3 Day Look at one Runner’s Diet

A follow up to my last blog “Can You Be A Skinny Runner and Eat?” – here is Part 2 – My diet for 3 days.

What do I eat? It’s a question I often get asked. If young female distance runners were to shadow me for an entire week, I’m sure they would be surprised. Not saying everyone has a problem, but there are far too many who under-eat. When you don’t eat enough, it leads to some big time problems long term. Some girls just don’t know. Unfortunately some of the top girls on each team are far from role models in terms of nutrition. Teammates start looking at how each other eat. If one girl is extremely restrictive with calories and she happens to be running well (during that season), the others will start measuring up to her diet. Sadly, many girls feel guilty if they are eating just a standard meal. I am blogging to provide a resource so girls can see that to run well (for years), you need to eat A LOT! If you eat by listening to your body’s natural hunger cues, it doesn’t mean you’re going to just automatically gain weight. Instead of seeing food as an enemy you need to outsmart, the mindset needs to change that food = fuel.

As a college athlete at UW-La Crosse, I was fortunate to have amazing teammates and a healthy atmosphere  (photo from 2005 cross country)

I am completely individual and my calorie requirements could be completely different than another athletes. This isn’t suppose to be a roadmap to “what you should eat”, but more an inside look at how I do things. For that reason I did not add up calories. It would be a tedious process and not exactly worth the time. If you notice – I eat often. As mentioned in blog 1, my stomach is rarely empty. I rarely get to the point where I’m starving. My method is simple- eat a variety and listen to my body’s cravings. Here’s a really cheesy comparison: I eat often so like a car my gas tank is full – ready to speed away and safely make it to my next destination – not risking the “I’m running out of gas” on the side of the road where you embarrassingly have to call AAA.

To add to the food I ate, I also included time of day, activities I’ve done and sleep. A side note that I have a 5 month old and still am breastfeeding (not completely exclusive; but a minimum of 5 x per day; average every ~4 hours or pump). This adds another ~500 calories to my deficit.

Breakfast & post run are my critical fueling periods. Another part of my plan – going to bed with a little extra so I don’t wake up famished. I often have a big snack before bed if I know I will be running long/hard that next morning. I realize eating at night is less than ideal, but often I do not get to “relax” and actually enjoy my meals during the day, and 10pm is when I sometimes get to “chill”, so I eat at that time. This also debunks the myth if you eat after 9pm it turns straight to fat. As a busy working mom, I am eating in the car; or other times one hand holding a sandwich, the other holding a baby.
On to the point– My Diet for 3 Days

DAY 1 -Saturday 3.12.2016
PRE RACE DAY

Sleep in. (10:30-1:45; 3-9:30- this here literally saved my race. I had not gotten that long of a stretch the entire month)

Breakfast – 9:45 AM
Water (won’t be listing this, but I drink a lot of this; and many  times add salt to my food to absorb the water)

Apple
¾ cup oatmeal cooked w/ 1 cup milk
blueberries and brown sugar topping
~2 Tbsp. peanut butter for dipping
12 oz coffee 

11:30 AM RUN 3 EASY miles plus 5 x Strides

UCAN (1 scoop)
applesauce
Supplements – B complex liquid, Proferrin iron (while preparing food on semi-empty stomach)

Lunch –  1:30 pm
¾ box of mac n cheese w/ coconut oil and milk and frozen peas
chicken maple sausage
salad w/ greens, zucchini, avocado & poppyseed dressing (full fat version)

Snacks 3:30-5

Always have snacks available in car for post-run or emergency hunger!

Activity – Shopping at Trader Joes

Sweet Potato chips- Food should taste good
Orange
Beef brisket cracker sample
Picky bar

Dinner -6:15 pm
2.5 Egg
½ avocado
Rice w/ olive oil
Brocolli
Greek yogurt

Snack– 9 pm
Red Wine (4oz) and peanut M&Ms (a handful)
Cereal – Trader Joes Fruit Rings, Corn Flakes; 1/2 banana

Bedtime Attempt 10:30 –  baby awake

Snack- 11 pm
Bagel w jelly & butter

Baby duty til 12:00 (lose an hour – daylight savings)

Day 2 — Sunday 3/13
RACE DAY 

Sleep 12:15-4:45 am
4:50 – hop on True Form Runner treadmill for activation .75 miles

Pre-Race Breakfast – 5:15 am
1/2 cup Steel cut oats w milk & peanut butter
Banana
12 oz Americano – black

6:45 – Warm up 2.25 miles; drills/strides
4 oz Gatorade

7:30 AM Shamrock Portland 15K Race– 54:44 (1st female)

Gu/water immediately at finish; cool down 1 mile (too cold to run more)
Apple
Kind protein bar

Snack – 10 AM
Starbucks egg & cheese sandwich

walk 1.5 miles to car

Lunch – 11:30
3 pumpkin pancakes (butter, syrup, blueberries)
UCAN (1/2 scoop)

Nap 1:15-2

Snack – 2:15pm
Cereal (cheerios, granola), 2% milk

nap 2:45-4:15 

Snack – 4:30
carrots & hummus
chocolate covered granola bar

General Strength exercises– core/pushups/pullups (25 min)

OJ (Proferrin)

Dinner – 7:30 pm
Roasted red potatoes (~3 medium size w/ sea salt and olive oil)
Mac n cheese (1/2 serving cleaning kid’s plate)
~4 oz chicken breast
Broccoli
big salad (ranch dressing) – tomatoes, spinage, zucchini

Snack –  9pm
TJ morning glory muffin
dark chocolate (2 squares)
Cereal – panda puffs, honey bunches of oats, 1/2 banana, 2% milk

Day 3 -Monday 3/14

Sleep – 10-11; 12:30-8 (saved by my husband)

Breakfast -8:30 AM
Orange
(3/4 c) Oatmeal; cranberries, 1/2 banana, 2 tbsp peanut butter, milk (1 c)

11:00 am – Run w/ stroller (harder than I’d liked)- 62 min (7.5 miles)

UCAN (1/2 scoop)
Kind Bar – dark chocolate cherry
OJ (liquid B complex vitamins, proferrin)

Lunch –  12:45
Cinnamon raisin bagel, slice cheese, egg
Spinach, tomato, zucchini
Kettle chips w/ ketchup

Snack* – 3 PM
Big chocolate chip cookie 
½ caf Americano

*regret* – wanted to nap so badly; no option- still paying for lack of sleep race day. Caved and had more caffeine/junk.  (in hindsight – tea & healthy snack would have been much better)

Snack – 5 PM
Apple

Dinner -6 PM
Rice, chicken breast w/ salt & coconut oil, craisins
Spinach, green beans

Snack – 10 PM
Orange
Cereal – Fruity O’s, Honey Bunches of oats w/ blueberries and 2% milk

 

Next week I will get an even greater look into how my current nutrition is panning out. I have blogged about Inside Tracker in the past, and I’m getting my blood taken  again. It’s been over a year since my last one, so this will give me great insight on important markers of health that help performance including Ferritin, Hemoglobin, Vitamin D, Testosterone, Cortisol and more.

Any deficiencies will point me in the right direction in terms of which foods I could be eating more of, and what to do less of (ahem… cookies, coffee, sleep)! Check it out here –High Performance Test – $249

Use the code HPJULIA and get entered to win a FREE ULTIMATE TEST (winner drawn in 2 weeks)!