What you will see in this post is proper nutrition for a female runner, along with my recommendations. I will be testing a 55kg endurance female runner.
Daily nutrition goals
What I am going to begin with is walking you through an everyday nutrition plan for this endurance runner when she is practicing and working out. So, for this female athlete’s carbohydrate intake I am going to recommend 7-10 g/kg of body weight. The reason I chose this amount for this athlete is because since she is a runner, she will be running a lot during her training and during her competitions. This would demand high glycogen stores to help her energy last for a long period of time. Her amount would be approximately 385-550 grams per day.
For the female runner her protein intake is going to be about 1.2-1.8 g/kg/day which is about 66- 99 grams per day. This amount that the athlete is going to intake is beneficial for them so that they can maintain their nitrogen balance. If this athlete were to increase her protein requirements she would have no problem meeting the needs because many food products contains some protein in it.
The fat intake that the female endurance runner is going to be consuming would be about 15-20% total calories after carbohydrates and protein were needed.
She will be consuming water, or even gatorade, just enough to maintain her euhydration. Athletes must be fully hydrated before they train or compete because the body cannot adapt to dehydration. Their performance will suffer if an athlete becomes dehydrated during the training and during competition. Determining if you are hydrated or dehydrated can come from the color of your urine. If the color of your urine is dark yellow or has a strong smell, that means you are dehydrated. The micronutrients that are needed for this athlete would be calcium and iron if she shows any signs of anemia. Micronutrients are essential elements required by organisms in small quantities throughout life to manage a range of physiological functions to maintain health. Calcium is a micronutrient that is needed because it helps promotes bone, muscle contraction, nerve impulse transition, and it regulates enzyme activity. The other micronutrient that is need is iron. Iron transports oxygen as hemoglobin and myoglobin and it also promotes immune function.
Effects of Nutrition for a Morning Practice (before, during, and after)
The carbs and fluids that this female athlete is going to take before the early morning practice is nothing because since she will be practicing so early and you are not allowed to consume anything 3-5 hours prior. The runner will be consuming about 16oz of gatorade two hours before to stay euhydrated and about 20g of carb and another 16oz of gatorade 30 to 60 minutes before as well to restore their liver glycogen and blood glucose for energy. Caffeine will also be something that the athlete will intake. Caffeine is a main source that comes from coffee beans, tea leaves, coca beans, and cola nuts. 3mg/kg or 165mg should be taken 60 minutes before practice for an ergogenic effect. While taking this amount, it shows 10% to 20% of improvement in time to exhaustion.
The carbs and fluids that the female endurance runner is going to intake during exercise is nothing because of the short duration of her practice. This will help the runner because if she were to take anything during running it would cause her to have a slowing effect on gastric emptying, especially if she consumes anything that contains fiber or fat.
The carbs and fluids that the female athlete is going to intake after exercise would be 16oz of water for every pound that is lost or even electrolytes and about 20g of protein plus carbs, such as a high glycemic index meal that will help promote insulin response and replace the glycogen stores. The athlete should take this to reach the euhydration again due to every pound that she lost while practicing. The purpose of these intakes is to replenish depleted stores of the liver and muscle glycogen. This replenishment is basically to help recover the endurance capacity and the glycogen loading. Protein is what provides structure to all cells in the human body.
Competition Day
The time of day that this female athlete is going to compete is at 9:00 a.m. She can intake carbohydrates in the days before competition mainly to replenish muscle glycogen stores. Caffeine will also be taken before competition because it can influence exercise performance. For example it gives the athlete mental alertness, improves their mood, and boosts their desire to run. 3mg/kg will be taken 60 minutes before competition so that she can improve about 10 t0 20%. She will also not be taking anything during her competition because of how short the competition is going to be and she will not have time to stop and take a break to drink or have a snack.
What this female athlete is going to take after her competition is a glycemic meal that will help replace the glycogen stores that she just lost and also to promote more insulin response. She will take fluid immediately to reach euhydration. she will ingest a fluid that equivalent to their sweat loss incurred during the exercise to rehydrate adequately in the post exercise recovery period. For example, she should consume about 1.5 liters of fluid for every kilogram of body weight that was lost during her competition. Consuming beverages with sodium will help the reaching of rapid and complete recovery of hydration status by stimulating and fluid retention. The one consideration that differed from competition to training days was that training is different from the competition. You practice for a longer time when training compared to competition day.
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