How do you fuel your runs? A Guest Post by Holly from Running and Baking Oh My!

 Sunday is the day I use to meal plan and grocery shop for the week like most of you.  I wish I could say I was better about planning full meals and it is certainly a goal of mine.  As our mileage creeps up and we are approaching our busy fall race schedule, I am finding myself searching out meals that will both please the whole family AND properly fuel us for our running.  This guest post from Holly is sure to help me do both!!!!

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Properly Fueling for Runs

I am new to running long distance so the concept of fueling for runs is fairly new to me. I typically run early in the morning, so running while fasted has been my norm thus far. What does that mean, well, it’s pretty simple, I don’t eat before I run. I have learned for myself, while running long distance, I need some sort of fuel to help me get through those later miles. I ran 10 miles the other day and for the first 8 ½ miles, I was fine. In fact, I was more than fine. But those last 1 ½ miles, I crashed! This is where I think proper fueling will help me out!

I found the illustration below for “The Best Minimally Processed Food for Runners” on Pinterest and it linked back to a website called Runiverse. Using some items listed on the illustration and article at Runiverse, I am preparing a meal that would be a great source of fuel for runners to eat to get a great return of fuel while running.

Honey Teriyaki Salmon

Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Black Beans

Banana freeze icecream

Coffee

Honey Teriyaki Salmon  Serves 4

4 Salmon Filets

¼ Cup Soy Sauce

1 TBS grated fresh ginger

1 TBS Honey

1 TBS Lime Juice

1 garlic clove minced.

Make sure your salmon filets are skinless. Rinse the filets and lay them inside a large Ziploc bag, set to the side.

In a bowl whisk together the soy sauce, ginger, honey, lime juice and garlic. Whisk until fully incorporated.

Pour your marinade into the bag of salmon filets and press out as much air as you can then seal the bag. I shake things up a little to get all of the filets coated.

Refrigerate the filets in the bag all day. When you get home and are ready to cook them, remove from the fridge.

Cook the salmon filets in a skillet (sprayed with Pam) over medium heat. Cook for 5 minutes and then flip. Use some excess marinade to brush on top of the filets. Cook for about 5 more minutes (until they become opague in the center.) remove from heat.

Roasted Sweet Potatoes  4 sweet potatoes

4 sweet potatoes

Salt and Pepper

5-6 drizzles of EVOO or Coconut Oil

Peel and chop up the 4 sweet potatoes into chunks.

Place all of the sweet potoato pieces into t a large ziploc bag. Salt and Pepper as desired. Pour 5-6 drizzles of either Extra Virgin Olive Oil or Coconut Oil into the Ziploc bag. Seal, press out as much air as you can, then Shake it!!

I put my bag of potatoes in the fridge with my salmon to “marinade” all day.

Roast the sweet potatoes on a cookie sheet in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes. I do toss them at least 1 time during cooking. They should look a little caramelized on the outside when they are done cooking.

Black Beans

I use Goya or Progresso canned black beans. Cook them in a sauce pan over medium heat. I do like to add a squeeze of lime juice and S & P.

For Dessert, I love to make banana ice cream. It’s a quick, easy and still good for you treat!

Banana Freeze

2-4 Bananas

1 TBS Cocoa Powder

1 TBS  Almond Butter (or peanut butter)

Slice up 2-4 peeled bananas into coin size pieces. Put them on a plate or even in a Ziploc bag and freeze them. An hour in a deep freeze works well.

Put the Bananas into a food processor along with the cocoa and almond butter.

Process until it turns into a creamy ice cream looking treat.

Enjoy with some coffee!

 

 This meal would be a great source of protein, carbohydrates along with healthy fats, Omega-3 and antioxidants that will help fuel your run and help your body in recovery. There are a lot of meal options that can be built from the items listed HERE. Be sure to save it so you can refer back to it in the future.

Holly is a busy wife, mother of 4 kids, an accountant and so much more, who is trying to find some me-time to train for a half marathon and bake some cupcakes. Join her in the adventure at Running and Baking Oh My!

Links:

Runiverse    http://theruniverse.com/2012/05/best-foods/

Running & Baking Oh My!   http://runningandbakingohmy.blogspot.com

Twitter:  http://www.twitter.com/running_baking

Pinterest: