Nourishment – RunningWell

Hi All!

Hope you’re all doing well and staying cool, hydrated and replenished. All three of those things take a lot more work in these conditions, so don’t take it for granted. Your body’s usual cues for thirst, nutrition and electrolytes/nutrients may be slightly off as you adapt to the heat, so make sure you pay attention and stay on top of it.

On that note, what I’ve been thinking about is an interesting analogy I heard about workouts as nourishment for our bodies. Before we nourish ourselves however, we need to have an objective. Is today a long, aerobic base building day? Then it is nourishing to push yourself a bit longer than usual through some fatigue so that your body adapts to going longer. However, it is not nourishing to take the pace too fast and finish a ragged wreck. In that case you’re over-stuffing yourself and won’t be able to adapt correctly. If it takes you more than a day or two to recover from an effort, you’ve over-stuffed yourself.

If your workout is a VO2 max workout then it is nourishing to work hard within your range. However, adding an extra rep or running someone else’s pace is cramming yourself full and will not help – your body won’t benefit from the extra work. Just as your body will pee out too many multi-vitamins taken at once, there is a certain dosage of exercise that your body just won’t be able to do anything with and you won’t adapt. It’s been said many times that these types of workouts are best left with the feeling that you could do one more. That is nourishing. Your body is adapting and getting the exercise nutrients it needs for the purpose.

If your workout is a recovery run, it is nourishing to go by effort and feel. If you’re finishing your “recovery” runs tired or find them hard, they are not nourishing you. If you’re feeling tired after 20 minutes – stop. There is no recovery to be gained by doing more. It’s empty calories to your body.

So as we continue on our summer training plans, let’s remember to understand the intention behind what we’re doing so that we can nourish ourselves appropriately. A training plan will never be written out perfectly in an all-knowing way of how each individual will react and adapt. So be smart about listening to your bodies’ signals and understanding your own needs. Give it what it’s telling you it needs, not necessarily what the training plan says it needs.

Alright – onto tomorrow’s Lakeshore workout! (I will be there but eating my broccoli and doing mobility vs. the workout, but will cheer you on)

3-4 x 1200 @10K pace w 2 min rec. Here’s the twist: take 45 sec rest at 800. So they look like 800 (45 sec rec), 400. This is because it’s hot and we’re building back up to longer reps at the right pace. I don’t want these to turn into a tempo (you already do those) and we’re also building the strength to hold the pace. In this heat, a little reprieve partway through will give you the physiological benefits you need. We’ll close that gap later on! For some ppl it will be more nourishing to do 3, for others 4. I trust your judgement. (hint – if you’re falling off your paces – stop)
If doing this as fartlek: 3 mins (45 sec) 1:30 – repeat 3-4 times

Have fun and see you in the am!!!

Seanna