COMBATING IRON DEFICIENCY
One of the most active problems I've heard about on our team is iron deficiencies. This is of course a concern, one that shouldn't be ignored and one that can be fairly easily remedied with proper diet practices.
The simplest way to get a high quantity of iron into your body is to eat lean red meat....BUT that's not enough....your body also needs vitamins to aid in absorption of iron!! The best vitamin to help with this is the easiest and most common...VITAMIN C...which we all know can easily be provided with real fruit juices and fruit.
White Meat - chicken and pork are also excellent sources of iron....absorbs much less iron / lb of meat than red meat though.
Green/Red Vegetables - beets, broccoli, sprouts, and lettuce are all very high in iron as well....but that absorbs much less than white meat even
Iron Tablets - are obviously high in iron....but when it isn't a natural source it doesn't absorb well AT ALL....
General rules of thumb for combating iron deficiency-
1) If you eat something green/red then eat/drink something orange too...Iron + Vit C = increased iron levels
2) Food is always better than supplements for stabilizing nutrient, vitamin levels in your body.
3) Supplements don't hurt....a multivitamin or prescribed dosage from a Dr should be paid high attention to.
General Nutrition -
Athletes have VERY high metabolisms, therefore we burn much more energy than the average person. It seems sensible that more output requires more input...the Canada food guide is a good start for a general nutrition guide...but feel free to multiply all the daily servings by 1.5 or even 2....you aren't a slob....you are eating what your body needs...SO EAT!!!11one
Metabolism requires A LOT of water to function...the general 2L of water isn't enough for a middle distance runner either....feel free to multiply that by 1.5 as well......8 cups becomes 12 cups or ~3 liters of water a day (this can be made up with Milk and Juice as well).
Pay close attention to intake of Dairy products post workout. Research has shown that the intake of lactate helps muscle recovery....for someone in Chemistry you may be interested to know that lactate is the conjugate base of lactic acid...intake of lactate increases cellular enzyme levels that help metabolize lactate/lactic acid.
Research also shows that people that drink 3L of water a day instead of 2L actually burn more calories...water feeds your metabolism....therefore gives you more energy stores and faster recovery.
These are all things that will help you go faster....
End Wall of Text,
Cheers,
Dan Toogood
P.S. For those going to Winnipeg be sure to get some pasta into you the night before your race...in case I forget to mention that :)
