The Boston Marathon is quickly approaching, so training is at a peak right now. High mileage and high intensity also means food consumption is also at an all-time high. I am basically eating all day in order to fuel appropriately and give my body the calories it needs to keep up with the demands I am placing on it. I need all the fuel so I can recover, repair, and ultimately stay injury-free during this time.
As a disclaimer, this post is not intended to be a template for anyone. It is also not a set guide for “this is what you should be eating.” Instead, I want to outline how important it is to be fueling before, during, and after running. And I also want to share the amount of food it takes to stay healthy and running with this volume of training.
I want to start out by saying that whether this seems like a lot of food or too little food to you, please know I rarely get injured, and I have never lost my period. I am purposely not including amounts of food because that’s not the point. The point of this post is to simply give you ideas of what to fuel with pre/during/and post run as well as show how fueling is vital to staying healthy when running.
Pre-Run Snack
2 pieces of cinnamon raisin toast + iced coffee
I always, ALWAYS eat something before my runs. I used to do all of my runs fasted (no fuel prior) because I didn’t know better. And while I didn’t feel bad or sluggish on my morning runs, I was dealing with niggles and injuries quite frequently. I would have niggles appear every few months–sometimes they would linger for a week, other times they would last for several months. Once I started eating something before my morning runs, my rate of injury reduced dramatically. I had no idea that my (lack of) fueling was contributing to this!
Now I’m religious about eating a little something before my runs. It is always carb-based and something easy to digest as I am usually eating it about 30 minutes before heading out for my run.
Other common pre-run items I have: Nature’s Bakery fig bars, graham crackers, banana, waffles (I make a big batch, freeze them, and then reheat in the toaster.), and these mini pancakes pictured below.
Intra-Run Fuel
1 energy gel
On this particular day, I had a 10 mile run, which means I was running for about 85 minutes. Anytime I am running more than about 75 minutes, I plan to take in some calories on a run. I took this gel about 40 minutes into the run, but on my long runs, I will fuel every 30 minutes.
Breakfast
Open-faced egg sandwich with cheese and bacon + strawberries + tart cherry juice mocktail + Core Power protein drink
I do my best to refuel with carbs and protein within 30 minutes of finishing my run. It is important to restock those glycogen stores right away so that they are stocked for your next run. (i.e. You’ll feel a lot better on your next run if you refuel properly after your run.) The protein is important start repairing the muscle damage to rebuild your muscles and ultimately make them stronger.
Other breakfast options I often have: fruit and vegetable smoothie with a scoop of protein powder, bagel egg sandwich, overnight oats (Greek yogurt + oats + other mix-ins), and protein yogurt with granola.
Lunch
Lemongrass Broth Bowl with Yellow Curry Chicken + roasted broccoli + orange slices + iced tea and lemonade
I usually try to keep lunch simple by eating leftovers from the previous night’s dinner. Today’s meal was leftovers from dinner the night before and oh, so good! You must make this meal! (Along with every other Pinch of Yum recipe.) I added a side of vegetables and fruit to this meal for some fiber, and also had an Arnold Palmer for some additional carbs.
If I don’t have any leftovers to eat, I will often have an easy-to-prepare meal from Trader Joe’s or Costco–always making sure I include a protein source, at least two servings of carbs, and usually a fruit or vegetable.
Snack #1
Go Macro protein bar
What I eat in the afternoon for a snack varies, and I usually eat whatever sounds good. I do rely pretty heavily on packaged foods for my snacks since I don’t have the time to be making homemade snacks between all the running I am doing and my work load. But I do tend to eat minimally processed snacks.
I try to make sure this snack has a combination of protein and carbs–but sometimes it doesn’t. This is when I resort more to intuitive eating.
Other snack options I often eat: almonds + chocolate chips, dried mangoes, yogurt bowl with granola, or string cheese + crackers.
Snack #2
Popcorn
Like I said, I am pretty much constantly eating throughout the day when I am running high mileage, so today was a two snack-in-the-afternoon kind of day. I had some popcorn right before Craig and I worked on dinner together.
Dinner
Kale tacos with homemade kale pesto + protein lemonade
We eat a wide variety of foods for dinner. I typically meal plan for the week, so we aren’t scrambling to figure out what to make. I tend to pick a lot of recipes from Pinch of Yum because her recipes are all so good and not overly complicated.
This night’s meal was actually something Craig came up with in college, so they’ve become a staple over the years. He sautes kale with onions, tomatoes, and taco seasoning on the stovetop. We topped them with avocaod slices and a kale pesto recipe from Pinch of Yum. They’re not meat tacos, but they’re pretty good for a vegan meal.
I then baked some pre-made chocolate chip cookies for dessert and had a couple of those to close out my day of eating.
I don’t track macros or count calories. I eat intuitively but also follow the “rules” and good habits of an endurance athlete by eating before, during, and after running even when I’m not hungry. It can be hard to force myself to eat when I just get back from a run! That’s when I gravitate towards liquid carbs.
Now that I work from home, it is easier and more convenient to eat whenever I want and whatever I’m craving. However, I have worked out of the home when running this high mileage as well. When I worked in the office and had to pack my lunch every day, I would often plow through a lot of my lunch in the morning, and it was not uncommon for me to walk across the street to the grocery store on my break to get more food because I was still hungry.
So I hope this gives you a basic idea of how much food it takes to support running high mileage. I often wonder how much less our grocery bill would be if I didn’t run as much. Ha!
If you want to watch the video version of my day, I made a reel for Instagram documenting everything, which you can watch HERE.
