Carbs vs. Racing Weight

As runners, many of us are frequently on the lookout for ways to improve our performance.  Nutrition is one of the factors that often packs a big "bang for your buck", so to speak.  Improving your nutrition often results in improving everything from your race times to your recovery.   Along those lines, it's fairly well known that the best runners in the world eat a diet that maximizes their carbohydrate intake.  (Runner Marci had a great post in December on this very subject)  So if I want to improve my performance, I should improve my nutrition and maximize my carb intake and the stars will align and I'll set PR after PR, right?

Unfortunately, there is a bit more to it than that - and I've run (hahaha) into a conundrum.   This season I've been working to improve my diet.  And before you ask, yes, I still eat sweets on occasion and decaf mochas from Starbucks are still my weakness.   But I've been trying to do the best I can this season to fuel my body with high-quality foods.  I was excited to receive Matt Fitzgerald's "Racing Weight" cookbook for Christmas and have been reading and trying recipes from that for a few weeks now.  I've also read his Racing Weight book and really like that he takes the approach of improving the quality of your diet (vs. cutting calories) in order to achieve your optimal racing weight.

The challenge I have is this:  I've calculated what my optimal carbohydrate intake should be based on the formula he provides in his book and confirmed with a few other sources that it was reasonable.  For my training load of 11-14 hours a week (my runs + strength sessions), I need 3.75-4g of carbs per pound of body weight.  Which equates to about 436g of carbs per day.

I decided to calculate my carb intake for a few days a week or so ago and I am falling pretty short of my target.  As in, I'm about a third short - even on a day when I'm consciously trying to eat more carbs!   But...I'm probably within a few pounds of my racing weight and I am not really trying to put on any weight at this point in my season.  In order to increase the carbs without really upping my calorie intake (which might result in pounds gained on the scale), I'd most likely need to give up some protein/dairy and nuts/seeds in favor of more carb-dense sources.   So here's where I need help:

Fellow runners - if you are close to your racing weight (i.e. you don't want to gain any weight) and still want to increase your carb intake, what do you do?  Do you give up some food variety to try to optimize your carb intake by eating carbs, carbs, carbs all the time during heavy training?  Or do you just forgo maximizing your carbs and just focus on eating all high-quality foods? Should I give up my daily lunch of a nice big salad with nuts/fruits/cheese and opt for a more carb-heavy item?  Am I overthinking this?

And for those of you that have had success with upping your carb intake, did that impact your weight or leanness?  Has anyone come close to meeting their "target" carb-intake goals without eating 8 million bananas a day?  Sound off in the comments below (pretty please?)! Would love to hear from some of my favorite speedy ladies too (Sarah, Teal, Jasmine, Kris, Marci, Laura, Jen, Tina, Katie and Tia) if you guys have the time!

In the thick of it

Two months until race day.  That's it.  It seems so far away and yet frighteningly close at the same time.  8 weeks left.  Two of those (well, sort of 3) are taper, so only 6 more weeks of tough work left.   Lately, as my mileage has been increasing, my runs have included a daily prayer to the effect of "Thank you, God, for this healthy body that is able to run these distances.  Please help me get to that starting line injury-free!"   So far, my prayers are being answered.   I've been doing the best I can to keep those pesky injuries at bay by trying to make sure I get sleep, good food, and stay near my trusty foam roller.

This past week (besides being hit with a sinus infection) has been a pretty solid one:  82 miles.  The most I've run post-injury.   The bulk of my anxiety this week was due to the tempo run I had on Monday.   The schedule called for a 10-mile run with 5 miles at tempo pace.  I've been aiming for somewhere around 6:40 - mostly because I really can't go much faster at this point!  The interesting (or sad?) thing is, my goal marathon pace isn't too far off of that.  I've always been that kind of runner whose paces are pretty close to one another (i.e. my 5K pace is close to my 10K which is just about my half marathon pace and then if you add a few seconds you'll have my marathon pace!).   It probably means that I'm not pacing appropriately, but it is what it is and I just roll with it.

So.  Tempo run on Monday went....well, not great, but it wasn't awful.  I actually felt fairly decent aerobically, but just could not get the legs to move any faster!  It may have been due to all the squats and lunges in Body Pump the day before, but for whatever reason, the legs didn't have a lot of "pop".  It was in the dark on my own at 5am and felt like I was picking it up as much as I could.  Ended up averaging around a 6:43 pace.   I was feeling pretty bummed about it but decided to look back at my log from last year to boost my spirits - surely I am faster this year than I was last year, right??   You can see where this is going.   Nope.  Unfortunately I ran that exact same tempo run (same place in my schedule, same distance) last year with a friend and averaged....6:43.  UGH!   How can I not be any faster?!   I was frustrated, but here's the thing:   This is ONE run, ONE tiny snapshot of where I am right now.  And I KNOW that I am a faster, stronger runner than I was last year.   So whether or not the Garmin tells me I am, I chose to believe it.   And I'll keep plugging away, working hard and being thankful for the opportunity to be out there and do so.   Hopefully that will translate to some good results in the end, but either way, I'm enjoying the journey.  This is the thick of marathon training - double days, super early long runs in the cold and rain, and tempos that I dread each time they appear on my schedule.   But I love it.  And I'll keep at it as long as I can.

Hope everyone is having a great week this week!  I'm running in a 15K this weekend and using it to get in 9.3 marathon-paced miles.  Anyone else racing soon?  Any tips for when you expect to nail a tempo run and then don't? :-)

My favorite time of year

I'll admit that I'm a bit weird.  While I enjoy Christmas and all of the holiday sights, sounds and experiences, I am secretly counting down the days until January.  I love the idea of the new year as a blank slate - a wide-open road of possibilities in both running and in life.  Those first days of January are spent packing away the Christmas decorations and cleaning the house in an attempt to start fresh and declutter as much as possible.  I love it.  The feeling of returning to simplicity in everything (house, food, life) vs. the excess that often accompanies the holidays is one of the best feelings.  I look forward to it each year.

This year did not disappoint.  After a busy (and very joyful) holiday season, I'm happy to be back to my routine.  I'm back to eating well (thanks to my family for a gift of Matt Fitzgerald's Racing Weight Cookbook), and happy to be back on a regular schedule with the running and the gym work.  I've gotten to shadow a few Body Pump classes (where I act as the instructor that demos all the moves while a fellow instructor calls the moves over the mic) and that's been a great experience to practice getting my feet wet at being up in front of a full class while I wait for the opportunity to teach a class of my own.

In running-related news, my official schedule has started!  I had my first week on the schedule with a long run that included some (gulp) marathon-paced miles.  It was pretty rough, but thankfully it's early in the season!  Here's how the week shook out.

Monday:  12 miles, 7:55 avg pace.  Ran in Gettysburg on the hilliest route ever. If I wasn't going up, I was going down. It was very, very cold even with tights, mittens, a vest, and hand warmers. My phone died at mile 2 so it was a quiet, hilly, windy run. BUT I made it and was happy to get back to my inlaws house to get a nice warm shower and cup of coffee! Also surprised to see this one come in under 8-min pace given all the hills!

Tuesday:  8 miles, 8:43 avg.   Gettysburg again, but had my sister-in-law along for company on this cold, wet, rainy run.  Slower than we'd normally run, but due to the conditions we kept it on the easy side.  

Wednesday:  11.1 miles, 8:35 avg.  Ran with Dad on this run and was so happy to have company since it was POURING and cold. It wasn't so bad for the first 6 miles or so, but then it started really raining super hard and we were soaked within moments. My hands were so cold and wet at the end that I couldn't get the door open when we got back to the house. It was definitely one for the memory books though and I'm so happy that I was able to run with my Dad on Christmas Eve!

Thursday:  6 miles, 8:18 avg.  Legs a little tired from yesterday's run, but not too bad. Proud of myself for hauling my tired butt out of bed to get this done before everyone woke up. Had the streets all to myself - not a car in sight until I saw 1 car at the very tail end of the run. Silent streets made for a peaceful run. Merry Christmas!!!! So thankful to be out and running. :)

Friday:  7 miles, 8:40 avg.  Ran with Dad on this recovery run. Felt okay, but very nervous about how tomorrow's pace miles will go!

Saturday:  18 miles, 7 @ 6:50 or better,  7:25 avg.   This run called for 8 miles at marathon goal pace.  A very fast (sub-2:40 marathoner) friend offered to pace me on this run today. I was super nervous. I told him that we needed to do the first 10 miles at a slowish (8 min) pace so that I'd have enough energy for the pace miles. He agreed to do that. I fueled this morning with a bagel at 5:30 with butter and cream cheese and then about 3/4ths a serving of UCAN at 6:15. We started the run at 7. The first few miles were slow by his standards but by mile 10 we'd crept into the 7:30s range and I was feeling a bit fatigued. Got water and took a gel at mile 10, then started the pace miles. Felt okay but tired starting around mile 3. I was working really hard to maintain the pace and wondered if I'd bit off more than I could chew. I made it to mile 5 and then asked to take a quick pause. Downed another gel and got a sip of water, then made it two more miles (and up some hills!!) before I decided I'd had enough. Ran the last mile in at a slow pace to cool down. I felt badly that I'd had to take a break, but I needed a quick breather and really wanted to practice fueling with my gel and water. So it worked out okay. Wished I could have done all 8, but just wasn't feeling it today. From girls-only-problem standpoint (thanks, hormones), I was not at a great place and I think that was part of it too.  Big toe on my left leg is a bit sore from the dynamic planks in my core class - feels like it is jammed. Hope that resolves soon!

Splits: 8:12, 7:55, 7:51, 7:50, 7:47, 7:47, 7:47, 7:38, 7:53, 7:31, (start pace) 6:46, 6:48, 6:47, 6:49, 6:47, 6:42, 6:49, 7:39

Lessons learned from this run:  Right now I think that marathon pace is a bit aggressive for me, but I was happy I could hold it for as long as I did (though I did have to take a pause in the middle).  I think I'll need to see how the season goes and how my fitness improves before deciding if that's going to be my actual goal race pace or not.  Leaning towards making it closer to 6:55-7 right now, but I'm reserving judgement until after my next long run with MP miles.

Sunday:  6.17 miles, 8:44 avg.  Ran with my dog for the first mile (10 min mile) and then ran on my own for the last 5. Felt okay, legs feel surprisingly okay after yesterday. Did BodyPump at the gym later today. Toe is still sore though - little worried about that!

Total:  68 miles

And that's it for last week!  I was happy with this first week and just hope that I can continue to stay injury free through the next 11 weeks.   I'll have to evaluate the marathon pace as the season goes on before deciding on what to set my goal at for the actual race day.  I'm hoping that as my fitness improves the pace will feel a lot easier since this week it felt more like a tempo pace than marathon pace!

I'm happy to be healthy and running at the start of 2015.   For my running goals this year I really just have one at the moment:  To do my best to get to the starting line healthy and as prepared as I can be!  For me that means prioritizing sleep, healthy eating and keeping up with my PT exercises and foam rolling.

Thanks for reading and I'd love to hear from you - What are your running goals for 2015?