What I've Been Meaning to Blog About...Part I

Eating paleo and marathon training

So when I signed up for the Wenatchee marathon, I knew that I need to be more intentional about my eating. I am great about avoiding processed carbs, being gluten-intolerant pretty much solves that problem. However, eating fruits and vegetables just were not my strong suit. When I sat down and analyzed what I was eating I noticed that I could go a day, or maybe two, without eating any sort of fruit or vegetable. Sad, I know, but also totally true. I had tried trying to eat vegetarian, my mom even bought me some great vegetarian cookbooks, but the effort was only half-hearted and didn't stick. My family also was not enamored with the idea of vegetarian so they weren't sorry that my efforts didn't last.

But those efforts were undertaken when I was just running, with a few half-marathons or 5k's thrown in here and there. Pushing my body to handle the nutrition requirements of marathon training was going to require a more concerted effort to eat a healthy, balanced diet. I often thought if I could just have a plan to follow, outlining what I should eat, I would be happy. So one day when I was perusing Pinterest, I came across a 30-day paleo challenge. I hadn't heard much about paleo, but I clicked on the website any way to see what paleo was all about. Honestly, I was initially drawn to the website because of  the lady's body transformation, but once on the website, the eating plan was what kept my interest. It was all laid out for me...what I should eat, how much, recipes, etc. And, I discovered that paleo is mostly about vegetables, healthy fats, lean proteins and fruit--just the type of eating plan I was looking for.

I didn't make it through the whole 30-day challenge. I discovered that I am a little too undisciplined independent to follow a completely scripted plan; that and several of the foods that she used I'm allergic to. But this website did give me a starting point and for the most part, I have been able to incorporate the ideas into my eating. The best part is because paleo includes lean proteins, the boys are happy and have been very supportive of my efforts, even not complaining too loudly when I substitute spaghetti squash for spaghetti noodles or when there appears to be more vegetable than meat in a meal.

Overall, my body has felt better. I don't know if I have noticed a significant difference in many things, but I do notice that I don't need to snack as frequently as the plan suggested because I'm just not hungry. I don't think it is because I have consumed too many calories (my weight has held pretty steady, maybe going down just a tiny) but the quality of the calories are better than what I had previously been consuming.


So, the marathon training...actually, it has been going pretty good with only a few minor setbacks.  I have been fortunate that this has been a mostly mild winter and most of my runs have been done outside. Unfortunately, there was a 2-week period of super cold, icy weather that meant indoor running.

Treadmill running combined with the wrong new shoes equals some body breakdown. I began to feel a twinge in my hip after running in the shoes for just a week. I hated to have to buy yet another pair of shoes, but I called the store and ordered up my old favorite, Saucony. I said no more New Balance for me, my feet and legs just really prefer Saucony.

I had hoped that I had caught the problem early enough and that the twinge wouldn't turn into anything more. Unfortunately, I am really bad about stretching. I mean, totally not consistent even though I know the benefits and necessity of stretching. The lack of stretching and the twinge in my hip progressed to a big problem. Last week on mile 14 of the 16-mile run my IT band flared up! And I wound up with hip bursitis.

I am hopeful that what I have been doing this past week will fix the problems and I won't get off track too much. I got back to stretching and doing my hip-strengthening exercises. I also have a foam roller and soft ball that work wonders (but oh my heck, do they hurt!) in breaking down the knots. I cut back on my mileage last week and fortunately this week was a natural cut-back week. I did test the hip and knee on last Saturday's run, going 8 miles (18 was scheduled) and all was well.

So those are some things I've been meaning to blog about.