Fast Fuel: Food for Running Success: Delicious Recipes and Nutrition Plans to Achieve Your Goals

194 Pages·2016·1.14 MB·English

by  Renee McGregor

FAST FUEL
FOOD FOR
RUNNING
SUCCESS

CONTENTS
Foreword
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER 1: FUELLING BASICS
CHAPTER 2: TRAINING – THE ROAD TO VICTORY
CHAPTER 3: FINE-TUNING YOUR BODY
BREAKFASTS
LIGHT MEALS
MAIN MEALS
SNACKS & PORTABLES
DESSERTS
Glossary
Bibliography
Acknowledgments
FOREWORD
If you want to become a better runner, then picking up this book was a fantastic
move. I'm an elite ultra-marathon runner and working with Renee and reading
her written words has changed the way that I view food and diet, enabling me to
reach new levels of running success through improvements in my energy levels,
recovery rate and general wellbeing. I’ve literally eaten my way to better results.
There are too many dietary fads championed by celebrity ‘nutritionists’ that
just don’t provide a long-term solution for an athlete. For example, a ‘super-
vegan’ diet may cause the weight to drop off, and give short-term gains, merely
because the list of foods allowed is limited to kale and liquorice sticks, but this
isn’t sustainable.
Losing weight is too often shouted out as the way to become a faster runner.
Year after year I see runners drop a substantial amount of weight, maybe get a
little bit faster and then disappear off of the face of the earth, with a cacophony
of niggles and injuries that would not have occurred if they had supported
training with a healthy and balanced diet. When it comes to nutrition, long-term
consistency is key to long-term success.
It isn’t just eating the right thing that counts, but eating it at the right times, in
the right amounts and with the right combination of nutrients to make sure that
you have enough energy to hit the track, enough protein to recover from that
long run, or enough milk to keep your bones strong with months of repetitive
work. This I learnt from Renee.
The stresses we put our bodies through during training, which are necessary to
improve, are pointless if they are not coupled with appropriate recovery. This
doesn’t mean that every little thing that goes in (and out) of your body has to be
measured – even the most iron-willed of athletes would eventually be driven to
despair by a dietary plan that’s too strict. Just aiming to improve one bit at a time
will make you a better runner.
With Renee’s interesting and engaging style, nutrition is easier to understand.
Incorporating just a few nutritional changes into your weekly routine can make
big long-term gains and will be more beneficial than buying those super-fast new
trainers or a fancy GPS watch.
There’s no secret diet, special training session or new bit of kit that will make
or break your running career, but how you fuel the machine that powers your
running is vital to long and healthy running success. So if you’re out to improve
running is vital to long and healthy running success. So if you’re out to improve
your time at the local ParkRun, training for your first marathon, or one of the
eccentric, yet growing community of ultra-runners, then do what is best for your
body – look after it as a treasured possession and build for a strong and lasting
future within running. I’ve already got my eyes on the V90 100m record if I
don’t slow down too much.
Now enjoy the book. I’m in Athens and I can smell the baklava. Don’t tell
Renee, but I might go and eat six of them!
Robbie Britton
Team GB Ultra-Marathon Runner & Coach
Ran 261km in 24hrs
INTRODUCTION
This book is for runners of all levels – elite, recreational, young or old,
experienced or new to sport. It is for those of you who want to:
>>> Achieve your performance goals, whether that’s improving your
weekly ParkRun time, bettering your personal best time in the half to
marathon distance, or venturing into the ultra-running terrain.
>>> Stick to a training plan while also trying to earn a living and juggle
family commitments; creating meals that ensure you can fuel your
evening track session, but that benefit and are enjoyed by the whole
family.
>>> Improve your knowledge of nutrition because it de-bunks some of the
common myths. For example, you may know that you need to eat
carbohydrate for energy and protein for recovery, but struggle to
understand how this translates into real food options.
>>> Increase your confidence by knowing you are eating the right foods to
fuel your body and maximize your training, without over-reaching and
potentially risking injury or illness.
There is so much information about nutrition available but not all of it is backed
up by science. As a registered dietitian and sports nutritionist, I have to ensure
that all the advice I provide is evidence based – that is, there has been reliable
research around the subject to make the claims credible and accurate. My job is
to make the science accessible. Through researching all the latest studies and
interpreting them into practical application, I produce recipes and nutrition plans
that work for all lifestyles and budgets.
No matter whom I am working with, I see it as a collaborative journey. I first
help athletes to understand the fundamentals of good nutrition and then, with
practical suggestions, piece it all together to develop a nutrition plan that works
for them.
This is what I am offering you here – a practical, easy-to-follow, stepby-step,
scientific book about sports nutrition, including simple but mouthwatering
recipes, that you can tailor to your running needs.
recipes, that you can tailor to your running needs.
>>> Chapter 1 is a practical guide to what to eat, when to eat and how much
to eat. We also look at how your body metabolizes food into fuel, and
how it can adapt to provide fuel for different levels of training
intensity.
>>> Chapter 2 shows the different fuelling requirements for different
distances and training intensities and how making the right nutritional
choices will benefit you. This section also includes sample menu plans,
using the recipes from the book to demonstrate practically how to
choose appropriate food.
>>> Chapter 3 highlights the importance of maintaining the well-oiled
machine we call our body; it looks at issues relating to injury, illness
and over-reaching and demonstrates how the right nutrition can
combat these potential problems.
There are fun and practical quick tips throughout the book that deliver upto-date
and evidence-based sports nutrition in bitesize and accessible ways.
In this book, I have drawn from my professional experiences as a nutritionist and
personal experiences as an endurance and newly converted ultra-runner. I hope it
helps you to achieve all your running goals.
CHAPTER 1
FUELLING BASICS
FROM SPRINT TO ULTRA
There is so much hype surrounding sports nutrition these days; the science is
evolving, with an increasing number of studies proving that nutrition plays an
important part in performance gains. This chapter will help you to understand
why correct fuelling specifically relating to running is important to achieve your
goals and optimize your performance. You will probably have some idea of the
basics of good nutrition – for example, that you should eat carbohydrate for
energy, protein for repair, fat to absorb important nutrients, and vitamins and
minerals for a healthy immune system. In this chapter we will look at these
factors in more detail and I will explain how the quality of these nutrients, and
when you consume them, plays a fundamental role in sports nutrition.
So no matter whether your weekly mileage is less than 20 or over 100, the
basic principles of good nutrition are applicable to all; whether you’re a novice
or an Olympian; a ParkRunner or an ultra-runner, you need to begin with a
strong nutritional foundation. Once this has been established, you can move on
to a more detailed nutritional plan, helping to make you stronger, fitter and more
able to meet your performance goals.
BEFORE YOU READ ON...
When working with sports nutrition, it is normal to calculate the nutritional
requirements for each macro-nutrient to ensure that training fuel demands are
being met. These are converted based on your weight in kilograms, so
throughout the book I will be referring to grams of nutrients per kilogram of
your body weight, or as you will see it displayed: ‘g/kg BW’. Therefore, a great
starting point would be to calculate your weight in kilograms. Most home scales
will have conversions. Using metric values ensures greater accuracy.
THE SPECIFICS OF SPORTS NUTRITION
The main difference between healthy eating and sports nutrition is the attention