Hey Y’all! Welcome back to Falling In Love With Fitness! I am so excited for my new blog post! Today, I will be discussing how I am fueling my body for my half-marathon training!
The way we fuel our bodies while training for a race is half of the training. A good way to think of it is to pretend your body is a car. If you put premium gas in your car, it will run the best it ever has. But if you fill your regular gas tank with diesel, you are setting your car up for failure. Our bodies are the same way. If you are eating only processed, junk foods every day, you are not going to feel your best and therefore not perform to your greatest potential. So we need to prioritize eating nutritious foods that are going to help us and not hurt us during training.
I have experience first hand the effects of not prioritizing your nutrition while training for my half-marathon. Since I was going to be running such long distances, I thought it wouldn’t really matter what I was eating because I would just “run it off”. Little did I know that this mindset was completely false and it was starting to heavily effect my performance on my runs. I was so sluggish and the more I ran, the worse I felt. But when I started prioritize my diet round my running goals, I saw a dramatic difference. My workouts started to feel easier and I saw a positive change in my overall daily mood. Nutrition can truly make or break your progress, so I want to share what I changed to see a difference.
A Balanced Diet Sets You Up For Success
Eating a balanced diet is the best way to prepare your body for race training, but what does eating a balanced diet even mean? We hear it all the time in the media that balance is the key. Now, I agree that having balance is the key to this success, but no one is telling you what balance actually looks like. Balance can be different for everyone because, at the end of the day, you know how your body feels after eating certain foods.
I have personally found that eating too many processed foods, especially right before bed, makes me feel like absolute crap during my morning workouts. But if I eat a bag of chips as a mid-day snack, I feel fine and am still able to perform at my greatest potential. Another thing I have learned is that when I eat a heavy meal for dinner, I can still feel it in my stomach the next day. Which is not a great feeling when I am trying to run 8 miles. So to avoid this, I make sure my dinner is on the lighter side so I am able to better digest it overnight, to set myself up for success the next day.
Again, since balance is different for everyone, it is ultimately about trial and error. You will have to try different tips and tricks to see what works best for you and helps you perform your best. But don’t forget that food can still be fun! The moment you feel like the foods you are eating do not bring you joy anymore, something needs to change. There is no reason to eat bland, boring food while you are trying to prioritize fitness. Making nutrition fun is the only way you are going to stay consistent. Also, don’t forget that you can still eat fast food and have snacks, just try to choose a better-for-you alternative. I have listed some of my favs below!
My Favorite Fast Food Restaurants with Healthy Options
- Chopt Creative Salad Co.
- Chipotle
- Cava
- Chick-fil-a
- Subway
My Favorite Healthier Snacks
- Popcorners
- Drizzilicious
- Nature’s Garden Yoggies
- Oh Snap Pickle Bites
- Yasso Frozen Greek Yogurt Bars
You Can Eat During Your Runs
Before starting my half-marathon training block, I had no idea people were eating during their runs, and it was actually encouraged. Since you are burning so many calories while distance running, it is so important to continuously fuel your body to keep your energy up. The way you fuel will depend on the distance you are running. A good rule of thumb is that if you are running over 6 miles, you should be fueling. Now you are probably wondering, what are people using to fuel for their runs?
There are so many different types of fuel out there, but they are all meant to do the same thing. They give you a boost of energy during your run. If you want to get scientific, these types of fuel are forms of fast carbs that your body is able to use quickly. Some of the most common fuel runners use our energy gels, chews, and gummy candy. When I first started fueling during my runs, I was using candy because it was easy. It worked great for my 6-8 mile runs. I just started using gels on my 10-mile runs, and they worked really well. Just make sure you are drinking lots of water when using gels because they can upset your stomach if you are dehydrated. At the end of the day, it is all up to your personal preference, so try using some different forms of fuel each week during your runs to see what you like best. I have listed some of my favorites below!
My Favorite Fuel For Long Runs
- Gu Energy Gels
- Honey Stinger Gels
- Nerd Gummy Clusters
- Sour Patch Kids
- Swedish Fish
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