Paleo for endurance sports?

whatjesseats

I'm strongly considering going paleo (for at least the month of June) to break myself of some bad food habits, clean up my diet, and improve body composition. My biggest concern is how this way of eating may impact my training.

I am currently training for a sprint triathlon in July. I would really like to a half marathon this fall, and possibly a full in 2014. My current diet contains a good amount of grains, and I'm nervous about training and racing without rice, pasta, bread, etc.

Does anybody here have any experience eating paleo while training for endurance events?

babygotBackBay

Sure, I say go for it! If you find it's impacting your workouts, then adjust as need. Instead of grains, you can consume all sorts of fruits and high-protein options that can help with recovery.

I'm training for a half marathon now. I try to stay on a low carb paleo given some recent weight gain, but there are lots of Paleo athletes out there.

Paleo athletes that are training are often heavy consumers of sweet potatoes and/or fruit after training in order to assist recovery and boost energy levels, although many argue you can go without any sort of carbs. There are plenty of options on a Paleo diet. If anything, I had no idea how much dairy caused me to have stomach aches after my runs until I went Paleo. I thought post- tough run stomach issues were par for course until I went Paleo.

If you want more info, try here, paleohacks in general is a great site to get info on almost any topics.

http://paleohacks.com/questions/36761/is-a-low-carb-version-of-paleo-a-good-idea-for-a-marathon-or-other-endurance-race#axzz2U3wZucQu

Dragonwolf

Sure, I say go for it! If you find it's impacting your workouts, then adjust as need. Instead of grains, you can consume all sorts of fruits and high-protein options that can help with recovery.

I'm training for a half marathon now. I try to stay on a low carb paleo given some recent weight gain, but there are lots of Paleo athletes out there.

Paleo athletes that are training are often heavy consumers of sweet potatoes and/or fruit after training in order to assist recovery and boost energy levels, although many argue you can go without any sort of carbs. There are plenty of options on a Paleo diet. If anything, I had no idea how much dairy caused me to have stomach aches after my runs until I went Paleo. I thought post- tough run stomach issues were par for course until I went Paleo.

If you want more info, try here, paleohacks in general is a great site to get info on almost any topics.

http://paleohacks.com/questions/36761/is-a-low-carb-version-of-paleo-a-good-idea-for-a-marathon-or-other-endurance-race#axzz2U3wZucQu

This. Paleo and carbs aren't necessarily mutually exclusive. It just generally has that rap because lower carb is generally the way to go for weight loss.

If the event is relatively soon (ie - a month or two away), you'll probably be better off sticking to a higher-carb variety of Paleo (ie - eat more taters!), since endurance athletics as low-carb/keto, while possible (I actually have an MFP friend who's a keo-Paleo athlete and works best on 20g of carbs per day), takes some getting used to. Like switching to minimalist shoes, you'll probably go back before your start going forward again. So, while it may work great for you in the long run, you probably don't want to interrupt your current training schedule, then, when your event is done, start cutting back the carbs and see how it works out for you (if you want).

whatjesseats

Thanks for the replies. I think I will try a moderate-to-high carb paleo diet, then possibly transition to lower carb in the off season.

Eat2Live2Run

I'm a Paleo marathoner. The first week of my training was difficult but after my body adjusted and learned to burn fat for fuel instead of carbs I seriously felt like I could run forever. I started Paleo eating in October and since then I've PR-ed both my Half Marathon and Full Marathon times by a lot! ... So yeah, go for it!! Sweet potatoes are great pre-race or workout fuel.

RatherBeInTheShire

I too got my best times in races eating Paleo. The first 2 weeks are hard because you're starting to burn fat instead of sugar, but after that, you feel WAY better.