FOOD FOR…..PRE-TRAINING
From a health and nutritional view point as a runner, our aim is to ensure we are fuelling our bodies appropriately to maintain our performance throughout the run….but also to support efficient recovery afterwards.
What we eat beforehand may also help reduce the risk of cramping and injury during or following our run.
In this episode we will discuss 4 foods to support your Pre-training fuelling.
We will outline the nutritional properties of each and consider how they may be added as part of your meal plan with some menu ideas.
The 4 foods we’ll be discussing today are
Finally we’ll share a 1-day menu plan using these 4 foods.
Show Notes
(00:39)
Discover Aileen and Karen’s “Go To” Pre-Running Meals and Snacks
(03:42)
Maple Syrup is a great vegan alternative to honey, which can be used in exactly the same way pre-training. The reason we are recommending it here is for its Carbohydrate content in the form of simple sugar, which is required for immediate energy. To let you see how beneficial this food could be for pre-training (endurance running lasting more than 90mins)100g of maple syrup contains 67.1g of CHO of which 59.5g is sugar…mostly glucose. Now as glucose is the raw material required for producing energy its uptake and utilisation is going to be far more rapid than if it was oats for example, which would need to be metabolised and broken down into glucose, which is going to take time.
Maple syrup could be an excellent food choice if there is very little time between eating and running. However if someone was leaving at least an hour between eating and running then a slower release CHO choice would be more beneficial….like the oats mentioned.
(08:37)
Eggs are a “complete protein” food, in that they contain ALL 9 essential Amino Acids (AA’s) , which the body cannot produce. It is the egg’s protein content we are considering here. As runners we need protein for building lean muscle as well as muscle repair and recovery. Protein is also important for maintaining soft tissue strength and suppleness, again helping reduce the risk of injury. The Branch Chain Amino Accids (BCAA’s Leucine, Iso-leucine and Valine) are the principle AA’s for muscle protein synthesis (MPS) and as eggs are a complete protein, they contain these AA’s. From a practical point of view eggs are fast to cook and for most people easy to digest which again is important for pre run timing.
(11:15)
Flaxseed is known to be a potent anti-inflammatory food due to its Omega-3 Fatty Acid content, in fact it is one of the principle foods for vegans and vegetarians as a source of Omega 3’s.
Exercise, especially endurance exercise (or high impact exercise) is known to be pro-inflammatory, therefore it is important to try and counteract this by eating foods that could diminish or limit the pro-inflammatory effects. Inflammation, if not addressed could increase a runner’s risk of injury but also illness, especially URTI and UTIs, which are common complaints in runners, especially in distance runners.
The Omega-3 content of flaxseeds are in the form of Alpha-Linolenic Acid (ALA) rather than the DHA and EPA form found in oily fish. The forms found in oily fish are highly bioavailable to the body, however ALA requires converting into DHA and EPA.
This process requires an enzyme, which, in some people, is less available. Also, it depends on certain nutrients being present so nutrient deficiencies could limit the conversion too.
So, although flaxseed oil contains twice the amount of Omega-3 as fish oil, its anti-inflammatory benefits are generally less potent due to potential limitations on the bioavailability of DHA and EPA. However, for vegetarians
