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bobjdan · 02-20-2009, 03:04 PM

Hi Wendy.

I just found this site and thread, but hopefully I can help. I've been a long distance runner for 25 years and have been coaching club runners for about 10 years and helping many of them qualify for Boston (>95% success rate).

The main point I want to make is that it is certainly possible to train for a marathon and lose weight at the same time. Last weekend I had a female runner run her second marathon 45 minutes faster than her first in November of 07. She needed 3:45:59 and ran 3:39 and change. I first met her in August and she dropped 10 lbs. during her training although she put back on 1-2 during her taper.

The problem with many runners is that they overestimate the calories they burn and underestimate the calories they eat. They think that if they are training for a marathon they can eat anything they want and eat too many calories, especially carbohydrates. Yes you need carbohydrates to keep your muscle glycogen stores full, but runners in the 4 hour range aren't usually running that many miles or that many intense miles to burn as many carbohydrates as they think. So they tend to overeat carbs and don't get enough protein and they are scared to death of fat.

The problem with eating more carbs than you need is that when you eat carbs, insulin, the storage hormone, is called on to do something with those carbs. If your muscles are low on glycogen then it will store the carbs in your muscles. If your muscles are full of glycogen then the excess carbs are stored as fat. So that is where a subject called nutrient timing comes into play.

The best time to eat carbs, especially simple carbs, is right after you exercise with the first 15-30 minutes being optimal and decreasing up to about 2 hours. At that time your muscles are ready to soak up those carbs. However, if you go for a 4 mile run that doesn't give you liscence to eat 400 calories of carbs. You didn't burn that many! The other time to get those carbs is a carb drink like Gatorade 10-15 minutes before your longer runs (about an hour or more) and track workouts and 6-8 ozs. every 15 minutes. Breakfast may also be a good time to get some whole grain/low GI carbs, especially if your legs are feeling a bit dead. The rest of the time your carbs should come from vegetables and fruit.

Although I can't give you an exact macronutrient breakdown, something on the order of 50-55% carbohydrate, 25-30% protein, and 20-25% fat should work. Most runners, especially women, don't eat enough protein. Besides helping keep you from losing muscle which is easy to do when running long distances, it also helps keep down food cravings and has a higher TEF (Thermal Effect of Feeding). I.E. it costs some of those calories to process the protein, not as many for carbs and none for fat. So the first thing you have to do is figure what your maintenance requiremens are and then cut if by a few hunderd/day. There are many sites on the web that can help you figure that out.

The important thing is to really know how much you are eating and until you have a handle on it I highly recommend measuring and weighing your food. Here is a link to the reason why. http://www.burnthefatblog.com/archiv..._secret_vi.php A good site to use to track your diet, at least until you know what you are doing is Fitday.com. It also helps you figure out your maintenance calories.

Good luck and post back if you have any questions.

02-20-2009, 03:04 PM	#8 (permalink)
bobjdan Junior Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: NC Posts: 1	Running and Weight Loss Hi Wendy. I just found this site and thread, but hopefully I can help. I've been a long distance runner for 25 years and have been coaching club runners for about 10 years and helping many of them qualify for Boston (>95% success rate). The main point I want to make is that it is certainly possible to train for a marathon and lose weight at the same time. Last weekend I had a female runner run her second marathon 45 minutes faster than her first in November of 07. She needed 3:45:59 and ran 3:39 and change. I first met her in August and she dropped 10 lbs. during her training although she put back on 1-2 during her taper. The problem with many runners is that they overestimate the calories they burn and underestimate the calories they eat. They think that if they are training for a marathon they can eat anything they want and eat too many calories, especially carbohydrates. Yes you need carbohydrates to keep your muscle glycogen stores full, but runners in the 4 hour range aren't usually running that many miles or that many intense miles to burn as many carbohydrates as they think. So they tend to overeat carbs and don't get enough protein and they are scared to death of fat. The problem with eating more carbs than you need is that when you eat carbs, insulin, the storage hormone, is called on to do something with those carbs. If your muscles are low on glycogen then it will store the carbs in your muscles. If your muscles are full of glycogen then the excess carbs are stored as fat. So that is where a subject called nutrient timing comes into play. The best time to eat carbs, especially simple carbs, is right after you exercise with the first 15-30 minutes being optimal and decreasing up to about 2 hours. At that time your muscles are ready to soak up those carbs. However, if you go for a 4 mile run that doesn't give you liscence to eat 400 calories of carbs. You didn't burn that many! The other time to get those carbs is a carb drink like Gatorade 10-15 minutes before your longer runs (about an hour or more) and track workouts and 6-8 ozs. every 15 minutes. Breakfast may also be a good time to get some whole grain/low GI carbs, especially if your legs are feeling a bit dead. The rest of the time your carbs should come from vegetables and fruit. Although I can't give you an exact macronutrient breakdown, something on the order of 50-55% carbohydrate, 25-30% protein, and 20-25% fat should work. Most runners, especially women, don't eat enough protein. Besides helping keep you from losing muscle which is easy to do when running long distances, it also helps keep down food cravings and has a higher TEF (Thermal Effect of Feeding). I.E. it costs some of those calories to process the protein, not as many for carbs and none for fat. So the first thing you have to do is figure what your maintenance requiremens are and then cut if by a few hunderd/day. There are many sites on the web that can help you figure that out. The important thing is to really know how much you are eating and until you have a handle on it I highly recommend measuring and weighing your food. Here is a link to the reason why. http://www.burnthefatblog.com/archiv..._secret_vi.php A good site to use to track your diet, at least until you know what you are doing is Fitday.com. It also helps you figure out your maintenance calories. Good luck and post back if you have any questions.