Training has been going well. I'm still playing flag football on Wednesdays and between all my other lovely extra curricular activities I'm still squeezing in about 2-3 days of running. I have to admit it's hard with how chilly and wet it's been outside.
Today marks about the 3rd month (or 4th?) that I've dedicated most Saturday mornings to running with Team in Training. Tuesdays have generally been out because there's no way I'm going to get from Redmond to Bellevue by 6:15/6:30pm with traffic. Toastmasters is on Thursday which leaves Saturday as the big day to socialize, see the coaches, and ask for tips.
My gait is picking up (fancy way of saying I'm getting faster :) ). I can tell because I'll run for the same average duration (40-70 minutes) but it's taking me less steps so I see myself fluctuating more on the FitBit dashboard.
In addition to getting stronger and faster I noticed that I feel more exhausted, sometimes dizzy. I spent some time last week talking to coaches Erica and Tessa and they provided me a little more insight into nutrition. So, what have I learned?
The first thing I learned was that I'm not eating enough carbs to compensate for the calories I'm burning. Keeping a quick food diary on MyFitnessPal confirmed this. MyFitnessPal has both an app and a FitBit partnership. This integrates my calorie consumption with FitBit netting out consumed vs. intake calories. I was consistently showing a 1,000-1,200 calorie deficit.
In keeping my food diary I didn't necessarily eat anything bad, but most of what I ate consisted of meat, veggies, and juices (yes, still going crazy with my juicer!). I decided this was a quick fix. I simply transitioned from quinoa with brown sugar and milk for breakfast with scrambled egg whites, to rice with mint, parsley, or lemongrass (sounds weird but tastes great).
The bigger challenge was carb-loading mid-week (Wed-Fri) before my longer runs. I like to eat dinner late so if I eat a big dinner, I'm not going to get up at 7am to go running for 90, 100, 110 minutes. Not happening. Forcing myself to eat dinner sooner and to carb load on pasta was a challenge.
What stuck was occasionally brown rice with stir fry veggies, or rigatoni bolognese. For race day I'll have to remember to bring some rice for breakfast :).
Today marks about the 3rd month (or 4th?) that I've dedicated most Saturday mornings to running with Team in Training. Tuesdays have generally been out because there's no way I'm going to get from Redmond to Bellevue by 6:15/6:30pm with traffic. Toastmasters is on Thursday which leaves Saturday as the big day to socialize, see the coaches, and ask for tips.
My gait is picking up (fancy way of saying I'm getting faster :) ). I can tell because I'll run for the same average duration (40-70 minutes) but it's taking me less steps so I see myself fluctuating more on the FitBit dashboard.
In addition to getting stronger and faster I noticed that I feel more exhausted, sometimes dizzy. I spent some time last week talking to coaches Erica and Tessa and they provided me a little more insight into nutrition. So, what have I learned?
Eat More Carbs
The first thing I learned was that I'm not eating enough carbs to compensate for the calories I'm burning. Keeping a quick food diary on MyFitnessPal confirmed this. MyFitnessPal has both an app and a FitBit partnership. This integrates my calorie consumption with FitBit netting out consumed vs. intake calories. I was consistently showing a 1,000-1,200 calorie deficit.
In keeping my food diary I didn't necessarily eat anything bad, but most of what I ate consisted of meat, veggies, and juices (yes, still going crazy with my juicer!). I decided this was a quick fix. I simply transitioned from quinoa with brown sugar and milk for breakfast with scrambled egg whites, to rice with mint, parsley, or lemongrass (sounds weird but tastes great).
The bigger challenge was carb-loading mid-week (Wed-Fri) before my longer runs. I like to eat dinner late so if I eat a big dinner, I'm not going to get up at 7am to go running for 90, 100, 110 minutes. Not happening. Forcing myself to eat dinner sooner and to carb load on pasta was a challenge.
What stuck was occasionally brown rice with stir fry veggies, or rigatoni bolognese. For race day I'll have to remember to bring some rice for breakfast :).
Get Salty
After long runs I started noticing white crystal residue on my face (gross).I actually freaked out at first and thought that somehow a bunch of sand and dirt managed to kick up to my face. I also needed to increase my sodium intake in addition to rehydrating electrolytes as I was sweating out a significant amount of salt. Needless to say I definitely kept some Yes To Cucumber facial wipes in my car.
According to an article by Runner's World a few years ago, consuming extra salt can be beneficial to runners who lose a lot during workouts. Salt helps with hydration, and losing too much can contribute to body cramps. I can't say that I'll be sucking on salt packets during my run, but I have taken to shaking salt dispensers quite regularly into my water glass causing some unexpected stares at a café or restaurants.
Energy
I spent a couple of hours back at Road Runner Sports talking to a nutrition expert. As my runs will only increase in distance it's important for me to think about having a snack or two to during to replenish energy and electrolytes. I wasn't sure what I'd like so I bought a little of everything. I've only tried a few during or after a workout and I do know the Honey Stinger brands are my favorite. Their gummies/gels taste pretty natural (like honey) and is tolerable. When I workout I usually don't think "hey let me stop to have a snack then keep going." In contrast GU and PowerGel (from the makers of PowerBar were absolutely disgusting. It was a texture issue with their gels.
GU will be the sponsor for my race so I plan to carry some extra Honey Stinger packets. I'll spend the next several weeks sampling some other brands, products, and flavors. I'll definitely share what's in my must-have list for race day!
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