Fueling for Boston

I grew up in Eastern North Carolina where Sunday dinners (known as lunch in the rest of the country) consisted of fried chicken, barbeque, Brunswick stew, chicken pastry, collard greens, and of course fried hush puppies and breadsticks.  It wasn’t until college when I was enjoying the Down Eastern BBQ plate at the Carolina Brewery with my Connecticut-raised college roommate and her family that I realized not everyone regularly eats foods cooked with bacon grease and lard.  Watching me enjoy a little taste of home, my roomie gave me a puzzled look and said, “So, you fry cornmeal and then you dip it in butter?”

 Yup.  Not only did I grow up eating plenty of hushpuppies (my favorites are the ones with a little taste of onion in them!), but my parents would also pack a Dr. Pepper and a Little Debbie snack cake in my lunch box each day – bless their hearts.

Fortunately, my eating habits have improved over the years and lately I have been paying particular attention to what I put in my mouth.  I figure even though I am limited on the number of miles and workouts I can safely accomplish, I can control what I put in to my body to fuel those workouts and recoveries.

Immediately post-workout, I am a huge fan of low-fat chocolate milk.  At home, I will pour the milk into one of my frozen beer glasses so that it almost turns into a milkshake.  And when I drive somewhere to do a long run, I will pack a water bottle filled with chocolate milk so that I can drink it immediately after the run on my way home.  It’s like a treat to me, but I have also read repeatedly that it is the perfect recovery drink since it contains a good balance of protein and carbs…Sounds good to me!

Focusing a lot on recovery this “training” period, I try to make sure I am getting enough protein.  Thus, I love lots of chicken dishes like the Chicken-Quinoa Soup and the Chicken-Mango Fajitas from the Runner’s World cookbook, but I also like to just grill chicken and put it on a salad or make a chicken sandwich with avocado. 

Chicken-Quinoa Soup

Chicken-Mango Fajitas

Chicken-Avocado Sandwich with Salad

In general, I try to stay away from processed foods and instead make sure I get lots of fruits and veggies.  Thus, I tend to eat a salad almost every day.  Sometimes I have a salad with a meal, but often I will also make it my main course and add hardboiled eggs and nuts.  I have also played around with adding apples to my salads and sandwiches.

Home-Made Cobb Salad

Salad with Apples (Instead of Dressing)

Turkey Sandwich with Apples

I tried once to go vegan….it didn’t last long.  I found it extremely difficult because you do not realize how many foods have dairy in them until you are trying to cut it all out!  I also love sushi and juicy, rare steaks too much. 

Sushi at Miyagi's

Steak and Mashed Potatoes with Asparagus

Of course, the elephant in the room may be my beer drinking.  However, cutting out beer would be like wanting to go out and run a 2:30 marathon – that’s nowhere close to even being on the table.  But I will say that the number of my weekly alcoholic beverages is at or below the recommended seven per week for women.  I am definitely not as much fun as I used to be, but my empty alcoholic calories are fairly in check.

While I do try to only, or at least mostly, eat foods that will make me healthier, I do not exercise portion control.  I do not count calories, and I never restrict the amount of food I eat.  I eat when I am hungry and until I am satisfied.  One of the main reasons why I am not concerned about potentially overeating is that with the injuries I have had, it is important that I am getting enough nourishment to recover.  I would much rather risk overeating than not giving myself enough energy to heal.

Comparing my diet today to what it was in high school, I certainly believe I have made substantial progress.  However, I am still an Eastern North Carolina girl at heart, and I still love some good barbeque and fried food.  I may not eat the stuff every day, but I had no problem enjoying a fried shrimp burger, Brunswick stew and hushpuppies last fall after my Marine Corps Half Marathon victory.

Good, Eastern-NC Grub from The Bogue House

I also believe that no matter how restrictive someone’s diet is, there are times when it is ok to splurge.  Thus, it’s my birthday this week and I’m gonna eat cake…Funfetti Cake in fact, because I like to pretend I’m turning eight instead of 28.

Boston Experiment Week 11 of 16:  12

I could have run 50 miles this week, but I purposefully did not.  Instead, I took Monday-Thursday completely off, and ran six easy miles on Friday and six easy on Sunday.  I honestly just don’t feel that great, and I am concerned about coming in to Boston with so many minor injuries.  I don’t think anything is that serious, but I’m not 100% or close to it.  Thus, I’m aggressively taking a break from hard training and giving my body a chance to fully recover.  I just care so much more about getting to the starting line healthy than I do about getting in enough training.

This Week’s Beer Choice:  Sierra Nevada Pale Ale with my Early B-Day Dinner