Mindful that I haven’t posted much on nutrition lately. Mainly because I do not claim to be a nutritionist and can only really post interesting articles by professionals. This article seems quite relevant as I start to think about the 100k ultra I’m running in a few weeks.

I’m going to skip breakfast tomorrow before my long run with the weekend posse. I’ll let you know how it all goes.

Note: As promised I did skip breakfast and ran 21k with the BK posse on an empty stomach. Felt surprisingly spritely and finished strong. Albeit as we only ran 21k I’m not sure I was going to start burning fat for a few kilometres but small steps.

Of course, being Christmas Eve, we were never not going to have our long run (21k is quite long?) coffee and pancakes.

About the author
Amy Tribolini currently works as both a Registered Dietitian and Nutrition Professor. She lives, trains, and competes as an ultra runner out of Colorado Springs, Colorado. Amy specializes in fueling endurance athletes, athletic performance, and plant-based diets. Amy holds both a Bachelors Degree in Dietetics and a Masters Degree in Human Nutritional Science from the University of Wisconsin.

You might like to read these other articles on the topic of fat burning:
Plant based carbohydrate recipes for fat burning strategies
Nutrition for stripping fat and building lean muscle mass for race readiness
How to lose fat ultra running

Runners – All you need to know about ketosis and fat adaptation

Many runners have been convinced that they need carbohydrates to fuel for their endurance conquests, but a new question has been circulating in the ultra running community: “Can a high fat diet also be a high performance diet?”

More elite runners are emerging with claims that fat burning, ketosis, enables them to run more efficiently than their carb-dependent peers. With all the fad-diet advice flooding the mainstream, it is essential to understand how specific fuels are metabolized in the body and what current research is saying.

When training and competing in ultra marathons, proper fuel can be a huge part of your success.  Whether you are consuming carbohydrates or fat, your body will find a way to convert those fuels into energy so you can endure for long distances.

Carbohydrate is the body’s go-to fuel source. Carbs are quickly and easily converted to glycogen and stored in your cells. When you need energy, your body can rapidly convert glycogen to glucose and release it into your bloodstream to burn. Ketosis occurs when your body is not consuming enough carbohydrates to meet your energy needs, and as an adaptation process, it begins burning fat instead.

There are many proposed benefits of being in ketosis on long runs. Runners state that they don’t experience the dramatic energy spikes and crashes that accompany using high-sugar (high carb) sport supplements, such as gels, bars, and sports drinks. This is due to the fact that fat is a smooth burning fuel, that does not instigate a sugar-insulin cycle. Additionally, even a very lean athlete has around 30,000 calories of fat stored. Compare that to the approximately 2,000 calories of carbohydrate stored in the body. Just by acknowledging the greater storage capacity of fat, you can see why it is a desirable fuel source.

Now, let’s go back to discussing how carbohydrate is more rapidly converted to energy in the body.  This is true, but in part it is true because the body does not have significant practice in converting fat to fuel. For non-athletes, going into ketosis may never occur. Eating carbohydrate-heavy meals, accompanied by low physical activity, keeps the body from ever transitioning to burn fat as a primary fuel source. In this case, if it were ever necessary for the body to burn fat as a primary fuel, it would be an uncomfortable process and the body would likely feel fatigued.

The good news is it doesn’t have to stay this way. An athlete that commonly enters ketosis on long runs has more practice and has thus become more efficient at burning fat. Once athletes become well adapted, they may not feel a significant difference burning fat versus carbohydrate. The main distinction may be that they no longer feel the desperation to replenish their lost sugar stores frequently, during a run.

Attempting to live full-time in ketosis is an extreme lifestyle change and can require cutting out entire food groups, but the lessons learned from ketosis can be applied in a more moderate manner through a method called ‘fat adaptation’. You may not have heard of fat adaptation, but if you’re an ultra runner, your body is likely to be no stranger to it.

If you have ever ran out the door on an empty stomach and decided to do a longer run than planned, your body may have had no choice but to turn fat into fuel.  Since one pound of body fat contains 3,500 calories, the average 150-pound person could run for three hours and burn a mere half a pound of stored fat. Ultra runners can find peace of mind knowing that their bodies already contain the necessary fuel for long runs. I am not advocating for runners to starve themselves for better results, quite the opposite. I am encouraging endurance athletes to fuel with healthy fats and limit sugary, high-carbohydrate supplements as a means to ultimately perform more efficiently on long runs.

What is fat adaptation?

I’ll start by explaining what fat adaptation is not. It is not a low-calorie starvation diet; it is also not like the Atkins diet. Fat adaptation is a ‘state of being’ where the body is comfortable, efficient, and content burning fat as fuel. This method works by understanding food’s macronutrient content: carbohydrate, protein, and fat.

Fat adaptation requires two things: decreased intake of carbohydrate and increased fat consumption.  These dietary changes coupled with the right kind of physical activity can be the magic combination.  Since converting fat to fuel is a slower metabolic process than converting carbohydrate to fuel, especially in the untrained body, practicing this technique with lower-intensity physical activity is where athletes want to start.

How do I become “fat adapted”?

The easiest way to jumpstart fat adaptation is by skipping your morning breakfast and going for a run first thing in the AM. **Gasp** Isn’t this what every nutritionist says not to do? Yes, breakfast is an important meal to fuel your body, especially if you primarily burn carbohydrates as fuel. But, if you are an endurance athlete looking for that edge in long races, this is for you.

When first trying out this technique, your body may hurl hunger cues to your brain, desperately demanding a bagel, orange juice, cereal, or other high carbohydrate foods. If you feel you need to eat before heading out on a run, selecting high fat/low carbohydrate foods can provide satiety without sabotaging your fat adaptation goals.

I like to make coffee in the morning and put a large scoop of coconut oil in it. The bonus with coconut oil is that the fat structure (medium-chain-fatty-acids) increases energy expenditure and ultimately allows your body to burn fat more rapidly. If you are a big breakfast eater, this may seem hard at first because your body is so conditioned to burn carbohydrates as fuel.

Dietary tips to enhance fat adaptation

• You don’t have to remove all carbohydrates for fat-burning to initiate, what is more beneficial is removing grains.
• Continue to eat fruits, vegetables, proteins, and a lot of healthy fats such as: avocado oil, olive oil, coconut oil, nuts and seeds.
• Exercising on an empty stomach (or a high-fat snack) in the morning can be the most effective way of entering the fat adaptation zone.

How should I train to aid fat adaptation?

Start with moderate intensity running (approximately 70% effort). While your body is adapting to converting fat as fuel, remember, this is a slower process at first. Be prudent, lay off the high intensity running until your body has more time to adjust. For example: my comfortable running pace is a 9-minute/mile. I know this because I can carry on a conversation, run long distances at this pace, and not feel exhausted when I’m finished. If initially I tried to enhance my fat adaptation while doing 7-minute/miles, I would feel exhausted, struggling, and desperate for sugary, high-carbohydrate snacks when my workout was done. This is because the body requires carbohydrate for high intensity workouts. Whatever your comfort zone is for running, utilize that as your pace while adapting to fat burning.

Just weeks into your training phase for fat adaptation, your body has likely adjusted to burning fat more efficiently. You may notice that you feel less hungry during and after runs. This is due to the stability of your blood sugars. Burning fat does not give you the severe highs and lows in blood sugar, it allows your blood sugar to remain steady despite burning significant calories.

If you want to re-introduce high-intensity training, such as hill repeats and speed workouts, you can re-introduce more carbohydrates into your diet. Carbohydrates are not harmful; they simply turn off or decrease your fat burning for the time being. High-intensity exercise benefits from carbohydrate burning because of how rapidly your metabolic process can convert it to energy. Using the naturally rapid metabolism of carbohydrates coupled with your newly acquired fat burning efficiency, you should be more equipped to handle any pace, distance, or course.

What are the benefits of fat adaptation?

Research is showing that fat-adapted athletes are able to race endurance events with just a fraction of the calories typically consumed. They are achieving these goals with stable blood sugars and minimal crashes in energy. Additionally, they are not suffering the typical gastro-intestinal malaise often caused by sugary, high-carbohydrate sports supplements. Consuming fewer calories, while feeling steadier levels of energy, may allow ultra-runners to reach higher levels of performance.

Research also shows that lactic acid, a compound produced when glucose is broken down and burned as fuel, is decreased in athletes burning primarily fat as fuel. Once built up in the body, lactic acid can produce painful, burning sensations. Fat adaptation and a heavier reliance on fat as fuel during a race, can cut back on lactic acid formation and decrease overall discomfort in the body.

Conclusion

Fat-adaptation can come in extremely handy during long endurance efforts such as ultra marathons.  I like to think of it like a ‘get out of jail free’ card.  If my stomach turns sour or I simply don’t want to take as much time eating during a race, I know that my body is well trained to adapt.  This is because my body has become more self-sufficient using itself as a fuel source.  Just like ultra runners count on their physical training to get them through a hard race, I can count on my body to do what it has practiced: to efficiently burn fat as fuel.

It’s now less than 4 weeks to my first 100k race (http://australiadayultra.com ) and I feel I need to start to think about nutrition. I’m a big believer in the saying ‘an ultra is an eating and drinking competition with running between aid stations’. Basically it’s all about keeping the body hydrated and fuelled at all times. The fitness bit will take care of itself as I’m confident I have the foundation to complete the event. So I need to scour the internet  using google as my co-pilot and try and find the magic diet that will get me to the end of the race at a similar pace to what I started. Running an ultra it’s even more important to get the pacing right because unlike in a marathon where you hit the wall at 32k and then stumble home in an ultra you could be hitting the wall and looking at a 30k run to finish, minimum. That has got to hurt.

I posted an article last week about the human body being capable on running on just about anything and ice cream was mentioned as a possible fuel. (You should have seen Jon’s eyes light up when I mentioned this to him. It was like all his Christmas’s had come at once ! I see trouble ahead for Jon next month. He’ll probably end up spilling the ice cream all over his triathlon top, not a good look for the photos me thinks !) not totally convinced on the ice cream diet for my first 100k so have done some more digging.

I’ve attached two articles below on different approaches to the ultra diet by two greats on the ultra scene. Dean Karnazes and Scott Jurek are two of the best ultra runners on the circuit at the moment. Both have won the Badwater Ultra , considered to be the hardest ultra in the world, and both have different approaches to diet.

Myself I’m still an old fashioned carbohydrate junkie so will probably, in the short term, stick to what I know. Not to say in the near future I won’t be adapting my nutrition and when I do it’ll all be on the blog.

 

A look at the diet of Dean Karnazes, who once ran 50 marathons in 50 days and adheres to a mostly Paleo food intake.

Professional athletes don’t get to the top by accident. It takes superhuman levels of time, dedication, and focus—and that includes paying attention to what they put in their bellies. In this series, GQ takes a look at what pro athletes in different sports eat on a daily basis to perform at their best. Here’s a look at the daily diet of ultramarathon runner Dean Karnazes.

---

Running is the easiest sport to get into casually, because all you need are shoes and legs. As a result, there’s a lot of lore and common wisdom about the ideal runner’s diet: Everyone knows that the night before a big run—whether you’ve signed up for a 5k or a full-on marathon—you’re supposed to carbo-load on stuff like diavolo pasta, brown rice, or buckwheat pancakes.

Well… supposed to. “That’s so passé,” says Dean Karnazes.

Karnazes, 52, is an ultramarathoner who ran 350 miles—or a little less than the distance between Los Angeles and San Francisco—in 80 hours and 44 minutes; completed 50 regular, 26-mile marathons in 50 days; and wrote Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner. Come September, he’ll be hosting the third annual Navarino Challenge, a marathon in Greece meant to raise awareness of childhood obesity. And in the last 20 years of professionally being someone who runs very, very far, Karnazes has transitioned to a mostly raw diet that upends a lot of conventional wisdom about what runners need to eat to perform.

On a good day I run a marathon before breakfast.

“I used to live on junk food, thinking that since you burn 30- to 40,000 calories on some of these runs, you need to get as many calories as you can no matter how you get them in.” One time, on the solo leg of a 200-mile relay run, in the middle of the night with a cell phone and a credit card, Karnazes ordered a pizza delivered to him and kept running while he ate the whole thing in a big roll.

His running times never suffered from his diet, but his daily energy levels fluctuated wildly, so he started experimenting with different foods to see how they affected his recovery time and how they made him feel. “When you push your body that hard you get a feel for what builds you up and what slows you down.”

That intuitive elimination process led him to a diet that’s pretty close to the Paleo Diet, based on the idea that humans aren’t meant to eat anything they can’t pick from a tree, pull from the ground, or kill themselves. Karnazes’s diet isn’t as bacon-heavy as most Paleo-enthusiasts. Instead it’s heavy on fruits (VERY heavy on fruits), vegetables, cold-water fish, and yogurt. If he has any meat, it’s organic, free-range bison, usually so lightly cooked that it’s practically tartare.

The absence of oatmeal and pre-run waffles may cause skepticism, but the fact that Karnazes’s diet is enough fuel to just get him through his workouts, let alone his monster runs, is a pretty strong argument for its effectiveness. When gearing up for a big run he eats 8,000 to 10,000 calories a day. He starts with a base of 3,200 calories, and then adds 300-500 calories per hour of running.

His only real meals are yogurt at breakfast, sometimes flavored with oregano, often with fruit and nuts, and a very large dinner of salad, vegetables, and fish or bison. Most of his carbohydrates come from fruit, which Karnazes eats throughout the day whenever he’s hungry (“I think the notion of three meals a day is rubbish”). And—surprise!—he’s hungry often.

“On a good day I run a marathon before breakfast,” he says, starting off with nothing more than coffee and flax milk. After the three-and-a-half to four-hour run, he waits over half an hour to eat anything else, letting his body adjust to powering itself just on fat reserves.

The rest of the day is constant motion. Not only are there several modified high intensity Navy SEAL workouts (push-ups, pull-ups, sit-ups, dips, and burpees) and eight to 12 miles of sprinting up hills and jogging back down, but Karnazes rarely sits. His office space is designed to work at standing-level and he’s rocking on the balls of his feet all the time, never letting his legs rest. He is almost physically incapable of staying still.

Like a hummingbird? I wonder aloud.

“Kind of like a shark,” he says.

Pre-morning run
Coffee with flax milk

Post-morning run
Greek-style yogurt (full fat, no sugar added) with cashews, banana and blackberries

Eaten over the course of the day
Apples
Pears
Oranges

Food and hydration for long runs
Nut butter
Unflavored coconut water

Dinner
Large mixed green salad with avocado, olive oil, ground ginger and turmeric
Raw beets
Cooked sweet potato (the one vegetable eaten cooked)
Wild-caught sashimi grade salmon

Dessert
Greek-style yogurt (full fat, no sugar added), topped with olive oil and Himalayan blue sea salt

This Man Ran the Entire Appalachian Trail in 46 Days. Here’s What He Ate Along the Way

In a sport that already dances on the fringe of society, ultrarunner Scott Jurek is a true rarity. As one of the athletes who helped make ultramarathons—any race longer than 26.2 miles—mainstream (well, more mainstream), Jurek has smoked the competition in some of the world’s most punishing trail and mountain races. Not only did he take home the win at the prestigious Western States 100-miler seven years in a row, he also set a course record in 2005 for the Badwater 135, an epic 135-mile race through Death Valley—and it was 130°. In July, he completed a run across the entire Appalachian Trail, breaking the speed record by over three hours. He finished in 46 days, eight hours, and seven minutes.

On top of all this, Jurek also happens to be an accomplished home cook and vegan—he shared his story and favorite recipes in his book, Eat and Run. The plant-based diet, he says, has contributed to his success as a runner, allowing him faster recovery times and better endurance on the trail. So, with all this in mind, we were curious to chat with Jurek about how he eats on the run (heh, heh), what foods fueled his AT record, and what he likes to cook at home.

What’s your morning routine?
I exercise before eating in the morning, unless I’m doing some huge, six- to eight-hour run. I don’t need coffee or caffeine to wake up, so I’m more of a tea or yerba mate-type person. I do enjoy a good cup of coffee or espresso when I’m out with friends. For breakfast, I’m really into green drinks, so I might do barley grass, or blend greens into my smoothie—something as simple as kale, arugula, or spinach. If I have spirulinaor chlorella on hand, I’ll put those in, too. I make sure to replace the carbohydrates I lost on my run with banana, frozen pineapple, or frozen mango, and then I’ll mix it up with whatever berries I have. I use brown rice and pea protein for my protein powder, and I also incorporate 7 Sources, which is an essential fatty-acid blended oil. Sometimes I’ll throw in coconut or avocado.

One thing that’s misconstrued about a plant-based diet is that it’s all just fruit and nuts. People assume that you can’t get full off a plant-based diet, but it really comes down to the amount of food you eat, and getting enough healthy fats. I’m one of these people that likes to eat. That’s the beauty of a plant-based diet; unless you’re eating junk food, you get to eat a lot.

As an ultrarunner, your caloric needs are different from the average athlete. Can you tell us about that?
When I’m training to come out on top and win races, I’ll need 5,000 to 6,000 calories a day. But someone who’s newer to running—say, training for a marathon or triathlon—might not need that many. The key thing is you have to eat while you’re running; you burn through the glycogen [a form of glucose that is easily processed] as you exercise. Marathoners can squeak by with a gel or two, although I think they’d have better results eating more often. But when they move on to their first ultra—say, a 50K—they spend more time on the trail. More time on the trail means more calories. It really comes down to your brain and nervous system needing those carbohydrates. You have to find the type of food that’s easiest for you to digest, consume 25 grams of carbohydrates every 20 to 30 minutes, then wash it down with plenty of water and electrolytes. It’s based on body weight, though, so larger individuals need more calories per hour than somebody who’s smaller. It’s not a blanket recommendation!

When I race, I’m eating a lot of “sports food” that’s carbohydrate-dense, like gels and energy chews. One of the cool things I worked on with Clif during the last year was something called Organic Energy Food. It’s basically food in a pouch that’s blended to a consistency that’s easy to get down. There are even savory flavors like pizza and sweet potato.

On your longest races, you’re actually eating while running. How does that work?
People are shocked (and competitors are jealous) that I can eat a burrito at seven- or eight-minute-per-mile pace. It does take practice, but getting solid or real food down is so important. It’s about trial and error, though. In Eat and Run, I wrote about how I tried to drink straight olive oil during a training run before my first 100-miler. I hardly knew what I was doing, and I was like, “Well, olive oil’s this amazing food and I’m gonna need a lot of calories, so why wouldn’t I drink that on my run?” I ended up with extreme nausea, basically just puking in the bushes.

You lost a lot of weight during your Appalachian Trail run. How much were you eating?
I was on the trail for 13, 14 hours a day at first—and then, later, it became 16, 18 hours a day. Sometimes 20. I was getting less and less sleep, and my metabolism was just raging. I needed to consume 7,000 calories or more a day. A lot of that—around 3,000—of that was in Clif products. Jenny would supplement that with sandwiches or toast drenched in olive oil. Sometimes she’d get me hash browns or greasy home fries from a local diner. Or, after eating pasta with olive oil and vegan sausage, I would down a whole pint of coconut milk ice cream and it didn’t even make a dent. But my time was so limited, the question I’d have to ask was: “Do I spend more time on the trail or more time sleeping?” [Jurek’s wife and friends drove their van along the trail as he ran, and he slept there after logging his miles.] I know it looks shocking, but it’s the nature of activities like this. People might think, “Oh these crazy runners…” but I missed cooking so much.

I weighed around 173 going into the trail. I’m 6’2” and, as a larger individual, could afford to lose some of that. People were surprised I lost almost 20 pounds, especially when they saw pictures, but unfortunately that’s just what happens. The body is trying to get all the calories it can, and when you’re sleep deprived and put these huge stresses on your body, it goes after every little calorie it can get—even the muscles you’re not using. My body started cannibalizing itself a little bit, but that’s where the recovery comes in.

What was the first thing you cooked at home?
I think it was the Swedish pancakes. Well, the day before we had made a huge salad from the farmers’ market. I hadn’t been to a market all season, so being able to pick all these amazing vegetables, fresh here in Colorado, was so great.

Hikers and locals brought you food along the way, right?
Yes, some did. This one family from Pennsylvania brought us fresh fruit and meat substitutes, and it was amazing because we were having a hard time to find things I could eat at small grocery stores. Somebody delivered me two boxes of cinnamon rolls and caramel rolls from Vegan Treats based out of Pennsylvania. Just amazing. One individual brought me avocado maki and vegan pizza, which I was really craving. He hiked up a crazy technical trail for three miles to deliver these random foods. That was one cool thing about the AT. Even though it’s in a remote location, it’s a really social environment. It’s kind of amazing sharing that experience with people.

You mention in your book that you used food to woo your wife Jenny. How’d you do it?
Jenny was a typical female bachelor. She had basically condiments and frozen veggie burgers; very “cereal-for-dinner” type girl. I’m a big believer that food is the way to a woman’s heart, so it was pretty easy to woo her. Food was so integral to my family—with our garden, and hunting wild game and fishing growing up—and it was fun to share that with Jenny. She had never seen that side of me; she had always just seen me as this quirky ultrarunner.

Any parting words?
So many people think cooking has to be this exquisite, elaborate process, but it’s really about just getting in there. It’s about not being afraid to try things. My mom would say, “If you can read, you can cook.” As an athlete, I pay a lot of attention to how I fuel my body…but it’s also just really fun.

I have mentioned weight in relation to running a few times on this blog but with all good subjects there is always another good article to highlight. It really is common sense that the lighter you are the faster you will run with the same amount of energy. My Dad use to always sprout ‘It’s Physics Son‘ at me on so many occasions over the years for numerous different scenarios, in this scenario it really is.

So to improve with the same amount of training all you need to do is put down that donut (Jon !) and pick up that lovely celery stick, Yum ! Hang on, to quote Homer Simpson ‘Donuts taste good‘ and I agree with Mr.Simpson whole heartedly but to work off a donut it’s about 30 minutes of moderate exercise, and who can stop at one donut which is why you buy Krispy Kremes in boxes of 6 or more. That’s 3 hours of running nearly a marathon for 10 minutes of pleasure. (Would you have to run the 3 hours straight after eating 6 donuts or can you wait, either way I would probably envisage trouble ahead.)

I can certainly testify that at my racing weight of 70kg I am considerably faster than if I let myself go and hit 72kg. You feel the difference and also in training with every step you moving that extra 2kg, remember physics, not a runners friend when he’s been embracing his friend Mr. Kreme.

So the answer is to find your racing weight and stick to it. How easy is that ? Actually not easy at all as your racing weight is always so damn low and to get to it in the first place you normally starve yourself or have to avoid all the food groups you love.  Then when you hit the racing weight you spend all your time worrying about putting weight on. No one said being a runner was easy, we train hard in tough conditions, give up our social life, friends out with running are ignored and even sacrifice family time but to forego the donuts or worse the Yelo muffin, life is cruel.

Is there an answer to the weight conundrum, there may be. Rather than try and maintain your racing weight all year you can train using the periodisation technique. (Is it a technique or just a way of training, you decide?) . Periodisation is the theory and practice of how to vary a training program over time to bring the runner to a physical peak for major competitions. It is considered simply as planned and organized variety. The periodisation variables we can manipulate include frequency, intensity, recovery, variety, specificity, and duration of training. I suggest part of this could also involve Krispy Kreme donuts, though when Arthur Lydiard, first started experimenting with periodization in 1947 I’m not sure he had donuts at the forefront of his mind.?  Anyhow you could define periods of your training when you can add a little weight and enjoy life a tad more than normal before then starving yourself back to your racing weight.

It would be easier of course if we didn’t have a sweet tooth and we could maintain our weight by enjoying the good things in life like cabbage, celery, carrots, swede or my favourite green peas. Not going to happen,  so until they make chocolate calorie free it’s back to my old friend ‘hunger pains’ and the odd Yelo muffin when I can persuade myself that running 100 miles does justify one muffin as it normally contains fruit (mixed in with the chocolate)

Amanda MacMillan wrote this article for Runners World in 2014 but it still holds true today unfortunately. Worth a read but we all know what we should weigh, it’s our decision whether we reach that goal and when we do how long we can hold it for. That is of course until chocolate becomes calorie free then it’s on for young and old…

You’re fit, you feel great and you run, a lot. So who cares if your abs aren’t as flat as they used to be? Even if your weight’s not on your radar as a health issue, though, it should be as a performance one. Because there’s a good chance you’re not at your ideal racing weight—that is, the weight at which you run your fastest and feel your best.

Perhaps you have always had the same body and never considered what adding a few pounds of muscle or dropping a few pounds of flab might do for your performance. Alicia Shay, a professional runner and nutrition counselor in Flagstaff, Arizona, says weight shouldn’t be overlooked. “Anyone who cares how fast they’re running should consider their weight part of their overall training strategy,” she says.It’s most common for runners to find their weight has crept up over the years. Pete Magill, author of Build Your Running Body, didn’t think much about his own gradual weight gain until, at 44, his usual 15-minute 5K times began to suffer.“When I ran 16:20, I knew I was in trouble,” Magill says. “I’d been racingat 170 pounds since starting masters competition, almost 10 pounds over my race weight back in my 20s.” He couldn’t train any harder, so he went on a diet and dropped to 164. Over the next few years, he set the American men’s 45–49 record for the 5K, at 14:34.Magill’s not alone. “I can’t imagine you can talk to a competitive runner who doesn’t have a weight-loss-equals-faster-time story,” he says.But getting to that ideal number can be hard work—especially if you’re already logging major mileage and are used to eating whatever you want. And it’s a delicate balance: Dipping below it or losing weight in unhealthy ways could put you at risk for injury, illness and disordered eating behaviors.Why Lighter Equals FasterAs a general rule, runners move most efficiently when they’re at the low end of what’s considered a healthy body mass and body-fat percentage. “Running is really just a form of jumping,” says Matt Fitzgerald, certified sports nutritionist and author of Racing Weight: How to Get Lean for Peak Performance. “You can’t move forward without moving up, and the more you have to lift against gravity, the more energy it requires.” Imagine running with an extra 5 pounds strapped around your waist, he explains.Body weight affects performance in running more than it does in other sports, such as swimming and biking, according to a 2011 Swiss study on Ironman triathletes. And lower body-mass index seems increasingly important as race distances get longer: A 2014 study found that the optimal BMI for male 800m runners was between 20 and 21, while it dropped between 19 and 20 for male 10,000m and marathon runners. (Generalizations about BMI shouldn’t be used prescriptively, Shay says, because it doesn’t take into account lean muscle or body fat.)There are other reasons lighter means faster: Larger people are less efficient at delivering oxygen throughout the body. Losing weight doesn’t change your lung capacity or function, but it does mean that each breath doesn’t have to go as far.

Leaner athletes can dissipate heat better, too, because they have a higher surface-area-to-body-weight ratio and less insulating fat tissue. They also burn carbohydrates more efficiently. So while weight isn’t everything, it’s certainly a big thing. “Four factors determine how fast you are,” says Sean Wade, a top masters athlete and coach of the Houston-based Kenyan Way running program. “Genetics, form, how hard and smart you train, and your weight—and not necessarily in that order.”

Age Makes a Difference

Masters runners may have the hardest time losing weight—no matter how much they run. Fred Zalokar, 54, averages more than 100 miles a week and for years oscillated between 170 and 180 pounds. But since he cleaned up his diet four years ago, he’s dropped more than 20 pounds, increasing his speed and turnover along the way.

“Weight loss has never just happened for me, even when I was regularly running ultras,” Zalokar says. “If I’m not consciously cutting my calories, I can make up for all that mileage without a second thought.”

That’s because adults begin losing muscle mass in their early 40s, which can impair performance and decrease metabolism, says Emily Brown, RD. Getting enough physical activity (including resistance training to maintain muscle) is especially important, as is cutting back on junk food and oversize food portions.

Tom Storey, 50, who has run Boston seven times, attributes his first qualifying run, in 2007, to weight loss. In just more than a year, he went from 205 to 150 pounds and shaved more than 30 minutes off his previously 4-hour marathon time. Today, maintaining his weight requires sacrifices he’s willing to make. “There aren’t a lot of things I can do to make myself a better athlete,” he says, “but if I can keep my weight down, I know I’ll be faster.”

Crunching the Numbers

Finding your ideal weight—the healthy weight at which you really perform your best—takes some time. “You can’t predict your optimal race weight beforehand,” Fitzgerald says. “You can move toward a goal, and when you have the race of your life, you weigh yourself and get your body composition tested, and there you have it.”

Andrew Lemoncello, 2012 Olympian for the U.K. and a coach for McMillan Running, didn’t find his ideal race weight until going pro after college. “I used to live by the saying, ‘If the furnace is hot enough, it will burn anything,’ “ he says. “I ate healthy foods, but I also loved desserts and never paid attention to my portions.”

When he began spending time with other pro runners, Lemoncello realized he needed higher-quality fuel for his furnace to run at its most efficient. He began planning his meals and stopped mindless eating, and he dropped from 150 pounds to 145. “I started setting PRs and had more energy and confidence,” he says. “If I’m eating well and training hard, that’s the weight my body naturally gravitates to.”

For any weight loss or gain, it helps to have something to aim for. Several online calculators, like Fitzgerald’s at RacingWeight.com, will estimate your ideal racing weight based on your age, gender and current fitness level. In this case, ideal is defined as what you would weigh if your body fat was at its lowest attainable-yet-healthy percentage, Fitzgerald explains.

Then there are the stats about how much quicker you’ll be by slimming down, like the commonly cited 2 seconds per mile, per pound you are above your ideal weight. But this will vary from person to person, says exercise physiologist Paul Vanderburgh, creator of the online Flyer Handicap Calculator, which helps runners see how their race times stack up against competitors of other ages and weights. Based on VO2 max estimates, it computes your predicted time if you were 25 years old and a scale model of yourself at 110 pounds for women or 143 pounds for men. “It’s strictly meant for comparisons,” he stresses, “not for figuring out the weight you should realistically be to hit a certain time.”

In Build Your Running Body, Magill and his co-authors plot a chart of estimates based on VO2 calculations—for example, that a 200-pound runner can shave 19 seconds off a 20-minute 5K time by losing 5 pounds. Wade takes a simpler approach: “One minute slower per 1 pound overweight is what I tell my marathoners,” he says.

These tools can be good motivators, according to Rasa Troup, a certified specialist in sports dietetics (CSSD), a 2008 Olympian and current nutritionist for Team USA Minnesota, but she adds that athletes shouldn’t take them as gospel. “My biggest concern is that they distract runners from listening to and understanding their own bodies, because they’re caught up in reaching some number,” she says. “It’s more important to be aware of how tired hungry or sluggish you are feeling.”

Kimberly Mueller, CSSD, owner of San Diego-based Fuel Factor Nutrition Coaching and a 2:52 marathoner, warns that calculators can skew too low with body-fat goals, as well. “Some have estimated my ideal body composition to fall around 12 percent,” she says, “but I know I lose my menstrual cycle if I fall below 14.”

How Much is Too Much?

Many runners could benefit from shedding a few pounds, Troup admits—but only if they have excess weight to lose and only if it’s done in a way that supplements their training, rather than sabotaging it. “Well-fueled athletes will perform well, and well-fueled means something different for every person,” she says. Of course, losing weight isn’t a good idea for all competitive runners. For those who are naturally very lean or who work hard to stay at the low end of their healthy weight, the threat of falling below that point at which you race your best is real.

Stephanie Bruce learned that the hard way when she finished a disappointing 16th at the 2013 Boston Marathon. She and her husband, pro runner Ben Bruce, have spent years perfecting their race-weight strategies, she says, and weigh themselves daily leading up to a big race.

“We didn’t have a scale in Boston, and it was difficult to get in as many calories the day before as I would have been able to at home,” she says. (Bruce has celiac disease and has to be careful about eating food prepared outside of her own kitchen.) “I was probably under by only 2 or 3 pounds on race morning, but it made a huge impact. I had no power; I just couldn’t hold the pace.”

Bruce says she works hard to maintain a healthy weight and has never dropped so low that her health has suffered. But many runners, without enough calories or nutrients, can develop weak bones and compromised immune systems.

That’s what Brian Rosetti figures happened to him. After he graduated from college, he spent two years training almost full-time. His mileage was increasing, but he was focused on low weight instead of nutrition for performance. Just as he made a breakthrough in his training, and as his weight dropped to an all-time low of 146 on his 6-foot-1 frame, he suffered a sacral stress fracture. “My bone density was below the median level, and I don’t think I was getting the right nutrients,” Rosetti says. “I was focused on keeping as light as I could. That’s a scary place to be.” The injury, in effect, ended his career.

Fitzgerald says impaired performance is usually the first sign that a runner has dipped into dangerous territory. “It’s the canary in the coal mine—your body’s signal that it’s under too much stress.”

For women, a missing menstrual period is also an indication of an unhealthy and unsustainable weight, with potential complications like infertility and osteoporosis. And while it’s less talked about, competitive men can struggle, too. A recent Southern Utah University study found that almost 20 percent of male high school cross country runners were at risk for disordered eating behaviors like bingeing and purging. Some boys expressed a desire to gain body weight to be more attractive, while others wanted to lose it to improve their running.

To keep your weight loss from becoming detrimental, the American Council on Exercise recommends maintaining a BMI that stays at or above the normal weight threshold of 18.5 and a body fat percentage above 14 percent for women and 6 percent for men. Some elites dip below these guidelines, Troup says, but it’s not recommended without careful monitoring.

Fitzgerald also recommends tracking your performance. “If you’re getting skinnier but your times are getting worse, you’ve passed the point of beneficial weight loss,” he says.

And above all else, Shay says, listen to your body and your mind. “If you’re starving all the time or you’re irritable and cranky or you’re bonking on runs, you’re probably being too ambitious and getting too light.”

Timing is Everything

The time to prioritize weight loss is in a four- to nine-week period before you start ramping up your workouts, while you’re building your base. “You can’t maximize fitness gain and weight loss simultaneously,” Fitzgerald says.

Mueller agrees. During a competitive season, athletes shouldn’t restrict themselves by more than 500 calories per day. For those who want to lose only a few pounds, 200 to 300 is even better. Stop restricting calories the week of a big race, she adds, because your body will perform best on a full tank.

Bruce says she goes into her training cycles about 3 to 5 pounds over her racing weight, a product of relaxed eating habits and less exercise during her offseason. “I like to have a reserve to pull from, because once I start working out harder, I lose it pretty easily,” she says.

Follow me on

As we all know the human body can get to around the 32k mark unaided, by that I mean without hydration or fuel. Similar to climbing to Everest base camp before pushing on into the ‘death zone’ where you either need oxygen from a tank or you have limited time. I’m not suggesting after 32k you enter a running death zone (although when the wheels fall off you may feel like it!) but you do enter into a zone where without hydration, as a minimum, and possibly fuel , you are going to ‘bonk’ (as cyclists call it. Basically the mind is willing but the body has had enough and engaged the handbrake)

This is why we taper, carboload and drink until we spend more time in the toilet than out of it pre-marathon so we are as ready as we can be for the final 10k sprint, after the initial 32k warm-up. On our long Sunday runs we regularly run 30k without stopping ,and without drink,  but we do make up for it afterwards with pancakes and decent coffee. This in itself is enough to help up push through those last 5k, normally with a spring in your step. Could we carry on a run another 12k ? Probably not as we are training so not running marathon pace for the full distance, so although we run the distance we’re not running the pace required. This is a big game changer of course.

So how do we make sure we have enough fuel to finish strong ? The answer it seems these days is in the form of carbohydrates on tap in digestible packets, i.e. Gu’s, carboshotz, Chomps, Hammer Gels, caffeine shots , the list is endless. All are designed to give you a quick hit of fuel to get you firing on all cylinders again and propel you the the finish and through the last 10k of a marathon.  These days at all marathons you see camel backs, running belts and shorts full of Gu’s and energy shots, it sometimes looks more like a confectionary store near the back of a marathon pack. There is some justification of course as the runners towards the back of a marathon are spending more time ‘out there‘ so it must make them very hungry. (Maybe this is why a lot of slower runners than start running ultra’s, as I have mentioned before a ready made excuse to eat more.)  I have mentioned my friend Mark on a number of occasions who was famous for his belt of many pockets and also Rhys who I swear had at least 10 Gu’s on his race belt once for a marathon. That’s probably a kilo of extra weight right there, no wonder he needed the extra fuel. !

Lead runners of course survive on just water and maybe the odd electrolyte drink strategically  placed on the course. They have their hydration and nutrition plan worked out before and will have also trained using said plan. The normal runner goes for the scatter gun approach and if offered drink or food will normally grab it with both hands towards the end of a marathon.

I have friends who survive on just water and run great times. My friend Michael Ho is now running sub 2:35 marathon times just on water and the T-train is another who considers ‘eating is cheating‘ and relies on water only. Myself I’m a Gu before the start, as well as a banana, and then a GU every 10k. If they’re free on the course I’ll take them when offered as I have a strong stomach and I’m not one to look a gift horse in the mouth. Do they make a difference ? I think so but maybe more of a placebo. A bit like all these vitamin tablets I take religiously but deep down wonder if they aren’t just a massive con.? Hard to say but I’ll go with the ‘everybody else is using them so they must work‘ approach.  (very similar to smoking in the seventies I suppose? That’s not going to help is it…)

So my advice is to probably go for the extra help a Gu may provide as assuming you can stomach them they won’t do any harm. One every 45-60 minutes is normally the recommended dosage but anything is better than nothing so experiment in training. Somewhere between the T-train and Rhys is a happy medium.

Last thing about Gu’s, or any nutrition, that needs to be carried is the method of transport. In 2012 I lost the Melbourne Marathon after setting off a sub 2hour pace I was comfortably in the lead at 200m, looking forward to being the first man to break the 2 hour marathon mark. Unfortunately I was overtaken by the eventual winner as I was checking my Gu’s which I had pinned to my shorts. (Thanks for the idea coach Dan ‘the man with a plan’ Macey!) Anyway as you can clearly see from the photograph below the winner took advantage of my mistake and I never recovered. I ran a 2:43, which although a PB, was 44 minutes slower than planned. So there’s a lesson there, if you think you can run sub 2 hours for the marathon hand carry your Gu’s, it is a mistake I will take to the grave.

After yesterdays post on Noakes and his High Fat, Low Carbs (HFLC) diet I had quite a varied response. Some people replied positively supporting Noakes but most were of the opinion the high carb diet is still the one for runners, especially those who need the fuel as they are logging big kilometres. I’ve attached a YouTube link below supporting the HFLC diet for information.

This being my blog I have decided on the proper diet for runners  and as this is a runners blog this is what is important. First if the diet is working you’ll see a performance increase, you’ll sleep well and won’t be too stressed. If the diet to achieve this includes a lot of carbohydrates and you keep your weight under control then so be it. Conversely if you can see a performance increase on the HFLC diet so again so be it. Each of us is different and no one diet will suit all needs.

That being said I think a common enemy is sugar, not the natural kind found in fruit but the processed kind so loved by big business. Now as all avid readers of my posts will know I do like the odd pancake and muffin now and again and that is fine, but not everyday ! I also avoid all ‘fizzy’ drinks and OJ etc. (unless I’m carboloading of course when OJ is my goto drink of choice) I’m a water and tea man now , with one cappuccino early morning.

Diet wise I eat a lot of fish, chicken, salad and rice with garlic bread normally. For sweet its yoghurt and the odd digestive. Breakfast is three weetbix.  Lunch is normally rice and meat. I’ll also eat my fair share of fruit at work as its free and why wouldn’t you. Is this a perfect diet ? No , not really. I don’t eat enough vegetables and never will, sorry Mum,  just not my thing.  Can I improve my diet, yes, will I, maybe. I feel it does give me an opportunity  for a running improvement if I was able to find a better diet. Food is fuel, better fuel better performance.

Have I solved the nutrition puzzle, not really. Everybody needs to find the best fuel to help them perform to the best of their ability and be the best you can be. Diet is only one piece of the jigsaw but it one overlooked by so many. Improving your diet will improve your running, that is a given. With all things in life moderation is the key. A healthy diet can also be an enjoyable diet, you just need to find the right recipes.

I suppose diet is more important to those Ultra runners, they love to eat. In fact I think some ultra runners are food junkies first and runners second. The end justifies the means so to speak. I’ve seen some unusual running diets in my time. My friend Dan once took 2 McDonald’s burger on a 46k recon run. His logic,  they were full of preservatives, sugar, salt and all things that runners need. Call me old fashioned but I prefer the odd Gu.

These days I don’t use anything on any run, even my long runs that are more than 2 hours. I believe your body burns it owns fat if you don’t give it external sources of energy.

Right as I’m a runner and not a expert of diet I have attached an article by someone who has a Ph.D and probably spent years researching this post. Deborah may help or muddy the waters, either way it may generate enough interest to push you to investigate more and that can only be a good thing…..

Fuel On Fat For The Long Run

By Deborah Schulman, Ph.D

It Is More Efficient To Tap Into Your Unlimited Fat Supply

MIGRATORY BIRDS and whales rely on stored fat to fuel their long, strenuous journeys. Developing your fat engine will increase the amount of energy you can generate, reduce the amount of carbohydrates you use, and stretch out the glycogen supply during long runs. Added together, you have a more stable and enduring energy supply, better endurance, and faster finish times.

To illustrate, let’s consider Shane. Shane is a computer engineer in his late 30s who has stayed active over the years with yard work, occasional football games with his kids, and sporadic attempts to weight train. In short, he was not aerobically fit. Inspired by the fortitude and tenacity of his wife, who just ran her first marathon, he decided to train for a marathon.

He was determined to be informed and methodical about the process. Many of the books he read recommended training with a heart rate monitor. The books said that most people run marathons at 75 to 80 percent of maximum heart rate, so he decided to do a test. He consulted a chart to find his heart rate at a more manageable effort of 65 percent and set off running. After only 90 minutes on the road, he felt nauseated and fatigued. His legs felt like bricks, and finally he was forced to stop. In other words, he bonked well short of the distance he would need to cover to finish the marathon.

Due to his low level of fitness, most of Shane’s energy was coming from the limited carbohydrate stores in his liver and muscles. He simply ran to the end of his carbohydrate supply. Carbohydrates are necessary to maintain exercise at any intensity. An excessively high rate of usage combined with low carbohydrate stores reduced his endurance, even at relatively easy running speeds. Had he eaten GU or drunk Gatorade, he still would not have been able to continue for much longer. A training program that focused on switching to fat for fuel would change that.

PUMP UP THE VOLUME

Arthur Lydiard contended that the most important aspect of conditioning is volume. In the 1960s his training concepts were revolutionary. Even the track athletes whom he coached followed a marathon-based aerobic conditioning program in the initial phases of their training cycles. Considering the phenomenal success of athletes who trained under Lydiard’s tutelage, such as Peter Snell, John Davies, and Lorraine Moller, and other athletes who have followed his program principles, his theories were insightful. Subsequent research has shown that they also possess a sound physiological basis.

While many of America’s marathoners switched focus to quality (and reduced mileage) rather than quantity, coaches from Japan, Italy, Mexico, Germany, and China were incorporating Lydiard’s principles into highly successful training programs. Naoko Takahashi reportedly ran up to 80K (50 miles) per day in preparation to become the first woman marathoner in the world to dip under 2:20. Catherine Ndereba ran comparatively modest 100-mile weeks in the buildup to her world record of 2:18:47 at Chicago in 2001. Jerry Lawson, imitating the high-mileage successes of Bill Rodgers, Alberto Salazar, and Frank Shorter, ran up to 250 miles per week en route to his then American record of 2:09.

Metabolically, high-volume training makes sense. There are two main sources of fuel for exercise: carbohydrates and fats. The energy supply from carbohydrate and fat is inversely related. High rates of carbohydrate use reduce combustion of fat. Carbohydrates are used preferentially at very high efforts, such as a 5K race, or at low fitness levels when fat metabolism is underdeveloped.

Conversely, when you teach your body to rely on fat for fuel, your combustion of carbohydrates goes down, thus “sparing” carbohydrates. This benefits performance in endurance events. You become very fatigued when you run too low on carbohydrates. We store only a very limited amount of carbohydrate (glycogen) in our bodies. Compare this with a relatively unlimited supply of fat. Even an athlete with only 6 percent body fat will have enough fat to fuel exercise lasting for many hours. When you use more fat, you generate more energy and your carbohydrate supply lasts longer.

Follow the principle of specificity. If you want to teach your body to use more fat for fuel, then create training conditions that generate high fat metabolism. Your body will eventually learn to prefer fat.

Research conducted at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden during the 1980s showed that, within the leg muscles of highly trained endurance men, the activity of enzymes that break down fats was 100 percent higher than in the untrained subjects. As a result, during exercise they had a much higher ability to regenerate the ATP that fuels muscular contraction than those who had a greater reliance on carbohydrates.

These researchers found that the maximal oxygen consumption (or V.O2max) was 50 percent greater in the trained men. Maximal oxygen consumption measures aerobic capacity: the efficiency of the lungs to transfer oxygen to the blood, the capacity of the blood to carry oxygen, the power of the heart and blood vessels to deliver large quantities of blood to the muscles, and the ability of the muscles to use the oxygen. Fats cannot be burned without oxygen. Not only did these men have more enzymes to combust the fat, but they also had more oxygen to feed the fire.

Researchers have since demonstrated that, after a 12-week six-day-per-week program of 45 minutes of running and cycling at a high intensity, fat combustion increased by 41 percent. This was accompanied by reduced reliance on carbohydrates.

MILES MAKE MITOCHONDRIA

The enzymes of fat metabolism are located in structures within the muscle cells called mitochondria. Fats are transported into the mitochondria where, in the presence of oxygen, they are broken down to generate energy. More mitochondria means more fat metabolism, more ATP, and more energy.

High-volume training increases the amount and size of mitochondria. Longer exercise bouts produce the greatest gains in mitochondrial content. A 90-minute run provides a better stimulus than a 60-minute run. It is common for runners to do “two-a-day” workouts to get in the necessary mileage. However, this research indicates that a runner will receive much more benefit from running one 90-minute workout than two 45-minute workouts. There is, however, a point of diminishing returns. A three-hour run is better at nudging the mitochondria content upward than a 90-minute run, but the gains are offset by the necessity of a longer recovery time between workouts.

During the base phase of building miles, it is the daily consistency of training over a period of weeks and months that will boost fat metabolism.

After the base phase and basic fat metabolism have been established, training time should be shifted into very prolonged runs of three or more hours, depending on your event. Very long runs are important in preparation for the marathon and longer events. After two to three hours of running, the leg muscles run low on glycogen. Hormonal adjustments to the low glycogen levels shift fat metabolism into an even higher gear.

Miles may make champions, but those miles should be carefully developed, monitored, and arranged to get the maximum effect. In his buildup program, Lydiard recommends alternating longer 90-minute to two-hour runs with 60-minute runs on other days, aiming for a total of 10 to 11 hours of weekly running.

Give yourself plenty of time to build up to these levels. Jon Sinclair, former world-class runner turned coach, cautions that it is not practical or even possible for most people with full-time jobs and families to build up to running 10 hours per week in a mere three months. The amount of mileage you will be able to run depends on your lifestyle, physical capabilities, and prior training history. He advises his less-experienced athletes to build up mileage over a period of many months or even years. His associate, Kent Oglesby, took four years to prepare a 3:15 marathoner for the rigors of running 100 miles per week. The result was a 2:46 marathon, which earned her a spot at the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials.

TRAIN AT THE TOP OF YOUR FAT-BURNING ZONE

My speed in long races had been declining since I had become a masters runner. For a number of years I had been running LSD (long, slow distance) type training. In the process of researching and writing about fat metabolism, I read Lydiard’s book Running the Lydiard Way. Lydiard’s formula advocates not just high-volume training but high volume at speeds near the “maximum steady state.”

In other words, most training should be conducted close to the highest speed that you can run without going anaerobic. This is the speed where fat metabolism is at its highest. For experienced runners, the maximum steady state equals an intensity of 70 to 75 percent of maximum heart rate. For those just launching their running careers, it will be closer to 60 to 65 percent of maximum heart rate. Studies have confirmed his theories. Volume and intensity interact to produce even greater gains in mitochondria development. Daily runs of 90 minutes at 70 percent max will boost mitochondria 30 percent higher than equivalent time spent at an easier 50 percent effort.

After purchasing a heart rate monitor and calculating my target heart rates, I was surprised to find that my LSD training intensity had been substantially below my target training intensity of 70 percent. Initially I had a hard time running more than 60 minutes at that effort. However, after only six weeks of faster training, I was easily able to maintain that pace for a full two hours. Although LSD training will increase fat metabolism and endurance, it will limit your endurance at marathon paces. Long, slow running will only teach you to run slowly for long periods.

On the other hand, you can run too fast on your daily runs. At faster paces, oxygen demand exceeds supply. You are now anaerobic. Fuel reliance switches predominantly to carbohydrates, and the result is the accumulation of lactic acid. Lactic acid inhibits the enzymes that break down fat and therefore reduces fat metabolism. If you go out for a 45-minute run at 10K race pace, you will be burning less fat and generating more waste products than if you ran those 45 minutes at only a 60 percent effort. Daily hard efforts will result in accumulation of waste products and decreased recovery, and lead to declining performances. It’s better to run a little too slow than a little too fast.

RAISE THE LACTATE THRESHOLD

Let’s return to Shane after 24 weeks on his Lydiard-based training program. His fat metabolism is augmented, there is a substantially reduced reliance on glycogen, and his glycogen stores are larger. He again decides to test his ability to run at 65 percent of his maximum. Before the test he makes sure to get plenty of carbohydrates in his diet so that his leg muscles and liver are loaded with glycogen. This time he was able to continue for three hours.

His skeletal, connective, and muscle tissues; his metabolism; and his cardiovascular, nervous, and endocrine systems are now prepared for some faster training. His next step is to focus on increasing his endurance running speed and reducing his lactate production.

Endurance races are aerobic races. Marathons tend to be run at just below the level where you start to accumulate lactic acid, which is known as the anaerobic threshold (AT). How many times have you started a race too fast and gone anaerobic, only to suffer later and run slower than you planned or even had to drop out?

With a higher AT, you will be able to sustain faster marathon and ultramarathon paces. Elite world-class marathoners often have such a highly developed fat-burning engine that they can run marathons at 85 percent or higher of their maximum. For the rest of us, 75 to 80 percent is a realistic goal.

Anaerobic threshold training augments the basic fat metabolism you have spent so much time developing. The result is faster running speeds over the long haul. A measured dose of faster, anaerobic training will teach your muscles and blood to metabolize and buffer lactic acid. The goal is to generate a manageable quantity of lactic acid that your muscles can dispose of easily and permit a sufficiently long training session and quick recovery. Venturing too far into the anaerobic zone will generate too much lactic acid, reduce the amount of work you can do within your training session, and risk lasting fatigue and overreaching. Marathoners don’t derive much benefit from 400-meter repeats.

Faster, sustained running at 80 to 85 percent and mile repeats are good methods to increase lactate tolerance. Oglesby recommends tempo runs of 10 to 12 miles at 15 to 30 seconds per mile faster than goal marathon race pace. An added benefit of these tempo runs is that the marathon pace feels easier and more manageable.

A recent study examined the effect of high-intensity interval sessions on fat and carbohydrate metabolism and lactate concentrations in cyclists who had been training two to three hours per day for years. They replaced some of their endurance miles with two weekly sessions of 6-9 x 5-minute intervals with 1 minute of recovery between. After six weeks, the percentage of energy coming from fat during a one-hour trial had increased from 6 percent to 13 percent. How well this applies to a race lasting more than two hours is unclear.

Because of the results from studies on interval training such as these, many runners have opted out of the extended base-building phase citing “quality over quantity” as the rationale. I would like to emphasize that high-intensity training builds on the increased strength, resilience, and fat metabolism developed during those long, high-quality aerobic miles. Jumping into AT training before your body is sufficiently prepared will not produce the desired results: fast marathons.

SHOULD YOU EAT AND RUN?

It is best to start an exercise session with stable, fasting blood glucose levels and higher blood fat levels. Glucose is a powerful regulator of fat metabolism. The higher the glucose content of the blood, the lower the fat metabolism. High blood glucose levels are generated from dietary carbohydrates.

This effect is associated with insulin. High blood glucose stimulates the hormone insulin to be released from the pancreas. Insulin is a storage and growth hormone. Its main job is to reduce blood glucose but it also acts to store fat and protein. In the process, insulin directly blocks removal of fat from fat deposits. These deposits are an important source of fat for exercising muscle. Insulin also reduces fat burning within the muscle. Therefore, increased insulin is considered to be antagonistic to fat combustion during exercise.

In an interesting piece of research, investigators at the University of Limburg in the Netherlands and at the University of Texas collaborated to determine whether high blood glucose and high insulin levels reduce the amount of fat burned during moderate-level exercise. A group of endurance-trained men cycled for 40 minutes at an aerobic 50 percent of maximum after an overnight fast. On another day, they ingested a drink containing 100 grams of glucose at 60 minutes before and then again at 10 minutes prior to the exercise test. This is a carbohydrate equivalent of drinking one and one-half liters of Gatorade an hour before a race and again 10 minutes before the start. While this may not mimic real-life situations, what the researchers found was telling. Fat metabolism was substantially reduced for the full 40 minutes of the exercise after the carbohydrate load.

While most people would not eat that much carbohydrate before a run, it is common for people to eat a sports bar, bagel, or banana in the hour prior to training. Try to avoid eating for at least two hours before a run.

It takes as little as 20 grams of ingested carbohydrate to raise insulin and reduce fat as fuel. If you have nutrition awareness or read the nutrition labels on foods, you will know that a couple of slices of bread, a banana, a sports bar, or a soda each delivers more than 20 grams of carbohydrate.

Fasting increases blood fat levels. Running after your overnight fast will increase fat burning. A cup of coffee beforehand may boost it even higher. Once exercise has started, eating carbohydrates does not generate a substantive insulin response. If you are starting a long run lasting two hours or more on an empty stomach, you may want to eat a sports gel or bar after 20 to 30 minutes throughout the run. Otherwise you will be faced with the nausea and fatigue of low blood sugar and have a poor training session. If you tend toward hypoglycemia when you get up in the morning, you may want to eat something in the minutes immediately before you head out the door. It takes 30 minutes for insulin levels to peak.

However, before a long race or run you will have more endurance and perform better if you eat a meal containing carbohydrate two to three hours before. Early in the morning, your liver glycogen stores, which supply blood glucose, have been depleted by the overnight fast. The brain and nervous system rely on blood glucose for energy. If you start a marathon without replenishing these stores, you will bonk. The two-hour time interval is sufficient to reduce blood glucose levels back to normal and restore fat metabolism.

WHICH DIET IS BETTER: HIGH FAT OR HIGH CARBOHYDRATE?

There has been considerable research in the past decade on the effect of diet composition on endurance. Prior to now, endurance athletes usually followed a high-carbohydrate diet with the rationale that enhanced glycogen stores are known to fuel superior training and marathon race performances.

Most sports nutritionists recommend a diet that supplies 6 to 8 grams of carbohydrates per kilogram of body weight. These levels of dietary carbohydrate can easily reach 400 to 600 grams per day. This adds up to 1,600 to 2,400 calories of carbohydrate per day. This type of diet doesn’t leave room for adequate amounts of fat or protein.

The downside of a high-carbohydrate diet, especially a diet loaded with sugar, is reduced fat metabolism and fatigue. This is largely due to chronically stimulated insulin levels. The effects of insulin can last up to eight hours, especially after a big dose of carbohydrates, such as you might get from a big plate of spaghetti and rolls followed by a bowl of sorbet.

Initially, studies found that high-fat diets, where fats supply 60 percent or more of the calories, showed promise as a means to better endurance. Fat burning is increased on high-fat diets, even at rest. Exercise tests showed higher endurance in subjects who had been eating high-fat diets in comparison with high-carbohydrate diets.

At issue, however, was the intensity of exercise used for the tests. High-fat diets improved endurance at relatively low-intensity levels. When the intensity was increased to mirror race situations, the advantage disappeared. The higher- intensity exercise required more carbohydrate, and the subjects simply lacked adequate glycogen to continue for extended periods. The lesson is that you can reduce your reliance on carbohydrate, but you can’t eliminate it.

We now know that both high-carbohydrate and high-fat diets cause fatigue and poor performances. The best diet is probably somewhere in between: one that supplies enough fat to stimulate fat metabolism and maintain production of testosterone and estrogen and also supplies enough carbohydrate to keep the brain and nervous system happy and the glycogen stores filled. Many sports scientists are recommending a basic diet that supplies 50 percent carbohydrate, 30 percent fat, and 20 percent protein, with additional carbohydrates after hard or long-duration training.

MORE QUESTIONS

There are still many unanswered questions regarding nutrition and endurance sports performance. Before a marathon or longer race, will fat loading in combination with glycogen loading boost performance? After hard or long training, should you also concentrate on replenishment of fat stores in the muscles? What type of fat, saturated or unsaturated, is burned for fuel? Will eating fat during races that last four hours or more benefit performance outcomes?

What profile of fats in the basic diet is best for an athlete? The skeletal muscle membrane is made of fat. The composition of this membrane directly reflects the profile of fats in the diet. A diet high in saturated fats will generate a more solid, less fluid membrane. A membrane that incorporates more unsaturated fats is more fluid, allowing a more efficient flux of oxygen, water, fat, and glucose. New theories hold that these membranes are more leaky and require more energy to maintain. Conceivably then, a diet too high in either saturated or unsaturated fats could be detrimental to endurance performance.

While there are new training methods being developed to enhance marathon performance, you will find substantial success with theories that are now 40 years old. In contrast, the field of sports nutrition research is currently experiencing great strides. In the early 1990s, the accepted dogma of a high-carbohydrate diet came under fire and was dismantled. Until we have more definitive information, it is wise to follow a moderate, low-sugar, common-sense diet with high nutritional quality.

With a training and nutrition regimen that coerces you to tap into your fat supplies, you can teach your body to use more fat during your migration through the marathon, and beyond.

Well this post is another cup of tea and digestive biscuit or two type post. What is the best diet for runners or the population as a whole ? With most things in running there is no reinventing the wheel. You’re normally faced with the ‘norm’ and one alternative. e.g. run less, run faster as opposed to run slower,  but more,  to run faster. I personally suspect either method works if you follow them religiously. The problem occurs when you half heartily follow one but add in some of the other.  Anyhow this post is about what is the best nutrition for achieving the best performance.

In the good old days it was always high carbs, low fat and sugar, normally natural, as fuel. Even today if you google best running diets it’s mostly pasta, rice, bread, honey, orange juice, low fat yoghurt, skinless chicken, semi-skimmed milk etc. We’ve all seen it a thousand times. I’ve been following this for many years and it has certainly helped me. Or has it ?

Recently Tim Noakes, a highly respected write and MD changed his view on nutrition virtually 180 degrees. Noakes is the author of one of, if not the defining book on all things running, ‘The Lore of Runing’, a 944-page tome known as the distance runner’s bible. He has come out and said forget everything he wrote in that book about carbohydrates. Back then, he questioned whether they were as necessary to a runner’s diet as many experts believed but still recommended them, particularly as fuel for workouts and races.

Now, Noakes won’t touch most carbs and tells others to avoid them, too. His book about this new lifestyle, The Real Meal Revolution, has sold more than 200,000 copies in his native South Africa the last two years, making it one of the country’s all-time nonfiction bestsellers, and it has helped launch a change in dietary thought much the same way the Atkins diet did across America years ago.

Noakes originally started his low carb, high fat diet in 2010 after research led him to believe the carbohydrates he’d eaten all his life contributed to his Type II diabetes, which runs in his family. His new eating habits resembled those of ancient foragers, most similar to a late 1800s European fad known as Banting. Noakes’s diet consists of about 5–10 percent carbohydrates, 60 percent fat and 30 percent protein. Sugars and processed carbs are forbidden. The mainstays are eggs, fish, meat, leafy but not starchy vegetables and nuts. His advice opposes dietary guidelines laid out by the Nutrition Society of South Africa, which recommend making “starchy foods” part of most meals and using fats sparingly.

Compare this to the ‘norm’ e.g. this article on Runners Connect advocating all the things Noakes is dead against. (  https://runnersconnect.net/running-nutrition-articles/best-carbohydrates-for-runners/ ) or this article from Runners World.

CARBOHYDRATES AND RUNNING
Carbohydrates (sugar, starch, and fiber) play an important role in maintaining a healthy diet and fueling your runs. Carbohydrates are stored in your muscles as glycogen, which your body taps into during a workout.

But not all carbohydrates are created equal. The more processed a carbohydrate is (like packaged foods and sweets) the more it becomes stripped of its nutrients, making its calories “empty.”

To fuel your body and your run, reach for complex carbohydrates like whole fruits and vegetables, dairy, whole grains, potatoes, and legumes. These foods provide a host of nutrients, including fiber, vitamin C, and calcium, that will help runners feel full and perform their best.

You can benefit from simple carbohydrates (like table sugar, maple syrup, or dextrose), which provide quick bursts of energy. This type of sugar (found in energy gels and chews) is good for on-the-run fuel because it is quickly absorbed and can help replenish the glycogen stores you’re depleting on a long run. You’ll want to refuel regularly on the run before your muscles become fully depleted. Try to consume 30 to 60 grams every hour, depending on your intensity and also body size.

Carb-loading may be a runner’s favorite part about marathon day. But to do it properly, it’s important not to eat heaps of pasta for days on end—you’ll feel sluggish and it could lead to GI distress on race day. Instead, slowly increase your carbohydrate intake about three to seven days leading up to your race. For example, have oatmeal and fruit for breakfast, add a dinner roll to your salad, have a handful of pretzels as a snack, and add rice or other whole grains to your dinner.

Activity Level Recommended Intake
Light activity (less than 1 hour per day) 1.3 to 2.3 g/lb. body weight
Moderate activity (1 hour per day) 2.3 to 3.2 g/lb. body weight
Extreme exercise program (4.5 to 6 hours per day) 4.5 to 5.5+ g/lb. body weight

Are all the running experts wrong and is Noakes a visionary preaching a complete change on how we fuel efficiently ? More importantly has he found the cure for diabetes and obesity.? Finally if he has will big business let him? I read that if Noakes is telling the truth it would be the end for four large pharmaceutical companies  who survive on providing the drugs necessary to combat the 20th century diseases associated with over eating and bad diets. Then all the industries built up on providing all these carbohydrates and sugar we rely on currently. Big business does not like change as it normally affects the bottom line, they are not at all interested in finding cures for most diseases they supply drugs to combat, why would they?

Personally I feel Noakes has some good points. We all eat to much sugar and can certainly do without it, there are natural alternatives. Can we go low carb, high fat. ? I’m happy to eat bacon and eggs for breakfast , as encouraged by Noakes, but giving up probably my main food group will be a big ask.

Finally what about pancakes, protein surely ? Not even Noakes would try and take my pancakes away, would he? I regret eating that digestive biscuit now, well maybe regret is a tad overboard….

I have attached an interview Noakes gave to Marika Sboros ( http://www.biznews.com/health/2015/01/19/complete-idiots-guide-tim-noakes-diet-banting-lchf/ )

 

Strictly speaking, it’s not correct to call Cape Town sports scientist Prof Tim Noakes’ low-carb, high-fat (LCHF) diet ‘Banting’, but he doesn’t mind if you do. The eponymous William Banting was fat – a heavily overweight, ailing British undertaker, and he ate low carbs on the advice of Dr William Harvey in 1862. Banting lost weight and felt great. Harvey wrote about it, but under pressure from medical colleagues, modified the diet into high-protein, low-fat. German physician Dr Wilhelm Ebstein took it to Europe, and changed to high-fat, low-carb after realising the key was replacing carbs with fat, not protein, as fat reduced hunger more effectively. So it’s more correct to call Noakes’ diet ‘Ebstein’, or ‘ketogenic’. Banting may stick in SA, where it is a culinary ‘revolution’, with Banting restaurants, meals and products popping up all over the place.

That has had some doctors and dietitians frothing at the mouth, and looking on Noakes as SA’s next ‘Dr Death’. President of the Association for Dietetics in SA Claire Julsing Strydom has reported Noakes to the Health Professions Council of SA for telling a mother on Twitter that good foods for baby weaning are LCHF – in other words meat and veg. The hearing is looking like the nutrition equivalent of the Spanish inquisition, as orthodoxy seeks to silence Noakes and his heretical views once and for all. Whether they will succeed is anyone’s guess. What’s more certain is that Banting is going global , as evidence piles up in favour of its safety and efficacy to treat insulin resistance and for weightloss. Here, Noakes gives clarifying fundamentals, followed by an Idiot’s Guide to his LCHF diet.

Cape Town sports scientist Prof Tim Noakes is in great shape. At 65, after four years on his low-carb, high-fat (LCHF) diet, his energy levels are stratospheric; his running has improved spectacularly.

“I don’t run as fast as I ran in my 20s, but I’m running faster and further in training, and with more enjoyment than I did 20 years ago,” he says.

He hasn’t gained a gram of the 20kg he lost in the first two years on the diet, and his health has improved. Noakes has type 2 diabetes (it’s in his family history) and developed it despite religiously eating the recommended high-carb, low-fat diet for 33 years that experts told him would prevent diabetes. He could probably do without medication to control it, but prefers to have “perfect blood glucose control’’.

He sleeps like a baby and no longer snores – for which wife Marilyn is deeply grateful – and no longer falls asleep in front of the TV. All other ailments – recurring bronchitis, rhinitis, migraine, irritable bowel syndrome, and gastric reflux for which he was considering surgery – have disappeared.

Controversy still peppers his diet, with some saying it’s unscientific and dangerous – and so is Noakes. The science for and against LCHF and Noakes was scrutinised by an international gathering of top LCHF scientists and researchers at the low-carb, high-fat summit in Cape Town from February 19 to 22. Noakes hosted the event with Karen Thomson, granddaughter of the late pioneering cardiac surgeon Prof Chris Barnard, and the cream of international LCHF medical and scientific experts on the speakers’ panel.

Here he clarifies terminology of his LCHF diet, and gives an Idiot’s Guide to getting started:

Is your diet Atkins?

No, Atkins is higher protein than ours. Ours is high-fat, moderate-protein.

Is it Paleo?

No. Paleo is low in carbs, but not as low as we go. It excludes cereals and dairy, but includes fruit, which we don’t, except for some berries that are high in nutrition and low in carbs.

Is it Banting?

It’s probably more correct to call it Ebstein – after German physician Dr Wilhelm Ebstein who first made it high-fat. That was the diet Sir William Osler promoted in his monumental textbook: The Principles and Practices of Medicine, published in the US in 1892. Anyone who claims Banting or Ebstein diets are fads simply knows nothing about medical nutrition history. Nutrition did not begin in 1977 as our students seem to be taught.

Any weighing of food on your diet?

No. That’s a joke. You can’t predict accurately the absolute calorie content of foods when eaten by humans. You don’t know how many calories each person needs. The only way to work that out is by weighing yourself. If your weight stays stable, you’re eating the same number of calories you are expending. If you are lean, that’ll probably be the correct number of calories for your body and activity level. There’s no other way remotely accurate enough to measure your calorie needs.

Is your diet extreme?

Only in that it’s extremely low in carbohydrate – the one nutrient for which humans have absolutely no essential requirement. In 1977, when we were told to eat diets extremely high in carbohydrates, human health started to fail on a global scale. Moderation is a smug, puritanical word. No mammal eats in moderation. In nature all diets are extreme – lions eat only meat, polar bears mainly fat, panda bears only bamboo shoots, giraffes only acacia leaves. Balance is what has worked for each of these species for millions of years.

Is it right for everyone?

No diet is right for everyone. LCHF is best for people who are insulin resistant.

Critics say the Tim Noakes diet is dangerous because of high saturated fat. Is saturated fat ever a health threat?

It can be, in the presence of a high carbohydrate/sugar diet that causes elevated insulin concentrations due to the excessive carb intake. Insulin directs an altered metabolism, with the formation of the damaging oxidised (LDL) cholesterol that is probably a key component in heart disease.

So what’s the key?

To eat a diet that keeps blood insulin and glucose concentrations low, because elevated insulin concentrations especially are linked to long-term health problems. We say: eat what your appetite directs you to. Once you cut the carbs we think your brain will tell you if you need more fat or protein. It’s about finding the balance that works for you.

On to the fundamentals when starting on your diet – what to cut out?

Bread, potatoes, rice, pasta, pizza, sugar, all grains and cereals, processed, packaged, boxed, adulterated foods, cakes, sweets, biscuits, fizzy drinks, all the addictive things. Anything sweet and starchy has to go – and low-fat foods.

What to keep in?

Fat and protein. You can eat fat in relatively unlimited amounts, but only moderate protein. A healthy high-protein diet for humans doesn’t exist. If your diet was 100% protein, you’d quickly get sick and die. You can’t really overdose on fat; it reduces appetite, and it’s the best way to get over sugar addiction.

What are good protein sources?

Start with eggs, full-fat dairy, cheese, yoghurt – good fallback foods. Fish and chicken – with the skin, not battery fed – and some meat, preferably organic, or at least pasture-raised, not from animals raised in feed lots and fed grains, because that destroys the meat’s quality. Meat’s not a main focus, but we like lamb because it’s fatty and pasture fed. Boerwors is fine, but without cereal in it, and bacon, preferably not very smoked.

And good fat sources?

Butter, cream – ladle meat and veg with butter; put cream in tea or coffee. Coconut oil, very healthy, everyone should have two tablespoons of it daily. Avocados. Nuts – almonds, walnuts, pecan nuts, especially macadamia nuts, they are like drops of fat – all tree nuts. Not peanuts or cashews. They’re legumes, not nuts.

Dairy can be problematic?

Only for people with diarrhoea, lactose intolerance, or who battle to lose weight – that happens mostly to women. It may well be that fat increases their hunger rather than satisfies it. We don’t know if it’s just an effect of saturated fat in some people. The easiest way to cut fat in that case is to cut dairy, and eat other sources of fat, such as oily fish, and avocado.

What about vegetables?

All vegetables have carbohydrates, but we recommend those with lowest carb, highest Tim Noakes Real Meal Revolutionnutrient content: leafy greens such as kale, it’s one of the most nutritious vegetables; also cauliflower, broccoli, they’re on our green list – (in The Real Meal Revolution, co-authored by Jonno Proudfoot, Sally-Ann Creed and David Grier).

Can you be a vegetarian on your diet?

Yes, if you eat dairy products, but we advise adding eggs and fish. Vegetarians who cheat can be incredibly healthy.

You can’t be a vegan on your diet?

Well, I know a vegan athlete, a former professional cyclist who eats 80% fat in his diet – lots of coconut oil and avos. It’s an extreme diet, but it works for him. Clearly his gut flora can handle it. I met someonewho eats only raw meat. We don’t know what the bacteria in their guts are doing, and how those bacteria might compensate for what we might perceive as intake “deficiencies”.

What carb-fat-protein ratio is best?

Depends on how sick you are. If you’re diabetic, we say 20% to 30% protein, 60% to 70% fat, 5% carbs. The sicker you are, the more fat you need, because fat is insulin neutral. The more insulin resistant you are, the more fat you can eat, because even when the pancreas fails, fat is the only fuel you can metabolise safely without requiring insulin. It’s perfect for blood sugar control. We don’t tell people how many grams to eat, except for carbs – around 25g if you are really sick.

What about alcohol?

It’s a toxin, and slows weight loss on our diet significantly. We say: first lose the weight, and reintroduce alcohol in small amounts if you must. The diet is a fine line. If you don’t fall on the right side of the fat, protein, carb ratio, just one apple, a beer or two glasses of wine will put you on the wrong side, and you will not enjoy the benefits you should from cutting carbs.

No sweet ‘cheat’ treats at all?

A small piece of dark chocolate is fine, but many people can’t eat just one small piece – like smokers who can’t have one cigarette. The key is to get sugar out the diet. People don’t understand how addictive sugar is, or what it actually is – not just sucrose, the white stuff, also high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) in processed foods. That’s what I classify as sugar, the really addictive one. If you can get people down to 25g of carbs a day for a few months with no added sugar, the brain no longer searches for sugar. That’s what makes our diet so successful.

And best snacks?

Nuts, biltong, cheese, coconut – I love coconut chips best of all. And fullcream yoghurt.

How often should you eat?

Depends on how sick or obese you are. I’m diabetic, so in my opinion the less frequently I eat the better. I eat a big breakfast, snack a little at two in the afternoon and eat dinner at seven.

Last week we all ran the Fremantle half and afterwards it was back to City beach and the best pancakes we can find in Perth at the moment. If you follow this blog you’ll know we run for pancakes. The bling, kudos, wellness, fitness etc is all well and good but the bottom line is the pancakes after the Sunday long run. Running magazines even talk up pancakes as recovery food so it must be good. (Please no one write anything to the contrary as you will be banned from this site and all access blocked. I only have pancakes in my life bar running. I hope the Wife and kids don’t read that!)

I digress , as always. So this morning we all meet at 6am outside Clancys (  http://clancysfishpub.com.au/city-beach.html ) and off we go on another ( and the last pre-Masters marathon) long run. The obligatory 30k out and back with no stops. I believe this method of training teaches your body to use fat as fuel and not substitute this fat burning with Gu’s etc. helps on race day. My view anyhow.  So the six of us start and even pick up another runner on the way, a Sports Doctor no less who of course is invited to be part of the group moving forward. We all make the 15k turn around together and pick up the pace for the return leg. (as is the way off most running groups globally).

Once we finish we notice one of our group seems to have be left behind and the last two runners return and put in an order for pancakes and a flat white coffee as Mark L., has been passed and put in his order as he knows he’s in trouble. The image below shows what a considerate guy I am, you’ll notice Mark’s pancakes and coffee eating for him.

So eventually Mark turns up and he’d hit the wall at about 25k in the 30k run and went from feeling fine to ‘finished’ in a short period of time. Heart rate was fine just he had nothing in his legs. Must admit when he staggered in he’d looked better. The pancakes, coffee, a shake and water helped and he soon regains his composure. Compare this to last week when Mark ran a great PB without pushing himself. This was due to a block of training that had pushed his average distance well beyond his norm.

So the point of this post is sometimes the run kicks your backside when you least expect it. Everybody has bad days but you must realise when your training you’re running on tired legs continuously and sometimes you just push too hard and it’s time to ‘pay the piper’, today Mark paid in full.

It’s important to also realise that when you eventually face your goal race you’re normally rested, carbo-loaded and hydrated. Add this to the extra incentive to do well and sometimes those last long runs are harder than the race itself.

If you have a bad run and hit the wall that’s ok. You’ve found a tipping point which you can use as a baseline for your next block of training and move past it. Sometimes you learn more from these runs that constant easy runs that don’t test you. Of course it helps when you know you got probably the best pancakes in Perth and a decent coffee waiting for you.