In terms of my four to five runs a week I do them first thing in the morning typically starting at about 5.30am to 6.30am, and I do them having not eaten anything, known as a fasted run.
The reason I do this is based on forcing my body to learn how to burn it's carbs and fat stores more efficiently, so on race day when I do fuel up pre-race, and depending on distance top up at regular intervals, it learns to make the efficient use of the fuel I provide - that's the theory and based on the recent Sunday long runs, I am mastering the ability to keep sufficiently topped up so I do bonk late in the run.
The exercise aspect is only one part of my approach, with the other being how much and what I eat each day, and for that I use MyFitnessPal to help keep me on the straight and narrow.
A typical mid-week running day, I allow 1800 calories plus the calories earned from the run, which seems to be about 700 to 900 calories.
When I get back from my run, I have a cup of milk then a large bowl of cereal, typically muesli but currently Shreddies (as they need using them up) with a similar amount of milk = 500 calories.
Lunch will be soup and roll, salad with cheese or some meat, or last night's dinner leftovers, so anything from 400 to 600 calories.
During the day, snacks will be mainly fruit based, such as banana, apple(s), pear, orange etc plus breakfast bar style food = upwards to 500 calories.
Dinner will be about 800 calories.
Total = 500 + 600 + 500 + 800 = 2400 calories based on the maximums. Given my "allowance" is 1800 + 700 = 2500, then it is all about right, and typically I will be 200 to 300 calories each of these days.
I eat less on non-running days with Monday being an exception as the Sunday long run makes me very hungry the following day, so I tend to merge Sunday and Monday together.
I hope this makes sense.
Good work, keep up the blog it's a good read and has been motivating me to set a proper plan.
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