I will have to remember to avoid drinking anything while I'm looking at the most recent post on this thread. Euro, you make me cough and water almost came out my nose with the laughter.
ID, if your weight has remained stable while your training has tapered, that shows a degree of mastery of that issue and should pay off when you start ramping up again. I've sort of tried to tie all these nutrition ideas that we've been talking about on this thread into some simple ideas.
I think one of the biggest things to consider as runners is the big spike of energy output while we are running. The average person will usually output energy at the rate of 75 to 250 calories per hour and it's important to realize that many of the successful recent diet/eating plans have value but are aimed at people who stay in that range.
Once we are in shape and working out, we can sustain an output of around 750 calories per hour or more, with peaks over 1200 calories per hour. So we have to try to handle this energy depletion spike in an optimal way.
I've reduced my eating down to one of 4 categories. The Slam, Bump, Trickle, and Walk.
The Slam is performed to provide maximal available carbohydrate and protein with a strong insulin spike. Immediately after a long and/or hard workout is when this can be considered and is an aggressive approach but can begin a rapid recovery process.
The Bump is usually performed after the Slam or in place of the Slam (immediately after the workout) and the goal is to provide carbohydrate and protein with a more conservative insulin response. If done after a Slam, we wait until it feels like our body has processed a good portion of the nutrients from the Slam and is ready for more. Bumps can continue to be effective for as long as several hours after a very demanding workout, providing there has not been too long of a time gap between Bumps.
The Trickle is basically normal intake but focused on providing specific nutrients to handle specific needs. For example, if we are sore, slow and continuous intake of protein is desired. If we are "out of gas" or carbo loading, slow and continuous intake of carbohydrates is desired. Insulin spikes are usually not desired.
The Walk is normal intake and is performed when there are no pressing requirements from workouts. As the recent successful eating plans (for 'normal' people) show, lots of smaller portions seem to work the best. Insulin spikes are undesireable.
All this makes me wonder if people who are becoming insulin resistant and heading toward type-2 diabetes can reverse that process if they are still able to work out hard. It seems that if we keep pumping insulin around cells that are already at their full energy capacity, the cell is not going to continue to allow insulin to perform it's usual action, which is to increase the flow of nutrients into the cell. Perhaps through running and refueling optimally, cells will continue to increase their efficiency at using insulin to 'unlock the gates' and allow us to refuel and repair more efficiently.