The Difference a Day Makes

Yesterday I woke up and just didn’t feel like running so I didn’t. I went one mile of my planned 10, heard the one mile beep on my Garmin, looked down saw the time and just stopped running. I walked back to the house. Today I woke up and couldn’t wait to get out the door. I did 6.5 miles and would have kept going if it hadn’t been time to get ready for work. In fact, as I got closer to the house I made the decision to pull a double today and run during my lunch break.

So what was the difference?

The weather was about the same both mornings – high 60s/low 70s with gross humidity. I got about the same amount of sleep both nights prior to the runs – 7.5 hours-ish. However, dinner the night before may have had something to do with (or, everything).

Monday night was happy hour at a bar where my husband and split a plate of (yummy!) nachos, sliders and a pitcher of beer. Although this doesn’t happen often and isn’t a dinner I am particularly proud of, I have done it plenty of times. I woke up Tuesday morning feeling drained and completely apathetic toward running.

…and my “run” reflected that feeling.

Tuesday evening we had breakfast for dinner (three pancakes and three sausage links), a bowl of baked swiss chard chips and a slice of Tomato Soup Cake. While not a gold star dinner, it beat the pants off the previous night’s bar food nosh-fest. This morning I woke up and felt good.

…and my RUN reflected how I felt.

It is a lesson I learn over and over again: Eat bad, feel bad. Eat well, feel well. It really isn’t rocket science but constantly need to remind myself.

I recently read a forum post about the idea of “eating to run, not running to eat.” In other words, runners often say they run so that they can eat whatever they want without gaining weight. When you are running 50 miles a week, a Big Mac isn’t going to push the scales up. However, we runners also pay excruciating attention to our on-the-run nutrition and fueling. We have fueling plans and hydration plans for races – specific miles to eat gels, alternating Gatorade and water at aid stations, packing gummy bears and orange slices. I would make sense to apply the same passion and interest to our pre-run nutrition as well.

Lesson Re-Learned: Eat to Run (and not the other way around)

Daily Dozen:
6.48 miles @ morning run
Planned, 2 mile run/walk hill intervals on the treadmill & stretching @ lunch break