Diet and Exercise

Part of training for any kind of race requires a lot of commitment and that includes changing your diet if you eat processed food and/or fried food. Getting healthy means staying away from bad fats and incorporating good fats within your diet. Over the past few weeks, my diet has gone down the crapper. I do prep for a restaurant called Quaker Steak and Lube. While they have salads and grilled chicken, everything else is fatty. Even their ribs.

Their ribs are slathered in butter. While ribs sound fabulous, being a good weight sounds even more fabulous. So, I went grocery shopping yesterday and bought stuff for stews, sandwiches, and so forth. With that, I can focus on eating at home and going to work not hungry. indulging doesn’t mean you eat a bad meal everyday but maybe a bad meal once a week or once every two weeks. Don’t make food a reward!

Exercising is not something difficult to incorporate within your daily routine. There is an hour here and there that you can take the time and exercise. If you don’t have an hour all at once, take the time to split down your exercising. I need to get back into that. My body is not reacting adversely to not exercising much lately but I know I need to get back on the horse. That means today, going running for as far as I can and then taking time to figure out weight-lifting and cross training. My hardest thing about cross training is understanding that just because I run doesn’t mean I can NOT cross train. I need to be lifting weights and running both to get a faster metabolism and get into shape.

This all sounds like a no-brainer but it’s much harder to put something you talk about into action.

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Eating Before Your Run

Food is a very important tool for your body especially since it is the gasoline to keep it going. Everybody has their own preference on when to eat and if they want to eat before running or after. The only thing that’s not up for discussion is keeping your body hydrated properly and eating regularly.

With that said, I have run both on a full stomach and an empty stomach. Based on my experience, I prefer running and then eating rather than vice versa. It’s much easier on my stomach and I’m more focused on what I’m doing rather than trying to find a bathroom. It’s either that or feeling nauseated while trying to run. Food feels very heavy to me and it’s never a good feeling when I’m trying to run with food in my stomach.

The most important thing is to feel energized and able to carry yourself through any run that you have planned out. Eating a big mac and fries along with a large coke is not the most ideal pre-running meal because of all the grease and c r a p you’re putting in your body. I’ve always believed that runners should worship their bodies and eat good food. Food is your fuel, you want to be sure to put the right fuel in your body to help break down and build up cells.

What Runners Eat

Training for a marathon, you must have a system in place to make sure you’re getting enough food and water in. Part of that is knowing exactly what you need to be eating to help your body recover from each run and get ready for that grueling run. Most people, work out to lose weight or stay fit. If you’re training for a marathon, you’re going to lose weight at some point. (not guaranteed) Your main focus is muscle recovery so your muscles build up.

“I suggest marathoners and half-marathoners do a reality check on their nutrition with a site or app that gives them a nutrition report card. People swear they’re eating enough nutrients but aren’t—it’s a surprise for a lot of people,” ( Jeff Galloway, a former Olympian and the author of Marathon: You Can Do It.)

Part of muscle recovery and build up is to help endurance and tolerance for longer runs. That’s the main reason why each and every training plan has gradual build up in runs weekly. Yesterday I couldn’t figure out what to eat before my run so I made steak and scrambled eggs with 2 slices of bread.

My idea was that protein helps muscles but I also need to remember that carbs are necessary for exercising. That doesn’t give us permission to sit down and binge eat pasta. There are several different kinds of carbs that give you good nutrients. You want to be eating complex carbs such as whole grains, fresh and dried fruit, vegetables, and brown rice. For more information on exactly what you should eat, check out this article: What to Eat if You’re Training for a Marathon

All of this is very overwhelming especially for somebody that is just starting out but it’s important to focus and get it right! Don’t let your frustration get in the way of proper recovery and nutrition. Do not forget that just because you’re burning all those calories doesn’t mean you can use that as an excuse to drink 10 margaritas and eat those oil laced fries from your local fast food joints.