1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:02,960 You're listening to episode 300 of the Marathon Running Podcast. 2 00:00:03,000 --> 00:00:06,600 In this episode, we're going to talk about running lean as a 3 00:00:06,720 --> 00:00:09,320 marathoner. Welcome to the marathon Running 4 00:00:09,320 --> 00:00:12,240 Podcast by Marathon Journal. Join us every week for the 5 00:00:12,240 --> 00:00:14,880 insights and inspiration you need to get from the starting 6 00:00:14,880 --> 00:00:16,920 line to the finish line and beyond. 7 00:00:26,080 --> 00:00:29,000 You're listening to episode 300 of the Marathon Running Podcast. 8 00:00:29,040 --> 00:00:32,640 In this episode, we're going to talk about running lean as a 9 00:00:32,759 --> 00:00:34,880 marathoner. Hey runners, and welcome to 10 00:00:34,880 --> 00:00:36,760 episode 300. My name is Letty. 11 00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:40,440 My name is Ryan. And Ryan, we are at episode 300. 12 00:00:40,440 --> 00:00:42,760 Can you believe? It barely it is impressive that 13 00:00:42,760 --> 00:00:45,400 you've done 300. Weeks or 300 episodes. 14 00:00:45,400 --> 00:00:48,160 With almost only new content, right? 15 00:00:48,280 --> 00:00:52,560 Yeah, I mean, I guess. You said before in the prior 16 00:00:52,560 --> 00:00:55,000 take take number. One that you only have like 4. 17 00:00:55,000 --> 00:00:57,400 Weeks or something that you just repeated some episodes. 18 00:00:57,440 --> 00:01:00,880 Earlier on, but now all of them have been originals. 19 00:01:01,360 --> 00:01:04,760 Yes, I think it really was only four to five times that we've 20 00:01:04,760 --> 00:01:07,160 recycled material due to time constraints. 21 00:01:07,160 --> 00:01:09,600 But we've made the time and we've gotten really quick at 22 00:01:09,600 --> 00:01:12,680 editing too, I have to say that. So it's not really that much of 23 00:01:12,680 --> 00:01:14,800 A hassle to record something. And of course, it's always 24 00:01:14,800 --> 00:01:17,320 interesting to find topics. I think that's the hardest part 25 00:01:17,320 --> 00:01:20,000 is figuring out new topics all the time, but you do a good job 26 00:01:20,120 --> 00:01:21,760 of it. We've been around long enough 27 00:01:21,760 --> 00:01:23,680 that we actually get pictures via e-mail. 28 00:01:23,920 --> 00:01:27,480 So if you are a listener and you have a great topic that is 29 00:01:27,920 --> 00:01:31,760 training related and can help other runners perform better, 30 00:01:32,040 --> 00:01:35,680 then I invite you to reach out to me and you can reach us at 31 00:01:35,680 --> 00:01:40,000 contact@marathonjournal.com. And yeah, we'd love to hear from 32 00:01:40,000 --> 00:01:41,880 you. And if it's a good topic, highly 33 00:01:41,880 --> 00:01:43,840 likely we will talk to you in the future, so. 34 00:01:43,840 --> 00:01:45,000 What are we talking about today? So. 35 00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:48,360 Today we're talking about leaning out and being a 36 00:01:48,360 --> 00:01:51,200 marathoner and that is a very fresh topic to us. 37 00:01:51,600 --> 00:01:55,160 We have not talked about this before and I feel like it's 38 00:01:55,160 --> 00:01:56,840 necessary, right? Because right now, in this 39 00:01:56,840 --> 00:01:59,040 world, right now, I know you don't have an Instagram account 40 00:01:59,040 --> 00:02:03,480 that is just running related, but we are encouraged to love 41 00:02:03,480 --> 00:02:06,240 ourselves the way we are and I'm totally behind that. 42 00:02:06,400 --> 00:02:10,759 At the same time, if you want to perform well as a marathoner, 43 00:02:10,960 --> 00:02:15,880 there is a correlation of less body weight and performance. 44 00:02:16,200 --> 00:02:19,640 And so if you are leaner and stronger, you're going to run 45 00:02:19,640 --> 00:02:22,840 faster. And I mean, it's kind of a taboo 46 00:02:22,840 --> 00:02:25,440 topic, right? It is, you know, you, it's hard 47 00:02:25,440 --> 00:02:29,000 to say, oh, you need to lose weight in order to perform. 48 00:02:29,000 --> 00:02:33,240 I think that's that's difficult and and it's not necessary for 49 00:02:33,240 --> 00:02:36,400 all people, but I think for the people that are at the elite 50 00:02:36,400 --> 00:02:39,440 level or somebody that does want to improve, that is a way to 51 00:02:39,440 --> 00:02:42,120 improve because you have less weight to carry around, it is 52 00:02:42,120 --> 00:02:43,840 going to be a little easier. Yes. 53 00:02:43,840 --> 00:02:45,760 So don't take offense by this podcast. 54 00:02:45,760 --> 00:02:49,000 We love everybody. But I was curious, right? 55 00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:52,880 So for that reason, today we are talking to registered Dietitian 56 00:02:52,880 --> 00:02:56,600 Alex Larson, who was not afraid to hop into this subject with 57 00:02:56,600 --> 00:02:57,680 me. So let's get into it. 58 00:02:58,000 --> 00:02:59,840 All right, so without any further ado, I'm not going to 59 00:02:59,840 --> 00:03:02,120 play our conversation with Alex Larson. 60 00:03:04,280 --> 00:03:06,600 All right, so I'm on with Alex Larson. 61 00:03:06,600 --> 00:03:08,760 Alex, thank you so much for joining me today. 62 00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:10,360 Yeah. Thanks for having me Letty. 63 00:03:10,640 --> 00:03:12,880 Yes, of course. And before we begin, I would 64 00:03:12,880 --> 00:03:16,280 like to have you do a quick intro to our listeners so they 65 00:03:16,280 --> 00:03:19,800 can know who we are talking to and how you are an expert in 66 00:03:19,800 --> 00:03:22,480 your area. Yeah, So my name is Alex Larson. 67 00:03:22,480 --> 00:03:25,720 You may have seen me on Instagram or, you know, 68 00:03:25,720 --> 00:03:27,800 elsewhere in the endurance world, but I'm a registered 69 00:03:27,800 --> 00:03:29,720 dietitian by trade. That's my background. 70 00:03:30,200 --> 00:03:35,040 And back in 2014, I crossed the finish line of Iron Man 71 00:03:35,040 --> 00:03:37,640 Wisconsin. And that was a pretty pivotal 72 00:03:37,640 --> 00:03:41,880 moment for me because I can vividly remember thinking, Oh my 73 00:03:41,880 --> 00:03:44,760 gosh, if I didn't know what I was doing with my nutrition, I 74 00:03:44,960 --> 00:03:48,160 don't think I would have gotten through this race. 75 00:03:48,520 --> 00:03:51,320 And in the second-half of the marathon of an Iron Man, it's 76 00:03:51,320 --> 00:03:54,440 kind of a war zone. There's lots of like people 77 00:03:54,440 --> 00:03:59,560 cramping or throwing up or just crying on the sidelines, just 78 00:03:59,560 --> 00:04:01,440 like not sure if they can continue going. 79 00:04:01,440 --> 00:04:04,840 And nutrition plays a really huge role in those longer 80 00:04:04,840 --> 00:04:08,040 distance events. And so witnessing all of that 81 00:04:08,040 --> 00:04:10,520 and having myself get across the finish line, that's kind of 82 00:04:10,520 --> 00:04:13,440 where I felt my calling, where I feel I was like, I think I need 83 00:04:13,440 --> 00:04:17,399 to help these runners and cyclists and triathletes and 84 00:04:17,399 --> 00:04:21,040 Nordic skiers and, and just people that want to go far 85 00:04:21,040 --> 00:04:24,080 distances and challenge themselves. 86 00:04:24,080 --> 00:04:29,720 And he put all of this time and energy and money into getting to 87 00:04:29,720 --> 00:04:32,560 the start line of a race. And to have nutrition be the 88 00:04:32,560 --> 00:04:35,440 thing that prevents you from reaching your goals is really 89 00:04:35,440 --> 00:04:38,200 unfortunate. So that's what I get to do in my 90 00:04:38,200 --> 00:04:40,120 job. I started Alex Larson Nutrition 91 00:04:40,120 --> 00:04:44,520 in 2018, and I just get to work with the best people. 92 00:04:44,520 --> 00:04:47,480 You know, those everyday people that are have careers and 93 00:04:47,480 --> 00:04:51,120 families but also have these dreams to do these really epic 94 00:04:51,400 --> 00:04:55,080 races and helping them kind of navigate how to fuel themselves 95 00:04:55,360 --> 00:04:58,400 for all that training while having, you know, just that busy 96 00:04:58,920 --> 00:05:00,520 regular everyday life. I love this. 97 00:05:00,520 --> 00:05:02,920 This is a great intro and I guess we're in really good 98 00:05:02,920 --> 00:05:04,760 hands. With all of this because. 99 00:05:05,080 --> 00:05:08,040 We are talking about a topic that is a little bit 100 00:05:08,040 --> 00:05:09,720 controversial and let me backtrack a little bit. 101 00:05:09,960 --> 00:05:12,760 When we talk about people wanting to be leaner because our 102 00:05:12,760 --> 00:05:15,400 topic is going to be leaner body composition without losing power 103 00:05:15,400 --> 00:05:17,960 or energy. I feel like we're in this era 104 00:05:17,960 --> 00:05:22,520 right now where it's almost bad to mention that you want to be 105 00:05:22,520 --> 00:05:25,240 leaner. We have come a long way with not 106 00:05:25,440 --> 00:05:28,400 shaming people for their looks, but I think now it's almost 107 00:05:28,400 --> 00:05:31,640 depend, almost flipping the other way where if we say 108 00:05:31,640 --> 00:05:34,600 anything about oh I want to be leaner, we get chastised because 109 00:05:34,600 --> 00:05:38,200 you are a marathoner and who are you to question what you're 110 00:05:38,480 --> 00:05:42,400 eating and all that. But in reality, the truth is 111 00:05:42,400 --> 00:05:45,680 that most of us, or maybe it's just me, but I know it's not 112 00:05:45,680 --> 00:05:49,720 just me, we started running as a way of maintaining our weights 113 00:05:49,720 --> 00:05:54,240 because obviously if you burn more calories, then you are not 114 00:05:54,240 --> 00:05:56,560 in the deficit, but you're kind of more, you know, maintaining, 115 00:05:56,560 --> 00:05:57,960 right? You're in even balance. 116 00:05:58,320 --> 00:06:01,520 And that's why we start running. But then a lot of times we see 117 00:06:01,680 --> 00:06:06,440 that we sometimes have a bigger appetite during our marathon 118 00:06:06,440 --> 00:06:10,400 training cycles and we might even gain weight and all that. 119 00:06:10,680 --> 00:06:13,840 But in reality, we still want to look good, right? 120 00:06:13,840 --> 00:06:17,760 Because even wanting to be a machine, you still feel like you 121 00:06:17,760 --> 00:06:19,640 want to look good. So maybe you talk about that a 122 00:06:19,640 --> 00:06:22,360 little bit before we hop into this topic of wanting to be 123 00:06:22,360 --> 00:06:25,640 leaner. Yeah, I would 100% agree that 124 00:06:25,640 --> 00:06:29,480 we've kind of swung the pendulum a little bit too far the other 125 00:06:29,480 --> 00:06:33,040 way where, you know, it used to be very much like diet culture 126 00:06:33,040 --> 00:06:36,520 and always trying to like exercise more and eat less and 127 00:06:36,520 --> 00:06:39,440 be as lean as possible. And now we're in this like 128 00:06:39,520 --> 00:06:43,480 wonderful, like love your body at the size it is, you know, 129 00:06:43,520 --> 00:06:46,480 focus on health and fueling for performance, which is great. 130 00:06:46,480 --> 00:06:50,800 But I have seen over the past year, year and a half, two 131 00:06:50,800 --> 00:06:54,040 years, these athletes that come to me and I'm like, OK, let's 132 00:06:54,040 --> 00:06:56,240 talk about your goals. What kind of things do you want 133 00:06:56,240 --> 00:06:58,680 me to help you achieve? And then they'll kind of 134 00:06:58,680 --> 00:07:02,560 downplay their interest in getting leaner. 135 00:07:02,720 --> 00:07:05,560 And I, I like to use the term body composition because when 136 00:07:05,560 --> 00:07:07,440 people come to me and they say they want to lose weight, they 137 00:07:07,440 --> 00:07:10,000 mean they want to lose excess body fat and they want to 138 00:07:10,000 --> 00:07:11,760 maintain the muscle and strength, right? 139 00:07:11,760 --> 00:07:13,640 They want to look tone, they want to look strong. 140 00:07:13,640 --> 00:07:16,840 It's not necessarily about being the lowest number on the scale. 141 00:07:16,840 --> 00:07:18,920 It's more about body composition. 142 00:07:18,920 --> 00:07:21,880 And they, they did, they downplay this interest of theirs 143 00:07:21,880 --> 00:07:23,920 and they're almost embarrassed to tell me. 144 00:07:24,240 --> 00:07:27,560 And so I often have to ask them, but like two or three times, Are 145 00:07:27,560 --> 00:07:29,320 you sure you don't have anybody competition? 146 00:07:29,320 --> 00:07:32,200 So like, well, if I lost some weight, I'd I'd be really happy, 147 00:07:32,200 --> 00:07:33,840 but I don't want to beat that to be the main focus. 148 00:07:33,840 --> 00:07:38,920 I'm like, it's OK if you want to lose 5 lbs or 10 lbs, maybe over 149 00:07:38,920 --> 00:07:41,400 the past couple years they've seen a little bit of weight gain 150 00:07:41,840 --> 00:07:44,880 and it hasn't been just muscle. You know what I mean? 151 00:07:44,880 --> 00:07:48,200 Like that those types of things happen and it's OK. 152 00:07:48,200 --> 00:07:50,320 I want to validate people's feelings. 153 00:07:50,320 --> 00:07:53,480 And it's not about the goal, it's about how you pursue it, 154 00:07:53,680 --> 00:07:55,960 right? It's like, let's make sure when 155 00:07:55,960 --> 00:07:59,480 we have a realistic weight goal, let's make sure that we're going 156 00:07:59,480 --> 00:08:02,280 to achieve that in the healthiest way possible that 157 00:08:02,280 --> 00:08:06,200 still supports your training and your energy levels and doesn't 158 00:08:06,200 --> 00:08:10,040 deregulate hormones and doesn't put you at risk for stress 159 00:08:10,040 --> 00:08:12,560 fractures and injuries. Like there's ways that we can do 160 00:08:12,560 --> 00:08:16,440 things strategically for people to see that body composition 161 00:08:16,440 --> 00:08:20,240 improve, but still continue to see they're running, feel great 162 00:08:20,240 --> 00:08:22,640 and continue to progress and see fitness skins. 163 00:08:22,840 --> 00:08:27,120 So yes, I would 100% agree with you that there is this weird 164 00:08:27,120 --> 00:08:29,920 energy around it. And I, I don't know if I'm like 165 00:08:29,920 --> 00:08:32,200 the black sheep of the sports dietitian world, but I'm like, 166 00:08:32,240 --> 00:08:33,880 I'm OK with it if they want that. 167 00:08:33,880 --> 00:08:37,720 But I have some like asterisks there and saying like but we got 168 00:08:37,720 --> 00:08:39,039 to do it the right way. I love it. 169 00:08:39,039 --> 00:08:40,760 Yeah, I know. I'm glad we talked about that 170 00:08:40,760 --> 00:08:43,919 elephant in the room because this is what this podcast is 171 00:08:43,919 --> 00:08:47,400 going to be about, how to get leaner and not sacrificing 172 00:08:47,400 --> 00:08:49,880 anything because as you just mentioned, there's just so much 173 00:08:49,880 --> 00:08:53,520 involved with it. From talking to other people 174 00:08:53,520 --> 00:08:58,680 that are in nutrition, I have learned that it is not possible 175 00:08:58,680 --> 00:09:03,040 to pursue weight loss or whatever you want to call that 176 00:09:03,040 --> 00:09:07,200 properly at the same time as you gain speed and strength. 177 00:09:07,240 --> 00:09:09,680 Maybe I'm phrasing it wrong, but maybe a clarify that a little 178 00:09:09,680 --> 00:09:12,400 bit for me. I think it's possible, but I 179 00:09:12,400 --> 00:09:15,920 think there you need to have the right strategies in place and I 180 00:09:15,920 --> 00:09:19,040 think that athletes need to be monitored pretty closely. 181 00:09:19,040 --> 00:09:23,320 There is definitely always a risk of that low energy 182 00:09:23,320 --> 00:09:27,320 availability. And but again, we're like, for 183 00:09:27,320 --> 00:09:30,320 me, when I work one-on-one with athletes, like I'm monitoring 184 00:09:30,320 --> 00:09:34,640 them, I'm keeping pretty close tabs on how much they're eating, 185 00:09:34,720 --> 00:09:38,320 on their energy levels, their performance in their training, 186 00:09:38,520 --> 00:09:42,360 their hunger throughout the day. Oftentimes, if they have a long 187 00:09:42,360 --> 00:09:44,640 history of disorder dating, like what's their relationship with 188 00:09:44,640 --> 00:09:47,880 their body like making sure that throughout this process that 189 00:09:47,880 --> 00:09:52,600 they are feeling empowered by their food choices and not like 190 00:09:52,600 --> 00:09:56,120 feeling like food is the enemy. Like that, like all of those 191 00:09:56,120 --> 00:09:58,560 little things, it makes it feel complex. 192 00:09:58,560 --> 00:10:02,080 But to me, it's like just parts of the puzzle to really help 193 00:10:02,080 --> 00:10:05,160 people see that weight loss. And I'll give an example. 194 00:10:05,160 --> 00:10:10,080 I had an athlete, a runner last fall who came to me and she was 195 00:10:10,080 --> 00:10:11,960 like brilliant again, kind of embarrassed. 196 00:10:11,960 --> 00:10:14,800 She's like, I hate to say this, but I'd like to lose 10 lbs. 197 00:10:14,800 --> 00:10:18,400 I've been slowly seeing this little bit of weight gain over 198 00:10:18,400 --> 00:10:21,920 the past like 5-6 years. And I'd love to get back down to 199 00:10:22,480 --> 00:10:24,720 my weight that I was, you know, 5-6 years ago. 200 00:10:24,720 --> 00:10:28,720 But I really don't want to see my running decline. 201 00:10:28,720 --> 00:10:31,480 I'm really happy with how my runnings progressed over the 202 00:10:31,480 --> 00:10:32,880 years. I don't want to see that 203 00:10:32,880 --> 00:10:35,000 impacted. I was like 100% agree. 204 00:10:35,000 --> 00:10:36,600 I don't want to see that impacted either. 205 00:10:36,920 --> 00:10:42,680 So working together throughout the 4-5 months it was, she did 206 00:10:42,680 --> 00:10:46,120 lose those 10 lbs. She also PR in her 5K, her 10K, 207 00:10:46,120 --> 00:10:48,920 and her half marathon she'd been working on for three years. 208 00:10:48,920 --> 00:10:51,680 And not to say that it was the weight loss per SE, but I think 209 00:10:51,680 --> 00:10:53,960 it's the combination of her just as strong, if not a little 210 00:10:53,960 --> 00:10:58,200 stronger and having, you know, 810 lbs that she wasn't having 211 00:10:58,200 --> 00:11:02,080 to carry in that half marathon. And now she's shooting for a big 212 00:11:02,080 --> 00:11:05,440 PR in her marathon this year. So, I mean, it is certainly 213 00:11:05,440 --> 00:11:08,960 possible, but we also have to put in the work in terms of 214 00:11:08,960 --> 00:11:13,800 monitoring, making sure we have a really nice quality balance of 215 00:11:13,800 --> 00:11:15,440 macro nutrients. We're getting plenty of 216 00:11:15,440 --> 00:11:19,080 micronutrients to support health or fueling the workouts really 217 00:11:19,080 --> 00:11:21,080 well. Like all of those little pieces 218 00:11:21,080 --> 00:11:25,160 of things really can help people see those great results and not 219 00:11:25,160 --> 00:11:26,800 see performance decline. I love it. 220 00:11:26,800 --> 00:11:31,960 So it is possible and I'm sure there's tons of little things 221 00:11:31,960 --> 00:11:35,120 that can help with it such as, you know, you fuel your 222 00:11:35,120 --> 00:11:37,960 performance and not for the day, those kind of things. 223 00:11:43,240 --> 00:11:49,000 But maybe to best figure all of this out, maybe we can create a 224 00:11:49,000 --> 00:11:53,520 sample person that comes and wants to work with you and then 225 00:11:53,520 --> 00:11:57,960 see how you would best approach this strategically to make a 226 00:11:57,960 --> 00:12:00,920 goal of becoming leaner for performance possible. 227 00:12:00,960 --> 00:12:01,720 Sure. Yeah. 228 00:12:01,760 --> 00:12:05,200 I mean, nutrition is highly individualized, so keep in mind 229 00:12:05,400 --> 00:12:07,960 of that, right? So if a runner were to come to 230 00:12:07,960 --> 00:12:11,200 me, I would first, like invent our athletes pretty heavily 231 00:12:11,200 --> 00:12:12,480 before we take him on his client. 232 00:12:12,480 --> 00:12:15,520 Like I ask a lot of questions. I want to understand where 233 00:12:15,520 --> 00:12:18,880 they're at right now, what their goals are, talk about how 234 00:12:18,880 --> 00:12:20,800 they're eating, how they're fueling workouts. 235 00:12:20,800 --> 00:12:24,360 For me, it's like visualizing like where are the gaps in their 236 00:12:24,360 --> 00:12:26,880 nutrition, right? The most common things that I 237 00:12:26,880 --> 00:12:30,880 see in an athlete's would be they're not eating enough during 238 00:12:30,880 --> 00:12:33,480 the day, OK. Or their most busiest, right? 239 00:12:33,480 --> 00:12:37,440 With like work or kids or training, whatever it is, 240 00:12:37,440 --> 00:12:40,640 they'll have kind of a skimpy breakfast, minimal lunch, and 241 00:12:40,920 --> 00:12:42,840 then they'll get to the afternoon, evening. 242 00:12:42,840 --> 00:12:45,960 And that's where their hunger really kicks in and they'll kind 243 00:12:45,960 --> 00:12:49,440 of eat, but they're not as intentional with that, right? 244 00:12:49,440 --> 00:12:52,120 So they'll get the majority of their, their calories and in the 245 00:12:52,120 --> 00:12:54,520 evening or the other thing I see is they're just not getting 246 00:12:54,520 --> 00:12:57,560 enough protein in the day. Like they might know they're 247 00:12:57,560 --> 00:12:59,720 supposed to get a lot of protein and they really try, but they're 248 00:12:59,720 --> 00:13:03,800 just not quite getting enough to support recovery like muscle 249 00:13:03,800 --> 00:13:06,440 recovery. And protein also is really 250 00:13:06,440 --> 00:13:09,280 helpful for regulating appetite. So those are probably the two 251 00:13:09,280 --> 00:13:12,800 most common things that I see with an athlete coming in. 252 00:13:12,800 --> 00:13:16,160 So the things that we do to fix that is we'll have them start 253 00:13:16,160 --> 00:13:19,120 front loading their nutrition. So they're going to be eating a 254 00:13:19,120 --> 00:13:21,440 much more substantial breakfast in the morning. 255 00:13:21,840 --> 00:13:24,320 If there's someone that doesn't get hungry in the morning, I 256 00:13:24,320 --> 00:13:26,400 usually tell them I'm like, give me two weeks. 257 00:13:26,400 --> 00:13:29,360 I was like, if you can really focus in on these first couple 258 00:13:29,360 --> 00:13:32,360 goals, I think your appetite's going to come back in a couple 259 00:13:32,360 --> 00:13:35,280 weeks. And it usually does within, you 260 00:13:35,280 --> 00:13:38,960 know, 2-3 weeks of like their body, just that metabolism 261 00:13:38,960 --> 00:13:41,640 starts getting a little bit more regulated in the day. 262 00:13:41,680 --> 00:13:45,480 And so like at breakfast, we're talking like 3540g at breakfast. 263 00:13:45,720 --> 00:13:48,280 We might start out at 20, but eventually we'll build our way 264 00:13:48,280 --> 00:13:51,120 up to 3540. Because if athletes are needing 265 00:13:51,120 --> 00:13:55,800 1.5 to 2 grams of protein per kilogram body weight, OK, So 266 00:13:55,800 --> 00:13:58,520 people are probably going to be grabbing out their calculators 267 00:13:58,520 --> 00:14:01,920 and start fingering out, OK, my weight in pounds divided by 2.2 268 00:14:01,920 --> 00:14:04,240 and then times that by I'd start with like 1.8. 269 00:14:04,240 --> 00:14:06,920 They might not be consistently getting that day after day. 270 00:14:06,920 --> 00:14:10,560 And if you aren't getting a good amount of protein at breakfast, 271 00:14:10,880 --> 00:14:13,400 it's really hard to catch back up later on in the day. 272 00:14:13,400 --> 00:14:16,480 So the other nice thing about breakfast, which is just a 273 00:14:16,480 --> 00:14:20,760 magical meal to me, is it really helps like kick start your 274 00:14:20,760 --> 00:14:23,960 energy throughout the day. It helps regulate that appetite. 275 00:14:23,960 --> 00:14:27,080 So you just feel like you're not having that like constant 276 00:14:27,080 --> 00:14:29,360 nagging hunger throughout the day that some athletes have, 277 00:14:29,360 --> 00:14:31,960 especially when their volume of training kind of ramps up. 278 00:14:32,000 --> 00:14:35,640 And then same thing at lunch, like another thirty, 3540g. 279 00:14:36,080 --> 00:14:38,840 And then you can go into dinner and not have to try and play 280 00:14:38,840 --> 00:14:42,200 catch up with all of the nutrition that you missed out 281 00:14:42,200 --> 00:14:43,880 earlier. You're already ahead of the 282 00:14:43,880 --> 00:14:46,440 game. That is probably one of the most 283 00:14:46,440 --> 00:14:48,920 common things that we shift. It's not necessarily having 284 00:14:48,920 --> 00:14:50,360 people feel like they're on a diet. 285 00:14:50,720 --> 00:14:53,880 It's more getting that nutrition in and more appropriate times to 286 00:14:53,880 --> 00:14:57,760 set them up for success and having a stronger, just stronger 287 00:14:57,760 --> 00:15:00,520 body, better energy throughout the day, their appetites more 288 00:15:00,520 --> 00:15:03,280 regulated, and then you're actually getting enough protein 289 00:15:03,280 --> 00:15:05,560 day in and day out. So their body is recovering 290 00:15:05,560 --> 00:15:09,080 faster from workouts. It's in a less stressed state. 291 00:15:09,080 --> 00:15:13,360 And when we have less stress in the body, we're much more likely 292 00:15:13,360 --> 00:15:15,320 to see those body composition changes. 293 00:15:15,320 --> 00:15:17,440 That's super interesting. I mean, and you just kind of 294 00:15:17,440 --> 00:15:20,880 alluded towards the end of what you were saying is everything 295 00:15:20,880 --> 00:15:22,360 works hand in hand together, right? 296 00:15:22,360 --> 00:15:25,040 Because if you are not sleeping then how is fueling going to 297 00:15:25,040 --> 00:15:27,440 play out as? Well, yeah, yeah. 298 00:15:27,440 --> 00:15:30,440 And I find that when athletes are training day after day after 299 00:15:30,440 --> 00:15:33,120 day and they're under fueled, their body's always in this 300 00:15:33,120 --> 00:15:34,760 stress state and they don't sleep well. 301 00:15:34,920 --> 00:15:38,000 Like they just, that was the one thing that athlete I had last 302 00:15:38,000 --> 00:15:42,040 fall, they were, they were like, I am sleeping like exponentially 303 00:15:42,040 --> 00:15:44,960 better. And a lot of that had to do with 304 00:15:44,960 --> 00:15:47,240 just eating a lot more early on in the day. 305 00:15:47,240 --> 00:15:49,760 And then they would have just kind of a sensible dinner and 306 00:15:49,760 --> 00:15:52,520 then they weren't even hungry like after dinner and they would 307 00:15:52,520 --> 00:15:53,960 just go to bed at their normal bedtime. 308 00:15:53,960 --> 00:15:58,000 But they their sleep quality was just exponentially better. 309 00:15:58,000 --> 00:15:59,880 And they're like, I don't even care what my times are in my 310 00:15:59,880 --> 00:16:01,360 race. Like this was just well worth 311 00:16:01,520 --> 00:16:04,480 just having a better quality sleep note because they were 312 00:16:04,480 --> 00:16:06,840 able to recover so much better from their training because they 313 00:16:06,840 --> 00:16:09,200 worked out majority at the time in the morning. 314 00:16:09,200 --> 00:16:09,960 Yeah, yeah. Yeah. 315 00:16:09,960 --> 00:16:11,400 And, yeah. And you also mentioned that 316 00:16:11,400 --> 00:16:13,800 breakfast important. And I grew up in Germany, as I 317 00:16:13,800 --> 00:16:15,920 mentioned to you earlier. And for us it was always like 318 00:16:15,920 --> 00:16:19,040 breakfast has to be the most important meal of the day and 319 00:16:19,040 --> 00:16:21,720 then lunch somewhat normal. And then our dinner over there, 320 00:16:21,720 --> 00:16:24,000 we don't have warm dinners. We have, you know, it's cold 321 00:16:24,000 --> 00:16:26,640 cuts and cheeses and that kind of stuff on bread, but it's much 322 00:16:26,640 --> 00:16:29,520 lighter than your lunch or breakfast would be. 323 00:16:29,520 --> 00:16:31,520 Maybe you can talk to us a little bit about how you 324 00:16:31,520 --> 00:16:35,400 approach that's and then also periodized nutrition? 325 00:16:35,400 --> 00:16:37,520 Sure. Well, with breakfast, what's 326 00:16:37,520 --> 00:16:40,480 interesting, again, coming in from like every athlete's a 327 00:16:40,480 --> 00:16:42,680 little different. For athletes that don't get a 328 00:16:42,680 --> 00:16:46,680 lot of breakfast in the morning, sometimes I start with like a 329 00:16:46,680 --> 00:16:50,680 gateway food where I'm like, let's just pick the easiest 330 00:16:50,680 --> 00:16:53,200 thing that you could consume in the morning. 331 00:16:53,200 --> 00:16:56,160 And sometimes it's just like a protein shake or like that we 332 00:16:56,160 --> 00:16:58,840 have like these fair life or like core powers that are like 333 00:16:58,840 --> 00:17:01,960 26 grams of protein that you just like, drink it. 334 00:17:01,960 --> 00:17:04,359 It's kind of tastes like a milkshake kind of thing. 335 00:17:04,359 --> 00:17:06,599 I've done that with a couple people where they're like, I'm 336 00:17:06,599 --> 00:17:09,200 not hungry in the morning. Like the thought of me having 337 00:17:09,200 --> 00:17:12,720 breakfast makes me want to gig. And I'm like, OK, can you just 338 00:17:12,920 --> 00:17:16,760 have a protein shake and sip on that for like 30-40 minutes in 339 00:17:16,760 --> 00:17:20,119 the morning or drink one of those, like, core powers to get 340 00:17:20,119 --> 00:17:22,400 you 26 grams? I was like, I need you to just 341 00:17:22,400 --> 00:17:26,119 have something or like a little Greek yogurt cup or, or whatever 342 00:17:26,119 --> 00:17:27,920 it is just to get some protein in the morning. 343 00:17:27,920 --> 00:17:29,800 And they're like, OK, yeah, I can do that. 344 00:17:29,800 --> 00:17:31,760 And they're like, you know, actually it's pretty easy for me 345 00:17:31,760 --> 00:17:34,040 to get that down. So they at least start out the 346 00:17:34,040 --> 00:17:36,440 day with like, 2025 grams of protein. 347 00:17:36,920 --> 00:17:41,080 And a couple weeks later, I'm like, can we add like a piece of 348 00:17:41,080 --> 00:17:44,600 toast with that routine that we're starting to set up? 349 00:17:44,600 --> 00:17:46,600 And like, yeah, I probably like my hunger. 350 00:17:46,720 --> 00:17:48,560 I can wake it up a little bit more hungry now. 351 00:17:48,560 --> 00:17:50,040 Like I could probably add a piece of toast. 352 00:17:50,040 --> 00:17:51,960 So I'm like, great. And so we had the piece of toast 353 00:17:51,960 --> 00:17:53,760 and that works well. And eventually you might go to 354 00:17:53,760 --> 00:17:55,760 two pieces of toast. And then eventually you might 355 00:17:55,760 --> 00:17:58,280 add like some fruit in there. And like next thing whenever 356 00:17:58,280 --> 00:18:00,320 we've got this like pretty substantial breakfast. 357 00:18:00,320 --> 00:18:03,760 So it's like these like sneaky little small changes over time 358 00:18:03,760 --> 00:18:07,880 that work for people, right? Because human psychology is our 359 00:18:07,880 --> 00:18:10,160 body hates change. It hates it. 360 00:18:10,160 --> 00:18:12,800 It will like, it might be fine with it at first, but eventually 361 00:18:12,800 --> 00:18:15,080 it's going to push back. But if we can make the changes 362 00:18:15,080 --> 00:18:17,800 as minimal as possible, you're going to be able to stick to 363 00:18:17,800 --> 00:18:19,880 them long term. And it's not about like the 364 00:18:19,880 --> 00:18:23,160 drastic crazy diet changes that are going to make the biggest 365 00:18:23,160 --> 00:18:26,760 impact on body composition. It's about creating something 366 00:18:26,760 --> 00:18:29,520 that's sustainable that you can do consistently long term. 367 00:18:29,840 --> 00:18:31,920 That's where you're going to see the best results because not 368 00:18:31,920 --> 00:18:34,520 only are you going to see the body composition improvements 369 00:18:34,760 --> 00:18:37,800 slowly and steady over time, but you're going to be able to 370 00:18:37,800 --> 00:18:38,920 maintain them, OK. Right. 371 00:18:38,960 --> 00:18:40,440 Yeah. And I just wanted to clarify 372 00:18:40,440 --> 00:18:44,000 that by adding breakfast, we're not talking here about having 373 00:18:44,000 --> 00:18:46,520 the athlete consume all of this before their runs. 374 00:18:46,520 --> 00:18:48,200 You can still eat fasted if that's your. 375 00:18:48,200 --> 00:18:52,160 Preference, yeah, for and obviously timing is going to 376 00:18:52,160 --> 00:18:54,480 play a factor here. So if you are someone that wakes 377 00:18:54,480 --> 00:18:58,320 up early and does your morning runs right, right straight away 378 00:18:58,320 --> 00:19:00,640 in the morning, you would typically have like a little bit 379 00:19:00,640 --> 00:19:03,400 of something, something like some easy to digest carbs before 380 00:19:03,400 --> 00:19:05,560 you start the run, go and do your workout. 381 00:19:05,560 --> 00:19:07,640 You would fuel it accordingly as needed. 382 00:19:07,640 --> 00:19:10,320 You don't diet in your workouts. I should also say that like, if 383 00:19:10,320 --> 00:19:12,640 you're take anything from this podcast episode, it's like do 384 00:19:12,640 --> 00:19:15,480 not diet during your workouts. That is not the place to save 385 00:19:15,480 --> 00:19:19,280 calories and and skimp. You want to feel those workouts. 386 00:19:19,560 --> 00:19:22,080 So that for two reasons. Once you have a really great 387 00:19:22,080 --> 00:19:25,560 workout, you feel really great. You hit those marks exactly as 388 00:19:25,560 --> 00:19:28,000 your coach wants you to. And two, you're not going into 389 00:19:28,000 --> 00:19:29,920 the rest of the day and this massive calorie deficit. 390 00:19:29,920 --> 00:19:31,960 So really important. It will come back and bite you 391 00:19:31,960 --> 00:19:35,120 in the butt if you try and cut calories around your workouts. 392 00:19:35,120 --> 00:19:37,400 Then post workout, if you're working out in the morning, 393 00:19:37,400 --> 00:19:39,320 that's where you have that big substantial breakfast. 394 00:19:39,320 --> 00:19:43,040 Those 30 to 40 grams of protein that is just going to kick start 395 00:19:43,040 --> 00:19:45,320 your recovery process. It's going to, like I said, all 396 00:19:45,320 --> 00:19:47,280 those things that I mentioned that it helps benefit. 397 00:19:47,680 --> 00:19:49,520 That would be where you'd have that Big Breakfast. 398 00:19:49,520 --> 00:19:53,160 I wouldn't have that before your workout unless you're eating it 399 00:19:53,160 --> 00:19:56,840 and then giving yourself like 2 hours to really digest it and 400 00:19:56,840 --> 00:20:00,240 then go off on your workout. So if you're like a mid morning. 401 00:20:00,680 --> 00:20:04,040 Runner, you could have that breakfast at like 7-8 o'clock, 402 00:20:04,120 --> 00:20:07,040 give it a couple hours, go out for your run, 10:10, 30-11. 403 00:20:07,280 --> 00:20:09,880 That would be fine. And then post run, I would have 404 00:20:09,880 --> 00:20:11,600 your lunch be that post workout recovery. 405 00:20:11,600 --> 00:20:14,480 So that's how I would kind of time that in terms of like your 406 00:20:14,480 --> 00:20:16,120 morning routine. OK, perfect. 407 00:20:16,160 --> 00:20:19,360 So not skimping on fueling workouts or long runs. 408 00:20:19,360 --> 00:20:21,200 We've learned that literally, like anything. 409 00:20:21,200 --> 00:20:24,200 Do not diet during your runs. Is that kind of going well for 410 00:20:24,200 --> 00:20:25,000 you? I promise. 411 00:20:25,160 --> 00:20:27,400 And he runs over 60 minutes. Definitely. 412 00:20:27,400 --> 00:20:29,280 You got to fuel something, especially if you're trying to 413 00:20:29,280 --> 00:20:32,280 hit any marks. But then, OK, so we're talking. 414 00:20:32,640 --> 00:20:35,080 We've established breakfast is super important. 415 00:20:35,080 --> 00:20:37,080 Now let's talk about lunch because obviously if you want to 416 00:20:37,080 --> 00:20:41,040 get leaner, we have to have some kind of deficit at some point. 417 00:20:41,160 --> 00:20:42,880 But it's not breakfast and it's not lunch. 418 00:20:43,040 --> 00:20:45,400 Yeah. So when we talk about a deficit, 419 00:20:45,400 --> 00:20:47,840 I, so my team and I, we do it a little bit differently. 420 00:20:47,840 --> 00:20:51,800 So when we calculate the nutrition needs for our athletes 421 00:20:51,800 --> 00:20:54,200 and we will have them do some journaling, not because they are 422 00:20:54,200 --> 00:20:56,000 on a diet, but because we want to make sure they're getting 423 00:20:56,000 --> 00:20:59,720 enough of all of the things that are going to support their 424 00:20:59,720 --> 00:21:01,720 active lifestyle. And it's a really good learning 425 00:21:01,720 --> 00:21:05,120 tool to actually visually see, you know, written down how like 426 00:21:05,120 --> 00:21:06,400 what you've been eating in the day, right? 427 00:21:06,400 --> 00:21:10,200 We will set them up at a calorie deficit, but the fuel that they 428 00:21:10,200 --> 00:21:12,320 take during their workouts, we don't count towards that. 429 00:21:12,320 --> 00:21:15,240 So we focus on fueling the workouts really well. 430 00:21:15,240 --> 00:21:18,920 And then in that day, the rest of the day-to-day nutrition is 431 00:21:18,920 --> 00:21:21,120 where we will have that slight calorie deficit. 432 00:21:21,120 --> 00:21:24,920 And it's not definitely no more than 500 calories, but things 433 00:21:24,920 --> 00:21:27,480 that we will do is make sure we're getting enough protein. 434 00:21:27,480 --> 00:21:30,560 We will make sure that we're getting more of our carbs around 435 00:21:30,560 --> 00:21:32,320 where we're more active during the day. 436 00:21:32,320 --> 00:21:34,640 Not to say that we won't have carbs in the evening, but just a 437 00:21:34,640 --> 00:21:37,120 little bit less. We will also look at fat intake. 438 00:21:37,120 --> 00:21:39,720 That's the one area where especially if people are trying 439 00:21:39,720 --> 00:21:42,360 to increase their protein intake and all of a sudden they're like 440 00:21:42,640 --> 00:21:44,200 Alex. And this is someone like maybe 441 00:21:44,200 --> 00:21:45,960 off of Instagram that will message me and they're like 442 00:21:45,960 --> 00:21:47,640 Alex. I'm really working on my protein 443 00:21:47,640 --> 00:21:50,160 and I feel great, but my weight's going up and I'm like, 444 00:21:50,200 --> 00:21:53,800 you're probably seeing your fat intake come up and fat is really 445 00:21:53,800 --> 00:21:56,480 calorically dense. It's got a lot of calories in 446 00:21:56,480 --> 00:21:58,760 it. And so when you all of a sudden 447 00:21:58,760 --> 00:22:02,040 are maybe choosing like nuts or seeds, I'm going to eat more 448 00:22:02,040 --> 00:22:03,520 peanut butter. Well, peanut butter is pretty 449 00:22:03,520 --> 00:22:05,040 much fat. There's some, there's some 450 00:22:05,040 --> 00:22:07,880 protein in it, but it also has a lot of fat in it. 451 00:22:07,880 --> 00:22:11,160 And so it adds up a lot in calories. 452 00:22:11,560 --> 00:22:14,480 And that's where people will notice they're one not losing 453 00:22:14,480 --> 00:22:15,520 weight or they may be gaining weight. 454 00:22:15,560 --> 00:22:18,720 And so we will look at making sure that we're choosing some 455 00:22:18,720 --> 00:22:22,720 leaner protein options. Look at peanut butter, cheese, 456 00:22:23,080 --> 00:22:27,160 nuts and seeds, avocados, or like how much oil they're using 457 00:22:27,160 --> 00:22:29,480 in their cooking. And it's not that fat is bad, 458 00:22:29,480 --> 00:22:31,920 but we'll just make sure that it's balanced with those other 459 00:22:31,920 --> 00:22:35,360 macro nutrients to help bring those calories down, but still 460 00:22:35,360 --> 00:22:37,920 get enough protein for recovery and still getting enough carbs 461 00:22:37,920 --> 00:22:40,400 to support energy levels. So there is a little bit of 462 00:22:40,400 --> 00:22:44,720 balance and tea tree going on there with the food choices that 463 00:22:44,720 --> 00:22:47,400 they're making throughout the day to support their needs, but 464 00:22:47,400 --> 00:22:49,760 still keep those calories a little bit lower so we can see 465 00:22:49,760 --> 00:22:55,880 the weight come down. OK. 466 00:22:55,920 --> 00:22:59,800 So you're basically increasing some of the meals, but then 467 00:22:59,800 --> 00:23:02,560 decreasing how that all works together. 468 00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:07,960 And the way that you put that around the most active hours of 469 00:23:07,960 --> 00:23:11,880 the day that helps you get leaner is am I summarizing? 470 00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:15,040 I'm sure I'm missing something. Yeah, so think about this way 471 00:23:15,040 --> 00:23:17,680 when people aren't eating enough during the day and then they're 472 00:23:17,680 --> 00:23:21,320 kind of having this binge raccoon episode in their kitchen 473 00:23:21,320 --> 00:23:23,680 pantry in the evenings because all of a sudden they're hungry 474 00:23:23,680 --> 00:23:26,400 and they're tired and they don't have the energy to make great 475 00:23:26,400 --> 00:23:30,520 food choices, Right? Like that is where people can 476 00:23:30,520 --> 00:23:33,840 get in trouble, where they can overindulge a little bit more or 477 00:23:33,840 --> 00:23:36,880 it's just not a supportive way of like aligning with their 478 00:23:36,880 --> 00:23:40,360 body's needs. So front loading nutrition to 479 00:23:40,360 --> 00:23:43,000 early on in the day when they're more active and they need that 480 00:23:43,000 --> 00:23:46,320 fuel to energize and support their focus throughout the day 481 00:23:46,320 --> 00:23:48,400 in the evening, having a little bit lighter meal. 482 00:23:48,400 --> 00:23:50,800 I love how you said like in Germany you had would have just 483 00:23:50,800 --> 00:23:54,120 this kind of cold meal of like, it sounds dreamy with some bread 484 00:23:54,120 --> 00:23:57,200 and like pulled meats and like, I'm like, oh, I'm all for that. 485 00:23:57,200 --> 00:23:59,960 And then just going to like getting into your bedtime 486 00:23:59,960 --> 00:24:02,560 routine and not and it's just feeling satisfied. 487 00:24:02,600 --> 00:24:04,400 You know what I mean? Like just feeling like, OK, I 488 00:24:04,400 --> 00:24:07,120 can just relax and go to bed. Like there's something really 489 00:24:07,120 --> 00:24:09,960 nice about going into the evening and not having that 490 00:24:09,960 --> 00:24:13,000 weird like nagging hunger. And if people have experienced 491 00:24:13,000 --> 00:24:14,280 it, they know exactly what I'm talking about. 492 00:24:14,280 --> 00:24:16,040 I've had it before too, where all of a sudden like, why am I 493 00:24:16,040 --> 00:24:17,920 hungry? And like, Oh yeah, my lunch was 494 00:24:17,920 --> 00:24:21,840 just like not great today. And so like, and it's not that I 495 00:24:21,840 --> 00:24:24,320 beat myself up about it, but I just get a little curious. 496 00:24:24,320 --> 00:24:27,520 I'm like, all right, tomorrow, definitely going to make sure I 497 00:24:27,600 --> 00:24:30,640 like nail my lunch, you know, just so to set myself up better 498 00:24:30,640 --> 00:24:32,880 for the evening. And so like those just little 499 00:24:32,880 --> 00:24:35,680 things. Again, building that consistency 500 00:24:35,680 --> 00:24:39,080 and doing it well most days of the week can really help set you 501 00:24:39,080 --> 00:24:40,640 up in the long term. Perfect. 502 00:24:40,960 --> 00:24:43,760 And then I just want to touch briefly on one more thing and 503 00:24:43,760 --> 00:24:47,920 that is I know that there's certain companies and I don't 504 00:24:47,920 --> 00:24:50,240 have any specific ones in mind, but I know there's companies 505 00:24:50,240 --> 00:24:54,360 where you can get blood work done that tells you how your 506 00:24:54,680 --> 00:24:57,800 metabolic health is in pursuit of leanness. 507 00:24:57,800 --> 00:25:00,920 But also, you know, as an athlete, maybe you can adjust 508 00:25:00,920 --> 00:25:04,880 that a little bit and give us some advice as to if that should 509 00:25:04,880 --> 00:25:08,080 be done and where one should go to for that. 510 00:25:08,080 --> 00:25:10,560 Sure. Typically with our athletes, I 511 00:25:10,560 --> 00:25:13,240 would just have them like go to their doctor and you know, if 512 00:25:13,240 --> 00:25:15,840 they have an annual exam and they're having blood work done, 513 00:25:15,840 --> 00:25:20,960 the main ones that we recommend just for like performance 514 00:25:20,960 --> 00:25:24,000 impact, vitamin D would be one, a lot of people are low on 515 00:25:24,000 --> 00:25:26,280 vitamin D, so it's a good to kind of get an idea of like 516 00:25:26,280 --> 00:25:27,720 where their vitamin D levels are. 517 00:25:28,040 --> 00:25:31,760 And then ferritin. So ferritin is your body's iron 518 00:25:31,760 --> 00:25:34,640 stores. A lot of times a, a doctor will 519 00:25:34,640 --> 00:25:37,120 just do a hemogram or they're check your hemoglobin, your 520 00:25:37,120 --> 00:25:40,200 hematocrit, but a ferritin, it's going to tell you quite a bit 521 00:25:40,200 --> 00:25:42,800 more. You do have to request it when 522 00:25:42,800 --> 00:25:45,880 you're having lab work done. Otherwise there is some places 523 00:25:45,880 --> 00:25:48,880 like here in Minnesota, the Twin Cities has a place called like 524 00:25:48,880 --> 00:25:52,240 any labs test now where you can get your ferritin check for like 525 00:25:52,240 --> 00:25:55,520 4045 bucks. And even though the reference 526 00:25:55,520 --> 00:26:00,440 range at the clinic is like 15 to 300 for endurance athletes, 527 00:26:00,440 --> 00:26:04,040 we like to see for sure about 40, but like our team and I 528 00:26:04,040 --> 00:26:06,160 would like to see about 50 for endurance athletes. 529 00:26:06,160 --> 00:26:10,400 You just need a really good iron stores, the really good ferritin 530 00:26:10,400 --> 00:26:13,280 and it can very much impact performance. 531 00:26:13,680 --> 00:26:16,280 And so no matter how great that athlete is feeling, if their 532 00:26:16,280 --> 00:26:18,640 ferritin is low, they're going to feel really tired all the 533 00:26:18,640 --> 00:26:20,000 time. Their performance is really 534 00:26:20,000 --> 00:26:23,120 going to suffer. I've had a low ferritin before 535 00:26:23,440 --> 00:26:27,480 when I was pregnant with my third kid and I was just 536 00:26:27,560 --> 00:26:30,600 absolutely exhausted. And then I was just curious and 537 00:26:30,600 --> 00:26:33,520 I had the the OB, I was like, can you doing labs? 538 00:26:33,520 --> 00:26:35,400 Can you just do a ferritin? Just like, sure. 539 00:26:35,640 --> 00:26:39,240 It's like I'm just curious, but I was actually really suspicious 540 00:26:39,640 --> 00:26:43,840 and it came back like 7. It was so low and supplements 541 00:26:43,840 --> 00:26:46,640 were not getting it up. Iron rich foods were not getting 542 00:26:46,640 --> 00:26:48,680 it up. So I ended up getting an iron 543 00:26:48,680 --> 00:26:50,440 infusion right before I delivered her. 544 00:26:50,440 --> 00:26:53,080 But it like it really can make a big difference. 545 00:26:53,080 --> 00:26:56,320 So annually I would say, especially for women and just 546 00:26:56,320 --> 00:26:59,840 runners in general, making sure that you have that ferritin 547 00:26:59,840 --> 00:27:02,600 check to make sure it's in good standing that those those would 548 00:27:02,600 --> 00:27:05,320 be the main 2 for runners that I would get checked. 549 00:27:05,600 --> 00:27:08,360 There's lots of other things about like lab tests and 550 00:27:08,360 --> 00:27:11,440 whatnot, but I would start with the basics right and then go 551 00:27:11,440 --> 00:27:12,560 from there all. Right, perfect. 552 00:27:12,760 --> 00:27:16,400 So one more I guess you know I have another question now, 553 00:27:16,400 --> 00:27:19,360 follow up question for that one. When it comes to supplements and 554 00:27:19,360 --> 00:27:22,960 Whole Foods in the quest of leanness without power loss, 555 00:27:23,320 --> 00:27:26,320 what are some specific supplements that become more 556 00:27:26,320 --> 00:27:29,520 important when your calories are slightly lower? 557 00:27:29,520 --> 00:27:32,120 Well, I would say regardless of if you're in a calorie deficit 558 00:27:32,120 --> 00:27:35,600 or not, people have probably seen the craze that is on the 559 00:27:35,600 --> 00:27:38,240 Internet about creatine. And I will say like I'm totally 560 00:27:38,240 --> 00:27:41,360 team creatine over here. It's very helpful for recovery, 561 00:27:41,640 --> 00:27:46,040 especially for women, plant based eaters, mental clarity, 562 00:27:46,040 --> 00:27:48,760 like there's lots of really great promising research on 563 00:27:48,760 --> 00:27:52,280 brain health and and creatine. So I am a big fan of that. 564 00:27:52,280 --> 00:27:55,000 Just taking that 3 to 5 grams of creatine a day. 565 00:27:55,000 --> 00:27:59,000 Some people are afraid of like the, the, the, the, the water 566 00:27:59,000 --> 00:28:01,200 retention, like the little bit of weight, the water weight gain 567 00:28:01,200 --> 00:28:03,600 that you would get from it, but it's usually pretty minimal. 568 00:28:03,600 --> 00:28:07,120 But the benefits I feel like outweigh that little bit of risk 569 00:28:07,120 --> 00:28:09,560 of like water weight gain. I think it's it doesn't 570 00:28:09,560 --> 00:28:13,320 necessarily bulk you up, but it will definitely help the muscle 571 00:28:13,320 --> 00:28:15,120 mass that you do have be stronger. 572 00:28:15,120 --> 00:28:18,200 So I am like team creatine there other that like a protein 573 00:28:18,200 --> 00:28:20,480 powder, I am a fan of that. It's convenient. 574 00:28:20,480 --> 00:28:23,440 I don't like people using it as a meal replacement, but I do 575 00:28:23,440 --> 00:28:26,080 think it's a great option to help people increase their 576 00:28:26,080 --> 00:28:28,680 protein intake throughout their day because it is just it. 577 00:28:28,920 --> 00:28:32,360 It's convenient, it's easy, it's taste good. 578 00:28:32,360 --> 00:28:35,080 So it's just one thing that I do like to incorporate in most of 579 00:28:35,080 --> 00:28:36,840 my athletes day as well. Perfect. 580 00:28:36,840 --> 00:28:39,520 Those are the two things that I actually just started taking, so 581 00:28:39,520 --> 00:28:40,320 that's good. Perfect. 582 00:28:40,360 --> 00:28:41,040 I love that. But. 583 00:28:41,040 --> 00:28:43,720 Obviously, there's so much more to everything and as you 584 00:28:43,720 --> 00:28:46,920 mentioned earlier, everything kind of requires an assessment 585 00:28:46,920 --> 00:28:50,520 by a nutritionist. So if somebody is interested in 586 00:28:50,760 --> 00:28:53,880 hearing from you and speaking to you in regards to what can be 587 00:28:53,880 --> 00:28:58,280 done to become either leaner or better performer, how would they 588 00:28:58,280 --> 00:29:00,280 best go about contacting you and where can they find your 589 00:29:00,280 --> 00:29:02,160 information? Yeah. 590 00:29:02,160 --> 00:29:05,120 On social media, I'm at Alex Larson Nutrition, so on 591 00:29:05,120 --> 00:29:07,640 Instagram is where I spend most of my time, but you also can 592 00:29:07,640 --> 00:29:10,720 check out my website at alexlarsonnutrition.com. 593 00:29:10,720 --> 00:29:13,680 And I do have a podcast as well called Endurance Eats, so you 594 00:29:13,680 --> 00:29:16,080 can find that wherever you listen to your podcasts. 595 00:29:16,360 --> 00:29:17,600 I love it. We're going to link to all of 596 00:29:17,600 --> 00:29:20,240 that in our show notes. And Alex, thank you so much for 597 00:29:20,280 --> 00:29:22,120 speaking to me. You're welcome. 598 00:29:22,240 --> 00:29:27,840 Thank you for having me. Thank you Alex for speaking with 599 00:29:27,840 --> 00:29:29,800 me. That was a very interesting 600 00:29:29,800 --> 00:29:31,880 topic and I enjoyed speaking with you. 601 00:29:32,040 --> 00:29:34,960 Hopefully you guys learned something along the way. 602 00:29:35,240 --> 00:29:39,480 And don't forget to reach out to Alex if you want to consider 603 00:29:39,480 --> 00:29:41,840 working with her, learning from her, etcetera. 604 00:29:42,080 --> 00:29:44,800 All her information will be LinkedIn our show notes. 605 00:29:44,880 --> 00:29:47,080 And if you want to do it just to lose weight, that's OK too. 606 00:29:47,080 --> 00:29:48,880 Yes, we are supporting you no matter what. 607 00:29:48,880 --> 00:29:50,920 So, Eddie, what's on the agenda for next week? 608 00:29:51,360 --> 00:29:53,400 Yeah. So next week we are going to 609 00:29:53,400 --> 00:29:57,040 play our prerecorded episodes on research studies. 610 00:29:57,040 --> 00:30:01,880 We're going to have a series of three with the same guests and 611 00:30:01,960 --> 00:30:04,920 they are basically taking new research studies when it comes 612 00:30:04,920 --> 00:30:07,520 to running and performance and we're going to go through them 613 00:30:07,520 --> 00:30:08,920 for the next three weeks in a row. 614 00:30:09,080 --> 00:30:12,680 Next week's topic is going to be how much training is too much, 615 00:30:13,000 --> 00:30:15,840 is there a number, etcetera. And just to give you a little 616 00:30:16,200 --> 00:30:19,200 preview, a little glimpse, the study that we're talking about 617 00:30:19,200 --> 00:30:21,880 is super interesting and it involved more than 5000 618 00:30:21,880 --> 00:30:23,920 subjects. So you know that one is 1 that 619 00:30:23,920 --> 00:30:26,000 you can probably really rely on very. 620 00:30:26,000 --> 00:30:28,360 Well, and you're going to. Be putting these podcasts out 621 00:30:28,360 --> 00:30:30,160 'cause you'll be in Kenya. Yes. 622 00:30:30,320 --> 00:30:34,800 At the time of this episode, I'll be packing my bags and 623 00:30:34,800 --> 00:30:36,560 then, yeah, this week I'm flying to Kenya. 624 00:30:36,560 --> 00:30:39,640 I'm super excited. Follow along if you want to. 625 00:30:39,640 --> 00:30:43,320 I'm planning on hopefully releasing travel vlogs on our 626 00:30:43,320 --> 00:30:46,880 YouTube channel which is at Marathon Journal and hopefully 627 00:30:46,880 --> 00:30:49,680 it'll be a great trip. All in all, you'll have to get 628 00:30:49,680 --> 00:30:51,680 some feedback from the people going because there's a lot of 629 00:30:51,680 --> 00:30:53,760 people going just to see what their experience is and what 630 00:30:53,760 --> 00:30:55,600 it's like. Yes, we have a little group 631 00:30:55,600 --> 00:30:57,600 going. This is my first time going to 632 00:30:57,600 --> 00:31:00,800 Kenya as a Co host and organizing this. 633 00:31:00,800 --> 00:31:05,760 So I know some of our listeners are coming along and I'm very, 634 00:31:05,760 --> 00:31:08,720 very excited for that. And hopefully we can we can make 635 00:31:08,720 --> 00:31:11,880 Kenya live up to the expectations that we promised. 636 00:31:12,120 --> 00:31:14,760 Hopefully the people that are going will enjoy themselves very 637 00:31:14,760 --> 00:31:15,200 much. I'm. 638 00:31:15,320 --> 00:31:18,080 Excited to watch along. Anything else? 639 00:31:18,080 --> 00:31:19,840 That's basically it. And with that. 640 00:31:20,280 --> 00:31:24,600 Have a good week of running. You've been listening to the 641 00:31:24,600 --> 00:31:26,720 Marathon Running Podcast by Marathon Journal. 642 00:31:27,480 --> 00:31:29,520 If you've enjoyed the show, check us out at 643 00:31:29,520 --> 00:31:32,400 marathonjournal.com or follow us on social media. 644 00:31:32,640 --> 00:31:33,520 Happy training.