Before I dive into this week’s column, I will give those who read last week’s column an update on my injury. After five days off of running, I did a three-mile trial run, which went smoothly for the most part, but towards the end of my run, the toe pain began to creep back in. I returned to the doctor on Monday and received some treatment and a special insert to put in my shoe. The insert has a metal plate in the toe box which prohibits toe flection when I’m running. Since I started wearing the insert, I’ve been able to run pain free and will be returning to my normal mileage this week. One setback down, god knows how many to go.
Now, let’s talk about food. My relationship with food has been rocky to say the least. For the past five years, I’ve struggled with disordered eating of the orthorexic variety, meaning I basically lived in fear of all foods I deemed unhealthy — bread, pasta, chips, desserts, fast food, the list goes on. I was obsessed with counting calories and macro-nutrients. In my freshman year of college, I tracked my daily protein intake down to the gram. In my sophomore year I limited myself to only eating carbs once a day, and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve cut sugar out of my diet.
About a year ago, my disordered eating habits were breaching a full on eating disorder, and I decided enough was enough. Starving myself was never going to solve the issues I have with my body, and I love food too much to force myself to hate it. Now, a year into recovery, I’ve fallen back in love with food and am learning the importance of fueling as a runner.
Since I began marathon training, I’ve had to rework my daily diet. For one, I’m a vegetarian now. I’ve wanted to make this change for quite some time for environmental reasons, but I always thought my health would suffer if I gave up meat. Since reading “Born to Run” by Christopher McDougal, my mind has been swayed. The book details the running habits of Tarahumara natives in Mexico, some of the most talented natural-born runners in the world, and how their vegetarian diet has aided them in long-distance runs.
Being vegetarian hasn’t been much of an adjustment since I wasn’t eating much meat before, but I’ve had to make a few changes. I’m not as obsessed with eating protein as I once was during my gym girl era, but as an “athlete,” it’s still important that I have enough protein. Sometimes, as a vegetarian, that can be tough, but by eating lots of eggs, beans, tofu, greek yogurt and vegetarian sausage, I’m able to reach about 100 grams a day. As far as how I feel, I love being vegetarian. I get less sluggish after meals and have more energy throughout the day, which is essential when you’re running 25-40 miles a week.
The most drastic dietary change I made to adjust to a high mileage training regimen is, obviously, increasing my caloric intake. This sentence would have seemed outlandish to me just a year ago. But a year ago, I didn’t run because I loved it or because I had big goals. A year ago, I ran to shrink. Now, when I burn between 1,000 to 2,000 calories on my long runs, I don’t think about how it will make me smaller, I think about how I can get those calories back. Fueling well before, during and after my runs is essential for my performance and recovery.
I like to run in the morning, and unlike some people, I can’t run until I’ve had my breakfast. I’m a creature of habit, and I eat the same thing for breakfast every day. I’ve gone through several breakfast phases. In middle school, I ate peanut butter and jelly toast every day, and when I got tired of that, I became obsessed with making cheese omelets. In high school, I began a long time love affair with yogurt parfaits that lasted on and off until last year, when I began buying my own groceries and discovered the crippling price of fresh fruit. My latest breakfast obsession: overnight oats. I have perfected my recipe for both nutritional and taste value and I refuse to eat anything else before a run.
If my run is more than eight miles, I pack a snack. Perhaps the weirdest thing about being a runner is eating while you exercise. For so many people, exercise is about burning as many calories as possible, so I feel a little silly when I’m cramming gummies into my mouth in the middle of my run. Fueling long runs is an equation I have not yet perfected but generally, I eat three Cliff Bloks energy chews every four miles.
Post-run, I’m ready for my second breakfast — cheesy scrambled eggs, sweet potato home fries and carrot sticks. Two hours after my second breakfast I’m hungry for lunch, and not too long after that I’m already thinking about dinner. Lunch and dinner are usually some kind of rice bowl, soup or pasta with a bunch of veggies. I honestly feel like I spend half of my day eating and cooking, but I would much rather have it this way than how I used to live — spending half of my day thinking about food and not allowing myself to have it.
In honor of the version of me who routinely cut sugar out of her diet to shame herself for her sweet tooth, I eat a little something sweet every night. This is not advised for runners, but respectfully, I don’t give a damn. Food should bring you joy and if that joy is a Trader Joe’s Sublime ice cream sandwich, then so be it. I work too hard to restrict myself, and part of my journey with running that I’ve relished so much is being able to enjoy all of the foods I once feared. There’s so much noise online about how to fuel properly as an athlete or even just as a human, but for me, all that really matters is eating to feel good. And I am so proud to finally be able to believe that and actively practice it.
