There’s only one thing that a new year pretty much guarantees; new goals. Most athletes and fitness enthusiasts will mark the turn of the year with a brand new objective in order to drive progress, reiterate commitment and solidify discipline. So whether it’s a marathon, triathlon, or a long distance trail run, your training load is sure to increase. The question is, how do you help your body cope with the increased intensity of your running schedule? The Importance of Micronutrients for Runners Micronutrients are made up of vitamins and minerals, and phytonutrients. They are more challenging to track and assess than macronutrients; they will often need bloodwork assessments and these can take time and resource. In endurance athletes, waiting for deficiencies to show up can have a huge impact on performance and significantly affect the success of the athlete while competing. As a result, supplementing with performance vitamins and minerals can be an excellent way to reduce the risk of micronutrient deficiencies and avoid compromised training adaptations and performance. The Performance Multivitamin Alongside balanced nutrition, a performance multivitamin is an ideal strategy in order to avoid deficiencies and prime the body for optimum recovery and performance. The SiS performance multivitamin is formulated to support the specific nutritional needs of endurance athletes, allowing training and performance to be maximized. The key nutrients focused on with the multivitamin include iron, vitamin D, B vitamins and vitamin c. Iron For endurance athletes, iron is one of the most closely tracked micronutrients. It is a key component of hemoglobin in red blood cells and is integral when it comes to carrying oxygen from the lungs to the tissues. In order to produce energy in the body, myoglobin accepts, stores, transports and releases oxygen. Without the required amount of iron, the body does not get the oxygen it needs to produce energy. Iron deficiency happens in stages but symptoms only occur once there is a more severe depletion within the body; this makes it really important to monitor iron status. Also, different levels would be considered ‘suboptimal’ in endurance athletes versus the general population that GPs may often reference. SiS performance multivitamin contains a relatively low amount of iron -14mg, which makes it a valuable strategy to help boost iron intake with increased requirements, as with marathon training. Practitioner insight: Iron is best absorbed on an empty stomach (e.g. before breakfast) as far away from training as realistically possible. SiS Performance multivitamin also includes 80mg of vitamin C which is a good quantity to increase iron absorption but not compromise training adaptations (Sims et al. 2019). Vitamin D Wide-ranging research continues to show how the importance of Vitamin D with regards to health and performance is both important and complex. From immune system and muscle function, to calcium metabolism and bone health, this hormone cannot be overlooked. Additionally, vitamin D is integral to bone health and a lack of it can lead to bones weakening. This can result in bone deformities and even stress fractures in runners where the load is heavy. We know that exposure to the sun is the best source, but there is so much more to it. Naturally, this strategy is entirely reliant on where you live. If it’s winter or you live in a country that is often dark and cloudy, it can be tough to ensure your vitamin D intake is sufficient. Not only that, but darker skin, low intake of fatty fish, eggs or fortified foods, plus spending lots of time indoors are all risk factors. As a result, each individual may have vastly different needs when it comes to supplementation. However, the low dose of vitamin D formulated in SiS Performance Multivitamin is ideal in that it offers a slight insurance factor to increase vitamin D intake if low, but it’s not too much as to create a risk of over supplementing. Practitioner insight: Integration of foods naturally high or fortified with vitamin D (fatty fish, fortified dairy or juice, UVB grown mushrooms) should be incorporated into an athlete’s nutrition systems as fitting and realistically maintainable. Supplementation with 2000-4000 IU vitamin D per day is considered safe and effective if 25(OH)D is <75 nmol/L or <2 ng/ml free 25(OH)D in dark-skinned athletes (Owens at al. 2018). B Vitamins The B vitamins thiamin, riboflavin, and vitamin B6 are central to the conversion of foods into energy for use during exercise. Both the production of red blood cells and cell repair rely on folate and vitamin B12. For endurance athletes, a poor intake of B vitamins may impact the body’s ability to repair itself, operate efficiently, fight disease and decrease the ability to perform exercise at high intensities (Woolf & Manore, 2006). When training for a marathon or triathlon, you really can’t afford to compromise your recovery as your training schedule will need to be rigid in order to achieve your performance goals. B vitamins are water soluble so they do not stay in your body. As a result, optimal daily intake is required for optimal health and performance. Some research suggests that endurance or high intensity exercise may increase the requirements for riboflavin and vitamin B6. These vitamins are readily available in foods, but athletes who have poor diets, especially those restricting energy intakes or eliminating food groups from their diet, should consider supplementing with a multivitamin/mineral supplement. Practitioner Insight: Supplementing with B vitamins in doses found in the SiS Performance Multivitamin during key phases of training or when food quality or intake may be compromised, such as during travel, is a smart and easy way to ensure energy metabolism is at its peak. Written By The Performance Solutions Team
