The following article was written by a Run For Kids friend and veteran marathoner, Don Leeman.

Diet for Runners: Is there one that works?

A lot of runners, especially newer ones, or those who are trying to become endurance athletes for the first time, are often stumped when it comes to the question of "What should I eat?"

In the "old days" of marathoning (pre-1960s!), most people had little idea about what would work. Many would eat a lot of meat, figuring that all of the protein would help them the most.What a disaster!

Veteran marathon great Hal Higdon, in his book "Marathon", told of how one year he ate a 6-ounce steak the day before the Boston Marathon! EGADS! As time went along, word filtered out about something strange that was taking place at the training camp of the San Francisco 49ers. It seemed that the coaching staff was cooking up huge pots of spaghetti for the players, instead of serving huge slabs of beef. Even stranger, the players were showing less signs of fatigue near the end of their games. Were the two related, somehow?

Eventually, it was discovered that Pasta, which contains mostly complex carbohydrates, seemed to work well for endurance sports, and runners gradually started shifting their diets over to pasta instead of beef. All of a sudden, runners were not caving in as much over the last several miles of marathons! A greater and greater percentage of runners were finishing marathons looking relaxed and ready to keep on running.

The word was out! Carbohydrates were in, and it's been "off to the races" ever since. The Marathon, once the purview of the very few, suddenly became much more popular. Race fields started swelling, as people who were formerly "average" athletes started "going for the derby distance". It's true that the National Institutes for Health has said that a diet where 30% of the calories come from fat is acceptable. Okay. If you wish to pay more of your hard-earned money to heart surgeons, then go with 30% of calories from fat, 30% from protein, and 40% from carbohydrates. The resulting cholesterol buildup will put you on the surgeon's table sooner or later, with a double, triple, or even a quadruple bypass as your reward for using the "typical American diet".

Doctor Nathan Pritikin has done numerous studies of the effects of high fat versus high carb diets, and his findings were astounding. Those who eat a lot of red meat are asking for trouble, eventually. All of the running in the world will NOT get rid of excess cholesterol. The death of Jim Fixx was ample proof of that. His cholesterol level when he died was 253, yet his doctor told him that it was "completely normal". As far as Pritikin was concerned, Fixx's doctor did him no favors whatsoever. Pritikin's other book, "Diet for Runners", cited numerous cases of athletes who changed their diets to his guidelines. Some of them were Ironman Triathlon entrants. But, we will get into more of that later.

Now, how does all of this relate to you?

Simply put, an endurance athlete should be on a diet where perhaps 60% of calories are from Carbohydrates, perhaps 25% from protein, and no more than 15% from fat. As you progress closer and closer to the marathon, you should be shifting that more and more towards carbos, and cut back on the protein and fat (especially the latter!).

We will get into more specifics as we go along, especially about such things as "mini carbo-loading". This is what you will need to do as your long runs start stretching out longer and longer. The last couple of days before those 16, 18, or 20 mile training runs should see a marked shift towards a higher level of complex carbos. This would be in the form of pasta, rice, whole grain bread, potatoes, and so forth.

During the week of the MCM, you may find yourself going as high as 80% of calories from Complex Carbs. That's okay, too! Your body will need that sort of fuel in order to most easily cover the 26.2 miles. Remember, if all you ever want to do is jog 3 miles per day, 5 times per week, this sort of diet is not entirely necessary. However, if you want to be an endurance athlete, and enjoy all of the extra "side-benefits" that will accrue to you, then proper attention to diet will be of serious importance to you.

As usual, anyone who has individual questions can feel free to contact me through Don's Mail Bag. I'll be pleased to answer any individual questions as best I can.

For now, remember to do that hill workout once each week. It's a great way to build leg strength before moving into the speedwork phase of your training.

My next article will deal with the concept of speedwork, and why it will be necessary for you to do these types of workouts as you build towards the Marathon.

Good running!