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If you’re a runner who needs a break from higher-volume training and racing, or if you’re planning to step up your efforts in a cross-seasonal sport like skimo racing or cyclocross, winter is a good time to take your nutrition outside. enter the season.
Focusing on your performance nutrition during the off-season will give you the mental ability to apply information to your specific problem areas and can help you build a solid framework to work on as your running intensity and volume increase. Off-season nutrition can also help build a foundation for your busy training and racing season.
Work on your foundation
As with basic training, building a strong nutritional foundation can help as you enter the racing season, when you may be short on time or tired from all the training. Basic nutrition skills such as planning, shopping, adjusting macronutrients for training days, and micronutrient diversity can all contribute to the makings of a strong, adaptable runner.
Flex your planning muscles
Without a plan it is difficult to refuel properly. Think ahead and prepare grocery lists and meals to ensure your food choices align with your goals.
To get into a better routine, block out specific times on your calendar or set reminders on your phone every week. Keep planned meals and snacks simple and easy to prepare, especially for breakfast and lunch. This can make the process less intimidating. Snacks in particular can be planned to support different training goals, such as pre- and post-workout snacks designed to boost energy levels and recovery. For example, graham crackers can be a good choice before training because they contain simple carbohydrates and post-workout chocolate milk provides a perfect balance of carbohydrates and protein.
Planning your shopping list and meals can save you money and time as you avoid impulse buying and aimless wandering around the market.
Plus, the off-season can be a great time to try out new recipes that might have taken more time to prepare during a tough workout. If you don’t like cooking, try meal delivery services. Purple Carrot, Factor 75, Daily Harvest or Hello Fresh are great places to start. These can help you easily plan meals that fit your budget and dietary requirements.
Macronutrient intake
Many runners focus solely on energy intake when thinking about fueling in the off-season versus during race season. However, the off-season can be a good time to delve into the macronutrients you consume: proteins, carbohydrates and fats. While it may be tempting to start limiting overall energy expenditure, be careful and be aware that any training, even off-season, requires additional energy intake.
If you reduce your volume and intensity during the off-season, you may need fewer carbohydrates than during competition season. However, it is important to note that carbohydrate intake should match volume and intensity if you are not cutting back during the off-season. The International Society of Sports Nutrition recommends this 5-12 g/kg/body weight per day carbohydrate requirement for ultrarunners. (To Calculate your weight in kilograms, take your body weight in kilograms and divide by 2.2). However, carbohydrate intake can be adjusted based on training volume and intensity. This could look like one cup of carbohydrates with each meal on light training days of less than an hour, or two cups with each meal on heavier training days of more than two hours.
Eat and exercise to reduce injuries
The off-season can be a good time to work on muscle strength and resilience to help prevent the risk of injury when preparing for a big race. Your protein needs in the off-season will depend on strength goals and the volume and intensity of training. For example, if you do more strength training in the off-season, you may want to keep your protein intake the same or even increase it slightly to support muscle strength. Protein intake recommendations range from 1.6-2.5 g/kg body weight per day and, like carbohydrates, can be adjusted to suit off-season goals.
Although runners often neglect fat consumption, it is important to remember that fats contain twice the energy compared to carbohydrates and proteins. In the off-season, fat requirements may not be as high if you don’t exercise as much. However, they are still important dietary components for the consumption of fat-soluble vitamins, cell membrane functioning and hormone production.
Get into those microphones
The intake of micronutrients, or your vitamins and minerals, is essential for the physiological functioning of the body. From bone health and strength to immune system function and neurotransmitter production, your micros keep the body running smoothly, reducing the risk of injury and disease.
A peak training period (about three months before a race) places more stress and demands on the body’s systems, increasing the need for micronutrients needed to function properly. So the offseason is a good time for runners to consider getting a basic athlete blood panel checked under the hood to ensure there are no deficiencies that need to be addressed.
Runners should pay attention to iron status (complete iron panel including ferritin), vitamin D (important for bone health, muscle strength, and immune function), red blood cell magnesium (which affects iron storage status), B12 (an energy producer), and a basic blood count are good basic blood markers to investigate. It is important to note that if you are having a blood panel performed for athletes, you should ensure that professionals who understand laboratory reference ranges interpret the panels for you. The fitness level and nutritional needs of runners are different than those of non-runners, and athletes should seek out a medical team that understands their background and goals.
Some athletes may need or benefit from supplements for certain deficiencies. But the offseason is also a great opportunity to see how athletes can correct that imbalance through food.
Focus on dietary diversity
Due to time constraints and training demands during racing season, you may tend to eat the same food for weeks or months. Extra time out of season can provide time to explore the increasing diversity of plant foods.
To support your gut microbiome, increase the variety of plant-based foods in your diet. This will help support bacterial diversity in your gut, slightly that is correlated with better cell signaling, improved metabolism, modulation of inflammation and improved glucose metabolism.
Additionally, increasing diversity in antioxidant-rich foods, such as herbs, spices, teas, and plant-based food colors, may reduce the burden of exercise-induced oxidative stress (which can hinder muscle contraction and lead to performance disorders) without interfering with training adaptations. Pay attention to the consumption of green tea and dark chocolate!
Keys to Out-of-Season Nutrition
The off-season racing season can be a great time for runners to focus on rest and recovery, and build a resilient foundation through nutrition. While it may seem tempting to shift into a restrictive fuel mode, it can be helpful for runners to view this time as the perfect opportunity to focus on digging deeper into blood biomarkers, overall macronutrient consumption, and what they can add to optimize the performance and health of their bodies. your future self.