Week 4: October 1 – October 7

Week 5: October 8 – October 14

These weeks have been WEIRD, like really weird.

Week 4 was punctuated by the marathon, which was awesome! But it made fueling really different. Instead of hitting my normal macros, I added LOTS of carbohydrates to prepare me for race day! I struggled with the reality that a lot of “fun” carbohydrates come with lots of fat, which isn’t ideal before a race… donuts, scones, pastries, cereal, granola… a lot of these things use butters and oils. UGH, YIKES. Finding pure carbs was harder than I anticipated, and I found myself eating Honey Stinger gummies (intended for DURING the race) the night before to get to my carb numbers!! But it was a good exercise in reading labels and being creative!

My flat runner pre-race^^

However, I could feel the extra carbs do their job on October 7’s race and I definitely could tell why they’re so necessary! My physical body (legs, knees, ankles) gave out before my heart and energy did 🙂

Week 5 was defined by lots of rest, which was hard for me!

These were my goals:

• rest
• yoga
• sleep

As you can see, after months of training for a marathon, these things felt idle and passive! I had to let myself sit still and take rest days. Thankfully, skipping a workout usually meant more sleep in the morning or evening, which was quite positive. Though I did still feel EXHAUSTED, which I’m blaming on post-marathon feels. Thankfully, my friends and family were so supportive and congratulative. which made it a special week!!

Some congratulatory flowers!! ^^^

Overall, these weeks have felt frustrating; my weight has been alll over. Honestly, I expected my weight to sky rocket before the marathon, and it DID stay quite steady but it went up AFTER the marathon by a pound or two and that hasn’t gone away. So I stayed really really steady this fifth week, but I felt I was getting more protein and less carbohydrates than usual, which I expected would mean a loss of weight weight… not so. I am still learning the ropes here on macro counting, so I know that this is just bio-feedback. Plus, I wasn’t spot on… I lacked super consistency, and I fought the “celebration” feeling of wanting to indulge post-marathon!

However, the freedom of the marathon ending felt dampened by my macros. It’s been one of the first weeks that I felt very BOXED in by my macros. I know that macros should give me freedom (if-it-fits-your-macros mentality) but instead I wanted to celebrate this week and eat unhealthily and drink alcohol freely and I knew that I couldn’t.

So I leave you with this list… as I’ve struggled with macros, protein is the constant!

Here are some of my MUST HAVES!

• egg whites
• eggs
• chicken breasts (can be kept frozen, so they don’t go bad!)
• ground turkey
• some sort of vegetable (snacks, add in for eggs, dinner veggie)
• lunch meat (mainly turkey! it’s low fat!) (and I like the Whole Foods brand)

The FULLER my fridge is with easy proteins, the happier I am when I get a craving!