Food for runners

Racing a half-marathon is almost as exciting as training for the entire 26.2 miles. Take it from me, a graduate of 30 marathons, with a 2:52 marathon PR (personal record) and a 1:20 half-marathon best.

Completing a half-marathon marks the turning point from being an average Jo "jogger" to an official runner. While you might have been able to run your local 5K on any decent diet, the half requires a solid dietary training period to meet the demands of the race. While the half is a more realistic distance to train for than the full marathon, even the best runners face dietary obstacles. Some of the nutritional challenges of half-marathon training include:

• Maintaining energy levels throughout the 12-week period for training and everyday life beyond the run.
• Getting the right balance of carbohydrates, protein and fat to prevent illness and injury.
• Eating enough food to sustain speed and endurance during the run.
• Avoiding the intake of too many healthy high-fiber foods, to the extent they affect your gastrointestinal system and your training.
• Staying hydrated enough to prevent and overcome dehydration.
• Eating the right snacks at the right times to prevent running detours like cramping, headaches, dehydration and excessive bathroom breaks.
• Taking the appropriate vitamin and mineral supplements to enhance your personal dietary intake without exceeding your actual needs.

There's a lot more to this food stuff than meets the running eye. Let's begin by figuring out what your racing diet should look like. Then we'll talk about specifics such as hydration and supplements.

Your Eating Plan

Your daily dietary needs are dependent on three factors: age, weight and current fitness level. Over the next few pages, I'll outline the types of food -- and drink -- your body will require daily throughout the three major periods of training during the 12 weeks before the race.

phase 1 (weeks 1-4)

Building a Base

Phase one is marked by an increase in the time you spend training, also known as training duration. During this time, you need to increase total calories to accommodate an increase in calorie expenditure (what you're burning). You'll enjoy getting to eat more because you'll notice a marked increase in your appetite when you start to up your mileage. It's not just psychological, and it's nice to give yourself permission to eat a bunch of food for the sake of your training. Physically, your body is telling you it needs more food to account for the calories burned as a result of training. You'll even use more calories after the run, no matter what you're doing.

In addition to total calories, you also need to adjust the amount of protein and essential fatty acids you consume to help boost your immune system and possibly help prevent stress fractures, tears and other potential nutrition-related injuries.

To calculate your daily calorie needs during this period, use this three-step formula. (Grab a calculator.)

1. Take your weight in pounds and multiply it by 12 (the equivalent of 1/2 calorie per hour, per 24 hours). If you weigh 120 pounds, that's 120 x 12 = 1440. Your total is: 1440 calories

We call this number the Basal Energy Expenditure (BEE), the number of calories it takes to sustain you at your present bodyweight at rest. If you want to drop a few pounds to help you run lighter, use that lower weight in your calculations, but be realistic. This is no time to go on a crash weight-loss diet.

2. Now add the number of calories you expend training each day.

If you run: then multiply your bodyweight by

5 miles per hour ---- .86 calories per mile trained
7 miles per hour ---- .84 calories per mile trained
9 miles per hour ---- .82 calories per mile trained

For walkers: If you walk at four miles per hour, use the calculation of approximately five calories per minute, or 300 calories per hour. If you walk an hour a day, add 300 calories daily. When you get to two hours per day, add 600 calories daily.

Taking the same 120-pound woman who runs seven miles per hour at an average of five miles per day,

.84 calories x 5 miles = 4.2
4.2 x 120 (bodyweight) = 504
The total is: 504 calories used for training.

Keep in mind that these extra calories are only for training days. On rest days you won't need the extra calories.

3. Finally, take the sum of the BEE and calories expended for exercise and add 10% of that number. This accounts for the number of calories your body uses to digest and metabolize food.

1440 calories + 504 calories= 1944
1944 calories + 194 (10% of 1944) = 2138 or about 2200 calories each day

On rest days you can eliminate the extra training calories you calculated in step two.

What does that mean in food servings? On a 2200-calorie eating program, be sure to get a minimum of:

• Four servings (about 80 calories each) of multigrain bread, whole-wheat pasta, brown rice and/or high-fiber cereal.
• 1/2 cup beans or peas daily.
• "Five for Five" servings of vegetables and fruits. This means five different colors of five servings of a variety of vegetables and fruits each day. Your vegetables should total about three cups. Your goal for fruit is about 300 calories' worth, or three to four servings.
• Six ounces of lean protein, such as skinless poultry, fish, egg whites or meat. (Three ounces of meat/chicken/fish is about the size of a deck of cards.)
• Two cups of low-fat dairy such as yogurt or milk, or two ounces cheese.
• Two tablespoons ground flaxseed, or one ounce of walnuts, or 1/2 cup of soy. These are all great sources of omega-3 essential fatty acids.

The foods above total approximately 1,400 calories, so our 120-pound woman still has room for a variety of other foods of her choice.

If you follow these six guidelines, you'll be more than halfway to meeting your vitamin, mineral and phytochemical needs and you'll save money on supplements. It's best to get these nutritional goodies in food because your body likes to use them in this form best. You need the calories anyway, so go for it!

phase 2 (weeks 5-8)

Picking Up the Pace

Now that you've gotten four weeks of torture, I mean training, under your belt, it's time to get more serious about your half-marathon adventure. Honestly, I know firsthand how difficult the first four weeks of training and dietary discipline can be. Life will get easier, I promise.

In phase two, you need to take it up a notch in nutritional quality, variety and density to help your running become higher quality, as well. Make sure you keep the pantry filled to the brim with nutritious food that you'll actually prepare and eat. You also need to vary the foods you choose or you'll end up in a food rut. While food ruts may not be unhealthy, they tend to leave you stale. We certainly don't want this to have an impact on the body, mind or training, so let's take a food break.

One way to diversify your chicken breast, pasta or morning cereal is to add texture, color and tastes. For instance, take your grilled chicken breast, veggies and salad from last night's dinner and make a healthy tortilla wrap for work the next day. Roll a fat-free tortilla (preferably whole-wheat) in a mixture of crushed organic black beans mixed with salsa; spread the tortilla with fat-free cream cheese blended with cumin to taste; dress it up with a green leafy lettuce or two; and toss in your sliced and diced chicken. Voila -- lunch is on, with a twist.

As you adapt to your new calorie and training needs, take a chance and visit the local health-food store. Experiment with organic fruit blends, whole-grain cereals and crackers, veggie soups, soy products and even fresh-fruit smoothies. While you're there, pick up a few chutneys and salsas to jazz up your favorite veggies and pasta. You can even take a real leap and try lentil, rice or potato pasta.

To stay hydrated, you'll also need to adapt your drinking habits during this period, learn to like the taste of sport drinks and even learn how to tolerate the drinks while you run. Not all fluids are created equal.

While a minimum of a liter of water is recommended daily to keep your training program afloat, you may need up to two liters per hour to prevent dehydration on hotter days. How do you know how much to drink? One method is to weigh yourself before and after a long run. Drink at least 16 ounces of water for each pound you lost on the run. Drink 1.5 times that amount if you want to be hydrated for the next day's workout.

You also need to practice drinking before the run, consuming 16-20 ounces in the two-hour period before you head out. Then try drinking at least 5-10 ounces of fluid every 15 minutes (or every two miles) on the run. It's important to get used to running with fluid in your belly. It's a little like swimming in a pool from the inside out. Get used to it before race day.

While you can't always control the temperature of the fluid the volunteers prepare on race day, you can find out which sport drink they will be serving and practice using it. The best sport drinks will contain only 14 grams of sugar per eight-ounce serving; too much sugar will cause cramping. Again, you won't be able to control how they mix it at the aid stations. How do you practice your drinking habits? Try this:

• Practice drinking a combination of sport drinks and water during the training period, on and off the run.
• Try squeezing the cup and drinking it this way. This teaches you how to selectively try the sport drink they serve to you at the race-aid stations. If it's too strong, you can go for the water provided instead.

If a sport drink is too rich, the sugar in the drink draws water from around your body into the lumen of the intestine and causes something called osmotic diarrhea. Or as we say in the business: The I-have-to-go-to-the-bathroom-now-regardless-of-the-availability-of-a-port-o-john. It's nasty at best.

To play it safe, you can also bring your own sport drink in powder form. Place it in a little plastic baggie and pin it inside your shorts. You can make your own mix with the water provided at the aid stations without taking a risk on the volunteers' mixing skills. Gatorade works best for me; I always have a backup supply pinned in my shorts in case the race aides are serving something else.

Last thought on fluid: Becoming dehydrated could compromise everything you've worked hard for. You'll feel verrry bad, get the headache of your life, feel lightheaded, and maybe even pass out. If it's a hot day, you also risk a heat injury that could even be fatal. Never let yourself get dehydrated.

As your mileage goes up, chances are you'll experience the dreaded "side stitch," a pain in your side that can make you wish you never started running. It hurts and it's hard to run until it goes away. There are several myths as to why these side stiches happen, including gas, a swollen liver or lack of oxygen to the diaphragm -- none of these are true.

What matters to you is how to fix it: If you get a stitch, just press hard on it, literally. Stop running and press your hand deeply into the area of the stitch. At the same time, purse your lips and blow out against the tightly held lips as hard as you can. You can resume running as soon as the pain disappears.

phase 3 (weeks 9-12)

Tweaking the Program to Perfection

Phase three is the last four weeks down to the wire. During this phase you want to perfect your eating program, find supplements that will enhance your eating and try all the funny sports foods that will help you run faster, longer and more energetically.

At this point, you may want to invest in your diet by hiring a registered dietitian (RD) who specializes in sports nutrition. He or she can help you perfect your diet for this race and for the long run.

Energy Gels

These little metal packages contain what looks like cake icing or thick pudding. Runners pop these at different intervals during the race to boost their energy levels. They are helpful because they contain about 100 calories of carbohydrate energy, with varying amounts of vitamins and minerals. They eliminate the need to totally depend on sport drinks for sugar calories. There is one drawback, though -- they are very sweet. You'll need to experiment to find your favorite flavor and brand. When these products have helped me, it's because I've used the flavorless variety (called "Just Plain"). Again, try them out on a long training run before the race, and drink plenty of water.

Remember, too, that more than 60 grams of sugar an hour can cause big stomach problems. Keep a mental record of the energy gels with more than 25 grams of sugar and sport drinks that contain more than 28 grams of sugar per 16 ounces (or 14 grams per eight ounces) before you throw your belly into a tizzy.

Supplementing the Diet

If you're going to take any supplements, the major vitamins and minerals a female runner may need are iron, antioxidants and the B vitamins.

Adequate iron intake is critical for building blood and replacing losses that occur throughout the menstrual cycle and in the process of running. A simple blood test can tell you if you suffer from iron-deficiency anemia. You may be at risk if you:

• have a previous history of iron deficiency.
• experience spells of excessive tiredness, nausea and depression.
• have not had the appetite to maintain your half-marathon dietary needs.

Be sure to check with your doctor before taking any kind of iron supplement.

My favorite iron formula: Slow Fe with folic acid. It's easy on the belly, and the folic acid also helps to build the blood.

Antioxidants are the next most important nutrients. The vitamins A, C, E and selenium (just to name a few) help protect your body's cells from the stresses of training and outdoor elements like radiation and pollution. Altitude training can also stress your body. My personal recommendation: Antioxidant Fuel from Twinlab. I've been using it for years, and it gives me enough (but not too much) A, C, E and selenium, along with other goodies like calcium and phosphorus.

B-vitamins are the last critical group of vitamins that athletes may need more of. If you don't eat enough "brown" foods like beef, beans and brown bread, you could be at risk for a low intake. B's help you use the calories you eat from food, so it's critical that you get enough. My favorite: B-Complex Stress Formula by Twinlab, to enhance my B-vitamin-rich diet. I take it at night because it tends to leave a funny aftertaste in the mouth.

The Last Suppers

In the final few days before the race, you want to rid your GI system of as many complications as possible. Therefore, while you're tapering and consuming your high-carbohydrate meals, you want to:

• Eliminate all lactose-based products like milk, frozen dairy desserts and yogurt.
• Reduce your fiber and bulk intake from large portions of beans, peas and salads. Substitute with small 100-200 calorie servings of crackers, low-fiber cereals, pasta, rice and potatoes.
• Drink, drink, and drink. Make sure you're well hydrated in the days leading up to the race -- well enough that you are visiting the john a minimum of five times a day. You'll thank me in the long run.
• Eat your last evening meal before race day a minimum of two hours before bedtime.

Last-Minute Tips

• Go to the bathroom as much as possible before the start of the race to empty the system of any unnecessary baggage.
• Prepare for the unknown. Tuck away an Advil or two just in case. You can put the tablets in the corner of a little plastic baggie and pin it into the little pocket in your shorts. You never know, you could trip on uneven cement or slip at a water station. If you don't use them, you may be able to offer them to someone else who may be in need but didn't read this article.
• Make sure your energy gel or sport drink powder is also pinned strategically in your shorts. Make sure the package isn't rubbing against you, or you'll end up with a leg abrasion. Again, if you do not use it, you might make a friend by giving the packet to a runner in need.
• Most important, dress light, think light and be positive. With all the challenges, unexpected weather conditions, pre-menstrual cramps, poor sleep and last-minute family emergencies I've encountered before race day, a positive attitude and my confidence in my food intake has taken me through many a fast finish.

Sprinkle all of this with a little faith, and when it's all said and done, regardless of your challenges, you'll be dressed with a finisher's medal.