The Ultra Distance Athlete's Diet

monday night i attended "Racing the Planet: Ultra Endurance Running and Medicine" at rei. the main presenter was dr. brian krabak a sports medicine rehabilitation specialist at UW Medical Center. on dr. krabak's discussion panel were my friends; dimitri kieffer, who crossed the bering straight on foot recently; and local elite adventure racer/ultrarunner roger michal of team mergeo.com and 4th dimension races (i have to add that roger also just finished the plain 100 ultramarathon, a feat in itself)

anyway when the question of "how much do the front runners at these ultras weigh?" came up roger blind sided me with "well we have one here. matt would you stand up?". aah.. awkward. i stood and then sort of gave a brief overview of my nutritional basics. i'll elaborate a bit more here...

the process of training the body for ultra distance racing breaks your body down. it's when we stop to recovery that our bodies build back up stronger than before. therefore proper recovery is essential. while your body is recovering (which you can think of as a constant process) you need to provide it with the proper nutrients/building blocks to efficiently do it's job. since you are what you eat(book i'm reading - thanks jenny!). if you eat junk, your training will most certainly suffer from it. think of training as breakdown, and nutrition as healing. poor nutrition will lead to injury, exhaustion/burnout and an inability to achieve you potential. nutrition is your secret weapon... your free dope (are you listening rasmussen?). eating right absolutely gives you a free and legal performance edge (without the embarrassment of being removed from a race you are about to win and fired from your team).

My personal tips (these are the tips i send my coaching clients in their first week):

• drink lots of water. every time you eat drink two glasses of water to stay hydrated (oh yeah and drink nuun)
• eat six small meals throughout the day (that means eating every 2-3hrs)
• eat whole organic raw foods, not packaged products. if you can't imagine where it came from then it's probably created in a lab somewhere in new jersey and not something you want to consume - watch this
• eat lean protein with each meal. it's important for rebuilding muscle and it makes you feel full... and generally has a low glycemic response - it also minimizes the catabolic effects of training.
• eliminate hydrogenated oils and trans fats
• eliminate refined sugar and processed carbs
• the basis of your diet should be organic fruits and veggies, lean meats and complex carbs

as for getting down to your ideal race weight. i advise my clients to do it now while you are coming out of the off-season and starting the early base training mesocycle. later in the season when the training volume and effort are higher the required calorie deficit to lose weight is not advised. you simply won't get the most out of your "serious" training if you are coming in low on nutrients.

disclaimer: i am not a licensed nutritionist - but i feel like i have a very good grasp on this topic. i am also a well trained overeater - no one is perfect. =)