As the summer winds down, you may have already ran one 1/2 marathon this year, training for one, or training for an upcoming marathon.  No matter the distance you run, one needs to know how to incorporate nutrition properly to assess your intake of Carbs, Protein, and Fat to avoid “crashing” during a long-race.  Your body cycles through varying metabolic processes during your race to meet both your oxygen and energy demands.  One needs to know your VO2 Max, or the maximum amount of oxygen your body can utilize during exercise.  Depending on your what pace is, one can calculate your VO2 Max, to help better understand how you can achieve faster race times and even PR a race based on your health and fitness goals. Courtesy of Runner’s Web, the link below will be an easy way to calculate your VO2 Max to begin to learn how to take better care of your body when running any endurance races.

Sports Chiropractors work with patients to help calculate their VO2 Max in addition to helping them through various injuries he/she may suffer as part of your 1/2 or full marathon training programs (or even your IronMan training program).  Once you have figured out your VO2 Max, then you need to figure how many grams of carbs (CHO), fat, and protein you need to consume during your training regimen to optimize both your time and performance.  Sports chiropractors recommend tracking your diet over a 3-5 day period (you can use the MyFitnessPal App, which is FREE) to help you figure out if you are lacking or consuming an abundance of 1 type of food group.  Once you have figured out a baseline, then you can adjust your food groups accordingly to optimize your metabolism, speed, power, and time when running or training.  Sports Chiropractors will help their athletes change their nutrition in addition to any care modifications to help him/her achieve the running goals he/she desires to ensure injury prevention, and to maximize performance.  This creates a longer-lasting impact as you continue to run various races throughout the year.

http://www.runnersweb.com/running/rw_news_frameset.html?http://www.runnersweb.com/running/vo2.shtml

Brian Marion, DC, CCSP, ART, CKTP

Lincoln Park Chiropractic  2202 N. Lincoln Ave Suite 1 Chicago, IL 60614

(773) 248-2790 www.lincolnparkchiropractic.com