Back in March (Holy crap, that was so long ago now! Where has this year gone?!) I did the Whole 30 Challenge – a paleo way of eating for those of you who haven’t heard of it.
It went great. I felt great, and didn’t miss dairy or grains as much as I thought I did. I still missed sugar and sweets though. I think I’ll forever have a crazy sweet tooth.
But on one of my runs last week, when I was suffering from the usual tired legs on my run, I suddenly thought, what if my body just does better on carbs? What if my runs this summer have been slow and seemingly impossible because my body isn’t storing fuel efficently?
I wondered about this earlier in the summer, but shut the thought down by thinking of all the successful paleo runners I know of. If it works for them, surely it works for me. Something else is causing me to hit the wall on every run.
But every body is different. Some people can handle 100 miles weeks, and others 40. Some excel at marathons and ultras, while others rock 5 and 10Ks. So maybe paleo works for some people, and not for others.
All this to say, I’m curious to see if reintroducing grains into my diet may make a positive difference in my running. The races I’ve run since converting to paleo all went pretty well for the most part – but I usually had some sort of carbs for breakfast. I didn’t on my training runs though.
The Charles Street 12 race went better than I could have imagined – was it because I had chicken wraps for dinner and a cliff bar for breakfast? Who knows.
I’m not expecting life-changing results here, I just thought now would be good timing for an experiment. A PR isn’t on the line anymore for my race next month, so what have I got to lose? 🙂
What have I been eating this week?
The night before runs, I’ll eat a carb + protein + veggie combo, like quinoa + a hard boiled egg + green peppers & onions.
Or tortellini + turkey meatballs + carrots (boil them with the tortellini & you can hardly taste them! I really dislike carrots).
On nights before body pump, I stick with the same meals I’ve been having the past few months: protein + veggie + spices + salsa or guacamole. This week was turkey + mixed veggies (peas, green beans, carrots, cauliflower & corn) + onion powder + garlic powder + salsa. Another night was chicken + wax beans + red pepper flakes + garlic powder + guac. Garlic is by far the best spice ever.
Not only have I added grains back into my diet, but I’ve added some dairy too. Cheese tortellini obviously (because sausage tortellini just does not do it for me), and …chocolate milk!
While I’d love to use Vega Recovery Accelerator after every hard run, my wallet wouldn’t appreciate it. So I’m using the next best thing – chocolate milk 🙂
Do you believe diet has a big impact on running?
Do you love garlic as much as I do? What’s your favorite spice?
PB & PRs 