Monday, April 23, 2007
Maybe I should have eaten a snack during the race
I was just reading a web site on nutrition, and it (the author was a RN and a nutritionist) said that for runs longer than an hour, one should eat a snack during the run. I brought an e-Gel pack to take during the run, but I forgot to remove it from my jacket before I put the jacket in a gear-bag for transport to the finish. I thus ran the full distance on energy from my supper. Devine Sports did have snacks available at the start, but I didn't take any. I also just read an article by Nancy Clark that said that runners do better if they eat a 400 calorie breakfast 3-4 hours before a race rather than relying on supper 10-14 hours before the race as the last meal. After I get my comfortable pace up to 10:30, I'll experiment with eating snacks while I run. I've done a little experimenting with this at my slower pace, and my stomach handled the food ok.
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I didn't eat anything during the race either, but did eat a Powerbar two hours before the race and drank Gatorade twice during the race. I did have to stop for a potty break, and subsequently blamed it on the Gatorade.
ReplyDeleteI drank mostly water. I did have a glass of Gatorade, but I had a twinge of a stomach cramp, and I drank water after that. I drank something at every water stop; not a lot but something because I was sweating a lot.
ReplyDeleteI had forgotten about this when I did the original post, but just before I left home, I did have the power bar that came in the packet. That was about two hours before the race began -- no problems with that.
I have been trying some nutritional supplements before running and sometimes after to help boost my recovery times and endurance while running. Do you use any supplements to help you before or after running?
ReplyDeleteHi Older man,
ReplyDeleteI use Juice Plus supplements, fish oil supplements, garlic supplements, and flax seed oil supplements. I understand the reason for having a well balanced diet that consists of low glycemic foods (approximately 50% carbs, 25% protein, and 25% fat, but I don't do very well in eating veggies. I do eat whole wheat bread and oatmeal for breakfast, drink organic milk, only a little cheese and a little red meat, and I eat Omega 3 eggs. I take the supplements to make up for not eating a lot of veggies.
Concerning your recovery times and endurance, my suggestion is eat nutritional food, keep your weight from increasing by not over eating, and put in lots of miles. You and I aren't overly concerned about maximizing our performance, and we can let our body get stronger as we do miles and miles. Running Long Slow Distance is the best way for us older runners to develop endurance and to improve our recovery times. LSD doesn't help one to run faster, but it does wonders for endurance. Getting proper sleep is important, too.
Hey so what is the big deal with fish oil, should i start taking it? It seems like every thing i read about diets for running has something to do with fish oil...
ReplyDeleteHi Olderman,
ReplyDeleteThere are "good" fats and "bad" fats, and everyone, not just runners, should eat fish so they get some good fats. I have a blog that reports on scientific research. Go to that blog and search on the two words fish oil, and also search on the two words omega 3, and you'll get a lot of links to study. If you use Google to do the searches, you'll get a lot of links to sites that sell suppliments, and you need to read those sites with caution since they have a monetary bias in their viewpoints. The links in my blog report recent research by scientists.
When you get to my blog, the search field that you use to enter the words is partway down the page in the left side-bar, under the heading Search This Blog
ReplyDelete