Eat Like You Train: Don’t Let Poor Nutrition Undermine Your Hard Work

Here’s the scenario:

You have been training for your race (insert distance here.) You have been following your plan to a T, even waking up before your kids to hop on the treadmill to get your run done before the sun has risen. You are stretching, you are cross-training. You have gotten the best shoe for your foot. You have your race nutrition down pat.

So what are you eating every day?

I think we all have a tendency to stick with the training and get things done, but then we say, “Well, I ran x miles today, so I deserve a treat.” We know how many miles we ran yesterday, last week, last month, last year, BUT, if you are not eating well on a day to day basis, you are not getting the best out of yourself. Now I’m not saying you can never splurge, but if you are splurging on a daily basis, it is not a splurge it is a habit.

A few months ago, I was sidelined from running for 10 weeks with a foot injury. I decided to really “train” my nutrition, since I couldn’t train in running. Wow, what a difference it has made not only in my training, but in my life. This is what I did, but you can go about it however you choose.

I decided to give myself a nutrition challenge. I would eat 4 veggies and 3 fruits every day, and really limit any splurges (which include desserts, sweet treats, sugary anything, junk food, processed foods…you get the idea.) Not only have I lost three pounds (which wasn’t the point), I feel great and have even more energy to burn in my training. I am eating almost all whole foods, very little processed. It does take effort, but so does running! For a long time, even though I was eating moderately well, I was using my training as an excuse to overeat and splurge whenever I wanted to. What I was really doing was undermining all of the miles I was putting in every week. Now, I really think twice before I eat anything. Will it make me healthier? Will it fuel my body? Will it nourish me? I really had to change the way I looked at food. It is energy and nourishment, not a reward for training hard. There is no better time than the winter to really “train” your nutrition. Find yourself a plan and stick to it! If you want to check out my own nutrition challenge you can find it on my blog, My Life as a Trimommy.

Have a great week and happy training!

This is a guest post written by Kelly, and we invite you to fiind out more at Tri Mommy Life.