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Posts tagged ‘running nutrition’

Nov 15

Mg
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Magnesium

I subscribe to Ben Greenfield’s newsletter and today I received an email with the subject line “What Magnesium is Best?”. Ben Greenfield talks quite a bit about the benefits of magnesium but I’ve never taken a second to learn why people use it for exercise recovery. According to some articles I read tonight, it seems that magnesium is one of those minerals that can be depleted quite a bit during exercise. However, it is important for your body to have sufficient magnesium to help rebuild after an intense effort. Here is what an article from the Department of Nutrition, Amherst had to say… Read more

Nov 12

endurox
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Endurox

Today on my day off I was able to spend some time chatting with Gavin, my new running coach. I’m taking the rest of this week easy and then it’s back to the grind on Monday. I’ve already signed up for my next two races, Myrtle Beach Half Marathon in February and Tobacco Road Marathon in March. And I’ve made my goals known. I’m going to be training for 1:30 for the half and 3:15-3:20 for the full. (Ambitious, I know.) Gavin seems to think it’s totally doable. I also think it’s doable, but it’s going to take a lot of hard work and discipline. However this is something I want really really bad, so I’m willing to work for it. Read more

Oct 7

bcaa
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Branched Chain Amino Acids

Sometimes blog ideas come easily (like my love letter to running yesterday) and sometimes I spend hours reading articles trying to figure out what I can contribue to the blogosphere. Today has been one of those long days of reading and not knowing really what to say. I’ve gone from this article on the 11 benefits of alcohol to this study on how the FDA allows claims on supplements that have yet to be proven. I’ve started two blog posts and then decided they weren’t good enough. I’ve read some more and finally after a few too many articles, I’ve picked a topic – branched chain amino acids. I know, you didn’t see that one coming did you?

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Sep 28

Photo Source: Ezra Wolfe, Wikimedia Commons
4 Comments

Elite Marathoners and Low Carb Training

A while back, I wrote a blog about intermittent fasting and the benefits of teaching the body to burn fat for fuel over carbs. As a runner, this could be important because your body can only hold a limited amount of carbs and once you burn through them, you are more susceptible to fatigue. On the other hand, your body has way more fat than you could ever burn through on a 26.2 mile run. Therefore, if you can teach your body to burn fat for fuel, you potentially have an unlimited fuel source. Personally, I enjoy carbs so I’m pretty sure I could never completely transition to fat over carbs. Nevertheless, I do think there is something to be said for doing a workout in a carb depleted state.

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Sep 26

Photo Source: 3268zauber, Wikimedia Commons
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Gluten

First of all, happy Wednesday! Wednesday is my favorite day of the week: work hard for two days, an easy day, and then work hard for two more days followed by my favorite Saturday activity – the long run. Even my students look forward to Wednesdays because it’s our motivational day.

In other news….

I’m currently in the process of reading Wheat Belly. So far, so good and the author has quite the sense of humor (or sarcasm). Read more

Sep 24

No artificial what?? Photo Source: Ioic, Wikimedia Commons
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Sports Drinks

I have just spent the last hour reading more about sports drinks than I ever cared to. But if anything, I would say it’s been quite informative. My interest in sports drink came about yesterday after hanging out with my fabulous neighbors. They too are runners and so we often have those runner’s conversations. How was your 18 miler? How are you fueling? Any good post run tips? Being the nosey person I am, I started reading the labels on their GU, G2, Muscle Milk Light, Salt Tablets, and anything else I could find. And it all came back to my oh so favorite topic – fake sugar. G2 – sucralose. Muscle Milk Light – sucralose AND aspartame. I started to wonder what is the best, natural, sports drink out there? Can you make your own? Are there certain ingredients to be looking for and others to avoid? Well this can get into a lengthy discussion so I just want to highlight a few things I learned.

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Sep 22

syrup
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Maple Syrup

This morning at FitBloggin’, Canadian Maple Syrup sponsored a talk titled Nutrition for Maximum Performance. I thought it was interesting the talk was being sponsored by maple syrup but it turned out to be quite informative – other than their hydration recommendations but that’s for a different day (see pic below). Read more

Sep 21

I use to drink one of these a day. I'm so glad I gave up this habit. Photo Source: Koka Kona, Wikimedia Commons
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The History of Sweetners

(Update: I messaged Ben Greenfield for his thoughts on Red #40 and Sucralose (think Splenda). His response: If I see Red #40 or Sucralose in anything I don’t go near it. No exceptions.) 

Let me just go ahead and put my opinion out there – I am very anti fake sugar. I have formed this opinion because of my own experience with a myriad of sugar free products – ranging from chocolate, to jelly, to diet sodas. Did you know that even some Thomas English Muffins has fake sugar? Why would one even think bread has fake sugar? Crazy, I know. Well after being an obsessive gum chewer and buyer of all things sugar free, I realized what it did to my body and I strongly believe no type of fake sugar is good for us. Period. But that is my opinion… Read more

Sep 12

Ingredient list on the gel packet
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Maltodextrin and Honey Stingers

I’m a little confused. Yesterday I wrote about 2nd Surge and why I loved it – 100mg of caffeine, brown rice syrup, agave nectar, whey protein isolate, and lots of fruit puree. I mentioned that Honey Stingers are another brand of energy gel I like because they are along the lines of a more natural gel – honey and B vitamins (and no maltodextrin). However, Read more

Sep 11

IMG_2187
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2nd Surge

I’ve tried tried a myriad of energy gels in my years of running. Right now I have two boxes of 2nd Surge and 1 box of Honey Stingers energy gels sitting on my kitchen counter. I like the Honey Stingers and the fact that they are more natural, easily digestible, and have B vitamins, which are super important during strenuous exercise. However, the taste is not my favorite. I’m a chocolate gel person and after years of using GU chocolate (because for some reason I didn’t realize I had another option), I found 2nd Surge. I was reminded this past Saturday why I love 2nd Surge… Read more

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