Ever since starting my training, I have been aware of just how important nutrition is for running. Not really rocket science when you think about it - the only thing fuelling my legs is what I am putting into my mouth - so eat 'properly', my legs go faster (or for further... in theory!), live on a diet of chocolate and take aways and my legs, along with the rest of my body, will start to protest. And then stop , or at least slow down. Of course, look into it in a bit more depth, and there is much more too it. What you eat will effect everything from how much energy your body is able to make, and at what speeds it can go whilst making it, how soon into your session you will start to fatigue, how quickly you can recover before the next run - or how long you will feel exhausted for... even how well you can fight some of the less positive effects of the training plan, such as keeping your skin looking healthy and happy despite the regular attacks of sun/ wind/ sweat/ rain!
Whilst I understand all of the above, and, having obsessively read every article I can find on nutrition for both health and performance of runners, have a pretty good idea of which foods are high in the key nutrients I need - be it simple or complex carbohydrates or healthy fats for energy, protein for recovery, or vitamins and minerals for.. well, basically everything!, I am the first to admit that the 'finer' details of what to eat - or, just as important, when to eat it - leave me a little baffled. Now, this is probably largely due to the fact that when I get to the part of each article which carefully details exactly how to calculate how many grams of carbohydrates you should be eating on different training days, or what percentage of each meal should be vegetables, or the ratio of carb's: protein you should have in your recovery drink or meal, my brain instantly responds with an 'uurghh.. maths..' and shuts down. Leaving me cutting out (or printing) the article and adding it to the pile of 'read later' things - a growing pile which also includes calculations for mile splits, water requirements and electrolytes - basically anything which could be vaguely interpreted as maths related!
Now, my fear of maths is not a new phobia - I have hated the subject ever since leaving school (well, starting school if I'm honest..). I am, however, very aware that at some point in the near future, I am going to have to 'get over it'. I don't want to arrive at the marathon start line un-fuelled and unprepared - or with zero idea of how fast I need to be running each mile (I am aiming to run a negative split, so this does require a little maths!). The time for complicated dietary arithmetic has not yet arrived - I am saving this for when my mileage on the long run is over 12 miles (no rational explanation for this cut-off point, its just when I have decided to 'get clever'..!). In the meantime, I have been aiming to simply eat a healthy, balanced diet - one packed full of running 'superfoods' so that, even if the amounts are a little off, I am essentially supplying most of what my body requires.
This determination to eat 'properly' got off to a pretty good start, especially with my 'super cleanse' in January. I was eating well, and, by a trial-and-error type approach, was slowly working out how close to running I could eat different foods. So far, any high fat foods were out at least 3 hours before running - longer if I want to go at any speeds. Evening meals seemed to have a bigger effect on the next days running than my breakfast (although this definately has an influence as well). Low fat meals can be eaten between 2 - 2.5 hours before a run, as long as it's not too large (no complete pig outs!), and eating within 20 mins of finishing a light snack with a mix of carb's and protein makes me feel better faster - and stops me suddenly having a sugar crash and eating the entire contents of my fridge later on!
So, overall, I was feeling pretty healthy, and enjoying it - it's amazing how much more energy eating well gives you! But somehow, over the last couple of weeks, I have found myself... 'slipping'! It started with the morning tea-break at work. Now, after the Zest Super Cleanse, I had cut my caffeine consumption right back (I was on about 5 cups a day before this - slightly above the healthy limit I think!), so I had avoiding tea breaks. However, gradually I have started to join the rest of the office... and somehow, along with the cup of tea, I have started to join in on the biscuit eating. And then the chocolate bar run... and the afternoon cakes.. (my office likes sugar, clearly!). So, blood sugar levels throughout the day are rocketing sky-high one minute, crashing the next.
I had also stopped planning my meals. Claiming a lack of time now the hours of running had gone up, both the weekly food shop and the making of healthy lunches the night before had faded out - meaning I was grabbing a quick cuppa soup or shop sandwich on the way to work. Not exactly filling - which meant that, before I would head out for an evening run, I would grab a quick bowl of cereal - essential as without I wouldn't have the energy to run hard enough, but... I was still eating exactly the same sized dinner when I got in, despite my best intentions not too!! So, my ideal weight, something I was pretty much spot on, was creeping up - not something I want, I don't want more of me to have to carry around a marathon! I was also feeling the effects of not eating as much of the 'nutritious' foods (chocolate may be delicious but a bar of dairy milk doesn't have quite the health-kick for my body as a pile of fruit or veg!).
Now, although I had noticed the quality of my week-day runs going a bit downhill, the final kick up the bum which has made me want to sort it out was my run on Tuesday night. This was meant to be a relatively easy, 40 minute steady run. Being absolutely STARVING when I got in from work (Cuppa soup day....!), I opted for having a proper dinner, which I could cook and eat before 7, followed by gym at about half 9 when I had finished digesting it. All well and good, in theory - however.. my hungry brain seemed to interpret that decision into 'I will eat as much as humanly possible until 7pm'..! And so, I did. A huge portion of lasangne, garlic bread and (less huge) portion of salad later, I attempted to do the 40 minutes training. Of course, having now digested food and calmed the part of me screaming 'eat eat eat', I was well aware that that had not been a good idea, and that the run was going to be painful. So, when the stitch kicked in within 5 minutes, I grumbled at myself for self-inflicting pain and pushed through it. Previously (yes, I may have made similar mistakes in the past....!!), I have managed to hobble through the run - admittedly at a ridiculously slow pace, but I always completed it - and then told myself off for being so stupid!
This time however, slowing down did not help. by 10 minutes in, I was barely out of walk.. worse, I was steadily feeling more and more ill as the run went on. By 20 minutes, my stomach gave me a very clear choice - throw up in the middle of the rather busy gym, or stop. Quickly! I opted for the latter... halfway through my planned run, I had to give up! I had never, ever given up on a run before - I have had times when I have hated being out, but give it 5 minutes of pushing though and I always get past it and enjoy the rest - so having to stop this time was frustrating, to say the least! More so as I knew it was all my fault - I was not happy!!
So, now that I have had a bit of a kick from my body, I am back to being planned and organised - having a pre-run luch packed, plus nuts, fruit, veg sticks etc to snack on, leaves me no reason to sneak down to the snack bar for chocolate - and the lunches can make at home are much more runner-friendly than the shop versions (and, actually, often taste nicer - when I stick to the recipe!!). There may be something in the saying 'fail to plan and you plan to fail...' - and this time I'm sticking to the plan! And on the lookout for some new lunch ideas, if anyone has any suggestions :-)
No comments:
Post a Comment