Running Nutrition with Coach Will Benitez

In this month's Instagram Live Replay we have RunDoyen Nutrition Coach Will Benitez doing a Q&A about all things running nutrition! Coach Will is a professional Nutritionist focused on helping runners optimize their nutrition for improved energy, recovery, and health! If you are looking to crush your nutrition goals, look no further than Coach Will. 

Connect with Coach Will Benitez:
https://www.rundoyen.com/coaching-services/nutrition-coaching/

Join the Next Level Running Facebook Group: 
https://www.facebook.com/groups/nextlevelrunning

Follow @RunDoyen for IG Live sessions: 
https://www.instagram.com/rundoyen/

Follow Coach Will Benitez (On Pace Wellness) here: 
www.instagram.com/onpacewellness/

Check out RunDoyen if you are looking for a World Class Expert Run Coach to help you crush your running goals: https://www.rundoyen.com/

If you aren't quite ready for a Run Coach, check out the Doyen Dashers Program:
https://www.rundoyen.com/dashers/

Transcript

Jacob Phillips 0:17

This is the next level running podcast brought to you by the expert coaches at Randoia, helping runners of all levels try their goals on race today by matching it with the perfect code for training playing. Hello, and welcome back to the next level running podcast. I'm your host, Jacob Phillips, and I'm coming to you this month with our Instagram live replay. As you know, Coach Will Beniquez leads those Instagram live replay events for the At the Rengoin Instagram account. Well, this month we have a special treat. For those who didn't know, Coach Will is the at Rengoin in-house nutritionist. And so this month he's actually doing a QA over running nutrition. Coach Will is a runner, he's a nutritionist, and so this was fitting as it's his two passions colliding here for a great conversation. Before we jump into uh the live QA with Coach Will, I wanted to point you to the show notes below. I know I do this every every podcast, but the show notes are a great opportunity for you to be connected to whether it's the great coaches here at Running Douan or the great opportunities that are that are available if you're looking for a coach or just connecting with the guest of our podcast. And so uh in the show notes below today, I've got a couple things. The first thing I've got the runday way and got com uh website. If you're looking to crush your running goals, look no further than rungaway in that com. We have a full roster of real-class expert running coaches that will get magic to you. We have this unique magic feature that will get magic to you to help you crush your running gold. Look at the magic features on this, it'll it'll connect a coach with uh your personality, the event you're training for, the experience level you get, uh it's just an awesome opportunity to get you linked to a world-class expert run coach to crush your goal. Um if you don't quite want a full-fledged coach, you don't want that accountability or that one-on-one, you're just not ready for that yet. The next best thing is the Doyen Dashers, which you can find uh on the Run Dwayne website. The Doyen Dashers is$39 a month, and it's a program written specifically for what you're training for. 5k half marathon, marathon, whatever it might be for the number of weeks that you're looking to train for, but it's written by our expert run coaches here at Run Dwayne. And so it's kind of like having an ex-based thing. You don't quite have that accountability, you've got a little bit more flexibility, but there is that structured training program uh that's tailored for what you're training for. Also, in the show notes, I've got the uh rungoing Instagram link. If you have not clicked that follow button, you can do that. This will get you notified when we go live with events like we have uh the replay for tonight. Uh Coach Will does a tremendous job going live each month with our expert run coaches. We cover a variety of topics. Last month I was his guest, and we talked about marathon recovery and how to come out of a marathon race and either prepare for something coming up next, or or really, and we actually even talked about the nutrition aspect of that too, how to recover well from the marathon, right? The marathon beat ship. And so that was a conversation that Coach Will and I had last month. And so uh you will be notified every time Coach Will goes live. There's also a ton of motivational, inspirational, and informational um there had to have to run into an Instagram account. So follow along there. And finally, if Instagram is not your thing, then uh check out the next level uh running Facebook community group. It's basically what we've got going on over there at Instagram, but it's the Facebook version of that. So it's interactive and it's got all the same uh graphics and it's got all that stuff, right? And so check that out if you haven't done that, or Facebook is kind of more of your thing than Instagram. Uh and then finally I'll have Coach Will's contact information. You know, we talk about crushing your running goals. Look, some of you are looking to crush your nutritional goals, right? And Coach Will can help you do that. Uh he's been with Rondoyan since the start, like I think in 2018. He's a runner, he's a nutritionist, and so let him help you crush your nutritional goals. I also have my contact info uh listed below. If you've got questions about the podcast, or if you're just trying to get in contact with someone about Rondoyan, reach out to me, my stuff's there. But now uh I've talked too long. Let's jump into this QA with Coach Will Beniquez, our in-house nutritionist overrunning nutrition.

SPEAKER_01 5:00

Hey everyone. We're here to talk about nutrition. Specifically, uh we schedule a nutrition QA for today uh in place of our uh typical kind of run coaching interviews or conversations. Um be short and sweet today. Uh, one, I don't have uh uh a whole ton of time uh this afternoon, but um we did have some uh great questions that uh we received um from you all. Uh I think it was through our stories. We were posting, uh kind of calling for questions for today, so uh appreciate those who who shared those um questions for me. So I think we'll be able to get through about four or so. And what I really um appreciate in these questions is that I don't typically get these. So uh there tend to be some more common questions that I get for podcast episodes or uh blogs or such. Um but these were ones that are I think are super important, um, and I really like kind of you know that they uh kind of mix it up. Uh I don't really uh again get these questions that often, which is which is great. So let's just dive in. Um of course if you have comments or questions to add to the question to things I say, um put them in the comment section. Um again, based on time, I'll get to if there's a ton that come in through the comment section, I'll get to what I can get to. Um I'll start real quick. My name is Will. Uh, sorry for not introducing myself at first. Uh I'm the nutritionist here uh with Run Doyen. I've been with the team since Run Doyen's uh inception uh in 2018. Um and and I um work you know very, very regularly with runners. I'm a runner myself. This is um my community, you know, running uh is what I'm uh you know very much most passionate about when it comes to exercise and movement. Um working with runners on their nutrition is you know just my my my not just my job. I mean it's it's just what kind of fuels me. Um so let's dive in. Uh alright. Number one, how do my fueling needs change as I age? So metabolism is going to tend to slow down. So what you are looking to increase more of as you age are things such as bone health or you know, nutrients that are uh important for bone health. Um protein is also probably gonna be um the number one factor that you may want to consider increasing. Um, you know, as you age, it's it's it's uh um kind of vague. I don't know if we're talking about uh someone who is 30 going, you know, in their 30s going into their 40s, or are we talking, you know, you know, beyond 60s or something like that. Um but certainly um you know beyond probably 50s um is when you'll start to want to uh increase protein. Uh they say you could um your your needs for protein may increase as much as 50%. So um if you know you're taking in, you know, let's say it's 75 grams or so, and uh you really need to um, you know, that's that's becoming not enough for you, or again you're maybe you're 65 and wanting to continue running, and maybe you are training regularly, um 50% is is is a pretty significant increase. So you know, we're looking at uh your yeast going to around what 115 grams or so of protein. So it's significant, but it's really important. Um and then again, bone health. So um bone health becomes an even more important issue as you age. Um so nutrients like calcium, uh, vitamin D, vitamin K, magnesium, potentially zinc, these are really important nutrients to be paying extra attention to as you age. So um, or if you have you know bone health issues in your family or just in your own personal history. Um, so increasing those foods is gonna be really um helpful uh and uh potentially looking at supplements. So for foods, you know, it could be fortified foods. A lot of these nutrients are gonna be fortified in fortified food, whether milks or grains, cereal grains, um, crackers, things like that. Um, but certainly, you know, getting these foods, getting these nutrients from whole foods is gonna be extra important too. So um for calcium again, you've got some fortified foods, you've got milks and various non-dairy milks out there too. Um foods such as uh soy foods are high in calcium, uh, and then legumes, you know, various beans and such. Um, dark greens, those are gonna be really uh good sources of calcium. So, really kind of diversifying your foods are gonna be extra important and not just really eating the same old, same old. So that's that tends to be what runners do. We tend to um eat creatures of habit even more so than non-runners, even though non-runners are also creatures of habit. But for runners, we when we find something that works, we feel good on the run, doesn't present any issues, we tend to stick with it even more. However, as you age and as you kind of are absorbing nutrients differently, it's really important, maybe even more important, to kind of diversify your foods a little bit more. Um hopefully that answers that question um sufficiently. Uh number two, uh, why do I get dizzy when I run? Um I'll start, I'll say that it can be the dizziness can be coming from several factors potentially. So, you know, number one um concern I may have is that it can be medical related, um, whether that is due to a medication or there's some sort of underlying health issue that you um may want to get checked out. If it's happening, you know, very much once in a while, then maybe it is circumstantial and it's not a medical condition. But if you are concerned, by all means, um let what I'm going to share here alleviate those concerns and go ahead and and you know talk to your health care provider. But um, I mean it can be dehydration, uh, it can be lack of poor sleep, or sorry, lack of sleep or poor sleep, um, it could be low blood sugar. It's most likely from what I've seen um dehydration or low blood sugar. So you're gonna want to uh address probably one of those two things, or at least make sure that it's not one of those two things. And if that's the case and you're still experiencing dizziness, um are you are you going at the pace too hard? Did you not sleep well? Um, are you on a medication, or do you have some sort of health condition that you know about or that you've been um kind of suspicious of? Uh, you know, again, have that conversation with your doctor. But again, uh dehydration and low blood sugar do tend to be some of the more common issues or or um uh causes for that dizziness. Uh what you can do in the moment, slow down, you know, slow down that run, catch your breath, uh, maybe walk the rest or just do a light jog. Maybe that means throwing out the workout. Um, but you know, your health is the number one priority if you're getting dizzy. Not a great sign. So in the moment, uh only so many things you can do, but sometimes just you know, again, throwing out that run, walking home, or just doing some sort of walking uh exercise for the remaining time, I think is going to be just fine until you kind of figure out what's going on there. Um, and then plan for or try to figure out what is going on. You know, are you dehydrated? Have you barely drunk any water that that morning or day, or it's you know it's five o'clock and you realize you haven't eaten much during the day because you didn't want to really feel full during during that run or workout, so you haven't eaten since 12 o'clock. Um low blood sugar can really uh easily lead to that dizziness, especially if it's um a workout or if you've just gone a really long time without eating. So um plan for that you know better, prep for that better. Have some um you know have a pre-fueling plan in place. Uh if you if this is a recurring issue for you and it's not some sort of underlying health issue, bring food with you. Bring food, you know, have food in your car, have food in your bag, um, have some sort of granola bar or dried fruit available so you can um kind of mitigate this and hopefully not you know kind of um uh prevent the dizziness that may be kind of plaguing you as you run or even while you're running. So maybe that's bringing a gel or some sort of you know liquid uh nutrition with some calories in there, that can really help too. Um which can also be part of the dehydration plan as well. So if that continues and you've you know done some things and uh you're just not really um figuring it out, and it's not heat, that's the other one, is is uh you know, if it's if it's too hot or humid, uh, you know, hydration is part of it, but even just overheating um can be can be dizziness. I think you want the early signals that you're overheating. So, of course, that one's probably gonna stop you in your tracks a little bit sooner than dehydration or low blood sugar. Um, but again, if you can't get ahead of the dizziness, talk to your health care provider, talk to your coach, get a consult with me or someone else, just kind of talk through it and see if you can kind of create a plan for moving forward. Um and if it is health related, then no, you don't need to get in touch with your health care provider. Um again, better safe than sorry. Number three, three or four, we're short and sweet here today, folks. Uh, what are the advantages and disadvantages of running on an empty stomach? Well, as most runners can probably attest to no one really loves uh feeling full when they're running. Um so as far as you know advantages of running on an empty stomach, I think there's just that feeling of feeling light and not really feeling like you're also digesting or you know, having a full stomach, which can lead to digestive issues, or just that feeling of um sluggishness a little bit. So a lot of runners do tend to want to run lighter or feel lighter when they're running. So that would probably be the um number one advantage, just like that confidence and just the way that you want to feel when you're running. Um, physiologically speaking, um, running you know on an empty stomach or you know, fasted, um, there's a degree of what that fasting may look like can improve fat oxidation and uh kind of improve glycogen efficiency, so you can kind of uh train your body to use fat as fuel more, not rely on carbs as much. So if you're wanting to not use gels or back off the gels or confuse your fat calories, all the people who may be looking to burn um burn more fat or or lose weight um tend to kind of go this route or see if this route's for them, um, that could potentially be an advantage. Now, if you're keeping, which actually this goes to the disadvantage, is if you're keeping your runs to kind of zone one, zone two, um, the slow and steady paces, um, that can that can help if you are kind of running fasted. Once you get into running workout paces or just heading into that zone three, you probably want to eat before those runs or those workouts. So that's that that would be a disadvantage of this, um, is just quicker fatigue, not really being able to kind of up or hold the intensity that maybe a certain workout is calling for. Um for females, there's some research out there showing that it could be like doing too much fasted running or exercise. Cardio can be um can lead to kind of hormonal issues down the line. So, or if you already have hormonal issues, um running fasted or exercising fasted might not be the best approach for you. Um so there are some disadvantages and things to consider, or even just when to do, when to kind of embark on fasted exercise versus when not to, right? So, again, for the easier, lighter, shorter days, um, that might be okay, again, if you don't have ongoing issues to kind of mitigate. Um, but if you are you know training, if you have a workout or some sort of pacework, um, or it's gonna be um a really busy day and you can't eat right after, or you just know your meals are gonna be all over the place, don't fast during that run or for that run. Just set yourself yourself up for success and just eat before that. Um, take in that fuel, you're gonna have a better day and a better runner workout because of that. So, again, there are advantages and disadvantages, but um really trying to weigh the pros and cons of each particular run, I think, is probably a good scenario. Uh, number four, last one here. How should marathon runners eat differently than other runners for exercises? Um, you know, number one thing I jotted down was just that marathon runners um typically are gonna require more, right? Uh more calories, more, especially more carbohydrates for replenishing um glycogen stores. Um, you know, you're gonna be expending more energy, so just more calories, more carbohydrates. Uh, you're gonna be, for the most part, needing to repair more, so also more protein. Uh, the nutrients that you're getting in, which should be more because you're just increasing everything, you're gonna need more absorption power, so fats are gonna be really helpful for that too. So essentially you're getting more of everything, um, but your carbohydrates can probably increase a little bit more from the percentage standpoint. So you know you're going from 5k, 10k running, um, and eating maybe around 50% carbs, and then you've got your fall marathon, and starting in you know, July, you're gonna be uh training for that. Um, you can probably, again, you're increasing everything, um, but you're probably gonna increase your carbs from maybe 50%, anywhere from 55 to 65%, just depends on you, your body, your training, um, you know, what your training actually looks like. Um, but again, you are gonna be increasing uh from a percentage standpoint, carbohydrates uh the most. It's gonna be the biggest jump. Um, so yeah, uh aside from that, hydration is gonna be another thing to consider. So uh, you know, someone who's training for 5K, you're typically not running as long or maybe even as many days as someone who's um running for uh training for a marathon. So your hydration needs are gonna increase as well. Um and then you start to get into certain um kind of like sport-sufficient products uh that are gonna be you know utilized. So um electrolytes, maybe you weren't using electrolytes when you were you know training for a five year, maybe once or twice a week when you're marathon training, maybe now you're increasing them in general, or even more. So maybe it's you know four or five, six, seven days a week that you're using electrolytes in your diet. Um maybe you weren't using gels before, but now you are gonna be using gels or chews or some other kind of um sports nutrition fuel that you may want to use while you're out there on the long runs, and maybe if you're practicing for how you're gonna fuel your actual marathon rate. So um when you start to get into that distance, then you you tend to start to use products more. Um you don't have to. There's certainly whole things you can use and make your own electrolytes if you wanted to, but um, those are gonna be the bigger differences that that kind of take place. Again, increasing pretty much everything, but especially carbohydrates, um, and then increasing hydration, because hydration rates are gonna increase, and then um sports-efficient products, just being open uh to exploring, uh you know, figuring out those if those um products are gonna be good for you and what that looks like. Um those are just some typical um differences from you know marathon runners and um maybe again, non marathon runners, but specifically move around like five foot, ten foot runners. Um I think that. Covers that one. Like I said, short and sweet here today. We'll probably do another interesting QA. Just the cadence has usually been maybe one every six months or so. We tend to want to focus on our running coaches, and I usually host those conversations and don't have the hot seat. So we'll see. If we do another one sometime in the fall, that'd be great. Of course, you can always submit any questions that you have. You can just DM us, you can schedule a call or message me through the Burn Goliath site. We offer so many ways to create a contact and kind of initiate conversation with our coaches, including myself. So if you're interested in nutrition, seeing how it can work for you, you have a question about anything I said, again, you can DM us or contact me through our Brungolian.com site. Alright. Thanks everyone. Take care, have a great rest of your day, and happy running, folks.

Jacob Phillips 23:00

And that does it for this month's IG Live replay on the next level running podcast. I want to thank Coach Will Benitez for all the hard work that he puts into our Instagram live events. Uh, this was fun. This was a great chance for Coach Will to really dive into his uh passion of running and nutrition. And so I hope you enjoyed the QA. Uh we will be back on the 26th of May for the full form podcast. And so be looking out for that to drop. Uh, also, just another reminder, check out those show notes. If you haven't checked out the show notes, check them out. Got some great information for you down there. Hey, look, summer's coming. Uh, it's getting hot where I live, and summer is coming. And so for me, I love the summertime. I love training in the summer, and so it's coming. If you're looking to train and you want a coach, runjoining.com is a great place to check that out and find a coach. Use the unique matching feature. But anyhow, uh, I'll be back May 26th for the full form podcast. Appreciate you as always uh for joining us here at the Next Level Running Podcast. And until next time, have a great run. Thank you for joining us here on the Next Level Running Podcast, your source for training advice from the expert coaches at Run Doyan. If you're ready to take your training and racing to the next level, head over to Rundoyan.com and get matched to your ideal coach who will provide you with the highly customized online training you need for crushing your goals on race day.