WIAW #14: Long “Runger” Day

 

Here we go again – a post featuring a WIAW of my summer bar study eats! Since last week was National Running Day, I had wanted to post this last week, but due to my frequent races this month didn’t squeeze in a regular weekend long run the past couple weeks and turned yesterday into my substitute long run day instead. So today I’m sharing with all of you just how much I consume on one of these days. My “runger” is intense and long-lasting, from 30-60 minutes after the run is over sometimes through the next day. I should also mention that the typical long run of 8-10 miles isn’t all I do – whether I’m in Connecticut and walking Sasha several times, or in the city out and about, there’s an additional 3-5 miles on any given day. Especially this summer, when those are the breaks I get in my run-eat-study-repeat routine. Which might be part of what feeds my runger!

 

Pre-run breakfast: I was in a dark chocolate kinda mood when I woke up, after seeing so many people munching on chocolate energy bars at the retro race. Still not a chocolate cake fan, but I always love my dark chocolate, and my double chocolate chip oatmeal cake definitely fits the bill. Combined with an iced decaf coffee and a Pink Lady apple, it was the perfect fuel for my morning 9 miles. I will say that I typically couldn’t stomach this much before a run, which is why I tend to stick to lighter bites of energy for weekday running fuel. I go with oatmeal cakes only when I’m waiting awhile before running, and that usually happens on weekends, because nobody’s got that kind of time on a weekday morning! However, yesterday I woke up around 7:30am to a gray and gloomy sky, and decided to make myself this breakfast treat. I ate around 8am, and then I spent awhile doing some bar practice questions and making flashcards, not heading out for my run until a few minutes to 10am. That meant I had a full hour and a half to digest!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lunch: After a nice ten-minute cool down lap around the block with Sasha, I headed inside to shower. Sure enough, about 30 minutes after the end of my run, I began to feel that my-stomach-is-an-empty-pit feeling, especially since I had waited awhile after eating to run in the first place. I quickly sliced up some cucumber and had some cucumber and baby carrots while I downed a bottle of water to rehydrate. This was around noon. I grabbed some leftover brown rice and sautéed veggies out of the fridge, along with my go-to Costco grilled chicken strips, and threw it all together in a bowl with a good dousing of Parmesan cheese. That heated up in the microwave in no time, and I chowed down like a champ! I read a few blogs while eating. After that, I made a few more flashcards while snacking on a combination of Kay’s gluten-free pretzels and Skinny Pop popcorn with a wedge of Jarlsberg cheese. Now, it was nearly 1pm by this time, an hour after I first started eating, and I wasn’t done yet. I munched on a Granny Smith apple while finishing up with the remainder of the day’s lecture on my laptop and reviewing the flashcards I’d made earlier. And finally, I enjoyed a Greek yogurt with some gluten free apple cinnamon O’s mixed in. So my post-run runger-feeding lunch took about 1 1/2 hours from start to finish, and came in five courses!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was snacking again around 3:30pm on something sweet – a Peanut Butter Puff-in-a-Mug with a scoop of cherry vanilla ice cream, and some berries on the side. I paired this with a tall glass of decaf iced coffee.

 

 

 

 

Dinner: Another multi-course affair, this time beginning with a cucumber and seaweed salad, then moving on to a main course of a grilled chicken burger with olive oil Asiago cheese, grilled asparagus, and rice and veggie dolmades. I snacked on a few slices of cheese while the grill was going!

 

 

 

Dessert: Some more of that delicious cherry vanilla ice cream, served up with rainbow sprinkles! And some juicy watermelon to follow for a refreshing finish. And a raspberry macaron, just because.

 

 

 

 

But wait… that wasn’t actually the end of my day’s eats! That came around 8pm, when after talking Sasha for a walk around the block, I polished off a cup of Corn Chex and an Empire apple with peanut butter for an evening snack.

 

 

 

 

 

And there you have it! Do you experience “runger” on your long run days, or the day after?

 

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