As masters runners, there’s a lot of things we know we need to change about our training as we get older.
Added recovery time to account for our bodies not bouncing back from hard workouts as quickly.
More focus on strength training to make up for the natural loss of strength that occurs as we age, which can lead to more injuries and our times continually getting slower.
But, diet is also a critical element you need to pay even more attention to as you age.
Making sure you’re getting the essential vitamins, minerals and macronutrients can not only ensure you training and performance don’t suffer, but also improve your overall health.
So, in this article I’ll be going over the 4 essential supplements you need as a masters runner to stay healthy and improve your performance.
Are Supplements Essential for Masters Runners?
First off, I want to make it clear that supplements are by no means required for every runner.
That’s right, in am article about what supplements runners should be taking I’m telling you that they aren’t 100% necessary.
That’s because supplements are designed to be just what their name implies – a supplementation to your daily intake if you’re not getting enough through your diet.
It’s perfectly possible to get the required daily intake of any supplement through diet alone.
That said, I am a huge fan of supplements for a few reasons…
- First, most runners don’t eat the perfect diet all the time. Work, family, stress and a bunch of other factors lead to us to often being low in critical vitamins, minerals and micronutrients that can improve our health performance.
- Second, I am a big believer that the easier you make things on yourself, the easier it is to be consistent and stay on track. Supplements make getting in your essential macro and micronutrients easier and oftentimes more pleasurable.
Therefore, the list of recommended supplements for masters runners includes those that (1) have been shown by actual science to be a benefit to endurance athletes; and (2) those that runners often find difficult to fit into their diets consistently.
Protein
When it comes to supplementation, most runners focus on the performance benefit of a specific supplement – like will it allow me to run faster by increasing oxygen uptake, or something similar.
But, what we often forget is that better recovery from workouts is actually the best way to improve faster and more consistently. If you can recover faster, you can workout harder or more frequently and you can better absorb the training benefits from your runs.
Now, as I mentioned earlier, recovery slows as you get older and one of the main reasons for this is that muscle protein synthesis slows down as we age.
Thus, any supplement that helps you recover is going to have a positive impact on your running performance.
And that’s where protein comes in.
As you may already know, running causes the muscles to break down and form micro tears, which need to be repaired in order to get stronger and faster.
The body needs protein for this process to occur. With an adequate supply of protein, the body can build back your muscles faster
For masters runners it’s even more important since research has shown that a greater dose of protein is needed to spark muscle protein synthesis as we age.
Sadly, many runners are low in their protein intake, especially women.
Ideally, you’ll want to consume between .8 and 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight per day.
That means for a 145lb women, you’d want to get between 115g and 145g of protein per day.
You may often see suggested protein intake totals less (like 1gram per kilogram of bodyweight), but these numbers are usually focused on non-athletes.
Studies focused on the nutrition needs of athletes are always higher.
I highly recommend all runners track their protein intake for a day or two to see exactly where their average lies. Most runners will be far short of this .8 to 1 gram per pound of bodyweight.
I recommend protein supplements, like protein powders, because they are a very easy way to up your protein intake with very little effort.
Plus, nowadays protein powders are super tasty and you can also get them vegan if needed.
My favorite vegan protein powder is from Optimum Nutrition. Most vegan protein powders are very chalky, but these have a great flavor and easy to blend with other foods.
If you’re not vegan, you should look for a whey protein powder as opposed to powders such as pea or soy. Whey has been scientifically proven to be better absorbed by the body.
My favorite way to use protein powders is to add them as flavoring to my favorite meals.
For example, my favorite breakfast is adding flavored whey protein to rolled oats and fruit and then setting in the fridge overnight. The protein not only adds a delicious flavor, but an easy 25 grams of protein for a on-the-go, healthy breakfast.
I also like adding a chocolate flavored protein to pancake mix. It’s a delicious way to make healthier chocolate pancakes and my kids love them too.
Another of my favorite methods is using chocolate or vanilla flavored proteins to make protein brownies and cookies. It’s an easy way to enjoy the deserts I love and still hit my protein needs. A quick google search will give you tons of recipes and ideas to choose from.
Antioxidants
Masters runners also need to recognize the years of wear and tear that have accumulated on the body. The fact is, we have more cellular damage due to time and stress as we age.
One of the best ways to fight this cellular damage is with antioxidants.
Antioxidants are substances, usually vitamins and minerals found in fruits and plants, that can prevent or slow damage to cells caused by free radicals, unstable molecules that the body produces as a reaction to training stress.
As such, antioxidants and phytochemicals are even more important for masters runners than our younger counterparts.
The best way to get your antioxidants is through a variety of fruits and vegetables such as grapes, blueberries, nuts, dark green vegetables, beets, cantaloupe, peaches, and plums.
But, if you’re like me, eating a wide variety of fruits and vegetables everyday is almost impossible (I admire the people who are able to do it).
Even when I do get in a good rhythm of including a fruit and vegetable with every meal I often lack variety due to seasonality or just not having it available because I couldn’t buy enough for the week without it going bad.
That’s why I recommend runners include a greens supplement in their daily routine.
It’s the guaranteed way to get in all the antioxidants and micro nutrients you need with a simple scoop in the morning.
I prefer a greens supplement as opposed to a multivitamin or antioxidant pill because a greens supplement is absorbed better.
A 2018 study showed that most multivitamins do very little because they are not absorbed well in the body and they lack the ability that whole food sources have to provide additional micronutrients that aren’t listed on labels.
My favorite greens supplement is Athletic Greens because it contains the highest variety of fruits and plants at effective dosages.
Adding greens to my morning routine has been one of the best ways to keep me on track with my nutrition. There’s just something about starting the day off right that makes it easier to stay on track the rest of the day.
Magnesium
As I’ve mentioned a few times now, recovery is essential for masters runners.
That’s why any aid we can find to help us improve recovery can have a dramatic impact on our training and performance as we age.
In that regard, one supplement that is becoming increasingly popular and well-researched is magnesium.
Magnesium is an essential dietary mineral, the second most prevalent electrolyte in the human body, and involved in more than 300 chemical processes inside your body.
Most importantly to runners, magnesium plays a critical role in energy production, muscle recovery, improved sleep and bone development.
As an example, studies have shown that supplementing with magnesium can lower coritisol levels and improve the length of time in a deep-sleep state specifically in older adults.
For women runners in particular, many studies have shown that magnesium supplementation can enhance bone mineral content, which can help strengthen bones and prevent bone-related injuries.
Now, the reason I suggest magnesium as a supplement is that research has shown about 75% of runners are deficient in magnesium. This is both because it’s difficult to get with natural sources because it’s not easily absorbed and because runners lose a lot of magnesium when they sweat.
If you’re looking to supplement with magnesium, you should aim to take 400-500mg daily with a meal, preferably in the evening as this will help more with sleep.
I recommend Magnesium Breakthrough from BiOptimizers because it contains all 7 critical forms of Magnesium.
Having all 7 forms of magnesium in your supplement is essential because each form “specializes” in helping a specific area. For example, Magnesium L-threonate is best known for cognitive enhancement and orotate is best for recovery and athletic performance.
Most of the over-the-counter magnesium supplements contain only 2-3 of the critical form to keep the cost down.
Iron
Research indicates that almost 56% percent of joggers and competitive runners suffer from an iron deficiency that severely hampers performance.
That’s because runners lose more iron than most athletes due to a number of factors, such as losing iron through a process called foot strike hemolysis as well as through sweat and the GI tract.
Older runners are even more susceptible since research has shown that we become more susceptible to iron deficiency as we age due to malabsorption and other age-related factors.
As you can see, the cards are stacked against you as an older runner when it comes to maintaining your iron levels. Therefore, it is important that you consciously monitor your iron intake through your diet and with supplements if you already have low levels.
First recommend you get a blood test to determine your actual iron levels.
Not only is this important to determine if you are low or not, but it gives you a baseline for what your iron levels are and how much supplementation is improving them.
You’re looking for your serum ferritin number and it should be higher than 25 nanograms per milliliter.
When you go to buy an iron supplement, make sure it’s in the form of ferrous sulfate. Usually, you can find iron at a health store like vitamin world or a GNC. You can take iron in a pill or liquid form, whichever works best for you. Pills are often easier to find, but liquid absorbs better.
I suggest taking your supplement before bed. Iron supplements can sometimes cause minor stomach issues and gas. If you take them at night, it probably won’t bother you.
If you’re just looking to maintain your iron levels, supplement with 30mg. If you have tested for low iron, supplement with 60mg.
Once again, this is not an exhaustive list of supplements you may want to consider. They are just, in my experience, the most common areas masters runners tend to be low in or need to focus on as they age.
Have you tried or are you curious about any supplement for runners that you’ve heard can improve running performance or maintain health as you age?
If so, leave a comment and I’ll start looking at the research and maybe record an in-depth article.
