Happy Monday! I hope that some of you have today off and are enjoying a wonderful 3 day weekend! Today is my last day off before school starts back up tomorrow! Lucky me, though, on Tuesdays I only have one class at 8:30am… haha easing back in I guess.
About 2 weeks ago, I started up my training for my half marathon in the beginning of April. Yesterday was long-run day, 9 miles!
Before my run, I enjoyed a banana smashed up and 1 T of PB, and then heated in the microwave. I’d seen Tina do this on her blog, so I thought I’d give it a try.
DEEEElicious.
I headed to the gym for the run. I thought about doing it outside because, despite the cold, it was pretty sunny yesterday. However, I’d been keeping an eye on sidewalks and knew that trying to navigate all the ice and snow covered paths would frustrated me way too much.
Weirdly, the gym was plenty entertaining, despite the fact that they were playing the same infomercial on all the televisions… I guess I’ve gotten used to treadmill long-runs, which is a good thing here in Chicago!
When I got back I made up some lunch. I wanted to get in some protein and veggies so I made some Veggie Egg White Spaghetti.
Veggie Egg-White Spaghetti
Ingredients:
1 small zucchini
1 and 1/2 cup kale
1 cup bean sprouts
4 liquid egg whites
Coconut Aminos (or soy sauce or other substitute based on your allergies)
nutritional yeast
Directions
Spiralize a small zucchini to make “spaghetti”. If you don’t have a spiralizer, use a vegetable peeler to make more fettuchini like “noodles”. Then steamed the kale and place on top of the zucchini. Steam the bean sprouts and then put them and the egg whites into a skillet and cook until the egg whites are done. Place contents of skillet on top of kale. Then, I placed the whole dish in the microwave for 30 seconds, because I prefer my zucchini to be warmed up. Then top the dish with some nutritional yeast and Coconut Aminos (like soy sauce, but soy and gluten free).
It was totally delicious and I scarfed it down! I love having zucchini as spaghetti, it’s fun!
However, about a half hour after eating lunch I started to feel very ill. I guess a large amount of veggies after a long run isn’t the best idea, but this was much worse than just an upset stomach. I had drank plenty of water before, during and after my run, but I had an awful headache and felt horribly nauseous for hours and hours afterwards.
Literally, laying on my bed curled up in a ball hoping I wouldn’t throw up…
I used to feel a little ill after long runs, but I’ve been doing 8 mile runs over break and never had any issues. I’m really not sure why this one was so bad!
I did manage to pull myself out of bed after a while and ended up making some Carrot Cake Protein Bars from Jamie Eason’s Livefit Trainer. I’ve heard several bloggers talk about her program for strength training and a high protein and veggie diet, and I wanted to try it myself! However, the program requires minimal cardio and since I’m also training for a half, I’ve decided this is just not a good time for me to try and do both!
I am, however, trying to implement some of her diet ideas. I’m definitely not following the diet completely since I definitely need carbs for running, but I am going to use her idea of eating six small meals a day, eating a lot more lean protein and veggies, and some of her recipes!
These Carrot Cake Protein bars were pretty good! I subbed the oat flour for Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Baking Powder. It probably made them more dense, but I thought they were delicious! And I’ve been wanting to make my own protein bars for a while now because buying bars can get really expensive! I think I’m going to try the chocolate one today!
To any runners out there: do you know what causes this ill feeling after long runs? Any suggestions for me?
Have you heard about Jamie Eason’s Livefit Trainer? What do you think about doing strength training and running training at the same time?
i’ve never had zucchini spaghetti – sounds delicious! i need to try it! i’m so sorry about your stomach… i’ve actually been battling the stomach flu the last day or so. NO FUN. i hope your upset tummy passed quickly!
I hope you feel better!!!!
I’ve heard that the upset stomachs are just from your body releasing all of your toxins. I’ve personally never done one, but I’ve spoken to several women who say they get very ill for at least a few hours after they run half marathons and marathons. Sounds like you’re doing everything right though!
By the way, your zucchini spaghetti looked amazing!
thanks for the info bailee, and you should try it! I love making zucchini spaghetti!
Oh no, sorry to hear you were feeling poorly, could it not have been just a random thing unrelated to your run? Hope your feeling much better now though!
It’s possible? But I really think I felt so nauseous because of all those veggies right after running. Hard to digest!
Too many veggies for anyone at any time will cramp and kill the stomach.
learning that quickly… I’ll have to do a better job of easing veggies in, I wasn’t eating as many while at home!
i do it all the time too…too many veggies…too much olive oil…too much bread….too much chocolate at one time…i’m stubborn !
I start my semester tomorrow too. gah, the beginning of a new semester always makes me super anxious. long runs make you ill..the thought of facing a semester of classes makes me ill! haha good luck on your new semester!
Hahahaha, I’m sure your semester will be fine! Haha at least you don’t have to show up already having done reading for the first day! I’m just about to tackle it now… ugh.
I would like the recipe for those carrot cake bars! I love carrot cake and homemade protein bars, so they would be a hit in my house.
I got them from Jamie Eason’s Livefit Trainer. Here’s the link: http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/video-jamie-eason-carrot-cake-protein-bars.htm
Maybe try eating something a little carby before running or try having a smoothie right after finishing your run. Sometimes when its warmer or I run longer distances on the treadmill I can’t stomach solids for a couple of hours so I’ll either throw together a smoothie or drink a protein shake (Trader Joe’s has some good low sugar ones) until I feel normal and ready to eat real food.
I hope your stomach feels better!
I think a smoothie is the best idea. I can’t eat bread right before because it’s hard for my stomach to digest (hence the banana). Thanks for the ideas!
I think it really depends on your goals ! If you wanna gain muscles, it’s gonna be harder if you keep running while doing weight lifting.
I like to do cardio, weight and yoga, I feel more balance this way. I tried 100% running, then 100% weight lifting. And right now I do a little of everything, and I like it more =)
I think I’m going to do a little of both. I enjoy weight lifting because I know having strong muscles is important for health and metabolism, but I LOVE running. I have so many running goals there’s no way I can cut it out!
Did you drink a lot of water before or after the run? And were you hands swollen or were you tired? One time after my half marathon, I developed water toxicity because I drank more than I sweat. I felt fine for about an hour after the run then got really, really nauseous. My hands were swollen, my head felt fuzzy, I couldn’t think clearly, and I wanted to puke for no reason. Fortunately, I ate some really salty food and it fixed itself. I had no idea what was going on until putting all the pieces together later that week after learning about the condition in sports nutrition. My blood was diluted of sodium and I was basically having all the symptoms of severe dehydration (oddly enough). Little did I know, runners DIE from this condition if it gets too severe!
Either way, glad you’re feeling better!
I think that’s exactly what happened to me. I realized later that I might need sodium, so I ended up drinking some hot water with vegetable bouillon in it! Haha tons of sodium. I definitely felt a little better after that.
I am sorry to hear you felt so sick! I felt like that a lot after long runs too–my body hated me. But it goes away after awhile– making the body be hardcore 😉
Some of those recipes sound great!
Haha I hope my body gets hardcore soon!
My stomach sometimes hurts after a particularly strenuous workout – to the point where I don’t want to eat… But that typically only lasts about an hour or so.
I love the idea of heating up a mashed banana I need to try it!
the banana and PB were so good heated up together!
your veggie egg white spaghetti looks AMAZING! i’m obsessed with the pumpkin protein bars! haven’t tried the carrot cake ones but they’re on my to-do list next!
Haha pumpkin is also on my list, along with chocolate!
Make sure you get plenty of electrolytes immediately when you’re done would be my suggestion.
good suggestion! I think that was a part of the problem too – too much water and not enough salt!
I hope you’re feeling better! I’ve never had the yucko feeling after a long run, but would definitely be interested in knowing the cause if you figure it out. Also…that peanut butter and banana trick sounds wonderful! I will definitely have to give it a try!
I just discovered your blog & that pasta looks amazing! I’m excited to check out some of your other recipes!
Thanks, Liz!
I think you made the right choice in choosing to hold off to start Jamies program until you’re done training for your half. You really won’t see the same results if you are siphoning off all your muscle building calories with cardio…. I haven’t done cardio in 2 months and I absolutely love it! 🙂
Yea, I figured I didn’t want to do the work and not get the results because I wasn’t following it completely!