I want to introduce you to a very special friend of mine who has kindly agreed to do a guest post this week. I met Kate Russell almost three years ago when I started leading an outdoor training session with her and some of her work colleagues. She is one of the most caring, friendly, motivated and just all-around awesome girls I’ve had the pleasure of meeting and I love her dearly. This year Ruski decided she wanted to take things up a notch and entered her first half marathon. I thought it would be amazing for her to give you a little insight into her preparation, dedication to training and the race itself – if you’ve ever thought about doing one yourself, this may be just the inspiration you need!
So without further adieu, my guest blogger for the week, Kate Russell:
The Bucket List Year
According to Chinese culture, 2013 is the year of the black snake; a year of steady progress. Focus and discipline is necessary to achieve what you set out to create. For me, 2013 is about stepping out of my comfort zone, so I created “Kate’s Bucket List”, and pencilled in a half marathon.
I live and breathe exercise – it’s what gets me out of bed every morning. I’ve never been a long distance runner though as it bores me. I’ve always trained by myself, but met a new friend at the gym and decided to give the SMH Half Marathon a go. I was apprehensive about a couple of things – mainly that I’d push myself too hard in the prep stage and either exhaust or injure myself before race day. It was important to find a balance between long work hours, travelling and training hard to perform well. I also wanted to test the traditional methods of both training and eating for a half marathon. Is it true that you have to “carb load” to perform well? Do you need to consume sports gels to get you through the 21km?
I started running training two months out*, adding a 10km road run to my weekly HIIT-focused program and then a 13km beach run. Soft sand running is excellent for building endurance and stamina and also easier on the joints. After doing two runs a week for a month, I did my first longer road run of 18km. Did I survive? Yes. Did I learn a lot? I sure did!
When I was doing my morning 10km sessions (45-50 mins), my body didn’t require any fuel beforehand – I would simply fuel up well enough the day before and have a clean healthy dinner. However during this first 18km road run, I discovered that pre-session fuel is vital if you want to avoid running out of energy. I seized up around the 15km mark and whilst I was able to complete the session it certainly wasn’t enjoyable, and it was a good lesson to learn early on so I didn’t make the same mistake come race day.
They say “muscles are made in the kitchen” and I couldn’t agree more. I have never eaten many traditional carbs. I lead a non-gluten, non-dairy lifestyle and include super foods in every meal. I wanted to prove that you can lead this clean eating lifestyle and still train hard, train for endurance and achieve results. I aimed for a minimum of seven hours sleep per night and my daily eating plan went a little like this:
Breakfast – soaked rice porridge, chia seeds, almond milk and goji berries
Lunch and dinner – protein, sweet potato or quinoa and green leafy salad/vegies
Snacks – fruit, carrot and raw hummus, bliss ball and ‘Rise and Shine’ loose leaf tea (green tea, lemongrass, liquorice and stevia)
In the two month lead up to race day I did not get sick, had no injuries, juggled travelling interstate for work, training and still managed to socialise with friends. Just goes to show, leading a busy life and training for a large event like this is possible!
In the week leading up race day (Sunday), I had loads of energy so did HITT training on the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, a slow run on Friday then rested. I didn’t carb load on Saturday – just ate my regular lunch and dinner and drank loads of water. Race day I got up two hours before the race and had my usual brekkie with a green tea.
People have mixed views on consuming energy gels during a half marathon. To me, I think if you have fuelled your body properly with clean foods in the lead up to the race, you don’t need it. I looked into the energy gels but saw they contained sugar and caffeine so they were a no go for me! Instead, I purchased the natural Capilano honey shots in case I needed something – but I didn’t.
I was feeling incredible on race day. Buzzing with energy, nerves and excitement. Unfortunately my training partner pulled out due to injury at the last minute so I was left to do the run solo. She gave me the best advice I could imagine though, “just cruise the first 10, use it as a warm up. The race then starts at the second 10km”. And I did just that!
I completed the 21.1km in 1hr and 42mins (and this even included a loo stop halfway!). I had so much energy that I sprinted the final km and finished with energy – an amazing feeling. After a half marathon, you have a window of around 30 minutes where the body is primed to replenish its carbohydrate stores and soak up muscle-repairing protein. I opted for water, green tea and a fresh drinking coconut, along with a banana and an acai berry bowl (full of antioxidants, rich in essential fatty acids and assists nutrient absorption). For me, post-race was just about getting on with the day as usual and refuelling my body with clean, healthy foods.
So did I rest for the following few days? Hell no! Why should I when I was feeling so amazing? I did give my body a break from running though and opted for Bikram yoga and circuit training instead.
And on that note, I opened my diary and ticked off number 10 on my bucket list, a half marathon. Now onto the next thing – a 30km trail run. Stay tuned!
* NB: whilst I only started running training two months out, I had a high level of fitness to start with and was already doing HITT training three to four times a week.
ferrorun says
Great post! What I am eating the day before my run and after is something I am really working on during my training now because it really does make a difference!
LazyGirlFitness says
Absolutely it does, particularly when training for a half like Kate did, or a full marathon (as it looks like you’re doing)! It’s very interesting to see how different things work for different bodies too – sometimes it’s a game of trial and error!
Dean says
Great read Kate. I enjoyed the part about not carb-loading there is a lot of data out there to support your decision, well done.
LazyGirlFitness says
Dean, the really interesting thing I found was just how well and full of energy Kate was during the couple of months leading up to the race, even though she didn’t follow the usual ‘rules’ around nutrition. She recovered really well too and was her usual ball of energy at our Tuesday training session (after racing on Sunday). There’s certainly no questioning whether a clean, mainly raw diet worked for her!