I left my computer in the office for the whole weekend, and it felt great! I’m still recovering from yesterday’s Half marathon – It was a memorable experience. I’ll recap it in detail tomorrow. Today is time for my week 1 Whole30 Recap!
So, here we are at the beginning of Week 2 of our April Whole 30. How are you doing?
Days 1 & 2 weren’t that terrible for me. I found myself having a headache at the end of day 2 and 3, but still feeling pretty good. I was drinking water like it was going out of style. I down like 6 of these a day – at least.
I’ve kept my meals pretty simple… eggs & veggies for breakfast, Tuna or Chicken for lunch, usually over spinach. And steak/chicken/veggies for dinner. Here is a sample of some of my meals from this week
Slow cooked Chicken Breast over Spinach, roasted carrots, buttercup squash & asparagus – Organic Girl Greens Sample at the Exp0 – Salad from the Salad Bar at Jason’s Deli – Eggs, Bell Pepper, Onion, Mushrooms over spinach with Avocado – Spaghetti Squash and Tomato Sauce with chicken tender – Steak from Little Hills Winery – Eggs over Medium, Spinach & Mushrooms, Sausage Patty
My snacks have been Cashew’s & Rasins or Raw Veggies.
I didn’t really think I ate that “bad” before this – and for the most part I didn’t. I just didn’t realize how easy it was to talk myself into treats/splurges. There have been so many times I’ve had a craving for a sweet/dessert and had to use the steamed chicken and broccoli trick to talk myself out of it.
The hardest thing for me to adjust to has been coffee! I never ever ever thought I would drink black coffee. But I have been, and I’m still alive! I have been using Canned Coconut milk as creamer when I want a treat but I drink it mostly black now and I’m ok with it! Day 1 I did mess up by using the boxed Almond milk, apparently that is overly processed and “off plan” as well. I did some research throughout the week and figured out how to make my own almond milk. It’s actually really easy!
I just put one cup of whole almonds in 4 cups of water and let it sit in the fridge for 48 hours, then poured the old water out – put the almonds in a blender with 3 cups fresh water and blend until frothy and well blended. Pour mixture through a nut milk bag (I bought mine on amazon for a few bucks) and squeeze all the liquid out. Then I let the almond pieces dry out and plan on using it for other cooking. I frothed up my homemade milk in a cup of coffee and it was great!
This week went by fast and I honestly felt great most of it. I slept better and just felt lighter and happier. Going into this challenge the thing I was most concerned about was my half marathon. I had a friend coming in town to run it with me and we planned on going to meet up with another friend of ours in Columbia on Saturday night and I just wasn’t sure if I should do normal carb loading or try to stay on plan. I ate a ton of sweet potato at breakfast and had that spaghetti squash for lunch before we left. When we got to Columbia I still didn’t know what I would eat for dinner. Well, I ended up getting smoothie from this organic juice place – not the best whole30 choice but better than any of the other options. It was full of whole fruits and veggies with added Spirulina (and Payton had some of it too).
Main Squeeze In Columbia, MO
Then we headed to Shakespeare’s Pizza. While I have eaten Pizza before most of my races, I just didn’t know how the gluten/dairy would affect my run after not having it for so long. So I passed on it and went for a spinach salad. The dressing was not whole30 so I just ate the salad dry. And no, that wasn’t my Red Stripe. I had plain black tea.
My biggest accomplishment was when we went to the FroYo place. I didn’t have a lick of it. I just watched them enjoy theirs.
I had planned on eating some more sweet potatoes when we got home, but we got home late and in the chaos of getting everything together for the race I forgot and went to bed. Whoops.
Then came race day. I had a banana and SunButter before heading out the door. I had some Honey Stingers with me but still wasn’t sure I would use them. I wanted desperately to stay on plan, but I also wanted to stay on course with the Whole30. It was a hard decision, but I knew as soon as I started running I wasn’t fueled enough, despite my best efforts. My legs were heavy. I ended up eating the whole pack of Honey Stingers, drinking some gatorade, eating a popsicle that some amazing people were handing out around mile 11 (I am pretty sure I would have eaten anything at the point) and I had a small bite of Ice Cream at the finish. At our post race meal all I wanted was a burger and fries, but I ordered a steak and veggies. I had some sweet potato fries as an appetizer and I’m sure they weren’t cooked according to Whole30 Standards. It wasn’t the worst choice, but it wasn’t the best. Technically according to Whole30 rules I should restart, but I’m just going to keep chugging along. I know its about elimination and reset, and I may have disrupted that process but with what I put my body through I don’t think I would have made it without the things I ate/drank throughout the day. Lesson learned – don’t do a major diet change the week before your half marathon! I’m still SUPER proud of the decisions I made. Usually running gives me the free pass cheat card where I eat like crap the rest of the day because I “earned it” – but I didn’t do that. I got technically off plan with some of the things I used, but I didn’t use that as an excuse to go wild. I did what I needed to do and I got right back on track.
Alright – Your turn! I know a ton of you are doing (or have done) a Whole30, so feel free to link up your Whole30 check in posts! How are you doing?
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If you’ve done a whole30 AND a long distance race – how did you fuel?
imperfectly courtney 