Endurance Athlete Diet: Eating for Optimum Performance
An endurance athlete diet plays a huge role in how well you train, race and recover. You are putting your body under very specific, very challenging conditions, so you need to give it exactly what it needs to perform!
I have identified 5 key problems that come up frequently among athletes I work with. I want to talk you through these common problems and show you what nutrition for endurance sports should look like.
I’m a SENr Registered Sports Nutritionist and have years of experience working with athletes, and these are common mistakes I see time and time again.
These are all super simple fixes that will optimise your endurance athlete diet and help you to really fulfill your athletic potential!
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Protein: Quantities and Spacing
Protein is super important for endurance athletes. What is important is not just how much you eat, but when you eat it.
Protein spacing
Protein spacing refers to how you spread your protein intake out throughout the day. I often see athletes skimping on protein for breakfast and lunch and then piling it on at dinner.
This isn’t ideal for muscle recovery or for making improvements in training.
To put it as simply as possible, dietary protein is the one thing that drives adaptation from exercise.
If you don’t have enough protein when you exercise, your body doesn’t have the tools it needs to get stronger. This applies as much to the growth of muscles as to the development of stronger, more resistant muscles.
I recommend eating at least 20 grams of protein with every meal, so you are getting plenty of protein throughout the day to fuel your workouts.
You might benefit from up to about 40 grams of protein each meal, depending on your weight. The research suggests 0.4g of protein per kg of body weight in each meal, which for a 70kg athlete would be about 28g of protein.
Here are some good protein sources and the amount of protein they contain:
Chicken breast: 54g
1 serving tofu: 20g
50g oats: 6g
15g peanut butter: 7g
Wholemeal bagel: 9g
200ml semi skimmed milk: 7g
Salmon fillet: 25g
Protein shake: 20g
Post Workout Protein Boost
What you eat directly after a training session is very important. In order to help your muscles recover as efficiently as possible, I recommend eating within 60 minutes of finishing your workout.
If you are planning to have a main meal within those 60 minutes then just have that as normal, but if you don’t have a main meal planned for more than an hour then you should eat a protein rich snack as soon as possible.
This snack should contain a minimum of 15g protein. The best food for endurance athletes straight after a workout is a protein based meal (as well as some carbs - see below!) because this is when your muscles are in the best state to receive plenty of restorative protein!
It’s easy for those 60 minutes to pass without you noticing it - you cool down, have a shower, check your strava, and before you know it, the hour has gone!
Why not prepare a snack before your workout, so you can dive right in afterwards?
Here’s some to try: a milk-based oat smoothie, a wholemeal sandwich with nut butter, or a bowl of low fat greek yoghurt, nuts and seeds.
Carbohydrates: Am I Eating Enough Carbs?
Carbohydrates are one of the most important macros for endurance athletes. A large proportion of your exercise is going to be fuelled by glycogen, which comes from carbs.
Glycogen is one of your body’s primary sources of fuel, but you only have a limited amount of it, so you need to keep your supplies topped up by eating plenty of carbs.
As a minimum I want to see athletes eating 3 grams of carbs per kilo of body weight, but that might need to be up to about 10g/kg for athletes with a high training volume.
The lower end of that is pretty easy for most people if they're eating a good portion of carbs with every main meal.
What are some of the best carbs for endurance athletes? Well, that does depend on the context (normal daily life or during sport), but here are some sport specific carbs and how many grams of carbs they contain:
Energy gels: 25g
Energy bar: 25g
30g prunes: 20g
Banana: 25g
500ml energy drink: 30g
6 gummy sweets: 25g
At regular meal times, I usually encourage wholegrain or wholemeal carbohydrates, simply because they have a better nutritional profile due to containing more protein, fibre and micronutrients.
Check out my article on carb loading or my carb loading meal plan to learn more about the role of carbs in nutrition for endurance runners.
Calories: Am I Meeting My Calorie Requirements?
I often see athletes not eating enough calories, when taking into account the amount of exercise they do.
This has to be my simplest piece of advice for an endurance athlete diet: just eat more!
You might think you’re eating a lot, but endurance athletes can burn A LOT through exercise.
You need a certain amount of calories just for all your baseline physiological functions, then more to get you through your workouts.
First make sure you are getting enough carbs and protein; a great deal of calories can come from that.
After that your focus should be on healthy fats. Fat contains more calories per gram compared to carbs and protein, which means fatty foods are a great way to add extra calories if you need them.
Unsaturated fats, like those from nuts, avocados or seeds, are considered the healthiest. Saturated fats can be consumed in moderation, as they still play a role in your overall nutrition, but current research suggests no more than 10% of your caloric intake should be from saturated fats.
The only ones to truly stay away from are processed trans fats!
A balanced meal with carbohydrates, fats and protein
Sweets & Treats: Are There Any Foods I Shouldn’t Eat?
I have seen a lot of athletes I work with fall into a super restrictive ‘clean eating’ mindset. This is a big no-go for me!
The best diet for endurance athletes is not one where you can never touch cake or chocolate.
There’s no joy in a life like that and it leads to negative behaviours with food.
Of course, one big purpose of eating food for endurance and stamina is its nutritional value. However, food is also there to be enjoyed and shouldn’t be treated as solely ‘functional’.
If you really enjoy sweets and treats (and let’s be honest, who doesn’t?), you can absolutely incorporate these into a healthy marathon or triathlete diet plan!
In fact, when it comes to getting enough carbs, sometimes super simple carbs from things like sports drinks and sweets are the best food choice you can make!
For example, when you are carb loading or fueling during a race, you want to consume quick release carbs which are low in fibre and therefore easy on the stomach. Sports drinks and sweets are perfect for this.
Either way, you don’t want to restrict yourself to a hyper-healthy, hyper-controlled diet plan, then sabotage it because you’re craving the food you’ve restricted and finally give in.
Incorporate your favorites into your diet, and you are more likely to stick to generally healthy habits for the long run.
Endurance Athlete Diet FAQs
What should endurance athletes eat?
Endurance athletes should eat plenty of carbs, protein and healthy fats, as well as ensuring that they are consuming enough calories to replace all those burnt during exercise.
Do endurance athletes eat a lot?
Yes, endurance athletes typically eat a lot because they burn a lot of calories. In order for your body to be functioning properly, you need to replace all the calories you burn during exercise.
What is the 90 10 rule diet?
This 90/10 rule diet is a diet whereby you eat 90% healthy, nutritious food and 10% ‘fun’ food. This means that you can be healthy without being super restrictive about food and still enjoying the treats you love.
Those are my top tips for the best endurance athlete diet. I hope you now have a better understanding of sports nutrition for endurance athletes. Let me know if you have any questions in the comments section below!
