Runners...Macro Settings?

I've been around 50/25/25, and averaging around 2000 calories a day, that's a very happy amount of carbs for me. Love pasta, bread and potatoes.

Oh, as far as calories, I follow the TDEE at 15% cut ... and I eat back calories if I fall below my BMR. I sometimes eat them back anyway if I feel like I need them.

I go about 55/20/25 (c/p/f). I try to up the protein after long runs though, if I'm training for a 1/2 marathon.

I don't focus on the macros too much when i'm doing 5 and 10K runs. As others have said, they up their protein while training for a half/full, which I do also..Usually some chocolate milk or protein powder after a run.

My feeling is the 5 and 10k distances just aren't far/long enough to worry about changing my diet significantly.

I read the book Racing Weight and found the information in this book invaluable for training as a runner. I would like that at a 10K - you probably don't have too much concern about getting it right but if you push up to a half marathon or even a full marathon, you will need to make changes. My opinion is when you are running more than an hour is when your training requirements really start to change and effect your.

^^ This.

With that said, I've been running and racing non-stop for the last 2+ years. That's when I started on MFP and starting paying attention to macros. I run/race from 5K to marathon and 50-25-25 has always done right by me. Sometimes I eat less carbs (more like 40%) on running rest days, but on 20+ mile run days, my carbs (because of fueling) will be closer to 60%. It all evens out, but if you're having problems with energy, switch it up a bit. You might need to switch up your fuel. Oatmeal worked well for me for about a year, then my body just didn't get enough energy from it...switched to Marathon Bars and I can run 10 miles on just a Marathon Bar.

Any other runners want to weigh in on this?

I'm at 55 c/25 f/ 20 p. That's the guidance that I get from runners world and running times.

It's a bit of a "game" to me, to be frank. Having the "right" macros is a "good thing" to do, perhaps, but I'm quite happy to bet that, at our level, our macros are of very little significance compared to the other factors that impact us.

It seems to me that the biggest impediment to good performance as a runner is our cardiovascular system and, second, our "skills", meaning how we run (our "mechanics"). After that, it's losing weight. I'd guess that, unless you're doing something outlandish, macros are way, way down the list.


After running for a year (one half marathon and, despite a few injuries, I'm still averaging 15 miles a week), I finally signed up for coaching. It wasn't expensive and, even though we've only met once, it has proven to be very helpful.

I do a lot of things right - posture, hands, arms, footstrike (I converted to a midsole strike which wrecked havoc on my calves), etc. but the issue that Coach Ken and I are working on is mechanics. Within seconds of watching me run, we identified a variety of things that need to be improved in my gait. My midsole strike is not quite flat enough, I need dorsiflexion of the toes at the end of "swing open", more knee lift, increasing turnover from 88 to 96 (!), etc., etc. In a 90 minute session, we worked on a few items which lead to this scenario as we got to the end of a 100 meter fast jog

"No kidding! I can't run that fast!", I said, grinning.
"But you just did!"
"Exactly my point!"

In one short coaching session, I've identified a few things that I was doing wrong and changing those will drop my mile time by about 30 seconds.


Here's another one - forget about your macros and lose weight. I started this week at 188 pounds. Ugh. I've got a race in 51 days and my weight is up 3 pounds. That's a serious penalty so I cut my calories this week and that weight is gone.

Every "extra" pound you carry costs you two seconds per mile. Yup, one "extra" pound slow us down by almost half a minute in a half marathon ≈ a minute in the full. By losing weight this week, I cut the time for my half by 3*2*13 = 78 seconds.

Food for thought, eh?