The good thing about starting a new training cycle is that it feels a bit like a fresh start. You can reflect back on your last one and aim to correct any mistakes you made the last time.
Last summer while I was training for Long Beach, I made huge errors in my nutrition. I became addicted to giant bowls of Cocoa Krispies and bags of salt water taffy. While I ate mostly healthy foods otherwise, I really didn’t want to take the same sugary path to Boston.
I will be the first to admit that I still indulge in sweets occasionally (especially cereal), but today I will share with you a few tips I have used to squelch my sugar addiction, at least a little bit.
First of all, I keep hard-boiled eggs and organic greens in the refrigerator at all times. For some reason, I really crave both during heavy training. Having them on hand makes it that much easier to make better choices. I boil a half of a dozen eggs one morning per week while I am packing the boys’ lunches, and then mark them with an “H.”
I either mix them up with some Greek yogurt and curry powder for a tasty egg salad, or I chop them up on top of my salad for lunch.
In addition, I try to make larger helpings of the foods that I need and crave.
Since the boys are also training for track, I make them recipes from this cookbook a few nights a week.
Sunday night I made them this Sole with mango avocado salsa on the side.
Because I could also use some healthy fats and Vitamin A from mangos, I made a few extra servings to keep around during the week.
Just yesterday I dumped some on top of my greens, then added some basmati rice and chickpeas, and voilà, I had a delicious and healthy snack.
I am always, always looking for short-cuts to achieve my goals, because if I make achieving them too complicated, then inevitably I will end up sitting on the sofa with a bowl of sugary cereal and a massive bag of salt water taffy instead of feeding my running body the nutrients it needs.
That said, I have noticed that recovery and speed work seems to be coming around a lot faster than it did during the last cycle.
And I am certain that axing some of the sugar has helped. (Though I am fairly certain that the occasional apple fritter hasn’t slowed me down too terribly much.)
Later today I will share my secrets to getting amazing strength workouts without a trainer or a gym membership.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I tend to crave cereal (LOVE Cocoa Krispies) in the middle of the night (or when pregnant). I know it’s straight sugar, but it is delicious.
Huge CK fan here! You can buy a double bag of them at Costco, just so you know. I bought it last week, and it was gone in a few days:(