Adapting Nutrition To Your Training!
Happy Friday friends! I hope you have had a wonderful week and are gearing up for a great weekend. I’m excited for yet another long run and to explore a new trail in town. Whatever your plans may be, I hope you have a wonderful time! Today we are going to talk about adapting nutrition to your training. As a disclaimer, I’d like to remind everyone that I’m not a nutritionist or a registered dietitian but this is what has worked for me in the past.
Related: Let’s Talk About Your Nutrition
You’ve probably heard the lovely saying that you can’t outrun a bad diet. Y’all, I can’t tell you how long I was in denial about this. I mean, was my eating horrendous? No, but it wasn’t all that great either. Having the proper nutrition to your exercise work load is very important. Food is fuel for your body and you want to make sure you’re not sabotaging your workouts with improper nutrition.
A common issue I see in runners during marathon training is that they will get lax with their eating habits because they are running longer. While you may initially feel hungry, it doesn’t mean that you can eat Big Macs all week! I went through a complete cycle of marathon training where I did this. While I don’t believe I gained any weight but I wasn’t a toothpick either. I didn’t adapt my nutrition with my training and ate a larger amount of crap that had no benefit to my running.
I’m sure you’ve seen the crazy amount of food that some football players eat a day. Their body is able to use all the food they eat because they workout and practice for hours a day. Those athletes that are in great shape tend to eat more NUTRITIOUS food as well and not just junk food. If you’re training for a race or doing more intense workouts, I would guess to say that you require more food. If you’re in a season of your life where you’re living a more sedentary lifestyle and don’t want to gain weight, you’ll have to adjust your intake. These are two great articles that touch upon how you should make adjustments to your eating to complement your lifestyle. Whether you eat intuitively or count macros, I think you’ll find a good amount of information in these.
How To Adjust Your Nutrition During Injury Recovery
The Role of Carbs in an Active Lifestyle
Working with a Dietitian helped me get my eating in check. I realized what I personally needed to get stronger and improve my running. After a few weeks of tweaking my nutrition, I stared to see results. If working with a dietitian is not something you can do right now, I would recommend doing a little research. You know what your goals are and we won’t know what we can achieve until we give something a try! Nutrition and activity go hand in hand so it’s a good idea to pay attention to both!
How do you adjust your nutrition during training?
