Guide to Macro Nutrients & Timing for the Endurance Athlete

Events vary, as do athletes and your everyday health-conscious exerciser. So, it should be no surprise that one’s nutritional needs are not a one-size-fits-all solution. Factors to consider include weekly exercise expenditure requirements, body weight, environmental conditions, and nutrient timing. 

Each person will have different needs for different events. Finding the best solution may involve starting with basic nutrition recommendations. If they don’t supply the desired results, modify them as needed. Finding the best diet is often a trial-and-error process. 

Nutrition Basics:

1. Get most of your protein from animal sources (skinless chicken, turkey, and fish) unless you are vegan/vegetarian. If vegan/vegetarian you will need to increase your protein intake to make up for the incomplete protein molecules in vegetables from your diet. 

2. Timing: EAT Breakfast! Have ⅔ of your calories in the first ⅔ of your day. Dinner should be small but complete. Try to space out your food so you are having about 300-400 calories every 3 hours. For peri & menopausal women those needs are increased to 500+ calories per balanced meal 3x a day, plus nutrition before/after workouts.

3. Make sure to have Prot/Carb/Fat in each meal, and a big dose (30-40g for Women 40+, 20-25g for all others) of protein immediately post-workout. For women, adding EAA’s (especially Leucine 3-4g) and creatine (3-5g) to your daily intake is highly advised. 

4. Eat whole grains & Starchy vegetables: Quinoa, Whole Grain bread or crackers, cauliflower, broccoli, colorful potatoes, and lots of dark green leafy veggies. Eat your fruits, don’t drink them unless it’s during exercise/competition.

Macronutrients are the basic components of the food we eat. These are carbohydrates, protein, and fat. 

Eating macros in proper ratios fuels your endurance and strength training protocols. Healthy “adult” (aka college age men) eating includes ratios of, 45-65% of calories from carbs, 20-35% of calories from fat, and 10-35% of calories from protein.

Adjust these ratios based on the goal of the physical activity. For example, when training for endurance an athlete would increase their carb percentage to improve muscle glycogen stores. When training for strength, an athlete would consume a higher protein intake to help rebuild muscle fibers to better support more muscle mass. The numbers for most people would then look like 40% Carb, 30% Protein and 30% fat. 

Carbohydrates: 

Carbs come in different forms. Two to know are simple and complex carbs.

• Simple carbs, also known as simple sugars, have one to two sugar molecules. These include glucose*, dextrose, or fructose. Simple carbs break down quickly in the body. Foods with simple sugars include fruits (grapes, watermelon, stone fruits), milk, vegetables, table sugar, candy, and soft drinks. They supply energy but lack fiber, vitamins, and other key nutrients.

• Complex carbs have three or more sugar molecules. You'll find these in foods like beans, whole grains, whole-wheat pasta, colorful potatoes, corn, and legumes.

So, what kind of carbohydrate should you consume? Most carbs should come from complex sources and naturally occurring sugars. Processed carbs and refined sugars should be limited to racing and hard training sessions, or avoided if your body has trouble using it.

How many carbs should endurance athletes eat?

There will be some differences based on the type and duration of training. The general rule is to increase carbohydrate intake up to 70% of total daily calories. This helps support the high volume of glucose needed for that level of physical activity.

Endurance athletes should eat 8 to 10 grams of carbohydrate per kilogram (kg) of body weight per day. This will depend on the duration of their endurance event. For endurance training lasting 4 to 5 hours, endurance athletes should consume 10 grams per kilogram of body weight, this is based on healthy young men and does not include recommendations for women, and especially peri& postmenopausal women. Instead, according to Dr. Stacy Sims, women should follow: 

For light days, rest days  or strength training days aim for 1.1 to 1.4 grams of carb per pound of body weight per day.

For Moderate to high-intensity training (60-120 minutes), you need 1.6 to 1.8 grams of cab per pound of body weight per day.

For endurance training of 2 to 5 hours of intense training per day, you need 2 to 2.7 grams of cab per pound of body weight per day.

For extreme training of 5 hours or more of intense training per day, you need 2.7 to 3.1 grams of carbs per pound of body weight per day.

How Much Protein Should Endurance Athletes Eat?

Many people focus only on carbs for endurance exercise. However, protein intake for endurance athletes is equally important. The purpose of protein is to build and replenish lean muscle tissue. Protein also acts as a source of energy in times of caloric deficits.

There are two different types of protein:

• Animal-based protein

• Plant-based protein

Animal-based protein, as the name implies, is a protein that comes from animals. It can come from the animal’s body, such as a cut of beef or fish filet. Or it may be a protein food they produce, like cow’s milk or an egg. This type of protein is considered a complete protein. It is complete because it contains all nine essential amino acids. 

Plant-based protein is a protein that comes from plants. This type of protein can come from the plant’s leaves and roots, or a fruit or nut produced by the plant. Plant-based protein is considered an incomplete protein. This isn't to say it is bad, it just doesn't have all essential amino acids. Plant-based protein sources include edamame, chickpeas, spinach, broccoli, chia seeds, quinoa, hemp seeds, and peanut butter. Endurance athletes on a plant-based diet will have an increased protein requirement. This is due to a plant-based diet consisting of incomplete proteins.

Protein has 4 calories per gram. How much protein do you need to eat?  Protein intake for a normal healthy adult (again these guidelines are based on research done solely on young males) is around 0.8 grams/kg/day. Endurance athletes should eat protein at 1.4 g/kg/day. Athletes taking part in longer endurance events need more protein than those running shorter distances. This is based on research done on healthy young men and does not include recommendations for women, and especially peri& postmenopausal women. Instead, according to Dr. Stacy Sims, women should follow: 

For strength/power phases of training, you need 1.0 to 1.2 grams of protein per pound per day.

For endurance phases of training, you need 0.8 to 1.0 grams of protein per pound per day.

For optimal recovery, try taking 35-40 grams of protein immediately post-workout, or within no more than 30 minutes after to take advantage of the non-insulin-dependent first phase of glycogen synthesis. In addition to the 35-40 grams of protein immediately after a workout, peri & postmenopause women need to make sure there are EAA’s (essential amino acids: Leucine, isoleucine, and valine) with a 3 to 4 gram content of Leucine, and creatine in a 3-5g amount.

 

How Much Fat Should Endurance Athletes Eat?

Endurance athletes need healthy fats in their diet. Roughly 30% of one’s daily calories should come from fat when involved with endurance exercise. 

Dietary fat has six major roles in the body: Supply energy; Help manufacture and balance hormones; Form cell membranes; Form the brain and nervous system, Transport fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, and K); Supply two fatty acids the body can't manufacture (linoleic acid and linolenic acid); There are many types of fat, some good and some not. The most significant types are triglycerides, fatty acids, phospholipids, and cholesterol. Of these, triglycerides are most commonly found in food. Fatty acids break down further into saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated fats. 

Endurance athletes need to minimize the amount of saturated fat consumed. Most fat calories should be in the form of monounsaturated fatty acids.

When adding fat to your diet to keep up with the demands of endurance training, focus your fat intake on healthy fats. This includes: Fatty fish - salmon, mackerel, or tuna; Avocado; Seeds - sunflower, sesame, and pumpkin seeds all have healthy fats; Nuts - peanuts, walnuts, almonds, or cashews; Olive oil; Eggs; Ground flaxseed; Beans - kidney, navy, or soybeans.

Nutrition for Endurance: Bringing it All Together

Balancing one's nutrition is not an easy task, involves a lot of thought and trial and error. But when endurance athletes pay attention to the recommendations and figure out what methods work best for them, the outcome is improved athletic performance. This can translate to higher awards come race day.

Whether you are an elite athlete, a weekend warrior, or a personal trainer designing programs for athletes, it is important to fuel your body properly. Proper nutrients at the right time allow the body to perform at its highest level.

Mobility: Often misunderstood, yet it is the Building Block of Movement

Why are we talking about mobility so much lately? Some people lump it in with stretching/flexibility, or think it is stretching. That is only part of the equation. First let’s define flexibility, the ability to have an outside force applied to a part of your body and that force moves your body part into a position where you feel a stretch of your muscles. This is what we call a passive stretch. Whereas mobility is your ability to control and move your body/joints through a certain range of motion with strength, thus an active movement. In most cases we have more flexibility than we have mobility. Meaning we can be passively moved into a deeper range of motion than what we can control actively.

Why do we stretch? 

Most people believe it is to become more flexible. That depends on the reason you are stretching, and the process you are using. When done with mobility principles, stretching can change muscle length, joint strength and control, and neurologic control. When done with dynamic stretching principles, it can help prep the muscles for the activity you are about to take part in.

The Science

For quite some time stretches have been given on a basis of time, from 10-30 seconds. When we are talking mobility those stretches are going to need to be held much longer, up to 2 minutes. In general a stretch is going to activate either the muscle spindle or golgi tendon units. Wait what? I  know science terms. I’ll explain. The muscle spindle is within the muscle belly and sends signals to the brain about the length and changes in the length of a muscle. The Golgi tendon organ (GTO) is in the muscle-tendon junction and signals the amount of force being applied to a muscle back to the brain. 

When a muscle is rapidly stretched, the muscle spindle signals its muscle to contract to prevent it from going too far, too quickly. Ultimately, the muscle spindle functions to alert the brain that nearby joints and soft tissues are in danger of being stretched too far. These are important concepts in understanding body awareness (also known as proprioception and kinesthetic awareness).

GTOs sense muscular tension within muscles when they contract or are stretched. When the GTO is activated during stretching, it inhibits muscle spindle activity within the working muscle so a deeper stretch can be achieved. GTOs are sensitive to changes in tension and rate of tension and, because they are located in the musculotendinous junctions, they are responsible for sending information to the brain as soon as they sense an overload. Static stretching is one example of how muscle tension signals a GTO response. So, when you hold a low-force stretch for more than ten seconds, the increase in muscle tension activates the GTO, which temporarily inhibits muscle spindle activity thus reducing tension in the muscle, and allows for further stretching.

The Science Applied

Whew, we got through that. Now when we apply a stretch to a muscle, the first thing that happens is the muscle spindle reacts to the lengthening of the muscle and may cause a muscle contraction is the movement is too fast of too much pressure, once the stretch has been held for more than 10 or so seconds the GTO kicks in, relaxes the reflex muscle contraction and allows you to feel the muscle being stretched. This does not change the length of your muscle though. This only calms the nervous system to allow the muscle to relax, or a contract if you apply more force. These short stretch relaxes can help to calm the system down before starting an exercise program, but again do not change the length of the muscle or its firing pattern.

Now that we understand that stretching affects muscle control and allows you to start exercising without causing injury. Now let's talk about mobility. Again this is your controlled range of motion. In order to create more range of motion that you can control, those stretches need to be held for a much longer time, and be accompanied by active muscle contractions and passive muscle stretching. Some people have heard of Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation. This is where the concept started. Over the last decade however, research has dove deeper and found that in order to make change to the muscle length you must hold the stretch for 2 minutes. 

Mobility and Functional Range Conditioning (FRC)

The principles of FRC are based on creating not only better flexibility, but also strength through that new range of motion. It does this by focussing on joint function. We start by assessing the joint's ability to be moved (flexibility), then compare it to the joint's active range of motion (mobility), then compare that to the requirements for the sport or activity you are looking to participate in.

Example of Mobility

Let's use the example of hip flexion in cycling. Cyclists need a significant amount of hip flexion in order to achieve the proper cycling motion without causing movement of the hips on the saddle. When we look at a hip joint the primary movement is rotation. Wait what you just said we were looking at hip flexion. Yes, but in order for a hip to be able to flex properly, it MUST be able to rotate to allow flexion and even extension to happen. In FRC we look to see if there is abnormal hip rotation and we address that FIRST. Once we have determined what the hip needs, we then work it. You can see in this video that working the mobility of hip rotation is a several minute process, but one that results both in increased joint range of motion and also your ability to create force, aka strength, at that new range. 

The amazing part of working mobility is that it also includes working your strength without the need for weights. You get to use your body's internal resistance to help build strength in your joints. The hip rotation is just one example of how to work hip mobility. Everyone’s needs are different and each person may need a different set up for this particular hip mobility exercise.