Running on Empty

February 11, 2010 by thepranamama
Filed under Food & Nutrition Links, Health & Fitness Links

As usual, I was trying to fit it all in.

Church service and meetings, grocery shopping, writing, and playing with my kids. I was running from the minute I woke up, which is sad for a Sunday, the day once known as the day of rest. Still, I refused to give up my workout. I laced up my sneakers, jumped on the treadmill and started out on my 2.25 mile run.

All was fine for the first 1.5 miles. I was enjoying my time to myself, challenging myself with speed intervals. As I closed in on 1.75 miles, I completely ran out of gas.

I struggled to make it to 2, and had to walk the remaining quarter-mile. What had gone wrong?

I knew it immediately, as I ran through my mental food journal for the day. I was so busy, I hadn’t made time for even one square meal, and instead I had consumed mostly carbs, a bit of fat, very little water, and almost zero protein. No wonder I was unable to make it through my workout.

A few days later, I came upon this great advice from CoolRunning.com. It has some good tips for what kinds of food to eat before a workout, and how much time to allow for digestion.

Because I didn’t pay attention to the fuel I was feeding my body, my body didn’t perform as I had expected. It was the first time in my training plan I was unable to meet my distance goal. Thanks to this experience and great online resources for pre-workout nutrition, I won’t let it happen again!