Total Body Transformation Training Blog

Protein, Carbs, and Marathons

The April 2004 issue of Runner's World weighed in on the popular low carb eating movement. In "Protein Diets - Can runners prosper on all these trendy protein diets?" author Liz Applegate looked at eating low carb from an endurance athlete's viewpoint. The article was well balanced and considered the unique needs of marathon runners. Here's the summary in a nutshell:

• The US RDA for protein intake is not adequate to meet the needs of endurance athletes and more generally, the needs of people engaged in a steady exercise regime or athletic endeavor


• Consuming between 0.5 and 0.7 grams of protein per pound of body mass is generally recommended for athletes


• Total protein intake should make up around 20% of total calories with care being given to the eating the right kinds of carbs and fats beneficial to running and training

Again, a balanced finding -- marathoners needs to eat much more protein than many previously thought, but at the same time protein intake should be a moderate part of an endurance athletes macronutrient profile. 40-30-30 (carbs, protein, fat) was listed as the upper limit for most endurance athletes. An interesting point is that the amount of protein recommended is in lines with those of mixed sport and strength athletes. Bodybuilders and those looking to add muscle mass are generally recommended to consume 1.0 - 1.5 grams of protein per pound of body mass but the "normal" intake is at the half to three quarters of a gram per pound of body mass.

What does all this mean? Certainly there is no debating the popularity and growing medical evidence of "high protein" and low carb diets. Endurance athletes and marathon runners in particular have unique energy consumption needs that regardless of the debate on low carb approaches need to be taken into consideration. This translates into making sure you consume enough protein daily to prevent muscle loss and fuel your metabolism -- while at the same time eating enough slow and fast acting carbs to fuel your runs.