Toronto Women's 416 Run Challenge-- Week 3, Healthy Eating

 

For this challenge I am running between 50 and 70 kilometres a week, depending on how long my Sunday runs are—which means I need to make sure I eat foods that will give me energy and aid in recovery. And as much as I would like that to mean I can eat anything I want because I’ll “run it off”, unfortunately as the saying goes, “you are what you eat.”  Food is a runner’s fuel, and if I don’t eat healthy and nutritious food at least 90 percent of the time, then my runs will look and feel like I haven’t.  

 

The most important thing is to eat as clean as possible and limit my intake of processed foods.  Processed foods are essentially empty calories that provide little or no nutritional value to our bodies and are high in added sugars, sodium, saturated fats, flavours, colours and other additives. Runners need fuel to perform and only real, nutritionally-sound food will help with this. This, however does not mean that I won`t treat myself. To be honest, every night—after the little one is tucked into bed, I`ve finished teaching my last piano lesson and Trish and I are just relaxing—I break out the chocolate.

 

The Canadian Food Guide divides food into 3 main groups: Fruit and vegetables, whole grain food and protein.  Runners also divide their nutrition into 3 main groups: carbohydrates, protein and fat.

 

Carbohydrates

As a kid and for most of my adult life, I’ve not been a big fan of carbs. While I love fruits and vegetables, I wasn’t fond of the bready/starchy carbs.  My mom would make a meat pie and I would scoop out the insides and avoid the potatoes and pie crust. If we had stew with dumplings I wouldn’t eat them. I hated pasta. My ideal dinner was meat and vegetables. As soon as I started cycling long distances I started craving all carbs. It was really strange because suddenly all the foods I previously hated, I craved and enjoyed eating.

Carbs are the perfect source of energy for endurance runners because they digest quickly and are easily utilized by your hard-working muscles. Runners burn a lot of carbs but the exact number has to do with fitness level, pace and distance. Runners should consume between 6o% and 65%. Some great choices are:

Whole grains—oatmeal, brown rice, whole wheat pasta, and whole grain bread. Yoghurt, fresh whole fruits like bananas, apples, and berries. Sweet potatoes, vegetables like leafy greens, broccoli, and tomatoes.

 

Protein

Protein helps repair and rebuild muscles that broke down during exercise. I have a B12 deficiency (pernicious anaemia) so my body often craves meat, eggs and dairy. Runners should consume between 10% and 35% of protein in their diet. Good sources of protein are: lean meats, fish, eggs, quinoa, beans, lentils, nuts.

 

Fat

Stored fat provides cushion and insulation to internal organs, covers the nerves, moves vitamins throughout the body and is the largest reserve of stored energy available for activity. Runners should consume between 20% and 35% of fat in their diet, however, it’s important to consume the healthy, unsaturated fats such as olive oil, avocados, walnuts, flaxseeds and fish.

 

Weekly Running Recap

This week I ran a total of 56.16 kilometres for a total of 158.48 kilometres so far and I have 257.52 km left to go. I earned my first charm for my necklace—the letter R and I’m just waiting for its arrival in the mail.

 

Sunday’s run was 16 km. It was raining but at least the temperature wasn’t too cold as it was 4 degrees. While I normally hate being out in the rain doing errands and such, I actually don’t mind running in the rain—It adds a little excitement since you see everything in a different perspective, plus you feel totally bad-ass. There was a wind warning in effect, but not until later in the day. When I arrived home my clothes were waterlogged, my shoes were soggy and my skin was beginning to wrinkle. I rewarded myself with a steaming hot shower.

 

After lunch the 3 of us got in the car to do some errands and while we were out the storm worsened. The rain was coming down in sheets, making visibility almost impossible. Then the hail started, the power went out and the traffic lights weren`t working. The winds had increased to 85 kilometres per hour.  When we got to an intersection, the driver ahead of us drove through the intersection not paying attention to the driver going in the opposite direction and they almost hit each other. Cilla found the storm really frightening and started getting really upset. When we got home I brought her inside while Trish unloaded the car and I got her a flashlight to play with. Luckily the power was off for only a short time and was back on in about 30 minutes. 

 

After the power went back on I was able to make pumpkin soup for us to eat during the week. Rich in vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, pumpkin is incredibly healthy. Plus it tastes really good. Every week I try to make a healthy, homemade soup, a healthy alternative to the canned variety.

 

Monday morning Trish had to take Dottie early to the vet because she was having dental surgery but she took Cilla with her so that I could still go on my run. It was really windy and it turned into quite a workout. Poor Dottie when was a mess when she came back from the vet—her face was swollen and she was so out of it Trish had to carry her out of the car. It was pretty upsetting for Cilla to see Dottie like that. It was upsetting for all of us.

 

For the rest of the week my runs were pretty unremarkable. Friday’s weather was a bit unexpected though since the temperatures rose between 12 and 15 degrees. I didn’t believe it when I checked the forecast and wore my normal winter gear anyway. That turned out to be a big mistake and I ended up regretting my decision. I was so uncomfortably hot that I was dragging myself around the trail as I was too hot to do much of anything else.

 

By the afternoon I was so tired that while Cilla was having her virtual school, I got up from my usual spot beside her and lied down on the floor and promptly fell asleep. It was definitely a draining week: Speech therapy, doctor appointment, Dottie’s surgery. Hopefully we will all be able to rest on the weekend.