21 miles + a most ravenous WIAW

Happy Wednesday, friends! Hump day can only mean one thing around here…What I Ate Wednesday!

This week’s WIAW came from Monday, the day which I completed my final long run of marathon training! Therefore, you’re going to see a lot of post-run eats in the most unphotogenic way possible. I had just run 21 miles, and I was hungryyyy which meant no time to worry about lighting.

Welcome to my iPhone dump for WIAW!

The day started off at 6:15 a.m. when my alarm went off. I hadn’t slept well (I was nervous for my run since my last training run didn’t go so well), but I jumped up, got dressed, and headed to the kitchen for my pre-run fuel…

1/2 whole wheat bagel with peanut butter + ground flaxseed and lots of water!

I finished my breakfast and devotions and made my way to a park about 15 minutes away to complete my long run. I took a much different approach to this run than my last one. Here are a few things I did to help ensure success this time around…

• Pre-run fuel: During my last long run, I waited to do it in the afternoon (I prefer morning running), and felt weighed down by food all day. The night before, I had a few scoops of peanut butter before bed and so when I woke up in the morning, I just wasn’t hungry. However, I knew I had to eat and forced down breakfast. The rest of the day was pretty much like that — I wasn’t hungry, but knew I needed to eat. By the time I got out to run, I felt weighed down. On this run, I had a great pre-run meal of eggplant parm and pasta the night before, combined with a good pre-run breakfast before I took off.
  
• Watch: On Monday morning, I only checked my paces twice throughout all 21. Instead of focusing on finishing fast, I focused on just finishing. As a result, I still ran pretty fast (8:49 average splits), but wasn’t constantly checking my watching and pressuring myself to go faster. This made a huge difference, and I think I’m going to do this on race day as well.

As a result…

21 miles…done!

Normally after a long run, I’m not hungry at all. Although I certainly wasn’t starving, I thoroughly enjoyed this post-race breakfast of banana cottage cheese pancakes + 1/2 apple + 1/2 banana.

Within a few hours, I was hungry again and enjoyed this snack plate. (Carrots + celery + Trader Joe’s Black Bean and Lentil Chips + Wholly Guacamole)

After this, the hunger kicked in full force! I had an afternoon full of meetings, so I scarfed down this pomegranate CHO + puffed wheat and oats the second I had a break.

(Told you this food photography is awful.)

Less than 90 minutes later, I was starving. Homemade healthy eggplant parm + whole pasta + green beans to the rescue!

I spent the night doing some more work and then went ahead and had this snack before bed…

In the mix: 1/4 c. oats, unsweetened almond milk, blueberries, peanut butter, and vanilla protein powder

Lots of eats…all quite delicious!