How can I follow Whole30 principles while preparing for a half marathon?

[Sarahlizy]

Hi,

 

I've been dabbling in Paleo for 2-3 months now, fist having read Mark Sisson's The Primal Blueprint. I've since done quite a bit more reading up and cleaning up of my diet. I eat mostly paleo apart from the odd slip up (I really love chocolate) and restaurant meals for special occassions. Although I've been searching the forums and it seems a few of the foods I eat, like coyo and vita coco (I may have got carried away with my new discovery of cocont based products) aren't whole30 approved.

 

I finished reading it starts with food last week and am now reading The Paleo Solution, and I really love the Whole30 approach, it just makes sense and I really can't wait to get started. However, I'm also running a half marathon in 17 days. I'm doing it for charity so I really want to do well, so I planned my whole30 start date to be the day after my half marathon, one challenge ends another begins. In the mean time I'd like to adjust my eating to be as close to whole30 compliant as possible. I was wondering if anyone has any advice on what to eat for long disance running and preparing for a half marathon that would fit with the whole30 princilples? I'm thinking a lot of sweet potatoes but I'm not really sure what else.

 

Any advice would be really appreciated.

 

[Physibeth]

There are plenty of threads on this but here is my 2 cents. Cutting out grains will probably cause a decrease in your performance until you become fat adapted. Following the template that usually takes about 14 days give or take. I didn't start with W30 but did a 30 day meal plan from Practical Paleo which was a little less strict and the first 2 weeks my runs felt labored but after I had a big uptick in performance and recovery. As you are 17 days out whatever you decide to do now be consistent. I try not to make any big changes in my diet the week or two before a race. If you are already eating mostly paleo I would just stick with that and don't replenish foods on the W30 no list when you run out.

 

As far as training goes...you want to make sure you eat starchy vegetables every day but not right before you run. When I have an hour or two to digest my food before a run I usually eat a meal 1 with no starchy vegetables (like eggs, kale, and bacon). When I need to get out there I have eggs and bacon (protein and fat) and than make sure my next meal has starchy vegetables. You need to make sure you replenish your glycogen but you don't want sugar/carbs in your body pre-run as your body will use them rather than going to your fat stores because they are readily available. Also make sure the bulk of your weekly mileage is in your recovery heart rate zone which should leave your glycogen mostly untouched.

[Mistie Gleason Cottrill]

It really is easy to eat whole30 and paleo and train for endurance events! I started a whole30 on January 1 and have stuck to the diet for the most part even after my 30 days. I trained for and completed an Ironman eating this way. I got to the point where I could run 10-12 miles on just water and not feel any loss of energy. Being Fat adapt helps. I had to eat a lot of sweet potatoes, 2 a day some days 3. I ate 3 eggs, spinach and a sweet potato every morning. I was working out 16-20 hours a week and no issues. Just make sure you eat enough carbs, sweet potatoes, squash, beets, carrots,etc and plenty of fat.

[EricaV]

I am a regular runner- looking forward to my second half marathon in a few months.

there is lots of good advice to be found here and I read quite a bit to decide how to tackle the meals around work outs. some of it is experimenting on yourself, so I would say doing this after your event now that you are so close sounds sensible.

I find eggs and some fat pre long run great- much better than the old toast and banana and some protein and carbs (for me pumpkin or sweet potato or carrots) within half an hour post work out works very well

then the next meal I just make sure is well balanced and enough

in the first few weeks of my whole 30 (now day 21) my runs were a bit sluggish but now I feel I have more endurance- I have been trying to listen to my body and warm up a bit slower as it seems to take me 10 minutes or so to get into the run but after that the energy is good!

good luck with your event

[Sarahlizy]

Thanks to all of you for the great advice, I'll definately be putting all of those recommendations into practice. It's great to know that it is possible to eat this way and still be able to take part in long distance events. So many running things I've been reading have made it seem like there's no way to do a long distance without sugars, so its great to hear that it can be done. I'll keep running during my whole 30 and monitor my progress, it sounds like that will be a good indicator of when my body has become fat adapted. Thanks!!!