Sharing a challenge: Getting the right fuel for the job

Welcome to my third post on Sharing a Challenge where I share my half-marathon training journey. You can read the first two posts here:

Sharing a Challenge
Motivation

Today’s post on my half-marathon challenge is all about food. If I am going to push my body’s limits I better provide it with the proper fuel to enhance my performance.

I’m not a car gal; I leave that up to my vintage British car buff Mr Very Right. But I do know enough about cars that different grades of fuel impact the performance of your car. Personally, I’m satisfied with regular grade gasoline for my little Volvo. But I’m not asking it to do much other than get me to work and back, putt around town, and occasionally make a long distance trip to visit family.

And up to now, I’ve just been asking my body to get me through my work day, putt around on household chores, and occasionally push itself in harder labour for our home renovations. Regular grade fuel has been fine for this.

Let me explain what typical regular grade fuel is for me.

• Breakfast: a couple of espressos. Bacon, egg, cheese on brown toast with a bit a mayonaise.
• Lunch: deli turkey and lettuce on rye, with butter.
• Morning and afternoon snacks: yogurt, handful of nuts, dates, banana
• Mid afternoon ‘dear lord is it time to go home yet?’ treats: bag of chips, chocolate bar
• Hot tub when I get home beverage: white wine
• Dinner: meat, potatoes, gravy, small amount of veggies. Milk. 2 squares dark chocolate.

Notice the combination of definitely good for me stuff and definitely not good for me stuff. I am a healthy weight and my energy level is pretty good, so I guess so far I’ve gotten away with this particular fuel intake.

I wasn’t sure, however, that this diet really cut it as premium grade racing car fuel. So, off I went to do some research. According to How To Eat While Training for a Marathon, I need to eat the following:

60 to 70% of my diet should be carbohydrates such as whole grain breads, cereals, fruits and veggies.

Brown and rye bread are not whole grain breads. I do not eat any cereals. My fruits and veggies intake could definitely stand some improvement.

Eat 200 to 400 calories of carbohydrates within 2 hours of hard exercise.

Well, I generally exercise at work when I can slip away for an hour to run. This could be 8:30 in the morning or 2:30 in the afternoon. And I don’t even think about what I’m going to eat afterwards. I just grab whatever is in my lunch box.

Drink lots of fluids during and after exercise and avoid alcohol.

Yes, I drink water during my runs, but other than my espresso in the morning and my milk at supper, I don’t really drink anything else. Oh, except that glass of wine in the hot tub. Avoid alcohol. Dang!

Go easy on the fats

I can justify the small amount of butter on my sandwich. It is proven that fat is an essential part of our daily diet. And my two squares of 85% dark chocolate are good for me, so research says. But the mayonnaise at breakfast should likely go. And let’s not even talk about the fat content in the ‘dear lord is it time to go home yet?’ bag of chips and chocolate bar.

Conclusion? My regular grade fuel is not going to optimize my body’s race performance. As a matter of fact, it seems downright cruel of me to even ask my body to run 13 miles on regular grade fuel. Clearly changes are required.

Which brings me right back to my motivation of bringing my mind and body into harmony. To date, I don’t put too much thought to what I eat. For the most part, we only stock our kitchen with healthy food choices, so that’s what I grab. But the key word is grab. I don’t think about it. The food just goes into my lunch box or directly into my mouth.

Now I need to bring my mind into play. I need to put conscious thought to not only what I eat, but when I eat it.

Wait a minute! Isn’t that the key to a long healthy life anyway?

I don’t want a regular grade life. I want a premium grade life.

Volvos are nice, but from here on in, I am a Lamborghini!

Have your say:

My challenge is training for a race, so the fuel I need to consider is food. But all challenges require fuel in some form. For example, writing requires inspiration. Reducing stress requires quiet time. What fuel do you need for your challenge? And are you getting the right kind in the right amounts?

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