Comment by js2 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by js2 | Hacker News Reader

I've been following the 5:2 fast since Jan 1, and running 60-80 miles per week. I've run my 3 best marathons in this time, including a PR. (I'm not crediting the diet for this, just saying that the diet hasn't hurt my performance.)

I'm mostly doing it as an experiment for myself, after talking with a friend who did it last year, and watching the BBC Documentary on the diet (Eat, Fast, and Live Longer). I thought running on days that I partial fast would be unbearable, but I've felt fine. As well, on my non-fast days for the past two weeks, I'm trying to consume all my meals within 8 hours (1 PM - 9 PM).

I enjoy the discipline the diet requires. Also, somewhat like running a marathon, fasting days are a little bit about putting up with discomfort. I am definitely hungry toward the end of fasting days. Oddly, when I wake up the next morning my hunger has gone away, and I usually don't eat till 1 PM, as mentioned above.

Stats: 44 y/o male, 5'8", 140-145 lbs, down from 145-150. I'd like to be in the 135-140 range for racing purposes.

Your experience is interesting to me. I'm a runner as well and I end up doing several races per year including a marathon, a few 1/2s, few 5k and 10ks. Do you do any interval training or long runs on the days you fast? What do you do about post run nutrition replacement and do you do glucose replacement during your longer runs? I'd love to shave off a few pounds for racing reasons as well. I always find myself eating more as I up my milage anyway so my weight usually stays constant.

Fasting days (Mon/Wed) are recovery runs. I usually run long on the weekend, and do my workouts on Tue (intervals) and Thu (tempo), but before breaking my fast.

My Tue interval day may include a 12 mi AM run of 2 mi w/u, 8 x 1000M at 8K pace w/600M RI, 2 mi c/d and 4 mi PM recovery run. My Thu tempo is usually something like a 10 mi AM run of 2 mi w/u, 6 mi at HMP, 2 mi c/d, then possibly a 4 mi PM recovery run.

Sunday is my cheat day. But there's only so much ice cream you can eat in one day. :-)

During long runs, I usually carry 21 oz of sports drink.

Post-marathon recovery drink: Guinness Float (that would be Guinness draught and a scoop of vanilla.)

My plan this year is to run a marathon each month, and 3000 miles total. So far so good.

I have never heard of a Guiness Float before, but seeing as I like both Guiness and Coke Floats... I want to try it as soon as I stop my short-term keto diet! What's it like?

Do you feel a need to eat right after running to rebuild muscle?

I've read conflicting information about whether it's truly necessary to consume protein/carbs within 30 minutes of a workout, which I think is the basis of your question. Or whether as long as your overall diet is sufficient, it doesn't matter.

I've been fasting on Mon/Wed, and these are usually the days when I do recovery (i.e. slow) runs. I will run once or twice on these days, with my single meal in between. Typically I'll get up, have coffee (black), work an hour or two, then do a mid-morning run of 6-7 miles (about an hour). I'll have my meal around 1 PM. I then do a second run in the evening of 4-5 miles (about 40 mins).

My "meal" on fasting days is typically a nutribullet shake of spinach, frozen blueberries, banana or apple, cocoa powder (no sugar), unflavored whey protein powder, cashews or almonds, and two tsp of fish oil. My Fitness Pal says its ~ 600 calories, 27g fat, 60g carbs, 34g protein.

I'll have a second black coffee in the afternoon, and a green tea in the evenings.

Yes I was curious about the 30 min "rule". Thanks for the detailed info.

How do you avoid losing weight given your exercise level and low calorie intake?

I am currently losing weight (slowly), about 5 lbs since I started. But to answer: I eat more calories on the days I'm not fasting. Let's do the math:

At my age and weight, I need ~ 1900 calories/day to maintain my weight assuming I'm sedentary. That's 13,300 calories/week.

I run 76 miles per week. That's about 7,600 calories.

So 20,900 calories a week. On two days I restrict myself to 600/day, so that's 19,700 across the other 5 days, or 3,940 calories on those days. But I've been losing about 0.5 lb/week, which is a deficit of about 1750 calories/week. So on those other 5 days I must be around 3600 calories.

3500-4000 calories a day is a lot, but not extreme, just ask any weight lifter. And I happen to really enjoy food. So it hasn't been a problem.

But, I may have to reduce my fasting to 1 day a week once I reach my goal weight.

nice. do you run in the morning or afternoon? i'd considered doing the same as you but I usually run after work and hate running with food in my stomach...

do you run in the morning or afternoon?

Yes. :-)

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