Posts Tagged ‘nutrition’

The Tarahumara Diet Is Tough to Swallow

Ever since the publication of Christopher McDougall’s Born to Run, a barefoot and minimalist running trend is sweeping America, based on the author’s examination of the Tarahumara people of Mexico. In case you’ve been vacationing in Antarctica for the last couple of years, the Tarahumara are phenomenal long distance runners. It’s only natural that pioneering souls would seek to emulate them, hence the shift in footwear choices and, increasingly, diet.

McDougall raves about the Tarahumara drink they call iskiate, or, as McDougall  names it, “10,000-year-old Red Bull.” It’s made from chia seeds - yep, the same stuff you use to make your Chia Obama. It’s said to provide high energy, though I suspect there’s a significant placebo effect.

This being America, quite a few people are turning the Tarahumara diet into a business opportunity, such as Fuel Your Run the Tarahumara Way, which offers “15 pinole and chia recipes for the modern athlete.” The author tells us the recipes are “made from real ingredients, so you’ll know exactly what you’re putting in your body—no mystery sugars here.”

Cross-cultural contact greatly enriches the American diet, so if you like pinoles and chia seeds, I say go for it. But it should be noted that the influences go both ways, and the Tarahumara are making some interesting dietary choices of their own.

National Geographic also spent time with them, and its recital of Tarahumara nutrition varies quite a bit from the exotic:

“They also eat a lot of Maruchan, the Japanese instant noodles that come in plastic-foam tubs. Foil-wrapped potato chips, too, and plastic liters of Coca-Cola, and Tecate beer in pop-top cans…”

The article suggests the Tarahumara are beginning to lose their running endurance, simply because they now have navigable roads. Even worse, the men have taken to wearing “pointy-toed boots in leather dyed to match their belts” and women are wearing – what else? – athletic shoes. “I’m not putting on huaraches,” one said. “I get too many stones under my feet.”

McDougall’s best-selling book brought new attention to the Tarahumara, which led to increased Western tourism to their region of northern Mexico. It would be a bizarre twist if Born to Run indirectly caused a running shoe boom among the Tarahumara.

Advanced Running Tips: When to Eat the Doughnut

You can go anywhere for advice on form, hydration, stretching, etc., but only here will you get the inside poop (so to speak) on the crucial topic of when to eat a doughnut before running.

I’ve held court on the benefits of fried doughy pastries many times in the past, and have even revealed the Kenyan secret to world-class distance running, but just like splitting the atom, eating a pre-run doughnut requires extreme caution.

This morning, for example, I foolishly ate a lovely, puffy doughnut right before I went out for a five-mile tempo run. This is the hallmark of a rank amateur, since everyone knows you need at least 45 minutes to an hour for that sugary mass to work its way into your bloodstream and rocket you to superspeed. But I was late getting out this morning, so I threw caution to the wind and glommed it down before heading out.

Well, I was right as rain for three miles before that lovely, puffy doughnut magically transformed into a gruesome, leaden anchor in my gut. Nothing like a good stomach cramp to ruin your run.

Anyway, I managed to complete my workout with an average 8:19 pace, which wasn’t too bad. Coming on the heels of my 14-miler on Sunday (9:01 average pace, negative splits – 1:04 vs 1:02), I’m progressing nicely with 18 weeks before my marathon.

So today’s lesson, kiddies, is to eat the doughnut. Don’t let the doughnut eat you.

Redemption

Yesterday through 6 miles – 50:20.

Today through 6 miles – 52:31.

Yesterday, miles 7 and 8 – 19:18.

Today, miles 7 and 8 – 16:26.

I should also mention that yesterday I fueled with a salty bagel and peanut butter, coffee, 24 ounces of diluted Gatorade, and one Power Gel. Today I had coffee and an Entenmann’s chocolate doughnut. No fluids during the run, unless you count all the rain I was breathing in.

Maybe yesterday I should have thought about my pace before running. Sheesh.

Pour Some Sugar on Me

It could be psychosomatic, but I don’t think I need any more evidence.

Tuesday night I did speedwork with the Fleet Feet training group. We did 4 x 880s, with 90 seconds in between. My four splits were 3:43, 3:37, 3:30 and 3:54. Not awesome, but not bad.

Wednesday morning I did a 4-miler in 32:32.

Today I plodded through 6 miles in 55:04.

OK, I wasn’t expecting this morning’s run to be great, after two speed days, but it was terrible. There was one big difference. This morning I ate a bowl of Special K with 1% milk and fresh blueberries, plus black coffee.

Notice anything missing? Right! No sugar! I stink of ketones.

Over the past few months I’ve experimented with every kind of breakfast before my run, and I get the best results from the worst breakfasts. So enough is enough. I’ll eat healthy after running and on my off-days. Before a run, I have to satisfy my sugar jones.

The Kenyan Secret

I’ve told you about my pre-run doughnut exploits and now it seems there might be some basis for my relative success. The Santa Fe Reporter ran a lengthy and interesting profile of the Kenyan marathoners who live and teach at a training camp in New Mexico. Americans are astonished by the Kenyans’ unorthodox diet, which apparently owes more to Michael Phelps than Kip Keino:

Marc Esposito, a 31-year-old director of physical therapy at Santa Fe’s Therapy Solutions, LCC and amateur marathoner, has grown close to the Kenyans, especially Ndambuki, since beginning to help out at Camp Marafiki in 2007. Esposito is convinced the timing and quantity of the Kenyans’ glucose consumption plays a significant role in their running success, beyond the particularly lean physiques, large lung capacities and concentrations of slow twitch muscle fibers that genetics and training may have bestowed. “I really think there’s something to it,” he says. “They ingest an incredible amount of sugar every day.”

This is bad news for the bagel industry.

Junk (Food) Miles

My bizarre doughnut experiment is yielding confounding results. I’m afraid at this point the conventional wisdom regarding nutrition isn’t applying to me. Last night I treated myself to a Taco Bell pig-out: three crunchy taco supremes and two spicy bean burritos. For breakfast this morning I had a cranberry bagel with reduced-fat cream cheese, two 14-ounce mugs of 100% Kona coffee with a teaspoon of raw sugar in each, and an Entenmann’s chocolate doughnut.

I proceeded to run six miles in 47:30 without undue effort. It was 33 seconds faster than my previous best on this route this year and only about two minutes short of my best ever for that distance.

I assume as I increase mileage I’ll need more slow-absorbing complex carbs and less sugar, but if this keeps up I’m planning a best-seller titled, From Boston Cream Pie to Boston Marathon.

Breakfast of Champions

Running has altered my diet, and I am eating food that is better for me in general. But I have to admit I do experience a noticeable sugar burst if I eat badly before running in the morning.

Normally I’ll have a bagel and peanut butter or Kashi cinnamon shredded wheat, with my usual large cup of Kona coffee and two raw sugars. But I was bad on my birthday and had two Homer Simpson-style donuts for breakfast. I mean chocolate frosting and multi-colored sprinkles and all. I then went out and ran my fastest six miles of the year.

The best race of my life, mile for mile, was the 1:41 half-marathon I ran one week after I had fainted about a half-hour after a 20-miler (low blood sugar). It scared me so much I loaded up on sugar and caffeine before the race and I was totally wired on the starting line. I ran what was at the time a five-mile PR over the last five miles of the race and made Roadrunner “mbeep-beep” noises as I passed people.

I’ve never been able to re-create that feeling, though I also never again mainlined simple sugars like I did that day. I’m not planning to switch to a junk food diet, but now I’m wondering if my distance running would improve with a sensible combination of complex carbs and simple sugars just before I race.

I’m going to experiment with this. I don’t want to undermine your good eating habits, but I’ll let you know how it turns out, either way.