Day 30. Small change of plans.

So the food thing is great. I'm not ready to stop. I feel good. I feel leaner. My skin looks great. I'm sleeping well. Energy is good. There's nothing I'm craving. I would like easier choices for going out to eat, but I can deal with that. I'm going to stick with this until Friday, take the weekend off and then get right back on it through the marathon.

Speaking of the marathon, all my past injuries are flaring up. I had a 19 mile run scheduled tomorrow but I'm going to push it back until next week to let the hip bursitis and ankle stiffness get better. I'm doing a lot of icing and stretching. It's gotta get better. I really want to cross that finish line.

17 miles on day 17

Whole30 is going strong. I did have my first food dream last night. In it I ate some pasta chips - these awful things that I got a sample of a few weeks ago and ate during my last-suppering. They were gross. In my dream I ate them and thought I was ok because they didn't have any sugar in them, then I realized they were PASTA. My skin is not as clear as it usually is by this point of the W30 adventure. But I'm feeling good and sleeping better than I had been. I don't have any cravings, and I'm cooking really delicious meals. I'm doing better at reaching for veggies, guac and HB eggs rather than nuts and dates when I need a quick snack.

I did my long run this morning. Only 6 days since my last one, and I did intervals on Monday, which may have not been the best strategy. My legs felt a big fatigued, and I ended up taking more walking breaks than I would like to. I'm also still figuring out nutrition. I ate the whites of a hard boiled egg (yolks tend to not sit well all the time and I didn't want to risk it) and a larabar before I left, and brought a ziploc with sweet potato blended with dates (3 tiny potatoes and 3 dates). This was kind of gross. It tasted too sweet, and was just smooshy and gross and messy. The quantity was right, but the experience was not. And I had to carry a huge bag of mush, which I could not eat while moving. Not really a practical race solution. Next time I may go back to larabars and dates with some almond butter.  Next week is a cutback week so I won't be running long enough to need to carry food, so I won't test this for a while. I still have 2 more long runs to experiment.

I don't feel as great as I did after last week's run, but it's more joint discomfort than muscle pain. I certainly feel better than I remember feeling after this kind of distance when I was eating normally. My hips and knees ache a bit, and I have some fatigue in my glutes/hamstrings.

A breakthrough: food is fuel (duh)

I’m on day 11 of my fourth Whole30. And midway through training for my 9^th marathon. I just got back from a 15 mile run and I think I’ve had a breakthrough.

I was worried heading out this morning because my last two short runs sucked. I was following the Whole30 timeline to the letter. No energy, heavy legs, just couldn’t do it. Everything I’d read on the forums had me prepared to go out today and turn around after a few miles, and just wait a few more days to try again, as most people reported the suck continuing until week 2. I’d already played with my training plan, and that would’ve been ok. I could adjust and still be ready for my marathon.

Somehow today was fine. A 20 degree drop in temperature from yesterday helped. Eating potatoes yesterday probably helped. Drinking coconut water with salt on the run may have helped. Finally sleeping through the night certainly helped. My legs felt good. I took a few walk breaks, but ran pretty consistently at my training pace. My energy was good. I had a larabar before I left home, and most of a sweet potato while I was running, but was very hungry by the end and need to bring more food with me next long run.

I came home and raided the fridge. Took out container after container of leftovers and had a breakfast of egg salad (homemade mayo of course!) on yellow pepper slabs, roast cauliflower, grapefruit, dates and almonds. That’s when it hit me. There would be no treat after this long run.

In the past, the focus of training often wasn’t on the training, but on where we’d go for brunch/beer after a long run, and then what sugary baked good we’d pick up to have for a snack later in the afternoon (my favorite). I rewarded my long runs with food. I have two more long runs (17 and 19 miles) planned before I’m done with this W30+ (I’m planning on 33 days – just the way my schedule is working out), and I’m shifting my focus to what to eat to make the runs better, not what to run to justify eating crap. I’m using these long runs as experiments to learn what I need to eat and drink while I’m running now that I’m not using Gatorade and Gu (lesson #1: need to bring MORE!). I’m just back to running after a bad injury/surgery that somehow took 4+ years to rehab from, so my goal isn’t to PR, but just to do the best I can do at 5 years older than I was when I ran my last (PR) marathon. I’m really interested to see how eating right changes the equation.

I’ve been home for a few hours now, and my legs feel good. Noticeably better than they usually do after a long run. This might really work!

Textbook

I seem to be following the Whole 30 timeline exactly this time. I'm also sleeping terribly, which isn't mentioned, but I've been up in the middle of the night for the past 4 or 5 nights. I'm not particularly stressed. I don't know why I'm having this problem.

I've gone for a few short runs since starting, and they've been TERRIBLE. Everything I've read says that it can take 2-4 weeks to adapt. There are a ton of posts on the forum from people who report heavy legs and disastrous runs. I'm going to add in more sweet potatoes and starchy vegetables and see if that helps push this along. I have enough time in my training schedule that if I can't do a long run this week I can adjust my plan and still get in the runs I need. I'd like to do 15 on Thursday. I'll plan for it, and see how much I can do.

W30#4 week 1

Ok - week 1 done. I certainly paid for my vacation s'mores eating and beer drinking. I felt like shit for the first few days. Massive headache, and no energy. Happily that's all done (I hope) and I'm feeling much better.

I did however self medicate with cashews and dates. Those will be the last nuts I buy for the month. Dates I need, but I need to only eat them when I'm on long runs. I cannot be trusted with cashews in the house. Seriously I'd rather eat cashews than ice cream or chocolate. (This brewery we went to on vacation served a giant dish of cashews as a bar snack for $3. I was so happy.)

I feel less bloated. I've been waking up stupid early after sleeping well for about 6-7 hours. I'd be happier with 8.

I cooked extra of everything I made this week, so have a bunch of options in the freezer to eat later. I'll do more of that this week, and then be able to coast a bit later in the month.

I have to do a 15 mile run this week. Hopefully my energy will stay good, and I can start figuring out what to eat that isn't gu and gatorade. I felt fine on a 30 mile bike ride with water and a larabar, but I know I need more when I run.

W30#4 D2

Day 2 and I feel like crap. I have a headache. I'm HUNGRY. I want a nap.

I've made a bunch of really delicious food. I don't want anything I can't have. I just want the next few days to go quickly.

I've been reading a lot about endurance training and paleo. I hope I can make it work.

Game on

I signed up for a marathon in 10 weeks. I can always drop to the half marathon if I need to. I'm doing a lot of research on Whole30/paleo endurance fueling. I'm going to try salted coconut water and some kind of date/sweet potato puree for fueling during my long runs. I've got enough time to adapt to being back on track and make adjustments. I'm starting a W30 today, and plan to go until Oct. 3, take a few days off, then potentially keep going until after the race.

I did some cooking and shopping this morning, and I'm ready to go.

My legs feel pretty good today, just a bit tight. Tomorrow I'll do upper body and then I'll run on Wednesday.