Whether you're training for a marathon, ultra trail race, or your next athletic meet, what and how much you eat can make or break your running performance. 

At Physiologic, we treat runners. Lots of them. 

What we’ve learnt over our years of experience working with athletes like you is that having clear information and guidance on nutritional concepts is what sets the elite apart from the ‘could have beens’. 

Understanding that the right fuel is essential for powering through those miles and aiding in recovery.

We’ve invited Ajay Patel of AP Health & Performance, a functional health expert, to dive into one of the best ways to optimise your nutrition for better endurance, speed, and overall running success. 

Ready to learn how to fuel your body like a pro runner? 

GENERAL ENERGY REQUIREMENTS

Given the duration of long-distance running, let alone the volume of training that goes into racing (>90km/week sounds familiar to anyone?), your body needs a whole lot of TLC to perform at its best. 

Even more so than if you just did a couple hours of strength training or yoga classes per week.

You rely on enormous amounts of energy for the hours of running you do in a single training session, let alone the accumulation of sessions over a whole week. 

Energy that your body already needs for basic functions like your brain, breathing, immunity, digestion, and various other health factors. This is called your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). On average, a male's BMR is around 1800 calories/day, and females at 1600 calories/day. 

As a very general rule of thumb, you burn around 80-100 calories for every kilometre (km) that you run. This number will vary based on factors that include your size, running technique and efficiency, environment etc. 

A 5km run will ‘cost’ you 400-500 cal. 

It’s not uncommon for our elite runners to hit 90 km/week. That could be up to 9000 cal/week burned, or, an extra 1300 cal PER DAY. This doesn’t even take into account the energy required for recovery from training!

Where do we get our ‘energy’ from?

As simple as it sounds, the body makes energy from what you consume (eat and drink). 

The food and drink that you consume can be categorised into carbohydrates, fats and protein, commonly known as ‘macronutrients’. 

The food that you eat will go through 3 Stages of complex processes throughout your body that will eventually turn that bowl of pasta into ‘energy’, or more technically, ‘ATP’. 

Just FYI - the 3 stages are

1. Digestion & Assimilation

2. Citric Acid Cycle 

3. Electron Transport & Oxidative Phosphorylation

Where is our energy made?

So you’ve just had your bowl of pasta, and your digestive system is breaking it down to mush, ready to be absorbed in your gut, then transported to your organs and cells for energy production and storage. 

Energy is made in your cells, specifically, the mitochondria within your cells.

Think of mitochondria as the “manufacturing warehouse” in every single cell in your body.

Your mitochondria are critical to your very existence, and literally powers your every move, cognition and essential bodily functions.

Are you fuelling your body enough to meet your training needs?

The whole concept of optimising your nutrition, at a very basic level, is to ensure you are consuming enough calories, with an appropriate macronutrient (carb/fat/protein) split to fuel your training. 

In my experience, many athletes are UNDER fuelling.

They may not realise for a few weeks, or months, but some common signs and symptoms that start creeping up include

1. Lower energy/mood

2. Weight loss

3. Gradual loss of performance

4. Brain fog/mid afternoon crash 

5. Poorer sleep 

6. Longer recovery time from training sessions 

7. Injury persistence/recurrence 

Here are some examples of the caloric content of some foods - do you think you eat enough? Or are you falling short?

Coming back to the ‘cost’ of daily activities and sports, how many calories per day would you anticipate burning through if you had a desk job AND did a run or weight training session?

Are you refuelling your body adequately to ensure you’re not dipping into your body’s reserves?

When I  look at the numbers this way, I think we can all conclude a few things here

1. Make sure you’re eating ENOUGH to fuel your training 

2. Optimise the actual processes of converting your food into energy 

3. Optimise energy utilisation efficiency

WHERE CAN YOU START?

The best way to script a roadmap to a better you, starts with knowing where you are right now. 

Emphasis being on ‘knowing’ where you are, not guessing. 

Our suggestion? 

Start with step 1: Making sure you’re eating ENOUGH to fuel your training. 

The best way to do this?

Track what you eat.

ps: Ryan writing this now, not Ajay

“When I finally gave in and decided to track what I ate over a week, it gave me objective and accurate measurements of what I was actually eating. And right there in my hand (phone), hard proof that I was UNDER eating. It helped to explain why I felt tired, lost weight, and kept skipping gym sessions.

I felt second best. 

The calorie tracker ended up being a catalyst that started new habits, like making sure I ate an extra snack/meal (400-500 cal), adding an avocado to my brekkie, having that extra egg etc. And it worked. I don’t use the tracker on a daily basis anymore, as it’s taught me roughly how much I should be eating, however I do use it every 2-3 months just to make sure I’m still on the right track.”

We recommend MyFitnessPal as it’s free, and has an enormous database of foods that you can input to the app. You can even scan barcodes that will upload its nutritional content automatically. 

Try it for at least a week, to see whether how much you’re eating is supporting you, or holding you back from your goals. 

CONCLUSION

In this edition, part 1, we’re essentially focusing on a BASIC principle - eating ENOUGH to fuel your performance. 

Most people should focus on nailing this first before worrying about this energy gel vs the other one some influencer uses. 

If you need some extra guidance on simple, practical steps to improve your nutrition regime, reach out to Ajay for a consultation to see how a tailor made plan can help you to get the best out of your training sessions, and one step closer to achieving your dream marathon PB.  

Contact him through his website below 

https://www.aphealthandperformance.com/

In part 2, we explore the geekier, science-ier side of optimising mitochondrial function. The energy production warehouse. This will be particularly helpful for those who are already on top of their nutrition, but still feel they lack the energy to meet the demands of their sport! 

About the Author

Ajay is a seasoned health & fitness coach who’s dedicated the last decade to helping his clients on their journey towards better health. Known for his dedication to continuing education and development in his field, he has ventured into the world of functional medicine to complement his established service offerings, elevating the results his clients are achieving. 

If you feel like your current health habits aren’t improving certain aspects of your health, contact Ajay at his website https://www.aphealthandperformance.com/ to get started on a guided path to optimised health and well being.