Hello all, John Hanc here, a contributing editor to Runner’s World (I’ve also written about triathlon over the years for other publications, and train with many triathletes here in New York, so I’m not a total outsider!). I’m looking for subjects for a story we’re planning in the magazine.
It’s basically a “make-over” story. We’re looking for runners who are making some mistakes and wouldn’t mind admitting as such (so a sense of humor would help). We can then match you with an expert who will give you the why’s and how’s of correcting that mistake.
Specifically, we’re looking for a male runner (of course, he can also be a triathlete, but since we’re Runner’s World, that’s what we’ll be focusing on); no older than about 30 and someone who’s fast–as in about a 17 minute 5K or faster. BUT, despite his speed, this guy we’re looking for has a terrible diet. Fast food, junk food, all the time (or, as someone on this forum posted on another topic, a diet of “Twinkies and Coke.”)
What we’d do is set this runner up with a sports nutritionist who would show him the “error of his ways” and put him on a healthier eating plan.
If you or someone you know fits the bill, we’d love to consider you for this story. You’ll become famous (at least for one month, in the running community); you’ll become a better runner (by eating better), and you’ll also have run, while helping other readers avoid the same mistake.
Who’s up for it? Let me know. Post a reply here or e-mail me at: jhanc@optonline.net
Thanks, and I wish all of you triathletes good luck in your upcoming season!
Interested in reading. Probably have to look at high school or college runners. Not to many adults are going to eat like that and be that fast. What about the occasional fast food eater that can run a 5k in under 20min?
Hey John, I might be a good candidate for this. I’m 24, I’m hooked on coffee and eat fast food at least once a day. I recently ran a 16:50 5k off recreational mileage, around 20mi/wk. It sounds like fun but I don’t have a whole lot of free time. Let me know if you need me.
GO call up Bill Rodgers, I heard that he did all of his grocery shopping at 7-11. Potato chips for breakfast, twinkies and ding dongs for lunch, and hot dogs and doritos for dinner…All washed down with a big gulp cola…I know a couple more like that, but from the old days. Probably harder these days to find that diet in a sucessful athlete, they have all been brainwashed into so called healthy diets…Good luck, I look foreward to the article, hope you can find a real person to fit the bill…
Hey Noobik, you do sound like a good candidate for this. Drop me a line at jhanc@optonline.net, and tell me a little more about yourself; name, where you live (town/state), your p.r.'s, how long you’ve been running (and doing tris), a little more detail about your diet…
Oh and btw, Monty, I HAVE called Bill Rodgers. Many times over the years, for many stories. He’s a great guy. And while his diet may have been poor in the early days, he’d be the first to say to advocate a healthy diet for athletes today; and would disagree with you that people are being “brainwashed” into eating right. Nutrition, as you suggest, is key to all elite athletes these days; although what that exactly means depends to some extent on who you talk to.
I’m not suprised he cleaned up his act, in those days there just was not that much good nutrition information. But today there is too much information, and everyone has the secret diet. I’ve always been of the mind that there is no one, or two diets that will suit everyone, it is a very individual thing. Look at the Taramaharmu(sp?) indians, a diet of 90% corn, and they run over a 100 miles per week in everyday living. Then you have Alaskan natives that live on mainly seal meat and blubber and fish, and both peoples live healthy lives. They just have adapted to their diets over the eons, and their bodies make the best use of the resources at hand. If you switched up their diets, they would each probably get really sick, and eventually die from it…That is the extreme ends of the diet spectrum, but it showed me that we are all inbetween somewhere, and there is no magic diet for everyone…
I find it funny that some guy made a fortune on the 40/30/30 diet, and formed a sort of diet cult around it… WHen I look back at my youth, that is exactly what my mom cooked for us kids. Meat, potatos, and vegtables, with some eggs and cereal…My mom sure missed the boat on that one…(-;
One of the greatest things about Bill Rodgers, athletic achievements aside, was the sheer legend of his diet and how it spawned a generation of elite and not-so-elite athletes who’d eat absolutely ridiculous things (or ridiculous amounts of otherwise sane things) because they’d heard that “Bill Rodgers eats them”.
He was the anti-Dave Scott…On Dave’s side of things, that is when I heard that everyone was cleaning up their diets, eating almost no fat, and rinsing their cottage cheese like Dave was said to be doing. Then Pritikin came around, and paid a bunch of pros to say they were on his diet…I think Molina was one of them, and no way did he eat Pritikin…But the masses did not know, so it spawned another diet fad that made him millions. Those old diets were like start up churches, get in quick, get your money, and then give out the kool aid as long as you can…
2:54 marathoner here, and shit, i eat mcdonalds 3-4 times a week.
just b/c im a poor college student and i am inept at cooking… i generally eat 4 double cheese burgers and 2 chicken sandwiches for dinner. I always add extra mayo, mmm calories. i do cheat though, i usually throw away most of the bread, so i make 2 quadruple cheese burgers and 1 double chicken sandwich. generally im hungry within about 2 hours of that, so i eat ice cream and 2 eggs with tons of cheese.
Hi “np” (if I may call you that for sure). That’s pretty good–2:45, fueled by McDonalds. You might be a good candidate for us. Can you please send me (at my e-mail) your name, age, what town/state you reside in and some more details about your running and diet (if we can call it that :). And thanks for your response!
funny you mention that, im 35 have 4-5 % bodyfat and eat prob 50% of my daily diet comes from fat and im not talking good fats.my pr’s are 2:35/1:13 (running races) and also have excellent blood. …i eat pizza,ice cream,bacon,anything super fatty…its scary what i eat sometimes…only reason i can do this im certain is the 15-30hrs a week of training i do…no telling where id be if i didnt workout :)…i know several fast triathletes that eat terrible. its seems some eat super healthy while others eat the opposite end of the spectrum. my problem is that i cant fill up on quality foods on big weeks.
I was at a talk given by Dean Karnazes (sp?) today. He mentioned that he always runs with a cell phone and a credit card. He will phone ahead to Round table pizza and order a thin crust hawaiian style and ask that it not be sliced and give them a location he will be in about 20 minutes. when it gets it he rolls it up like a burrito and will continue running.
I might be able to do this. 16:54 5K, 34:30 10K, 1:17:10 half marathon. Diet consists of 3-6 cups of coffee/day, 2 cokes (today, so far), pop tarts, pizza, snickers, cinnamon toast crunch, peanut butter, burritos, ice cream. I’m 29 years old and was voted class comedian my senior year of high school. I’ve got nice calves (so my wife says), so you can take a picture of them and put it on the cover of RW with a caption that reads, “want legs like these? eat pop tarts!”
I might be able to do this. 16:54 5K, 34:30 10K, 1:17:10 half marathon. Diet consists of 3-6 cups of coffee/day, 2 cokes (today, so far), pop tarts, pizza, snickers, cinnamon toast crunch, peanut butter, burritos, ice cream. I’m 29 years old and was voted class comedian my senior year of high school. I’ve got nice calves (so my wife says), so you can take a picture of them and put it on the cover of RW with a caption that reads, “want legs like these? eat pop tarts!”
Must be nice to have that kind of metabolism. LUCKY!
