting with slight increases/ decreases in protein intake until you notice a positive difference in your recovery rate.
Putting It All Together:
As I have said so often before, I am not a nutritionist, a doctor or a qualified expert in sports science/ nutrition/ medicine. I am a lawyer and an amateur running hobbyist with an enthusiastic nerdy interest in running science and biology, trying to sift through the vast amount of information out there and make sense of it all. What I understand from the research I did reading lots of articles, blogs, magazines, books, studies and watching documentaries, is the following:
Humans need to eat protein. (paying attention, wasn’t I? 😉 ) .
Runners need to eat more protein than lazy humans (just kidding) non-runners.
The human body can only use around 20-30g of protein in a 4 hour window of time, of which, only 2 g can be used to repair muscle so knocking back a big protein shake or just generally eating lots of protein thinking that you’re helping your body build lots more muscle is rubbish. Consume more than 20-30g in this 4 hour (ish) window and you’re body will simply stored it as fat, excrete it as urine or burn it as energy.
Eat/drink smaller amounts or protein at more regular intervals throughout the day, rather than in big chunks, so as to ensure that you’re getting enough protein but without resulting in what I just said in no.3.
What do you think about the conflicting research, studies and opinion on high protein diets?
Do you follow a high protein routine when it comes to exercise and training?
This is the third episode in my Eating The Burn Serie in which I’m attempting to investigate what, how much and when I should be eating as I train for the upcoming Paris marathon.
In Part One, I ran a detailed look at what I currently consume on a typical marathon training day compared with what I “should” be eating/drinking according to some of the many running books, magazines, articles, internet and other sources of information out there. In Part Two, I ran through what I ate and drank on my long run (20 mile) day, and again compared this to what I estimated I should be consuming on such a heavy training day. In this episode, I want to look at the types of food and drink that I typically eat and drink while training for a marathon Vs. what I’m allegedly “supposed to” be consuming.
We’ve already established that how much you need to consume each day is variable for every individual and depends on factors such as your height, weight, sex and daily training. Now we want to look at how those calories should be divided up on an average day – As a runner, what is the best way to get your energy requirements?
Carbohydrates: NO WAIT! Don’t leave 🙂 !! I’m right there with you -I don’t know how many articles I’ve clicked on in the past claiming to be able to tell me more about what I should be eating as a runner and/or during training for a marathon, for said article only to turn around and tell me that… wait, what?! Eat more carbs. NO! Really? Groundbreaking.
No.
Do runners need to be consuming carbohydrates when training? Quick answer: yes.
Quick science? Carbohydrate provides the most readily available source of fuel for muscles to use in moderate to high intensity exercise. Carbs are broken down by the digestive system, carried around the body as blood glucose and this glucose is stored in muscle and the liver as glycogen to be used by the body during activity. Your muscles use the stored glycogen as their primary energy source with blood glucose as an additional source. When muscle glycogen becomes low, fatigue occurs in the muscles being used. Muscle glycogen depletion occurs after 2-3 hours of continuous training at low intensity. (Okay, so that wasn’t so quick but stay with me 🙂 )
Now, I don’t think I was that bad at math in school but seems to me that there are a lot of different calculators, equations and percentages being quoted as regards how much carbohydrate a runner should be eating day in, day out. I am somewhat confusseded.
How much?
Nancy Clark’s Food Guide for Marathoners (2011) – Says that between 55-65 % of your daily calories should come from carbohydrates. She also says that carbs should make up the foundation of every meal, every day (p106). When carbo-loading, she recommends consuming between 3-5g of carbs per pound of bodyweight.
Douglas and Pfitzinger – Advanced Marathoning (2009). These guys say that you calculate your carbohydrate requirements based on your weight and how much you’re training. They say that if you are averaging between 1-1 1/2 hours of training per day, you need approximately 3-3.5g of carbs per pound of bodyweight per day. If training for over 2 hours, you need 4-4.5g per pound of bodyweight per day.
International Olympics Committee Report on Nutrition For Athletes (2012) – The IOC note that an athlete’s carbohydrate needs are closely tied to the muscle fuel costs of their training and that because training load changes from day to day, and from training period to training period, an athlete’s intake of carbs should rise and fall in accordance with their muscle fuel needs, rather than remain static or fixed.
In relation to daily targets, the IOC suggest that while general targets are fine, these should be fine-tuned according to an individual’s energy budget and feedback from how well they are training. They suggest that carb intake might be increased on days involving hard training, high intensity or with high quality to ensure that they have adequate muscle carbohydrate stores to fuel these goals. In other words, when training needs increase, so does carbohydrate intake. It’s not going to be the same everyday.
Like D & F and Nancy, IOC recommend that carbohydrate targets should be provided in terms of grams relative to the athlete’s size (Body mass) rather than as a percentage of total energy intake. They even did a helpful little chart:
Training Level
Carbohydrate Intake Targets
(g per kg of athlete’s body mass)
Light/ Low Intensity
3 – 5g /kg
Moderate Intensity (1 hour per day)
5 – 7g/ kg
High Endurance Program (1-3 hours of mod-high intensity exercise)
6 – 10 g/kg
Very High / Extreme Commitment (4-5 hours per day of mod – high intensity exercise)
8 -12 g/ kg
The IOC report is well worth reading and just to highlight some of what they say in relation to carbohydrates, in particular (because let’s face it, they know lots more about this than I do!):
“Rather than talk about “high carbohydrate diets” and “low carbohydrate diets”, we should now consider carbohydrate availability relative to the muscle’s fuel needs – is the total intake and timing of the day’s intake able to meet the fuel demands of a workout (= high carbohydrate availability), or are carbohydrate stores depleted or sub-optimal in comparison to the muscle fuel demand (= low carbohydrate availability).
The table above shows that very different amounts of carbohydrate may be adequate for different training loads. Therefore two athletes could eat the same about of carbohydrate, but according to their training needs, one could achieve high carbohydrate availability whereas the carbohydrate availability of the other athlete is low.
Many athletes do some of their training sessions with low carbohydrate availability – for example, when they train first thing in the morning without breakfast, when they go for a long workout without access to food or a sports drink, or when they reduce their energy intake to reduce body fat levels. This may not be a problem during the base phase of training or on days of light training, when training intensity and quality is low. In fact, some studies suggest that doing some training sessions in this way provides a good stimulus to the muscle to help it adapt to training. Of course, such strategies need to be periodised into the training program so that they don’t interfere with training intensity
When athletes train more than once per day and sessions are close together, speedy recovery of the muscle carbohydrate stores is essential. Consuming carbohydrate-rich foods and drinks soon after the session helps with rapid refuelling, since the muscle can’t store glycogen effectively in the absence of carbohydrate intake.”
The IOC go on to discuss the timing of carbohydrate intake in more detail which you can read about by following the above link or I’m also planning to discuss timing as a topic of running nutrition in a follow-up post, if you can wait that long 😉
Conclusion on Carbohydrates: The amount of carbohydrate a runner needs to consume on a daily basis depends firstly on your own characteristics: sex, age, height and weight; and secondly, it depends on the training you do on any one day. Maths, people. It keeps coming back to the maths.
The only quibble I have with any of this is that there is something of a variation between the recommended calculations (ie. Nancy Clark, D & F, the IOC, etc). Yes, there are similarities but what I’m getting from all of it is that there are no exact figures because it is not an exact science. At least not yet anyways. For example, they all give approximate, or rough, figures like 3-5 g per kg of body mass for “low intensity”, which (a) there is quite a difference between 3 and 5 g per kg of body mass and (b) terms like “low intensity” are subjective and open to broad interpretation. Another major point of confusion is that some of these carb calculators ask you to calculate per KG of bodyweight and others use POUNDS and again there is a whopping difference beween 3g per kg of bodyweight and 3g per pound of bodyweight… I am pedantic. I like exactness and I loathe grey areas. I’m a lawyer, after all, not a politician.
The Bottom Line: Even when you do the maths – tap in your sex, age, gender, weight, height – to work out your approximate daily carbohydrate needs, there are variable factors that also need to be taken into account that will effect your daily carbohydrate target, such as the intensity and duration of your run/ workout for that day.
BUT WHAT YOU REALLY NEED TO TAKE FROM THIS (other than the fact that I have OCD tendencies and a weird dislike of grey areas!) is that runners do need carbohydrates. Vegetarians, omnivores, vegans, pescatarians, paleo peeps, whatever foodie lifestyle you follow, if you run, and in particular, if you’re training for a marathon or doing other endurance training, your muscles need carbohydrate. So eat em.
In the next episode of this series, I will be looking at different sources of carbohydrates and the types of carbohydrates I eat during training Vs. what should be eaten…
Do you find that you eat a lot of carbohydrates when marathon training or doing a lot of running mileage?
Do you ever bother to do the maths to work out how much carbohydrate you should be eating or do you just eat depending on how you feel?
I ran 20 miles yesterday so I thought it would be a good opportunity to look at what I ate and drank in the name of science and my humble quest to investigate whether I’m consuming enough energy while marathon training.
Windy, wet and wintery. Hat & gloves kept me company 🙂
I’m not gonna sugar coat it. The 20 miles was a struggle challenging. It was a dark, completely overcast day and I wasn’t feeling full of beans when I left the house at 10:30am so my start point was admittedly somewhat lacking. No matter. I’m the type of runner who, foolishly or otherwise, if the schedule says the long run this week is to be 20 miles, then that’s what I do. Too bad if you’re cranky and not in the mood. Don’t misunderstand me here- I’m not bragging about how hardcore I am, I’m just really stubborn about it and no matter how much I might not be in the mood to run, it’s a million times better than having to think about the fact that I didn’t run for the rest of the day. It’s a weird head thing.
Of course, I got into the run once I was out there (after around the 8 mile point…) and did alright for the second 8-9 miles, but then I more or less bonked. Miles 18,19 and 20 were fairly pathetic and I was solely focused on just getting it done and being finished. The relief when my Garmin beeped at me at mile 20 was euphoric. Just not my best day. I think most runners probably experience this phenomenon where despite an appropriate meal the evening before, a good night’s sleep and sensible prep, you just sometimes have days where you don’t feel it. Or at least, I hope I’m not the only one….! Having said that, Garmin tells me that I clocked the 20 miles in 3.05, which is actually not that bad, for me, so go figure!
I stretched, foam-rolled and downed a litre of water immediately after regaining the feeling in my feet. I should have had a recovery smoothie but I had neglected to the prep before I left and all I wanted to do after I’d had a drink was get into a hot shower and into some warm clothes. This was naughty and stupid. Next week, I’ll be better prepared.
So, after confessing to what I didn’t do, here’s a rundown of what I did put into my face yesterday post long-run:
9am: Hot cross bun and flora light. Glenisk fat free blueberry greek yogurt.
2pm: Wholegrain toasted sandwich, flame-grilled mini chicken fillets, low fat cheddar cheese, avocado, lettuce, tomato, fat-free mayo and pesto. 1 large cafetiere of coffee (don’t judge me) and 1 litre of water.
3pm: Maltesers (37g bag)
5pm: Wholegrain sandwich, tuna, sweetcorn, fat-free mayo, lettuce, tomato. More water (1L).
8pm: Fillet steak, chickpeas with chilli and garlic, spinach, green beans and butternut squash. Mars ice-cream bar for dessert. Mmm.
10pm: Giant bowl of berries, banana, apple, greek yogurt and trail mix.
11pm: Bowl of honeydew melon and a raisin and biscuit yorkie.
And the science bit:
Meal:
Kcals
Carb
Sugar
Protein
Fat
Sat Fat
Fibre
Brekkie
320
49.6g
28.6g
16.6g
5.7g
0.8g
Lunch
529
11
44.4g
7.9
50.2g
18.7g
7.5g
6.7g
Snack
187
22.8g
19.2g
3g
9.2g
5.6g
?
2nd Lunch
341
50g
10.6g
27.1g
4.5g
1.4g
8g
Dinner
792
74.5g
40.2g
60.6g
27.2g
13.1g
16.4g
Supper
586
92.2g
59.5g
26.45g
11.9g
5.6g
10.1g
Snack
108
274
25.2g
32.64g
25.2g
30.7g
2.4g
2.88g
0.6g
13.44
0.5g
7.56
2.4g
0.84g
Now, I deliberately ate like a horse on Sunday. I definitely do not eat like this every day. Having done the biology mathematics in my last post, which kicked off this little investigation, I estimated that my body in V out on Sunday would go something like this:
I weigh 59.19 kg @ 21.1% Body Fat (12.48 kg) = Lean Body Mass (Fat Free Mass) is 46.7 kg;
According to what I established in my last post, the body needs between 25-40 kcal per kg of Lean Body Mass (which is 1395-2092 kcals) daily in order to perform its basic functions (pumping blood, etc);
Estimated calories burned off during 20 mile run =1897 kcal;
1395 (Basic needs) + 1897 (extra energy used during run) = 3292 kcal I should be consuming on this day.
Add it all up and I ate/drank 3148 kcals on Sunday, which works out at about 27 kcal per kg LBM, which I think is fine.
Now, seems to me that that is a LOT of food and being the one who swallowed it all, I can actually attest to this. I’m not complaining. Just an observation. Do other people eat like this?
But that’s what the mathematics is telling me and because I decided to be an amateur marathon-training-eating-mathematician test dummy, this is what I do now. I eat. I run. I do this.
Next post in the Eating the Burn Series will be looking at the breakdown of what I’m eating V the types of foods and drinks I should be consuming during marathon training. Carbs, fats, lucozade, bacon… they’ll all be there!
Do you find that you eat a lot on long run training days?
Do you deliberately eat more or do you find that you have to consciously make an effort to get more food into you?
Do these calculations seem right to you or have you done your own maths?
Welcome to part 1 of my Eating the Burn series where I will be investigating what, how much and when I should be eating as I train for the Paris marathon. I recently outlined the reasons why I want to look into this massive area in more detail and if you want to read more about that, you can pop right over here !
In Part One of this series, I’m going to be comparing what I currently consume on a typical marathon training day with what I “should” be eating/drinking according to running books, magazines, articles, internet or whatever other sources of information available. I know a lot of you out there don’t like to talk calories or specifics and I fully respect the reasons why, but this post is shooting for the nitty gritty, the exact figures. I want to know that I’m getting enough – that I’m feeding my body with everything it needs to recover, repair and support my body during while training for a marathon. Long term, I’ve no intention of becoming a control freak with calories or working out the percentage of carbohydrates in my day, but for the purpose of this series, I want to ask the question: Am I getting enough?
I ran 10 easy miles today. This is what I ate and drank:
Brown soda bread, smoked salmon, ham, cucumber, baby spinach and a laughing cow cheese
Breakfast: I missed it because I was rushing and distracted…
Lunch: Brown soda bread (2 slices), smoked salmon, ham, cucumber, baby spinach and a laughing cow cheese.
Snack: Big bowl of honeydew melon.
Dinner: Roasted mackerel fillets (x2), bulgur wheat, beetroot and rocket with a horseradish yogurt dressing.
Supper: A bowl of mixed berries, half an apple, half a banana, greek yogurt and a tablespoon of trail mix.
Drinks: 3 cups of black coffee, 2.5 litres of water and 2 mugs of green tea.
Now for a chart! And after some painstaking calorie mathematics (not to mention hours of my life I will never get back… ) Voila!
Meal:
Calories
Carbohydrates
Sugar
Protein
Fat
Saturated
Fibre
Lunch
262
33g
1.9g
22.7g
4.7g
1.2g
6g
Snack
117
25.2g
25.2g
2.4g
0.6g
0.5g
2.4g
Dinner
540
38g
2g
35.1g
26.5g
5.2g
0.3g
Supper
293
46.1g
29.7g
13.2g
6g
3g
5.1g
My day above worked out at a total of 1203 kcal, which works out at about 26 kcal/ kg LBM. (If I had eaten breakfast, eg porridge, it would work out around 1500 kcal)
The Bloody Biology Mathematics: Not to put you off, but there are numerous different calculators and mathematical equations used to estimate your daily caloric needs. Some result in very similar figures, while others do not and as you will see from below, I found that there can be quite a variation between them. Below are a few different sources to calculate your daily caloric needs. I used a few different ones not to confuse you but to compare them and see if the results are the same or similar… or not!
(1) Bodybuilding.com. They say that to determine your basal metabolic rate (BMR), aka how many calories your body burns at rest, use the following formula:
W = weight in kg (weight (lbs)/2.2)
H = height in centimeters (inches x 2.54)
A = age in years
Men: BMR=66.47+ (13.75 x W) + (5.0 x H) – (6.75 x A)
Women: BMR=665.09 + (9.56 x W) + (1.84 x H) – (4.67 x A)
For me: 1402 cals
(2) Nancy Clark’s Food Guide for Marathoners says that “to estimate your Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR), that is, the amount of of calories you need to simply breath, pump blood and be alive… Multiply your weight (or a good weight for your body) by 10 cals per pound (22 cals per kg)” For me, this is 1260-1300 kcals. Then add more calories for daily activity, eg 30-40% more if you are sedentary during the day or 60-70% more if you are very active. This does not include your run. If you run, you add another 100 kcal (on average, depending on your weight) for each mile. So your equation would look like this:
RMR + Daily Activity + Running kcals = Total Calories
1260 + 378 + _____ = 1638 kcal (+ whatever extra running cals. See below)
Nancy also says that to if you wish to lose weight, to target 80-90% of your total calorie needs.
(3) Runningforfitness.com :
First, calculate your basic calorie need:
Age
Men
Women
10 – 18
17.5 x W + 651
12.2 x W (kg) + 746
19 – 30
15.3 x W + 679
14.7 x W (kg) + 496
31 – 60
11.6 x W + 879
8.7 x W (kg) + 829
Eg: I weigh 56kg, and I am a 29 year old female, so my resting metabolic requirement is: (14.7 x 56) + 496 = 1319 calories per day.
Then you multiply this according to how active you are during the day.
Acitivity
Multiplier
Description
Sedentary
1.4
Little physical exertion during the day
Moderately active
1.7
eg regularly walking during the day
Very active
2.0
eg physically demanding work such as farming
Eg: I’m mostly sedentary, because I have a sedentary job so I multiply by 1.4 x 1319 = 1846 calories per day. Then you add in your running cals (see below)
(4) I attended a seminar hosted by my triathlon club, where we were told that human beings need between 30-45 kcal per kg of lean body mass (LBM) or fat free mass (FFM) every day in order for the body to carry out its basic minimum functions. LBM = your overall weight – estimated body fat. For me, this works out as between 1395 kcal (30 kcal/ kg of LBM) and 2092 kcal (45 kcal/ kg of LBM). Now, if you’re like me in Weight Watchers or are otherwise trying to lose weight, then you’ll probably be just below that line – I say JUST below that line because it is so important that if you are trying to lose weight that you do so SLOWLY and SAFELY. Your body needs you to give it what it needs in order to carry out its basic functions – like transporting blood, helping your organs to do their thing, etc.
[Sidenote: RMR v BMR. What’s the difference? The only difference between these two measurements is that when properly conducted, the latter test is taken in a darkened room upon waking after 8 hours of sleep and 12 hours of fasting and with the subject resting in a reclined position. Whereas RMR measurements are typically taken under less restricted conditions and do not require that the subject spend the night sleeping in the test facility prior to testing. So the BMR calculation is likely to be more accurate.]
Stay with me, we’re nearly there!
Now, the running part. I ran 10 miles today. Runner’s World tells me that I burned 987 kcals, Mapmyrun.com tells me that I burned 1036 kcals and my Garmin tells me that I burned 984 kcals. Seen as we’re working out the minimum that your body needs, I’ll run with the lowest figure – 984 kcals. This means that my body used an extra 984 kcals of energy today than it would’ve done had I not ran today. That’s 984 kcals that my body is now short of to do its ordinary day-to-day work.
Put it all together:
Ideal: My body needs 1395 -2092 calories to perform its basic functions and maintain my weight. It needs a further 984 calories which were lost during my 10 mile run. Therefore, the maths say (whichever calculation you use) that I should consume 2379-3076 calories today. If you’re safely trying to lose weight at the moment (circa 1200 kcal), the maths still say you should be consuming 2184 calories on this day.
Actual: Consumed 1203 calories.
Results: I consumed far less calories on this day than I was supposed to according to the biology maths.
Conclusions: I’m assuming that the mathematical base which I used for all this is correct and accurate but I’m neither a scientist nor a nutritionist so there’s every possibility that my sums are wrong. What I am is an amateur runner with an interest is nutrition who is trying to work out from the mass of information out there what and how much I should be eating day to day.
As I found out when putting this post together, calculating calories and nutritional breakdown TAKES AN AGE and is a CHORE and it’s no wonder I often don’t know how many calories I’m taking in on a normal day if it takes so much effort to work it all out. And this is probably the case for most people, who, if they are anything like me – a runner who wants to keep their weight low/stay where they are, are likely to underestimate the caloric demands of their body day in, day out. If this is the case, then most runners are probably underfed and undernourished.
It doesn’t help either, the fact that there is such a variation between all of the different sources. What they have in common is that the basic minimum calorie intake for someone of my age, weight and height is approximately the same, or at least not radically different. Bodybuilding: 1402; Nancy Clark 1260; Runningforfitness.com 1319; and my seminar, 1395 kcals. Where they differ, is the inclusion of a “daily activity” addition, outside of your running/other activity addition. Some have em, others don’t. It’s confusing.
Am I Getting Enough? In answer to my question, no I am quite clearly not getting enough.
What can I learn from all this mumbo jumbo? I need to make a conscious effort to consume more energy on days when I run so that my body has enough energy to get me through my runs; get a good, solid repair and recovery underway afterwards; and go about its ordinary daily business. Starting tomorrow, I have a 12 mile medium-long run in the morning and am ready to up my game 🙂
My plan over the next few weeks is to up my level of calories and if any of the above calculations are correct, then my weight should remain the same. I’m not sure if I can hack counting calories because frankly, it’s beyond tedious, but I plan to run up a few sample days for the purpose of comparison and in the name of science!
In Part Two of this Eating the Burn series, I will be looking at energy breakdown and examining what I should be eating as a runner.
Do you calculate your daily energy requirements as a runner or when you’re in training? Have you a go-to system that makes it easier or faster? Do you find all this calculation tiresome?
Google the words “marathon” and “eating” and what bounces back is an astounding amount of websites, advice, plans, tips and “expertise”. You start clicking on a few of them and immediately start thinking how great this is and how you’ll be an expert yourself in no time. A few more clicks later and it all starts to become a little overwhelming.
What’s the problem? A lot of the information I’ve come across on the internet, in books, in magazines and via word of mouth is that it conflicts. The variation in what you should consume, how much you should consume and how accurate you should be about when you eat and drink is extensive. And frankly, a bit head-wrecking.
Another problem: a lot of the information I’ve come across is very general. Eat more. Lots of carbohydrates. Smoothies. Lots of vegetables for the anti-oxidants, vitamins and minerals. Protein for repair. Porridge. But how does it all work together? What does an actual day look like? What should I ACTUALLY be eating and drinking?
Ammm… what? Confused and strangely scared.
So many times I have jumped on my laptop, grabbed my various running magazines, books and articles, aiming to piece together a solid marathon training eating plan. So many hours, after which so many times I have closed the laptop, still without something solid that I can actually follow the next morning. Yes, I’ve learned lots about carbs, muscle repair, the alleged golden eating window and that melon is an anti-inflammatory, but I still don’t know how many calories I should be taking in to deliver what I need a during marathon training day, to help me get stronger, to help me maintain my weight and to ultimately optimise my physical health and condition.
Am I asking a lot? Can you get specific? Should you get that specific? That’s what I want to find out. It is asking a lot- most of us don’t have the time to work it all out down to the smallest detail. From a scientific perspective, I’d assume you can get that specific and if we’re aiming for optimum health, strength and return on our running, then yes, marathon runners probably should get that specific.
There’s far too much for one post (and I don’t want to bore you with an interminable blog post from hell that never seems to end…) so I’m hoping to run (no pun intended!) a series of posts building up to the Paris marathon, considering as much of the information out there as possible and hopefully culminating in providing answers to those 3 questions:
Am I asking a lot? Can you get specific? Should you get that specific?
Do you find the mass of marathon training information overwhelming?
Do runners need to be consuming carbohydrates when training? Quick answer: yes.
International Olympics Committee 
Eat And Run This 