Saturday, June 08, 2013

Fuel

Not Fuel for running?
     Yesterday I did not eat well at all.  For breakfast I had two doughnuts,  it was national doughnut day after all.  Lunch was an apple and a Cliff builders bar and a whisky sour.  I had 6-7 mozzarella sticks, chips and a tall boy of PBR for snack,  it was a work function.  And for dinner I had a bag of harvest cheddar sun chips, vitamin water zero, shared ice cream and m&m's with my daughter, an Italian beef sandwich and fries, I was at the baseball game with one of my daughters.  Needless to say these were not the healthiest options.  When I would run 20 miles a week I could eat like this and be okay.  Now that I am running 30-40 miles a week I cant do this anymore.  This week was my first 50 mile week ever.  The last ten this morning was HARD!  I feel that if I would have fueled better it would not have been so difficult.

     When it comes to fueling for an event everyone has their own take on the deal.  When I was a rookie, and I feel that I still am in many regards, I ate pasta the night before a long run or event.  Then I read articles that said two nights before eat carbs.  So I did that.  On a whim once I tried brown rice a Thursday before a long run and it worked great.  A few months later read an other article that said you need some protein too.  So I started adding chicken to rice and it worked great again.  Once I even ate chicken wings and fries the night before and had no trouble at all.  So that got me thinking, do I need to eat anything specific at all?  And thus begins my eat whatever the heck I want phase.  I think that phase is about to die.  With increased mileage my body needs more specific nutrients.

     Before I head out for a run sometimes I eat and others I don't.  On long run or race day I would eat an apple fritter from the local bakery.  Other things I eat before are toast or bagels with peanut or almond butter.  I love to eat cereal everyday but before running I enjoy Kashi or Wheaties.  I had the chance to spread the word for Wheaties how effective their product is for endurance athletes.  The slow lasting energy Wheaties provides on the long run is perfect.  I had some 20 boxes to eat over the course of a few months.  And Wheaties sure is a great way to fuel before a run.

There are some products that I love to use in my running.  I have loved Gatorade from day one.  My wife buys the powder to mix and I just throw it in my handheld on long runs.  I have tried the chews during a run and they are okay, great taste, but I didn't feel they were very effective.  I do not like the pre run drink they have.  Gatorade Prime is like a jello that didn't set.  The Recovery Gatorade is okay, it has an off after taste but is very effective in adding recovery.  I love Cliff bars.  I use them on long runs or eat them after as part of recovery.  When needed I will eat their Builders Bars.  They have 20g of protein in each bar as opposed to 9g in a regular Cliff bar.  I used to eat Cliff shots a chew to eat mid run, but I found them too cumbersome to use.  I have used Cliff shots, their gel product, but when it gets warm out my body doesn't process them while running and I get bad side cramps.  I switched to Hammer gel's and have had no trouble with them.  Hammer also makes a drink product and I have only ever tried the strawberry vanilla flavor and it is NASTY!  CytoMax is another product I tried because it was going to be on course at an event I was running.  I found that it tasted like really Gatorade but was thicker in consistency like a thin syrup, very sugary tasting.  I try to listen to my body and give it what it wants when I am running.  Sometimes it is good old fashion water that will do the trick!  But many times it is hard if said thing is not available.  So in my long runs I train with products to see if it will work on race day or not.  The only draw back to that is if it does work I will need to find a way to take it with me on the course.



     This adventure to run 50 miles will take many turns and trials with tribulation to complete.  I never thought it would take my diet along for the ride.  Here is to many miles and better eating, new products and hopefully weight loss...till next run!

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