Feed Me!

I know I've mentioned this before, but it's still true. I need to eat properly! Not paying attention to my nutrition while training is definitely starting to affect my ability to run longer distances and recover. 

Ideally, I will wake up early enough on the morning of the long runs to eat a bowl of cereal, a couple of hard-boiled eggs and drink a glass of OJ before getting dressed. On the way to the run site, I can then eat a banana. I've been good about... getting up in the morning. 

Before our 10 mile run, I only had a banana. Before our 12 mile run, I undercooked the eggs. This past week, we only ran 6 miles. The eggs were perfect, I didn't have any OJ and I forgot to grab a granola bar on the way out the door. All of this adds up to me not having enough fuel for my muscles and I completely run out of energy EARLY. 

So the past 3 weeks I've been completely relying on energy supplements (chewables) to get me through. And, I'm learning a few things about them along the way. First of all, ShotBlocks are so big that I have a hard time eating one, let alone the recommended three per 45 minutes. Also, when it's pouring rain, the last thing I want to do is fumble around and try to find a ShotBlock to eat. 

I've found the moon shaped blocks to be a tad bit smaller and therefore easier to consume. Although I really enjoy the Jelly Belly Sports Beans, they recommend you eat an entire package every 45 minutes. That's a lot. So, I'll head to the running store again today and sort through the options. The one thing I haven't tried is the gels, and I'm not sure I'm ready to make that leap quite yet. 

As I write this, my stomach is grumbling in competition with the thunder outside because it's well past lunchtime. But, I swear I am trying to eat better during the week as well.

14 miles, here I come! 

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