Protein and the Endurance Athlete (Wading through the sea of info)

Although this has been a recovery week I have found myself exhausted, on my runs my legs feel dead and on a bike I feel like my quads are complaining and protesting the whole way. By Thursday I began to wonder why this seems to be a reoccurring problem for me. I am convinced that it might be something about my diet.

When I changed my eating over a year ago I did a complete overhaul on my diet. At first I was really strict with myself. I cut all alcohol, cheese (still love), ice cream and increased my intake of fruit and especially veggies. I have been a vegetarian for over 8 years so I kept that in place. At the time I modified my calorie intake. Although I vaguely review it from time to time. I was more concerned with sticking to the plan and really didn't check to see if my plan needed modification. With that in mind I did some research to see if I needed to make some changes.

That sounds pretty easy and straight forward but IT'S NOT!! There is so much confusing, conflicting and misleading information out there about nutrition for athletes. My first investigation was to check out the whole protein thang. For 8 years I've had people pestering me with the standard question "but how do you get enough protein in your diet?" I always believed that if you ate a variety of foods that most people even vegetarians would get enough protein. I cook lots of bean dishes and occasionally eat fish and I do drink milk,(sometimes soy) and somehow over the years I've come to love tofu. But still maybe with 2 workouts a day with most workouts averaging at least an hour (and inching upward) perhaps that was the culprit of this crappy feeling.

The difficulty with the protein question is that it's hard to get a straight answer to how much protein does an endurance athlete need? Here's what I've been able to determine.

RDA) says: .8 grams of protein for every 1 kilogram body weight. This number is more for sedentary adults but if you are an endurance athlete it increases so that you are looking at a range from .8-1.8. To calculate your daily needs take your weight in pounds divided by 2.2. Take that number and multiply it by .8 (or higher if you are active like me.)

So for myself I am 130 pounds or thereabouts.
130/2.2= 59.09
59.09 x 1.6= 94.54

Meaning that I need 94.5 grams of protein per day. At this point all my knowledge about vegetarian eating went out the window. Auck 94 grams, there's no way I'm gettin that much per day. I ran out and in this vulnerable state I'm sad to say that I allowed a salesperson to convince me that I absolutely needed to be taking a protein supplement in the form of a protein isolate powder. I came home and still didn't feel particularly convinced that I should be taking this supplement twice per day. (at 25g of protein and 110 cal per scoop)

Did some further checking on various medical/nutrition sites and vegetarian web sites. And of course rediscovered that yes as a vegetarian it can be tricky to get the right amount of protein especially form as a complete source but it is not impossible and here's why.

1. Meat and other alternatives like an egg, a 1/2 cup of beans or lentils, 1 oz of fish, have 7 grams.
2. Milk products including 1 oz cheese and 1 cup yogurt and 1 cup of milk have 8 g
3. Whole Wheat Grains like 1 slice of bread, 1/2 cup of pasta have 6-8grams

Don't forget that soy has 7g per cup and tofu has 13g per 1/4 of a block and nuts like sunflower seeds or almonds (I add them to my oatmeal in the morning) are 6 g per 1/4 cup.

While this is hardly an exhaustive list it was enough to convince me that while I may at times be low in protein, it would not take much to ensure adequate protein intake. Of course now I have this big tub of protein powder, which I guess I will add a scoop to my fruit smoothie but I doubt that I will fuss about using it 2 to 3 times a day like the salesperson suggested. I did discover Luna and Clif bars which I think might be another option to assist in meeting daily requirements.

I think the main thing is that I would never want to become a slave to any one product be it protein powder or even tofu. I like variety because after I work out so hard each day I want to be able to enjoy what I'm eating. Yes the focus is to fuel the body but it doesn't have to taste like cardboard. Honestly I don't think I could stick to a plan if it I wasn't enjoying eating it. I like eating healthy and I often experiment with different ethnic dishes.

So if protein wasn't the main problem what else could it be. Now that I think about it here's some things that I think I will review hydration: general and during and post exercise. I also noticed during my protein info search that I may be limiting or restricting my calorie intake too much. (maybe, although I did gain weight a few weeks back so what gives!) Stay tuned.