Water

The fourth and final primary nutrient is water. Although water does not provide any energy (or calories), the body requires large amounts of it in order to function properly.

The major function of water for distance runners is the regulation of the core temperature of the body. As warm-blooded animals, our bodies must remain around the same temperature at all times. If our core temperature rises or falls too much, significant damage can occur.

During running, the working muscles produce large amounts of heat which must be dissipated or the core temperature will rise dangerously high. To dissipate this heat, our bodies perspire, using large amounts of water.

Your goal as a distance runner should be to consistently hydrate yourself during both warm and cold weather so that you never become thirsty. By the time your thirst mechanism is activated, your body is already suffering from dehydration - hurting your performance and putting you at risk. You don’t have to drown yourself in liquids but just make hydration a regular part of your day.

It also appears that since most of the body’s chemical reactions occur in an aqueous environment, adequate water intake (but not too much) is essential for maximum performance.

Runner's Nutrition Calculator

The foundation of proper nutrition is obtaining the proper amount of calories (your daily caloric intake) as well as the correct proportions of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins in your diet each day.

Researchers have developed several precise formulas that you can use to determine the specific amount of calories that your body requires as well as the proper proportions of each nutrient that you need.1

Incorporating these formulas, The Runner's Nutrition Calculator allows you to determine (1) the specific amount of calories that your body requires at rest (called your resting metabolic daily caloric need) and to maintain your current weight and training level (called the calories you burn each day), (3) the specific amounts of each of the primary nutrients needed each day (called your daily primary nutrient requirement) and (4) the amount of each sub-type of carbohydrate and fat needed daily (called your daily primary nutrient sub-type breakdown) and (5) the target daily caloric intake to achieve any weight loss goals you may have.

The Calculator yields accurate and individualized results because it’s based on your individual age, sex, height, weight, percent body fat and training level. Using your results, you will be able to closely monitor your diet to ensure that you are following the recommendations of exercise scientists and nutritionists. And, using our partner, Nutrax.com, you have a handy online resource for tracking and analyzing your diet.

Click HERE to launch the Runner's Nutrition Calculator. Simply input your information in each section then hit Calculate. The results are displayed in the area below the input area.

Reviewing Your Overall Dietary Analysis

Now that you have calculated your specific daily nutritional goals, you can perform your own dietary analysis to see how well your current diet compares to the recommendations set forth by exercise scientists and nutritionists.

Using this analysis, you will be able to change specific aspects of your diet (such as increasing the amount of complex carbohydrates or decreasing the amount of saturated fat) to improve your overall health and fitness, giving yourself the greatest chance at distance running success.

The first step in performing your analysis is to keep a thorough food record of all the food items eaten for three, five, or seven days. This record should include at least one normal weekday and one normal weekend day of meals.

The food record should include the following information on each food item: (1) the number of calories, (2) the amount of grams from carbohydrates, fats, and proteins, and (3) the amount of grams from simple and complex carbohydrates as well as saturated, poly-unsaturated, and mono-unsaturated fats.

From this record, you can calculate a daily average for each of these values. After completing your food record, tally up the total calories as well as the calories (or grams) from carbohydrates, fats and protein (include the relative sub-types). You can then compare this with your results from the calculator. Nutrax.com makes this all a lot easier as you can better track and monitor your dietary intake using their advanced nutritional software.

Summary

One of the most important factors in achieving top performance is consistently optimal nutrition. With an understanding of how the general nutritional guidelines should be adjusted for competitive distance runners, you can ensure that you are getting both the proper amounts and proportions of calories and primary nutrients.

Using the Runner's Nutritional Calculator and information in this article, you can determine your specific nutritional needs based on your age, sex, height, and weight. This information can be used to maximize your nutrition and gradually elevate your training and racing to a new level.

水

第四種也是最后一種主要營養素是水。盡管水不提供任何能量或熱量，身體卻需要大量的水以保證機能正常。

對于長跑選手水的主要功用就是調節身體的核心溫度。作為溫血動物，我們的身體必須一直保持恒溫。如果我們的核心體溫升高或降低太多，就會造成重大的傷害。

跑步的時候運動肌肉產生大量的熱量，這些必須散發出去，否則核心溫度就會上升到危險的程度。為了散發熱量，我們的身體會流汗，流失大量的水分。作為長跑選手，你的目標就是讓你在炎熱和寒冷的天氣下不斷的喝水，讓你不會口渴。當你的感到口渴的時候，身體已經在承受脫水的煎熬了——打擊你的跑步能力，讓你處于危險的邊緣。不必大量的喝水，只需要讓喝水成為你日常習慣。

由于你體內絕大多數化學反應都是在水環境下進行，攝入充足水分（但是不要過度）對你達到最佳狀態是必要的。

跑步者營養計算器

合適營養的基礎是獲得正確的熱量數值（你每日攝入的熱量）以及你每日飲食中碳水化合物、脂肪和蛋白質的正確比例。

研究者提出了很多精確的公式讓你能確定你身體需要的熱量數量以及你需要的每種營養素的合適比例。通過整合這些公式，跑步者營養計算器可以讓你計算（1）你身體在休息時需要的熱量（稱為休息代謝每日熱量需求）；（2）保持你合適體重和運動水平需要的熱量（稱為每日燃燒熱量）；（3）每日所需的每種主要營養素（稱為每日主要營養素需求）；（4）每日所需的具體每種碳水化合物和脂肪的（稱為每日主要營養素種類消耗）；（5）為達到你定的減重目標所需要的每日攝取熱量。

計算器可以得到精確的和個性化的結果，因為這基于你個人的年齡、性別、身高、體重、體脂含量以及運動水平。有了結果你就可以用來很好的控制你的飲食以確保能遵照運動科學家和營養師的建議來做。同時可以使用我們的另外一個產品Nutrax.com。這樣你就有了一個手邊的資源來跟蹤和分析你的飲食。

點擊這里打開跑步者營養計算器。在每個欄中簡單輸入你的信息，然后點擊”計算“，結果在輸入區域下面顯示出來。

看看你的整個飲食分析

現在你已經算出了你每日的營養目標，你可以用你自己的營養分析來比較一下你目前的飲食和由四十個運動科學家和營養師推薦的飲食差別在哪里。用這份分析你可以調整你飲食的某些地方（比如增加多糖的攝入或減少飽和脂肪酸的攝入量）以改善你整個的健康和運動水平，讓你更有機會獲得長跑勝利。

運用你分析的第一步是記錄一份你三天、五天甚至七天中完整的飲食清單，這份記錄應當啊至少包含一個正常的非周末和一個正常的周末的飲食。食物記錄應當包括每種食物的如下方面的信息：（1）熱量總量；（2）碳水化合物、脂肪和蛋白質的克數；（3）單糖和多糖以及飽和、多飽和和單飽和脂肪酸的數量。

從記錄中你可以算出這些信息的一個每日平均值。完成之后計算熱量總量以及從碳水化合物、脂肪和蛋白質（包括相關種類）中獲得的能量（或克數），然后和你的計算結果比較。Nutrax.com 把這些都簡化了，通過其先進的營養軟件你可以更好的跟蹤和掌握你每日飲食攝取。

總結

達到你運動頂峰的一個非常重要的因素就是堅持最佳的營養。通過理解對于一個長跑者而言營養方案應當如何調節，你能保證你能獲得最佳的熱量和主要營養素的數量和比例。

采用和跑步者營養計算器以及本文的信息，你可以知道基于你年齡、性別、身高和體重的營養需求。這些信息可以用以優化你的營養，逐漸將你的運動和比賽提高的一個新的水平。