How do you keep fit and healthy in the 3-4 weeks leading up to a race? Your number ONE priority must be to avoid a cold or infection of minor injury. Fine tuning your food and lifestyle will promote immune health and energy production to build nutritional resilience and enable you to bounce back quickly if you are unlucky and catch a cold or pick up an injury.

Often runners will think about their race day food plan which may include the week leading up to the race, which is great, however there are benefits to fine tuning food and lifestyle in the 3-4 weeks leading up to a race. 

Mostly it’s taking a “protective approach” if you’ve been training for an important race event then you’ll want to perform at your best on the day and the last thing you want is your preparations to be derailed by illness, infections, injuries or low energy. 

Today we are focusing on keeping you fit and healthy in the 3-4 weeks leading up to race day. We’re talking about:

1.    Building nutritional resilience to support our immune system and energy production cycle

2.    How optimising rest/sleep and minimising stress will support you

3.    What to add in and take out in the 3-4 weeks leading up to race day

A BIG thank you to our Show Sponsor AMAZING JANE ACTIVE WEAR. Please use discount code RHH10 for 10% off ALL purchases at www.amazingjane.com

SHOW NOTES

(03:15)

What is nutritional resilience and why is it important? Use the time when you’ll be “tapering your training” to focus on taking care of your health (through nutrition and lifestyle upgrades) will help you get to the start line in the best possible shape. 

(07:12)

A focus on supporting immune health and energy production.

(08:40)

Nutritional foundations and how to enhance them in the 3-4 weeks leading up to a race, especially focusing on key vitamins and minerals i.e., Vitamin C, B Vitamins and Magnesium.

(11:19)

Food Sources of Vitamin C include:

·      Citrus fruits: Orange, Grapefruit, Lemon, lime

• Berries: Black Currant, Strawberries
• Tropical Fruits: Kiwifruit, Papaya, pineapple, Mango, Guava, cantaloupe melon
• Green leafy/Cruciferous vegetables; Broccoli, kale, parsley, brussels sprouts, spinach, watercress
• Red and green peppers, tomatoes
• Offal - liver  

Food Sources of Vitamin B include:

• Whole grains (brown rice, barley, millet)
• Legumes (beans, lentils)
• ​Seeds and nuts (sunflower seeds, almonds)
• Dark, leafy vegetables (broccoli, spinach, kale)
• Meat (red meat, poultry, fish)
• Eggs and dairy products (milk, cheese) and
• Fruits (citrus fruits, avocados, bananas)

 (12:31)

Aileen’s personal experience of severe B Vitamin deficiency and recovery.

(14:58)

Food Sources of Magnesium include:

·      GREEN LEAFY VEGETABLES e.g. spinach, kale and swiss chard. Nuts and seeds e.g. Almonds, cashews, brazil nuts, pumpkin seeds.

·      You’ll also get Mg in SEA VEGETABLES – e.g. kelp, Nori. You can buy these as flakes to sprinkle over salads and fish dishes. You can also purchase seaweed wafers as a snack pack. Itsu and Clearspring are popular brands.

·      WHOLEGRAINS e.g. oats and buckwheat are also good sources.

·      And of course, DARK CHOCOLATE is a rich source of Mg too with 28g (1oz) containing 64mg of...