Macro tracking and endurance sports

Aug 31, 17 18:37

Post #1 of 15 (3204 views)

Fellas if this has been discussed before I apologize. I promise you, I have invested several hours searching for wisdom.

For those of you who track marcos and meal prep what macro % do you shoot for? I'm still new to triathlon. Coming to the end of my first season. I've been a gym rat for the last 6 years. With that came learning gym rat nutrition and meal prepping. I'm a larger guy for endurance sports, 6'0 190lbs @ around 10-11% bf. I really don't care to drop to much weight from muscle mass. Don't mind loosing %bf though. Typically I prep with a 50/30/20 split on about 2700 cal/day. This is what I've been doing pretty much all this season. Am I robbing performance by staying high protein lower carb? I understand the science of protein for recovery, carbs for energy.

And total calories, do you guys try to target maintenance + training load? I still weight train 5-6 hours a week in addition to the triathlon stuff. My avg training load is 14-17 hours most weeks. According to garmin connect and myfitnesspal I end up with huge calorie deficit on big training days. Do you guys try to cover a 2k cal deficit?

Re: Macro tracking and endurance sports [smboudreaux] [ In reply to ]

Aug 31, 17 19:10

Post #2 of 15 (3186 views)

I target 40 carb, 30 fat and protein.

https://markmcdermott.substack.com

Re: Macro tracking and endurance sports [smboudreaux] [ In reply to ]

Sep 1, 17 9:41

Post #3 of 15 (3129 views)

I target 50% Carbs, 15% Fat and 35% protein. This is in line with the higher intensity training I do and muscle repair. If you're doing more aerobic work I'd bump up the fat some and take a bit out of the other two. That is what I've found works for me but you'll have to see how your body responds.

------
"Train so you have no regrets @ the finish line"

Re: Macro tracking and endurance sports [smboudreaux] [ In reply to ]

Dave Latourette

Sep 1, 17 11:16

Post #4 of 15 (3105 views)

If you actually are tracking ...
Daily: Grams of protein and fat should stay almost identical (protein to protein ... fat to fat)
Daily: Carbohydrate grams should vary day to day based on training load (volume, intensity)

Therefore if you are always 40/30/30 OR 50/30/20 etc. some days you will be perfect ... others days close ... some days way off ... on long or high load days (especially if intensive) your demand for carbohydrate goes up. I.E. ... on and low load day you may be 40/30/30 ... on a long and / or intensive day you may need to be 60/20/20 to support the demand of the higher training load

The question to ask: "If your training changes daily, why would your nutrition / fueling stay the same?"

-------------------------
Dave Latourette
http://www.TTENation.com

Last edited by: Dave Latourette: Sep 1, 17 11:47

Re: Macro tracking and endurance sports [Dave Latourette] [ In reply to ]

Sep 1, 17 11:36

Post #5 of 15 (3095 views)

Dave Latourette wrote:

If you actually are tracking ...
Daily: Grams of protein and fat should stay almost identical
Daily: Carbohydrate grams should vary day to day based on training load (volume, instensity)

The question to ask: "If your training changes daily, why would your nutrtion / fueling stay the same?"

I pretty much agree with this. But, I target 1.5 g/kg protein, and 1 g/kg fat. I add and remove carbs as needed to balance daily calorie needs.

Re: Macro tracking and endurance sports [Tom_hampton] [ In reply to ]

Dave Latourette

Sep 1, 17 11:45

Post #6 of 15 (3086 views)

Hi Tom ...

I'm not sure why you say "But" ... it sounds as if you keep your protein and fat intakes similar day to day ? Maybe I should re-word my suggestion ... I am not saying protein and fay grams should match each other, rather those individual totals should remain similar every day (protein to protein -- fat to fat)

DL

-------------------------
Dave Latourette
http://www.TTENation.com

Last edited by: Dave Latourette: Sep 1, 17 11:46

Re: Macro tracking and endurance sports [Dave Latourette] [ In reply to ]

Sep 1, 17 12:05

Post #7 of 15 (3067 views)

Dave Latourette wrote:

If you actually are tracking ...
Daily: Grams of protein and fat should stay almost identical (protein to protein ... fat to fat)
Daily: Carbohydrate grams should vary day to day based on training load (volume, intensity)

Therefore if you are always 40/30/30 OR 50/30/20 etc. some days you will be perfect ... others days close ... some days way off ... on long or high load days (especially if intensive) your demand for carbohydrate goes up. I.E. ... on and low load day you may be 40/30/30 ... on a long and / or intensive day you may need to be 60/20/20 to support the demand of the higher training load

The question to ask: "If your training changes daily, why would your nutrition / fueling stay the same?"

For simplicity and lack of anal living.

https://markmcdermott.substack.com

Re: Macro tracking and endurance sports [marklemcd] [ In reply to ]

Dave Latourette

Sep 1, 17 12:16

Post #8 of 15 (3056 views)

Wouldn't it be more "anal" if you ate the same % every day? ;-) ... As opposed to simply knowing you trained harder / more on a given day so simply ingest more carbohydrate ?? (not to mention it supports training and recovery at a higher level)

EDIT ... plus if you are actually tracking "macros" you have already crossed the border of being anal

-------------------------
Dave Latourette
http://www.TTENation.com

Last edited by: Dave Latourette: Sep 1, 17 12:17

Re: Macro tracking and endurance sports [smboudreaux] [ In reply to ]

Sep 1, 17 12:37

Post #9 of 15 (3040 views)

I found this article helpful when working out my diet.

http://www.triathlete.com/2015/05/nutrition/racing-weight-balancing-your-diet_24561

Re: Macro tracking and endurance sports [Dave Latourette] [ In reply to ]

Sep 1, 17 13:15

Post #10 of 15 (3009 views)

Ok. Yes, I interpreted your statement as protein grams == fat grams. Both constant, and same grams per day.

Since you meant constant, but not equal then obviously we are in agreement.

My apologies for the confusion.

Re: Macro tracking and endurance sports [Dave Latourette] [ In reply to ]

Sep 1, 17 14:58

Post #11 of 15 (2966 views)

Dave Latourette wrote:

If you actually are tracking ...
Daily: Grams of protein and fat should stay almost identical (protein to protein ... fat to fat)
Daily: Carbohydrate grams should vary day to day based on training load (volume, intensity)

Therefore if you are always 40/30/30 OR 50/30/20 etc. some days you will be perfect ... others days close ... some days way off ... on long or high load days (especially if intensive) your demand for carbohydrate goes up. I.E. ... on and low load day you may be 40/30/30 ... on a long and / or intensive day you may need to be 60/20/20 to support the demand of the higher training load

The question to ask: "If your training changes daily, why would your nutrition / fueling stay the same?"

This is were training for endurance sports differs from just the gym rat stuff. With weight training i knew i was going to be in the gym for x hours and was gonna do x cardio. Very simple. Maintenance - 500 to cut, maintenance + 500 to gain. The training wasn't as dynamic as the way i train now. You didn't have the 2500 cal bikes or runs to deal with. So i guess the take away from all this is the nutrition side of this sport need to be much more flexible than what I've been doing.

Re: Macro tracking and endurance sports [marklemcd] [ In reply to ]

Sep 1, 17 15:00

Post #12 of 15 (2963 views)

marklemcd wrote:

For simplicity and lack of anal living.

this man knows the stuggle lol

Re: Macro tracking and endurance sports [smboudreaux] [ In reply to ]

Sep 2, 17 3:38

Post #13 of 15 (2892 views)

I've gone the other way to you. I did IMNZ in March this year, and due to a bad hamstring injury I stopped riding/running and started lifting weights. Fast forward approx 6 months and I'm 3 weeks out deep in prep (I.e a calorie deficit) for a physique show.

Anyway, what I've learned about with nutrition by researching and then applying that firstly for a slight bulking phase and then a cutting phase, showed me that I had absolutely no idea what I was doing with nutrition when I was training for an IM. I'd go as far to say that I completely cocked it up, and as a result severely impacted my training and performance.

My n=1, if I was doing it again I'd be targeting 2g/kg bodyweight for protein, 1.2g/kg bodyweight for fats, and the balance made up from carbs. I'd scale carb intake each day depending on training activity, and aim to be in a slight calorie surplus monitoring body weight weekly to keep it fairly steady. Yes I said surplus to maintain, I think it's far better to slightly over eat one week and cut back the next week than to under eat.

Re: Macro tracking and endurance sports [rock] [ In reply to ]

Sep 2, 17 6:04

Post #14 of 15 (2855 views)

rock wrote:

I've gone the other way to you. I did IMNZ in March this year, and due to a bad hamstring injury I stopped riding/running and started lifting weights. Fast forward approx 6 months and I'm 3 weeks out deep in prep (I.e a calorie deficit) for a physique show.

Anyway, what I've learned about with nutrition by researching and then applying that firstly for a slight bulking phase and then a cutting phase, showed me that I had absolutely no idea what I was doing with nutrition when I was training for an IM. I'd go as far to say that I completely cocked it up, and as a result severely impacted my training and performance.

My n=1, if I was doing it again I'd be targeting 2g/kg bodyweight for protein, 1.2g/kg bodyweight for fats, and the balance made up from carbs. I'd scale carb intake each day depending on training activity, and aim to be in a slight calorie surplus monitoring body weight weekly to keep it fairly steady. Yes I said surplus to maintain, I think it's far better to slightly over eat one week and cut back the next week than to under eat.

On this: I never really focused on macros until about 2 months ago but at 158 pounds I've been aiming for 200g protein a day and I've noticed a substantial improvement in my chronic groin issue. Coincidence? Not sure.

https://markmcdermott.substack.com

Re: Macro tracking and endurance sports [marklemcd] [ In reply to ]

Sep 2, 17 12:46

Post #15 of 15 (2810 views)

I'd argue it's no coincidence. When you think about the amount of muscular damage and regeneration that heavy endurance training creates, low protein would substantially hamper injury recovery as well as maximising training gains (from a biological perspective, such as increasing mitochondrial density in muscle cells).

Secondly I did bouts of low carb to help become 'fat adapted' which I think worked, but I hung out there way too long. When you read into the effects of messed up thyroid function, lower T and elevated cortisol I was definitely there during my heavy blocks of training.

I'd be doing it all very differently next time. I think this sport has an unhealthy fixation on being light/lean for performance, when in fact it's such a fine line to walk that the risk far outweighs the reward for the average age grouper. Get it spot on and you can save a couple of minutes from your run in an IM. Get it wrong and you lose far more than a couple of minutes, if you even get to the start line. The focus should be firstly in ensuring correct calories and macros to let your body perform the best it can week in and week out.

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