I am a vegetarian, I eat eggs, drink milk, and eat lots of protien, but consume NO meat. I train daily and should be overly prepared for races, however, when I have completed my last few races that were over 1.5 hours I've bonked. My friend is telling me that it is because the protiens that I am eating aren't the same as the ones that I need to build muscle, I say that I am getting more protien daily than he is and that it doesn't make a difference as long as I am getting these protiens... What do you think? is is crucial for me to eat meat to build stronger muscles or is it unnecessary? :confused:

The short answer is no, you do not need to eat meat to compete. There are several pros that are veggies and fair quite well. Click the link for a good article on the specific areas that you may be lacking on nutrients and what types of foods will help correct this inbalance.

Vegan diets in endurance athletes (http://www.ais.org.au/nutrition/Chapter21.pdf)

I hope this information is helpful

It is possible that you might be iron defficient. You should get a blood test to check your hemoglobin. The normal range is 12-16 for women. Even though you can get iron from several foods, it is absorbed best by eating red meat. I am quasi vegetarian, but i eat red meat occasionally because I find that I start feeling very fatigued if I don't eat any for awhile. You can also take iron supplements. I take SLOW FE. But you should really find out what your hemoglobin is first because it is possible to have too much iron.

Several of the postings in this forum question if you have a nutritional imbalance, getting enough iron, etc. There is a simple test you can order ($40 US) that will tell where your body is in relation to 55 minerals + heavy and toxic metals. You use the test kit to send a urine sample to a lab that gives you a report including graphs of where you stand compared to the normal ranges. Helps determine what supplements you need or if you need them. The kit is available at www.individualhs.com The site has a sample report and other information about nutrition.

I wonder how accurate a urine reading could be serveral days after the specimin was collected. I work in a lab and you can get tested for everything there and have them resulted within hours. I think a urinalysis , Comprehensive metabolic profile, and CBC would be a good start. You just need a prescription from your doctor. It will probably be more accurate and insurance would hopefully cover it.

I have had my iron checked, my red blood cell count as well as my prolactin, other than my prolactin which was a little high, everything else was right on... it also could just be that my body can't handle the longer distances when combined with the endorphin rush.

Remember too that it takes time to train your body, as well as your digestive system to handle the demands of endurance racing. something to always keep in the back of your mind (and this affects everyone) is how much are you burning in relation to how much you are taking in.

If you burn 2000 calories in a 20 mile run, and you started out eathing a sinlge banana, chances are, unless you've conditioned yourself to burn stored body fats (which is somewhat hit and miss depending on who you talk to), you're going to bonk, or come close to it. The human body can generally have at the ready 2000 calories, expendable energy. Then it starts wondering who the heck is driving when nothing else comes down the feeder.


I've been a vegetarian for 11 years, and I've found that with the combined efforts of strength training, eating right after a workout, and feeding the machine in efforts greater than an hour, I can just about go for as long as I want, which for the last adventure race I did was 9 hours (sprint distance).

Hope that helps

i'm mostly a lacto-ovo-veggie (for 7 yrs now), but i include fish occaisionally for those omega-3 fatty acids (and it helps with menu selection at vegetarian unfriendly restaurants). it works for me.
anyway, i liked these articles:

sports nutrition guidelines for the vegetarian (http://www.vrg.org/nutshell/athletes.htm)

high energy vegetarian foods (http://www.veg.ca/newsletr/janfeb97/high_energy.html)

muscling out the meat myth (http://www.vsdc.org/meatmyth.html)

go veggies!! :)
annie

The protein argument is crap. Amino acids are amino acids and the idea of incomplete proteins or that you need to combine certain foods to meet needs has been debunked. The only ones still making these kinds of arguments are those rely unecessarily on animal foods. I have been vegetarian for 17 years and vegan now for 2. I am much healthier and stronger as a vegan and will never go back. Veganism forced me to make more diverse food choices for one and I rely a lot more on raw foods and have minimal intake of very starchy bulk foods (i.e. bagels, pasta high GI foods). The other thing I make sure to do is have some protein/fat and carbs most of the time when I eat rather than just relying on a carb snack (except for fruit). Something else that is recommended for endurance athletes is that you eat something with protein within 30 minutes after completing a workout. For me that often means I make a smoothie with soy milk, fruit and tofu or soy protein powder so that I immediately replenish rather than waiting through the time it takes to prepare dinner. Learning what works best for you is trial and error a lot of the time but I don't think you should just chalk it up to your body's inability to manage certain things. I found that the more intense in training becomes and as I set more advanced goals for myself the smarter I have to become about fueling and I still have a lot to learn!

Here is a great site for nutrition info and The Endurance Athlete's Fueling Handbook (take it with a grain of salt the info is very good but of course they are pushing their products) anyway I found very useful.

http://www.e-caps.com (click on Knowledge then on Supplements and Fueling Guides)

and a couple more sites about vegan athletes, the transition is not as hard as you might think and well worth it!

http://www.veganathlete.com/

http://www.pcrm.org/health/veginfo/vegetarian_athletes.html

Please check out this site representing a Pro/ Elite ALL vegan adventure racing team.

http://www.veganadventure.com

Protein is to build and repair muscle. Protein plays very little part in bonking (running out of muscle glycogen). If you're bonking then you need to consume better, carb rich foods, before and during your race. Experiment with different forms of carbs to find out what works best for you while racing. Start with complex carb drinks like Gu2o or Ultima, as well as Gu packs.

Thank you. :)

Beans and rice. Combining grains and legumes gives all of the amino acids and they are complex carbohydrates to boot! They don't even have to be in the same meal. Also, to boost your hemoglobin, drink chlorophyl. It works wonders. Deb :)

im a vegetarian, personal trainer and triathlete, basically there are about 20 tyoes of amino acids which are put togehter like an alphabet to make proteins, 8 of these amino acids are amde naturally by the body, the other 12 you need through food, meat has all of these, the only vegetarian food that does is tofu, you can get all these amino acids without eating tofu but eating tofu would make it easier. with regards to the bonking out, your body can hold about 1600kcal of energy (glucose) at anyone time, and depending on what level your working at and your fitness you will burn glucose and fat stores at the same time,(and obviously carbo loading will increase this amount) so in a run where you burn 2000kcal its very unlikeley you will have used all your glucose stores, more likely due to either mental strength or muscle fatigue, especially as during the course of a triathlon or run you will increase your carbohydrate intake through sports drinks/bars. also mixing your proein with carb foods will make your amino acids more complete, for example beans and rice or peanut butter on wholemeal toast(mmmmmmmmmmm)