Vitamin D
All vitamins and minerals are important, don’t get me wrong. But there are a few that are slightly more interesting for runners than others.
Vitamin D is one of them.
And I will explain to you why, so keep on reading.
(Or if you are more of a ‘watching type of person’, I have also made a YouTube video of it)
Functionality
The function of vitamin D is to regulate the amount of calcium and phosphate in our body. These are important nutrients to keep our bones, teeth and muscles healthy.
If you don’t have a sufficient intake of vitamin D, you will increase your risk of getting injured (and more precisely a stress fracture), because your bone density will become less.
Health benefits
Another health benefit of this vitamin is that is strengthens our immune system. Those who train a lot (and consequently will have a weakened immune system) are therefore more prone to getting a bacterial infection.
The daily recommendation is 15 microgram and the following sources can help you get your daily dose of this vitamin:
- Sunlight! Expose yourself daily 30 minutes to the sun to help your body soak in vitamin D. During winter months this can be tricky in some countries and therefore it might be interesting to look at supplements.
- Food! The following sources contain a good portion of vitamin D: salmon, tuna, fortified foods such as cereals and plant milks, sardines, egg yolk
- Supplements! Although it is more suggested to first look at the first two options (since they are more natural), for some places it might be needed to take in a supplement during dark winter months.
Hope you find this useful and that I can help you improve your running performance!
If you still have questions about this, you can always reach me through Whatsapp (+324 56 56 67 74). Don’t hesitate to reach out to me, I really want to help you improve.
