How can you improve if you are running on an empty engine?

Most of us who run often are fully aware of how important it is to train correctly, but what about eating the right fuel? 

After all, how are you going to improve your performance, if you are running on an empty engine?

The general consensus among runners is to eat lots of carbohydrates like pizza and pasta the night before a big race, known as “carbo loading”. 

Another popular idea is to have a few sugary energy snacks during the run, but that’s pretty much as far as it goes where nutritional guidelines are concerned.

If you really want to fill your tank with the best fuel, then you’ll need to avoid C.R.A.P food, consisting of carbohydrates, refined foods, additives and preservatives. 

I’ve seen many runners eating simplified and processed carbohydrate food all the time.

Carbohydrates are foods that don’t come from anything that had a set of eyeballs and are primarily plant-based. 

Examples of carbohydrates are fruit, vegetables, breads, pastries, soda and cereals. We should also be staying away from the four white devils — pasteurised milk, sugar, salt and white flour. If you commonly eat these types of food, then you’ll experience the following symptoms, which may seem completely unrelated! Short-term symptoms include headaches, anxiety, skin problems, getting hungry quickly and tired but ‘wired’. Long-term symptoms are depression, neck/shoulder/lower back pain, weakened immune system and constipation.

You can now start to imagine how these symptoms can affect your running.

Eating like this is like running your gas-powered car on diesel! It won’t be able to run for long. It may not even be able to get started in the first place.

So where should you start?  We need to all eat for our Metabolic Type. This is the term used for a diet based on the idea that every individual has a unique metabolism. 

This means the food that is appropriate for one person may make another person sick or ill. 

One man’s food is another man’s poison.

Your metabolism
converts food into energy, which is important when it comes to being able to run efficiently. 

Metabolic Typing will determine which food is nutritious for you and which foods are void of energy. For most people this includes pizza, pasta and sugary energy snacks.

I offer Metabolic Typing to all the runners who have enrolled into my eight-week online training programme for the Bermuda Half Marathon.

Visit www.BermudaMay24.com. As we are now only eight weeks away from the big race, this will be your last chance to sign up.

Colin has designed the only online coaching program for the Bermuda Half Marathon. Training starts this week, so this is your last chance to enroll. Learn more by watching this video: http://youtu.be/w2MCXyZT2Fk Colin now blogs at www.CoconutFitness.com

Colin Ayliffe is a certified personal trainer and holistic lifestyle coach with over 10 years’ experience in training clients. He graduated from the University of Surrey with a Bachelor’s Degree in Sport Science and is also a CHEK practitioner, golf biomechanic and is accredited by the
National Academy of Sports Medicine.