I am stuck at home sick, and I’m not great at being inactive, so I’ve ticked off a long-awaited item on my to do list: rereading Stacy Sims’ book Roar. Her new book she’s written with Selene Yeager, Next Level, has just come out, which has prompted this reread. Also, I love reading about running. Roar is about, “how to match your food and fitness to your unique female physiology for optimum performance, great health, and a strong, lean body for life.” A caveat: yes, this is for men too. For the women you coach, and the women you love in your lives, understanding the impact of female physiology on health and fitness is essential for you to support them as best you can.
I have chatted about this book with some other runners on my podcast, and have listened to Stacy on podcasts such as Hit Play Not Pause, but it’s always great to over awesome material again.
I took some notes as I went through, and I’m sharing them here. Now I know you’re all smart people and this second caveat is redundant, but here it is: these notes are no substitute for reading the book. For example, I haven’t taken note of the ‘why’ for anything, just the final advice. My notes are also skewed to what suits me (I’m not pregnant, I’m not vegan, just for starters). There’s also some influence from Matt Fitzgerald, whose book The New Rules of Marathon and Half-Marathon Nutrition I’ve just read as well.
Ok, so to my notes:
How are women different from men?
If you’ve read/heard anything by Stacy Sims, you’ll know her tagline by now: women are not small men. Here are some of the key differences in women as they relate to fitness and sports performance:
· More aerobic (endurance) fibres.
· Predisposed to greater problems with dehydration in the heat.
· More likely to sweat out excess sodium.
· More likely to eat into muscle for energy.
· Sweater later.
· Sweat less.
· Have trouble off loading heat.
· Q angle 4.6° more on average, increasing ACL injury risk.
Consequently women need to:
· Build plasma volume through training.
· Strengthen hips and core.
How do women differ during their cycle?
During the first phase of the menstrual cycle, usually days 1 to 14, a woman’s physiology is more like a man’s. This makes it the best time for strength training, and training will feel relatively easier. Get that high intensity power training in, and if bleeding is heavy, consider an iron supplement.
Where life gets interesting is the high hormone phase. Here are the key features:
· Days 1 to 28 (usually).
· Estrogen and progesterone increase.
· The body spares glycogen.
· The body uses more fat for fuel.
· Core temperature goes up.
· Sodium loss goes down.
· Muscle breakdown increases.
· Muscle synthesis decreases.
· Fluid shifts to cells.
· Blood plasma volume decreases.
· Melatonin decreases.
· More predisposed to fatigue.
· Crave carbs.
· Greater risk of hyponatremia.
· Poorer sleep.
There is a lot to unpack there, and it is well worth reading the book to do so. One example for me is I have only ever suffered heat stress in events when I was in the high hormone phase. This book gave me an understanding of why, and some strategies for dealing with it.
What approach should women take to strength training?
In the high hormone phase women should do strength by feel. In the low hormone phase this is where the focus on strength training ramps up.
· Do low reps (8-10).
· Lift high weight (by 8 reps should feel maxed out).
· Lift often (2-3 sets, 2-3 days per week).
· Mix it up (body adapts otherwise).
· Use whey protein.
· Do not do crunches or sit ups.
· Do things like planks, lunges, single leg exercises, glute bridges, plyo moves, core work, upper back between shoulder blades moves, squats.
What are some of the key aspects of nutrition women need to consider?
· Daily Nutrition - 40% carbs 30% protein 30% fat
· Front load calories in the day.
· Drink tart cherry juce before bed.
· Have 10-15g protein with leucine before bed.
· Marry fruits, vegetables, grains, and protein.
· Increase B12 (eg eggs, fish).
· Increase vitamin D, calcium, magnesium.
· Eat prebiotics (eg kimchi, sauerkraut, soft and aged cheeses, kefir, yoghurt, miso paste, sourdough)
· Eat probiotics (eg artichoke, onion, garlic, leek, asparagus, oatmeal, firm bananas).
· You need a bare minimum 130g carbohydrate per day for survival.
· Make 180-200g of good quality carbs per day a base.
· Superior carbs are starchy vegetables such as sweet potatoes, yams, pumpkin, as well as root veggies such as carrots, onions, and garlic.
How many carbohydrates should I eat?
Now this is where things get tricky.Of course there is a lot of 'it depends' surrounding numbers. Stacy Sims' and Matt Fitzgerald's numbers conflict, as does everyone's! We are a long way from consensus, and of course factors such as gut health issues, what food you eat in training, intensity, etc will impact the answer. I've created tables for my own use as I try and get my head around how many carbs I need per day. One is looking at individual days and the intensity/duration, and the other is the average of time per day. The former is likely more accurate, but the latter factors in that I don't have time in my life to be carefully tracking carbs every day.
How much protein should I eat?
A few notes first:
· Complete - meat, fish, eggs, and most dairy products. Combinations: beans+rice, peanut butter+bread.
· Incomplete - nuts, whole grains, and vegetables.
· Post exercise combine fast-release (whey) and slow-release (casein).
· Have a bedtime casein-rich snack.
Again, precise figures can be tricky, but here is a rough guide:
Before I move on to events, it's worth putting in Matt Fitzgerald's food hierarchy. I made a table for myself and have posted an image here. He advocates that the number in the right column should be greater than the number below it. So you should eat more vegetables than fruit. More fruit than nuts and seeds. Etc. You can see that lean meats and grains swap places if you're training more than ten hours per week. Obviously there is no directive to eat anything in the red zone.
How do I eat for events (or hard training)?
The Night Before
· Simple meals. Eg oatmeal, quinoa, waffles, pasta, poultry, fish.
· Preload with sodium. Eg chicken soup, or a preload hydration product.
Morning Of
· Mostly carbs, low fibre, low fat, some protein. Eg 2 slices of gluten free toast with butter, salt, and a whey protein drink.
· Finish breakfast by 2 hrs before.
· No dairy, no fructose.
· Pre hydrating done by 1 hr before.
· Have about 15g of whey isolate or 9g of BCAA 30 minutes before.
· Have some simple sugars at the start line.
During
· Easily digested carbs and sugars, a little fat and protein. Eg cookies, salted potatoes, rice balls, sandwiches, dates.
· Max 1g of carbs per kilo of body weight per hour. Minimum 40g carbs per hour.
· Have a steady stream of mixed macro nutrient food.
· 1.98 to 2.49 calories per hour per kilogram of body weight.
· Divide the run into thirds: the first third have small bites (eg soft bars, figs, dates). In the second third, switch to soft jelly candies/energy chews, and on the last third look for quick hits of sugar that won’t upset your gut.
After
· Carbs, protein, water, anti oxidants.
· Make protein whey isolate and casein. Consume 30g within half an hour (or 5-7g of BCAA), then have more 2 hours later.
· Get carbs within 2 hours.
· Avoid fat and fibre.
· Chocolate milk and almonds.
· Spinach, tomato, berries, dark chocolate, citrus fruit.
How do I taper for an event?
This comes from Matt Fitzgerald:
· If you run over 65kms p/wk do a 2 week taper. If you do less do a 1 week taper.
· Keep some high intensity running in taper week(s) at goal pace or slightly faster.
· No high intensity in the last 3 days.
· Reduce calorie intake in line with tapering.
· If the event will last longer than 2 hours:
-change diet to get 65% of calories from fat (avocado, cheese, Greek yoghurt, nuts like cashews, oil, milk, salmon) for five days starting 6 days before the event.
-eat 10g carbs per kg the day before race day.
· Make sure you get a great sleep two nights before. Take melatonin if needed.
How do I deal with extremes in temperature?
Back to Stacy Sims:
Heat
· Stay on top of hydration.
· Acclimate 14 to 21 days beforehand if possible.
· Use air con when sleeping.
· Stay out of head 24 hours before event.
· Do hot yoga, go in the sauna, wear layers if you can’t acclimate.
· Precool before the event: cold water dip, icy beverage, cool towels over neck.
· Cool during: frozen water/ice blocks, pour cool (not icy) water on self, suncream, sun sleeves.
Cold
· Wear layers.
· Stay dry.
· Wear merino wool or technical fabrics.
· Wear thermal socks.
· Have good gloves.
What about hydration?
This is a huge topic for me, having experienced both dehydration and over hydration, so I will do another post all about hydration. Here are some tips for now:
· Women have less drive to drink in high hormone phase.
· Women sweat less, and sweat later.
· Blood plasma osmolality is between 275 + 295 milliosmoles. This means hydration osmolality should be between 210-260. Water is zero, so it needs pilots. Sodium is the pilot, and glucose is the co pilot.
· DO NOT drink Gatorade, Powerade, PowerBar, Tailwind, UCAN, Cytomax, Hammer, Vitamin Water, Vega Sport.
· DO drink Yes OSMO Hydration, Skratch Labs, Clif Shot, GU Hydration Drink Mix, Bonk Breaker Real Hydration.
· A 500ml flask should contain 15.4 to 20.7g of carbs (glucose or sucrose) + 396 to 495mg sodium + 132 to 165mg potassium. Table salt contains 2,325 mg of sodium per teaspoon (1/4 teaspoon = 575mg). Himalayan pink salt contains 1680 mg of sodium per teaspoon (1/4 teaspoon = 420mg).
· Drink to thirst (can be hard). Spread hydration out. Always have access.
· Over hydration is an issue. At the back end particularly as you are hiking more than running.
Here is another table I made to try and answer that question - when should I drink and eat during training? Obviously extreme heat would affect this, but here are the base suggestions:
So, after all this talk of nutrition, it's time to get to my sick day soup. I've got some lovely seeded dark rye bread to go with it. If you'd love support with your running training check out the services and get in touch.
I hope you found some useful tips,
Beck xx
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