Friday, June 06, 2008

nutrition: kenyan marathon runners (part 2: diet)

apart from ugali, there were a few extra observations i had regarding the nutrition of kenyan marathon runners that i made in the previous post (reference: part 1). the article i was discussing also covered a number of other details regarding the diet and training habits that i thought were illuminating. you can look at the full text of the article that i placed in my last post, or go directly to the link:
a number of things that i thought were interesting:
  • meals: the athletes eat roughly 5 times a day, with 2 light meals (snacks) and 3 larger meals (what we'd consider breakfast, lunch, and dinner), and all spaced roughly 2-3 hours apart...this is roughly in line with the "grazing" concept espoused by a lot of dietitians, medical science, and sports nutritionists that i know, since it seems to 1) help maintain a steady metabolic rate throughout the day, preventing lethargy and sustaining the body's fat-burning and recovery systems, 2) help moderate insulin and blood-sugar levels, controlling appetite and again helping prevent lethargy and supporting fat-burning and recovery, and 3) avoids overwhelming the body's digestive system, which according the endurance sports nutrition references i've used (primarily Joe Friel's Going Long and Gale Bernhardt's Training Plans for Multi-Sport Athletes, both of which i consider to be necessary reading for anyone considering Ironman and half-Ironman distance races) is about 200-300 calories per hour during physical activity, with anything more going into fat storage (where you don't really want it to go) as opposed to muscle rebuilding and glycogen storage (where you want it to go).
  • caloric distribution: the athletes have a nutrient intake distributed by roughly 76% carbohydrates / 10% protein / 14% fat...this is somewhat consistent, although a little off, the numbers i've read (again, primarily Joe Friel's and Gale Bernhardt's books, as well as various other sources on the internet--see later in this post), which for endurance athletes seem to recommend a distribution of 70-80% carbohydrates / 10-15% protein / 10-15% fat. i was somewhat surprised to see a higher percentage of fat than protein, since i've heard the constant drumbeat of "high body fat bad" for so long from so many coaches, and also since i've always felt envious of all the lean physiques i always see of the elite competitors on the race course. this is giving me cause to reshuffle my thinking on fats (although, i know that there is a difference between "bad" artery-clogging, hip-hugging, butt-jiggling fat and "good" biochemical-reaction-supporting, hormone-regulating fat, but this is the first time i have to consider that my personal aversion to fat may not be so warranted).
  • sugar: the athletes took in 20% of daily calories from sugar...WOW. i've been constantly reminded soooooo many times by soooooo many people to limit sugar intake, since it induces the insulin spike and crash that leads to increased appetite and resulting temptation to overeat. for me, sugar, along with fat, has always been the devil responsible for high body fat and the evil syndromes of muffin-tops and big butts, and associated slow times and great suffering on race day. but here, it appears that the kenyan athletes consider sugar to be a desirable element in their diet, since it provides a quick source of easily-absorbed energy to fuel physical activity. however, i should note that the article does make it clear that the kenyans consume sugar while still holding to 2 principles: 1) sugar intake does not come at the expense of other necessary nutrients (i.e., vitamins, minerals, fiber, anti-oxidants), and 2) sugar intake does not cause caloric intake to exceed caloric expenditure (one of the fundamental guiding principles of all athletic nutrition).
  • body size: the athletes average around 5'-9" in height and 129 pounds in weight (!!!)...this was a minor detail in the article, but eye-opening to me. i am 5'-10" and 160 pounds, making me overweight by their standards. which is jarring, since i consider myself pretty lean (right now, my waist size is 29" and my body fat is 7-8%). dropping my body weight to scale down to the dimensions of a kenyan athlete would mean getting to around 140 pounds, which in my current state would mean dropping muscle mass--but this raises the question as to from where? granted, my extra mass is probably from upper-body and core muscles coming from weight training, swimming, and martial arts. i'm reluctant to give any of those up, so i may have to just be happy with the dimensions i currently am (although...i still would like to get the body fat percentage down...).
for additional information about Kenyan runner's nutrition, you can check out:
for purposes of comparison, you can compare their eating habits (eating times, caloric amounts, and proportions) with those recommended for endurance athletes:
all these things above are roughly in line with the recommendations of medical science and sports science for what is deemed necessary for healthy living and peak performance. it goes to show that one is pretty much the same as the other.

still, the details about diet of kenyan marathon runners are still illuminating in terms of what they indicate about perspectives on certain ideas i'd considered as guidelines, and are giving me some food for thought (sorry, bad pun, but i just couldn't resist, just to easy, ha ha ha, yuck yuck yuck...) regarding my own diet habits...maybe it will for you as well.

1 comment:

iron-boyer said...

Thats really interesting to read. I started getting into long distance triathlons and I want to improve on my eating habits. Thanks for the post.