A great way to bring your training to the next level is understanding more about your nutrition. Irish Life Wellbeing Consultant Rab Das shares some of his top tips to help you boost your performance.
Whatever level you are at when it comes to running (or any other endurance activity), fuelling for the work that you need to do is critical. For most of us, the main fuel source that we should be focusing on are carbohydrate-based sources. The longer the activity and the more intense the activity (or the more we want to ‘send it’), the more focused carbohydrate intake will need to be.
1. Fuel in advance
Up to a 5k, you shouldn’t need much other than what you’ve eaten over the day, or previous day. If pushing towards running 45+ mins, make sure you’ve had at least one meal that’s prioritised carbohydrate. Sources to think about here should include, rice, potato, pasta but there’s no need to go overboard.
2. Hydration is not just about water
When we exercise, we lose more than just water. Therefore, it’s essential to replace what we’ve lost along with fluid volume. If you’re spending a lot of time being active, using an electrolyte replacement drink should be your go to.
3. Distance and intensity determine strategy
If you want to run far at a faster pace, an effective carbohydrate fuelling strategy is your friend. For long distance events, you want to consider the food you are eating ~36 hours away from the event. We want full muscle stores to fuel us. As the event gets closer, more easily digestible carbohydrate sources should top up those stores.
4. Don’t forget to train your gut
It’s often overlooked but getting your digestive system to cope with more food volume and carbohydrate gels and drinks needs to be trained. If you’re gearing up for some of the longer race series endeavours, try adding in gels and meals at different points during your training to see how your body responds. Then, work on training it to respond to what you need it to.
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If you want to know more about the specifics of fuelling your best performance contact wellness@irishlife.ie
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