EXTRACTS FROM MICHEL ROUX JR
THE MARATHON CHEF COOK BOOK

IN TRAINING

You do not have to be draconian with your diet when training for long-distance running. Just more aware. I am a strong believer in listening to your body and letting it tell you what it needs. And food that is attractive and tastes good satisfies the senses as well as nutritional needs.

When I’m training for a marathon I eat plenty of fruit and vegetables. I don’t usually feel like meat – it’s too heavy. If I’m running in the afternoon I have a late breakfast of cereal, juice and fruit, with perhaps some bread and butter and coffee. It’s bad to run on an empty tum. You need some ballast. After the run I will treat myself to delicious salad dish such as endive and poached egg salad – and a little good chocolate to follow. Then vegetables and perhaps pasta or rice for dinner. I might have some fruit after dinner or a pudding made with muscovado, not white, sugar – it has a better flavour and you need less of it.

My diet is high in carbohydrates. This has never been a problem for me because I love pastas and breads. I don’t believe that bread, pasta or potatoes actually make you fat. It is what you put on them. Unrefined carbohydrates, such as wholegrain cereals and flours, brown rice, potatoes, pulses, carrots and other root vegetables, are much better for you than the refined starches found in processed cereals, white flour, cakes and biscuits. Refined starch gives you a speedy, short-term boost but doesn’t sustain energy long term. Unrefined carbohydrate is absorbed more slowly by the body and so releases energy gradually and keeps you going longer.

The basic rule of eating high-carbohydrate food in the days leading up to a race is well known. But too many novices pig out on a big bowl of spaghetti carbonara or baked potato with sour cream and cheese the night before, only to feel dreadful and heavy legged the following morning. I like to stock up on carbohydrates in the week before the race and stick to lighter foods for the last couple of days. And although we need fats to assimilate some vital minerals and vitamins it is best to avoid copious amounts the night before running a marathon.

Muscles need protein to grow and recover from exercise but I think that unless you are into bodybuilding (which I am not) vitamin C is probably more important. Not only does it ward off colds, which can severely hamper your training schedule and even force you to withdraw from an event, but it helps to flush out the toxins given out by muscles when exercising. The body does not retain vitamin C and so it must be consumed daily. Fresh fruit juices are an easy source but steer clear of reconstituted fruit drinks that are full of artificial sweeteners and additives. Zinc and copper are also important. Zinc is found in abundance in oysters as well as in beans and whole grains. Nuts, seafood and beans contain copper as does chocolate – my favourite source. Vitamin E is another powerful antioxidant that the body can never get enough of. It’s found in almonds, pumpkin seeds and peanut butter.

Fats can be good for you. Most diets urge you to restrict fats and this is right if you lead a sedentary life. But an intake of less than 20 per cent fat is not good for endurance runners or people who take vigorous exercise regularly. The ideal body fat percentage for athletes is 6 - 15 per cent for males and 12 - 18 per cent for females. You need an intake of 30 per cent fat if you are training for a marathon. Not only will you not gain any weight but you will also be able to eat some really tasty foods. Be careful though - eat good quality vegetable and animal fats, not rubbish.

Enjoy eating cheese. Although it is high in fat, cheese is not as bad for you as was once thought. Because of the high calcium content of cheese, much of the fat is not absorbed by the body. What’s more, it tastes great, particularly the unpasteurized farmhouse varieties.

Week’s training menu – week leading up to race