The Runner's Diet

A few weeks ago, when I decided I need to get my life back on track, I found myself in Barnes & Noble. Paul was looking for a guide on training for a marathon, and I was looking for anything to help me. I stumbled on The Runner's Diet, a book that is from Runner's World magazine.

I picked it up and began reading a few pages in it. The author discussed how this book is mostly for people who use to consider themselves runners, and for one reason or another stopped running and got out of shape. That's me! I immediately decided to purchase this book and have been thrilled with this purchase ever since.

I went home and started reading right away. I flew through the chapters because they were all one's I could easily relate to. It gives great tips and advice about what to eat and what not to eat, when to eat and when not to eat.  It also gives some fantastic advice about getting back into running. The key is start slow and don't get down on yourself. Just because you use to be able to run 5 miles straight everyday at a 9 min/mile pace, does not mean you will be able to suddenly do that again. In fact, if you attempt to do that, you will immediately become discouraged that you can't and be more likely to stop trying.

Another key is to make your workout schedule realistic. Saying I will wake up every day at 6 am to run before work is nice, but completely unrealistic. I may do this one day and then never do it again. Instead you need to really look at your schedule, what you want to do for work outs, and make a reasonable schedule that you can stick to. This has been my new task that I've been working on recently. I will post my new training schedule soon, but the key to it is that it works around my schedule perfectly.  I never have the excuse of "I'm too tired," or "It's too dark," or "It's too much," to keep me from getting out there and doing my runs.

For me the hardest part so far has been to not get down on myself during the runs. I may be out there doing 3 miles or so 4 days a week, but I am still getting back into it, so my running involves walking as well. I hate this, in my mind I should be able to go out and run. I know this isn't realistic though, and that by running the way I have planned out (with the help of my running book) I will get back into running in no time.

Thank you too Runner's World and the fantastic author of The Runner's Diet, for helping me get my running life back!