Your Training Plan and Your Nutrition Plan; Wait what nutrition plan?

Everywhere you look there is the discussion about the training plan.  Day 1 of the plan.  Week 2 of the plan.  Now serving tic-tac-toe in 12 weeks to your best marathon.

The details of some of these plans are phenomenal.  Best time of the day to run and mid-week adjustments based on your sleep patterns and natural recovery rhythms.  The plan is alive and fitted to you!

But what about nutrition plans?

What about the foods, the fuel that powers your existence, that makes running possible?  What plan do you have regarding your nutrition?  Your food?

Everyone wants to talk about the training.  Everyone want to talk about the shoes.  No one asks about the food, the nutrition.

I put my body through hell before I realized that main culprit that was holding me back was the crap I was throwing in my mouth.  Not just during a race, but leading up to a race, and most importantly during recovery after a hard race.

I love sugar!  I could eat a whole pack of Oreos with a gallon of milk.  Oh and that Moutain Dew Baha Blast Freeze....  Heavenly!!!!  But my body needed more because I was asking more of my body physically.

My body eventually screamed out and got my attention through illness and the lack of being able to recover from hard efforts and runs.  My stomach cringed.  The aches and pains became persistent.  My efforts became harder.

I'm no nutritionist or doctor, so take what I say with a grain of salt and definitely consider consulting a professional before mixing it up.

Any alteration and change in your physical endeavors will require your body to go into repair mode.  And your body has some very specific requirements to properly get these repairs underway.

Consider the science for a moment.  When you do anything, you burn fuel.  Your cells are basic factories with working parts.  Those working parts need occasional repair.  The more you use the parts, the more repairs those working parts need.  And the more raw materials your body needs in order to keep those working parts working!

News Alert!  Despite how addictive that pizza is, or that ice cream sammich, or those Oreos are after a run (looks at self in mirror), your body needs more.

Neglecting your body's nutritional needs could very well be the key component that is preventing you from reaching that next level in your fitness goals.

I'm not saying go all out and go vegan tomorrow.  Hell no!  Your body is your body.  You can't go from eating greasy burgers every day to all non-GMO pure vegan diet overnight.  Ish not going to happen and your body isn't going to like you for it either.

But create a plan to transition along with the increased demands your training schedule is placing on your body.

Start simple and replace soft drinks with water.  Then consider having a healthy meal after your long runs, you know something fresh that hasn't been frozen or fried in grease for Pete's sake (who the hell is Pete anyway).   Maybe incorporating fruit into your diet instead of that Snickers bar (Oh Snickers bars how I love thee).

If you can have a long detailed discussion about your physical training plan and provide the spec sheet of your running gear as if you have a degree in textiles, yet you can not begin to convey your body nutritional needs using adult words...  You may want to reconsider your goals.

Your nutritional plan is the foundation.  Without your nutrition in check, your physical goals are being built on a bed of shifting sand that will eventually reveal itself as a plateau you can't seem to get beyond, lengthy recovery phases, or worst case, an injury.

And we're not just talking about the food you consume during your race.  No!  It's a lifestyle.  What you eat months, weeks, days before a race has an impact on your performance during the race.  What you eat during a race has an immediate impact on your race.  What you eat after your race has a lasting impact on your recovery, future training cycle, and future races.

Failing to have a nutrition plan or an idea of transitioning to a more sustainable nutritional lifestyle that supports your physical exertion, is to plan to fail from the start.

But failure isn't a destination should you find yourself without a nutrition plan.  Failure is failing to start anew after failing.  Get started today with a healthy alternative that supports what you're asking of your body physically.  Your body will thank you for it during your next run.

There's a saying "You are what you eat!"  My question to you, "If you are what you mainly eat, then what are you?"

Y'all be good.  Do you.  Nite.