Friday, June 04, 2004
More About Food...Advice Sought!
I have another 5K race tomorrow so I haven't run since Wednesday night...thought I'd post a bit more about my food issues, since my blogging family seems to have advice to share with me...and I could use all the insight I can get on this topic.
As you may know (or not), I have sugar-crashes and "food issues" sometimes when I run. It's never been bad enough to make me fall over, but on at least one occasion, I had to stop running and walk the rest of the way home. Frustrating, as you can imagine.
For the most part, any run 3 miles or shorter I can handle without getting hungry. Most days. Once in a great while, I'll get a little shaky near the end, but nothing outrageous. Anything over 3 miles is a crap-shoot. I can never predict when it will happen--I can eat peanut butter and bananas 30 minutes before I run, and I'll crash. Or it can be an hour and half since my last "meal" and I'll run without incident. (I think a food journal may alert me to the patterns.)
During the winter months, I always carried a power bar in my jacket pocket (power bars WILL FREEZE WHILE IN A POCKET, by the way). Now that I am wearing far fewer pieces of clothing, I'm finding it difficult to stash food in my clothes and I'd rather not wear a belt or pack for any run under 6 miles. (I realize I may have to re-think this strategy).
I have carried gel with me--and diluted gatorade--on longer runs, which always gets consumed, but I really despise taking the gels without any liquid to wash it down which is why I don't take them on shorter runs. It's like putting tasty flavored glue in your mouth!
This upcoming week, I plan to kick off my official "training season" and I've decided that I'll keep a detailed journal about my calorie intake, workouts and how I felt.
I'm also going to work hard to eat more food...not sure HOW I can possibly eat more, but I've already started doing little things, like eating a handful of raw almonds twice a day. I'm a pretty picky eater, so it's been hard for me to find protein that 1) travels well 2) isn't high in BAD fat and 3) isn't fish. I eat a ton of chicken, turkey, beef, eggs and yogurt. And I love fruits and veggies. To check out what I usually eat, check out the the 4/30/04 post titled "Bottomless Pit"
Any advice, suggestions, etc. will be gladly accepted!
We'll see what happens!
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As you may know (or not), I have sugar-crashes and "food issues" sometimes when I run. It's never been bad enough to make me fall over, but on at least one occasion, I had to stop running and walk the rest of the way home. Frustrating, as you can imagine.
For the most part, any run 3 miles or shorter I can handle without getting hungry. Most days. Once in a great while, I'll get a little shaky near the end, but nothing outrageous. Anything over 3 miles is a crap-shoot. I can never predict when it will happen--I can eat peanut butter and bananas 30 minutes before I run, and I'll crash. Or it can be an hour and half since my last "meal" and I'll run without incident. (I think a food journal may alert me to the patterns.)
During the winter months, I always carried a power bar in my jacket pocket (power bars WILL FREEZE WHILE IN A POCKET, by the way). Now that I am wearing far fewer pieces of clothing, I'm finding it difficult to stash food in my clothes and I'd rather not wear a belt or pack for any run under 6 miles. (I realize I may have to re-think this strategy).
I have carried gel with me--and diluted gatorade--on longer runs, which always gets consumed, but I really despise taking the gels without any liquid to wash it down which is why I don't take them on shorter runs. It's like putting tasty flavored glue in your mouth!
This upcoming week, I plan to kick off my official "training season" and I've decided that I'll keep a detailed journal about my calorie intake, workouts and how I felt.
I'm also going to work hard to eat more food...not sure HOW I can possibly eat more, but I've already started doing little things, like eating a handful of raw almonds twice a day. I'm a pretty picky eater, so it's been hard for me to find protein that 1) travels well 2) isn't high in BAD fat and 3) isn't fish. I eat a ton of chicken, turkey, beef, eggs and yogurt. And I love fruits and veggies. To check out what I usually eat, check out the the 4/30/04 post titled "Bottomless Pit"
Any advice, suggestions, etc. will be gladly accepted!
We'll see what happens!
