Why I had more bad race finishes than PR’s in my marathons.
Sample race day: wake up at the last possible second that I needed to. Have a cup of coffee and eat pop-tarts on the way to the run (about an hour before race time). Start eating about 60 minutes into my race (candy corn or some from of sugar), about two hours in eat again (more junk), at 3 hours I am feeling so sick to my stomach I can’t tolerate the thought of food. Race finish time anywhere from 3:40-4:30, depending on how bad I fell apart. Post-race: usually vomiting, uncontrollable shakes for a few hours until I can tolerate some coke and bread type carb. Within two-three hours I’d be was totally fine once I got my sugar levels normal again. It took me years to figure out what I was doing wrong. I was fueling my body with the wrong carbs (foods period) for an endurance race. It worked fine for 5k’s up to the 13.1, but boy oh boy-that marathon killed me. Now jump to the 50k or 50 mile run and I was fine. Why? Because it the ultra-world they feed you potatoes, fruit, hamburgers, pretzels, bone broth etc. Simple vs complex carbs and how your body burns fuel is a game changer. Now, they tell us that we need to burn fat for endurance, imagine that! I wish I could go back and do it over again and see how well I could race the marathon.
Nutrition is finicky, just like our body. The body processes foods differently for every person. It matters when we eat, what combinations we pair our foods with, how our body absorbs the nutrients, how efficient our body processes the foods, what intolerances and allergies we may have. The list goes on and on. We are all bio-individual. Noe of us are made the same nor does our body react the same.
What is my take away? We want our body to perform every day. We want to feel good when we wake up, feel good at lunch, feel good when we exercise, feel good when we socialize. If we put junk into our body, it doesn’t feel good and eventually breaks down through illnesses such as chronic diseases or worse. Be mindful about what you put in it. Put premium foods in your body like you do your car if you want it to run.
