Food For Thought--Part II

Distance training will change the way you look at food.

In a big way.

As a non-runner, I saw food as a source of pleasure.

A social-facilitator when meeting up with friends.

And an indulgence whilst watching TV--especially a Bronco game. I mean, hey, nothing like snarfing an entire cheese-lover's pizza dipped in garlic butter and ranch dressing to satisfy the palette, right?

Distance training changed all of that.

Big time.

I have found pre-race snarf-fests like that will make for some truly miserable stops at the aid station porta-johns--assuming their are some.

Distance training DEMANDS we change the way we look at food.

The change begins not in the isles of the grocery store.

But in our heads.

Because first,  food must be viewed as more than a source of PLEASURE.

It must be viewed as a source of FUEL.

For our body.

And our mind.

To function at peak condition.

Especially when the course gets tough.

And it WILL get tough.

When we change the way we look at food, I think our shopping list changes.

Automatically.

And for the better.

Think about it.

If you view a Totino's meat-lover's pizza and 2-liter bottle of Mountain Dew through the "lens" of good fuel or bad fuel instead of the "lens" of pleasure, I think the contents of your shopping cart HAS to change.

This is especially true after some hard lessons on the trails.

Lessons that include long runs involving bathroom breaks in the woods where there are no bathrooms--or toilet paper.

A result of carbo-loading on Bud Lites and smothered chimichangas the evening before.

But here's what's cool...

A great diet will begin to yield great performances....

And great performances will yield a great diet...

Thus a wonderful feedback loop begins.

Success breeds more success.

But there's more...

A killer diet to super-charge the training up those gnarly hills will spill over into your NON-running life.

Opting for hot cocoa over the Double Dutch Fudge ice cream after dinner will make for better sleeping.

Grabbing the Chobani pineapple yogurt over the Lamar's 12-inch maple doughnut means not "crashing" for your 1 o'clock class Accounting class.

I'm serious.

In other words...

Saying "bon appetit" to the right foods and saying "thanks anyway" to the wrong foods will not only help us push through and go the distance on the trails.

But help us push through and go the distance in LIFE.

AMJ