Although I’m technically following an established training plan, there are certain elements I’ve chosen to observe as suggestions rather than directives so far.  Taking a complete day of rest the day before a long run is one rule of which I’ve questioned the necessity.  But both because of the jump in tomorrow’s mileage and the beating my legs have endured this week, I figured it would be best to acquiesce.

As I quickly discovered, I have no idea how to rest the day before a 17 mile run.  I’m anxious and amped up, my heart and mind racing while my body sits idle.  Since feeding my athletic insecurities was not the answer, I decided to focus on something over which I could have the utmost control- what I put in my mouth.  I’ve mentioned before that I have a hearty appetite and marathon training has turned me in to a complete glutton.  I attempt to make healthy choices and to limit my M&M consumption to an occasional  handful (or five). I don’t have a hard time coming up with meal ideas (I think about food a lot) or cooking.  What I find the most difficult is all of the math involved in an endurance runner’s diet.

“The recommendations for a healthy diet suggest carbohydrates (55%) be the foundation of each meal, with some protein (15%) as the accompaniment and a little bit of healthy fat (30%) to add flavor and satiety.  That is the gold standard…”  Hal Higdon

Who am I to dispute the gold standard? From what I understand, following these nutritional guidelines is especially important in the day(s) leading up to a long run or race. I have personally noticed a shift in what my body demands in order to perform on longer runs as I age. I’m simply not able to deprive myself of vital nutrients and sustain high mileage, as I could when I was not so old younger. But the darn percentages! I know there are websites and smartphone apps that help you break down all that business and only require you to record every morsel of food that passes through your lips. But because I become way to obsessive for my liking when I do this, I instead employ my reading skills to assess packaged food and whether it meets my needs, and to devour books, magazines and websites in search of the ideal athlete’s diet. Some advice I take with a grain of salt. I am not eating a salmon wrap with mango at 5:30am before a 17-miler. However, there are plenty of useful tidbits out there to ingest if you exercise both your brain and your right to veto.

Here’s how my very conscientious day of eating/attempt to distract myself from tomorrow’s inevitable visit to hell played out:

Breakfast– bowl of Kashi cereal with blueberries and 1% milk, coffee

Snack– 1 banana

Lunch– multigrain rice California roll, edamame

Snack– carrot cake (don’t freak out yet) Luna Bar

Dinner– egg pappardelle pasta with extra lean turkey meat tomato sauce, salad, NO wine

Dessert– 1 piece of chocolate (I’m training for a marathon but I’m not dead!) and a nectarine

… and lots and lots of water.

Without executing any calculations, I think I did OK in terms of carb to protein to fat ratios but there is room for some improvement. I probably should have had oatmeal rather than processed cereal and replaced the Luna Bar with a peanut butter sandwich. Luckily, my training plan offers me another chance to get it just right next weekend.