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Hi there, friends!

I haven’t done a What I Ate Wednesday in a hot minute, so I figured it was time. Even more fun, I figured it would be great to recap all of my eats after a 22 mile day. I’ve done 20+ mile runs the last three weekends in a row, so I’m feeling much more experienced with them. So, here is how a typical long run day goes.

Pre-run snack

6am wakeup: I immediately drink a glass of water while turning on the coffee maker. I toast a piece of Dave’s Killer Bread and slab it with peanut butter and banana slices. I also had a pumpkin muffin, and some half caff/half decaf coffee.

I head out the door around 7:30 for my long run. During the run, I had a few gels and probably 36-40 oz of water (more on that here). I spaced the gels out every 45 minutes or so, and drank water throughout as needed. By the end of the run, I was beyond thirsty so chugged more water.

I was also craving fruit, so I ate some sliced mango (unpictured). I was so glad I packed that to have after. Vitamin C is also a natural antioxidant, so it is great for combatting the free radicals and oxidative stress that running creates. I decided to stop for a Dunkin Donuts iced coffee with two pumps of pumpkin. I’m a Rhode Island girl, so I always choose Dunkin over Starbucks. Plus, I don’t love the PSL’s, which are wayyy too sweet for me. But when I can control a little bit of pumpkin flavor, it’s delicious.

Lunch #1/Post Run Fuel

The only thing I want after a long run is water and smoothie bowls. That hasn’t changed, despite the weather cooling down. I made this smoothie bowl with Vega One Performance Chocolate Protein. Obsessed is an understatement.

I love this protein powder because it has 30 grams of protein. It is made with turmeric and tart cherry juice, both of which are great for recovery. I topped it with more pumpkin muffins (only 1/3 of it made it into the picture since I chomped on it before taking), Justin’s vanilla almond butter, hemp seeds and sprouted oat granola. I combined spinach, frozen bananas, frozen blueberries and 2% milk for the smoothie base.

Lunch #2

Mini salad with some salmon turmeric burgers, which bonus, are also good for inflammation thanks to the healthy omega 3‘s and turmeric!

And this kombucha that I love. With two pumpkin chocolate chip muffins (You can see how quickly I can go through a stash of muffins). Also, some freshly cut pineapple and strawberries.

I’ve found that I have been mindlessly snacking a lot while marathon training. Yeah, I definitely need the extra calories, but I’m trying to become a little bit more conscious about what I reach for, especially if I’m snacking consistently.  These muffins are made with flax and oats, so complex carbs and healthy fats there, which really make a difference. I’m a serial cereal (weird to place those two words next to each other!) snacker, but it obviously never holds me over. I’ll learn some day…

Dinner

Ed and I went to Brixx for dinner. I had the greek pizza, and we also split the korean BBQ meatballs – newflash, they weren’t that good. A little too dry for my taste! But I was craving meat, so we still ate them.

In between all of my eating, I was icing, watching football and working on blog stuff. I was also trying to drink lots of water. Sometimes, the hunger doesn’t hit me until a day or two after a long run, but on this day, it hit me strong!! I was starving like every hour.

Dessert

More pizza, but this time, to tame the sweet tooth! 2 delicious slices of this dessert pizza! I eat the chocolate peanut butter yogurt glaze by the spoonful. Plus, since the crust is made with oats and high protein almond flour, it’s rather filling. I just subbed the kiwi and used banana. You can never go wrong with sliced banana, am I right?

The rest of the night was spent relaxing in an Epsom salt bath and reading this. I’m trying to read for pleasure, but who am I kidding, I’m taking so many notes. So much good stuff in here!

Favorite recovery food/fuel?

PSLs, or do you have another seasonal favorite?

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