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| Mini-Marathon Preparation - Week 1 |
What and when we eat in relation to our exercise or training makes a big difference to our energy, our performance and how much body fat we burn.
There are certain nutrients that deserve our close attention when we want to get the best out of ourselves and our training, and in order to get the edge over the competition! We will devote week two to carbohydrates, week three to protein and week four to fats. But first, a closer look at calories.
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| ‘Energy is the ability to do work’. Many of you will remember this definition from your school biology. We want to run or walk the mini-marathon so we will need plenty of energy to train and complete the ten km on the day. This energy will come from another form of energy, found in the food and beverages we eat and drink. Energy is now measured in kilo joules, not kilo calories. Rightly or wrongly we tend to stick to the old lingo, and use the term ‘calories’ when we discuss energy in food. |
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| Calories |
Calories come from the three main nutrients |
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 | 1 g of any type of Carbohydrate gives us approximately 4 Calories |
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| 1g of any type of Fat gives us 9 Calories |
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| 1g of either plant or animal Protein gives us 4 Calories |
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| Tip – If you are trying to lose weight, cutting back on foods containing a lot of fat, as opposed to a lot of protein or carbohydrate, will give you an effective reduction in calories quickly. |
For best performance, whether you are walking or running, your intake should be roughly:
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| 55% Carbohydrates (high fibre cereals, breads, brown rice, pasta, potatoes with skins, vegetables and fruits etc) |
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| 30% Fats (healthy oils such as olive or rapeseed, low fat dairy foods etc) |
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| 15% Protein (poultry, fish and shellfish, lean meat, eggs, nuts, beans etc) |
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| Tip – Carbohydrate is a critical fuel for our working muscles. However we don’t always focus on the right type of carbohydrate when we train. Most of us need to cut down on the highly processed carbohydrates and the carbs that also contain fat such as cakes, biscuits, pastry, sweets, chocolate, bakery products etc. We will devote next week to carbohydrate so come back and visit us then. |
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