Diet Plan For Female Runners – Registered dietitian Tristaca Caldwell-Curley shares the comprehensive (and printable) meal plan that helps you train faster and longer, builds muscle and boosts your metabolism.
Calling all weekend warriors – if you’re training for a marathon, regularly cycling, or a crossfit enthusiast, you need a different diet to refuel. Endurance athletes need significant amounts of carbohydrates to allow them to train longer, and protein to help build muscle and increase metabolism. It’s also important to eat regularly to keep your energy up and help you recover from workouts, so we’ve included snacks.
Diet Plan For Female Runners
Note on serving sizes: You shouldn’t be hungry on this meal plan. If so, add plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables to meals and snacks. And be sure to drink plenty of fluids as well.
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“Chocolate mousse” snack: mix 3/4 cup of unsweetened yogurt, 2 teaspoons of cocoa powder and 2 teaspoons of coconut sugar together and keep in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
Snack 3 cups of regular popcorn sprinkled with olive oil, salt and fresh or dried dill, plus a cup of milk or soy milk.
A regular popcorn snack with olive oil, salt and fresh or dry dill, plus a glass of milk or soy milk.
St. Joseph Communications uses personalization cookies to personalize its online advertisements and for other purposes. Learn more or change your cookie preferences. By continuing to use our service, you consent to our use of cookies. In high school, I thought pre-track spaghetti dinners were reason enough to start running. Piling a plate high with noodles and tomato sauce loaded with beef to fuel for two full laps around the track (I ran the 800 meters) seemed like an idea I could get behind. You know what, you better grab some garlic bread too for some extra carbs.
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While I still run—and hey, even a little over 800 meters now—my belief that endless carbs equals a better run is long gone. (Just like my high school metabolism.) But knowing exactly when, what, and how much to eat while training for a running event can be confusing—no matter how old you are. Like almost anything in life, it helps to have a plan, and if you’re preparing for a 10K, this is it.
Here, sports and family medicine physician Dale Bolin, MD explains the macronutrient goals that are important to hit in the weeks leading up to your race. To show you what that looks like, brunch Running founders Courtney Logan and Alexandra Weissner have broken down what a sample day of eating might look like for each phase of your training.
Macronutrient goals: According to Dr. Bolin, most training programs call for a roughly 20 percent increase in mileage per week. “With that, you’ll want to increase your protein by an additional amount each week, so that it’s up to 10 percent by the [last] week “, he says. So if you’re used to protein being usually 20 percent of your total diet, it’s time to bump it up to 22.5 percent, a little tweak. In other words: in the first part of the workout, your diet won’t change that much.
Other food guidelines to keep in mind: Dr. Bolin emphasizes that it’s still important to maintain a balanced diet by eating plenty of vegetables and healthy fats as well. He also says that
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You are also an important food. “You want to get some quick carbs within 20 minutes of your workout so that will help rebuild the glycogen in your muscles,” he says—although you don’t necessarily need to eat more carbs like protein. Most importantly, Dr. Bolin says to remember to stay hydrated before
Weissner maximizes her hydration by dissolving a Nuun tablet ($24 for four tubes) into her morning glass of water, something she also does on other training weeks. For breakfast, she recommends eggs, spinach and artichokes, all drizzled with avocado oil, which she layers on top of an English muffin. It provides the protein Dr. Bolin says is so important (two eggs have 12 grams of protein), fiber from the vegetables, and healthy fats from the eggs and avocado oil. If you’re vegan, add some sunflower seeds on top of your English muffin and veggies for protein; half a cup provides 13 gram.
For lunch, Weissner and Logan both recommend the same combination: protein and greens. One of the ways they recommend getting it is in the form of a salad made of beets, chickpeas, spinach, sunflower seeds and avocado.
This is the last chance of the day to give your body the protein it needs to recover. Weissner recommends salmon, broccoli and coconut rice, which has protein and also some natural sugar (from the coconut milk used in the rice) your body may be craving after a run. She likes to add a full drop of Dram Apothecary Sweetgrass CBD Adaptogenic Drops ($48) to her coconut rice, which she says helps her body relax.
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Macronutrient Goals: It’s Time to Up Your Protein! That should be about 50.5 grams per day now, assuming you started with the recommended protein goal of 46 grams per day.
Other food guidelines to keep in mind: Just like before, Dr. Bolin says that eating some quick carbs after your run and staying well hydrated throughout the day are super important for the second week of training.
Breakfast does not always have to be a cooked meal. After completing a long run in the morning, Logan likes to fuel up with a protein bar. Her choice is Think! Chunky Peanut Butter Lattice ($32 for 20) or Chocolate Brownie Crunch ($15 for 10). One snack has 20 grams of protein, which is a little higher than the plate of eggs from your previous workouts.
Spoiler alert: the protein and greens lunch combo from the start of your workout will show up again and again each week. This time, Logan recommends a chicken or steak dish with your favorite type of greens. If you are vegetarian, replace the meat with another protein source such as tofu or hummus, and add some cottage cheese for added protein.
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One of Logan’s favorite training meals is a quick and easy grain bowl that can be customized based on whether you eat meat or not. The key, of course, is to add lots of vegetables for fiber and get your desired protein source in there. If you need help reaching those 50 grams for the day, add an egg.
Macronutrient goals: new week, new daily protein goal. Now you should aim to get 53 grams of protein a day.
Other food guidelines to keep in mind: As your mileage continues to increase, Dr. Bolin emphasizes that getting those quick post-run carbs will be even more important, so plan to have your protein snack available or plan your post-run meal.
To get a nice drop in the protein bucket, Weissner recommends a breakfast sandwich, made with an English muffin, eggs, bacon and avocado. It’s your heartiest training breakfast yet and you’re going to need it! If you’re vegetarian or vegan, swap out the eggs and pork for a vegetarian hot dog option, like Morning Star’s hot dog patties ($4 for six), each of which has nine grams of protein.
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Keep your salad game interesting by incorporating some grains into your bowl. Give it a Mediterranean spin by combining tuna (half a can has 20 grams of protein) and feta cheese with the greens and grains for protein, it’ll be a nice change from the typical chicken/tofu plus veggies plus dressing almost everyone gets stuck with at least once in their life. Tuna also has magnesium, which helps tired muscles recover from the inside out.
Weissner says chicken burrito bowls are one of her favorite recovery meals for the latter part of her workouts. She prepares the chicken in her slow cooker and combines a salsa full of vegetables such as tomatoes, peppers and corn. (And avocado to top it all off, eh). If you don’t eat meat, replace the chicken with black beans, another protein-rich food.
Macronutrient Goals: Okay, last week of training – that’s it. Now, you have reached a maximum protein consumption time with the goal of getting 55.5 grams per day.
Other food guidelines to keep in mind: It’s just in Dr. Bolin’s article: Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. “Before and after your long runs, it’s helpful to hydrate with Gatorade, because the sugar will give your body some quick energy,” he says. If you’re planning To use any energy bars on race day, he says to experiment with them now. “You don’t want to be surprised with some kind of indigestion when you run your 10K,” says Dr. Bolin. “Learn how your body will react in advance.” If you have a sensitive stomach, he says Swedish fish might be a better way to go because they’re easy to digest. This is basically the only time a doctor is going to prescribe candy, so go for it!
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Weissner recommends something easy on the stomach and full of nutrients: oatmeal with nut butter. Vegetables will be harder for the digestive system to process, not making them an ideal pre-meal, but oats have enough fiber.
