ashleyd /

Marathon Weight Gain

Today’s lovely guest post is from one of my favorite running bloggers who inspires many of us to run that extra mile each week. I mean heck, she eats marathons for breakfast on an almost weekly basis; or so it seems! If you’re new to my site first and foremost HELLO! Second of all, I hope you’ll stay for a while and check out not only SkinnyRunner’s story but also the other stories that have been shared over the past year as part of my Marathons+Moderation series. Not, I’ll turn it over to today’s expert and let her share her tips for managing the dreaded marathon weight gain.

Hey y’all, it’s SkinnyRunner. I blog over at the aptly titled SkinnyRunner about a bunch of crap, I mean, marathons and stuff.

When Ashley asked me to contribute to her Marathons + Moderations Series I thought, Well, that’s an honor. And then I thought, Uhhhhhh what am I supposed to write about?!

I thought about injury prevention, compression and Garmins, but decided to talk about something far more dreaded: marathon weight gain.

How?! It doesn’t even make sense! You run all these miles, put in months of work and end up gaining weight?!

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Life is a cruel, unfair thing.

Running is a very efficient exercise meaning you burn a lot of calories, but along with that comes a big appetite: your body needs fuel to run all those miles.

Fast forward 4 months: you’ve been training hard and have become used to your long runs and refueling heartily. Now you have 2-3 weeks of imposed taper where you still want to eat (marathon hunger, baby!) like you have a 20 miler on tap, but you’re resting.

Race day comes, you have an amazing day, and then suddenly it’s over and you’re again supposed to reverse taper and take up to a month off to rest and recover. But you still have that big appetite that you’ve gotten used to in the past 4 months! You’re enjoying your bigger meals and extra snacks, but your activity level isn’t matching your intake.

And that my friends, is how you can (some people do, some don’t) gain weight while running a marathon.

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So is there a solution or should I just never ever run except to the bathroom?

I would say to NOT run a marathon if you’re doing it ONLY to lose weight.

I love running and think everyone who can, should run one marathon in their lives to experience that amazing sense of accomplishment and culmination of all your hard work, but don’t do one just as another diet fad or way to drop pounds.

You might lose weight, you might not, but you could miss out on the enormity of your accomplishment because you’re only focused on a number on the scale. And frankly, I’ve heard of a lot more people gaining a couple pounds during marathon training than losing them.

Start using MODERATION to eventually match your intake (calories) to your outtake (exercise).

Enjoy yourself post-race: you deserve that beer, burger and whatever else you want. It’s your day; own it and be proud.

In the days after, slowly start taking a look at your diet to see what, if any changes need to be made. I’m not saying to drastically drop to a 1300 calorie diet all of the sudden because you’re not running 50 miles a week. There’s nothing moderate about that.

Instead, look at your afternoon snack: say for the past 3 months you’ve enjoyed a huge fruit smoothie and peanut butter sandwich. Great, nice and healthy. But now, maybe eat the same smoothie with an open-faced sandwich. You’re not doing anything drastic or depriving yourself while still making small adjustments to your eating.

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{That was a banana milkshake, not a smoothie}

Find another physical outlet or activity besides running.

Post-marathon it’s recommended to take a day off for every mile you’ve run, so nearly a month. Your body’s probably beat up and you might be burnt out mentally so take a couple complete rest days.

And then find something else active to do: maybe it’s simply walking, or taking a yoga class; whatever it is, do something. Your body will feel better, you will mentally feel better, and you’ll probably make healthier choices too.wordexercise2

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Don’t make it a big deal.

Life goes on and in the big picture, it just isn’t a big deal. That bump on the scale might be from muscle you’ve gained in your thighs and legs from all the miles you’ve logged. Either way, those legs carried you 26.2 miles, hot dang!

And if the couple extra pounds really bother you, you can always sign up for another marathon. Who wants to go run one with me?!

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What are your tips for keeping your weight in check when you’re training for a marathon, triathlon, or other major event?

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ashleyd /

Core Exercise for Runners

While I love challenging workout DVD’s like Physique 57, sometimes having an exercise that I can do anywhere without any props is the absolute best option.  Just in time for my two weeks for my 10 days of travel starting tomorrow, this core workout is deceptively difficult and has multiple benefits.

During this morning’s personal training session, Lauren tossed in a new core exercise which she said would be perfect for me to integrate into my daily plank and pushup routine. The dead bug is a core exercise that engages the entire core while using flexion from the hip which can help strengthen weak hip flexor muscles. This is one of the core exercises Lauren, my trainer, especially recommends for runners.

Without further adieu, here is the dead bug, as modeled by moi.

Begin with hands straight above chest, in line with shoulders and legs at 90 degrees.

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Extend right leg while extending left arm.photo

Return to center starting position.

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Extend opposite leg this time while extending opposite arm.

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Repeat this move 15 times on each side and complete 2-3 times depending on fitness ability.

If you’re interested in another killer ab series, check out my 360 degree plank workout that I posted back in March.

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ashleyd /

NYCM Training Week 8: Running on Tired Legs

It’s amazing the difference a few weeks can make.  But before we get into running, I want to share a few fun links and things I’m loving right now. Because hey, sharing is caring, right?

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Okay, back to marathon training.

Last week I was excited to embark on another week of training, feeling far better than the week before after a few quality runs. Overall my mind was in a better place. This week I’ve already spent time analyzing this week and next week’s plan, figured out how it will work with my upcoming travel plans to Seattle and Los Angeles, studied this week’s running splits, and spent time focusing on the other important non-running aspects of marathon training. Instead of being worried I’m really excited for this week training, especially after tonight’s tough run. Gia is great at reminding me that every workout won’t be easy and the ones that happen on tired legs tend to be some of the most important. There will be times during the marathon that my legs feel “too tired” but I’ll need to push through. So, while I didn’t hit the 30 miles I so wanted this week, I did log each of my runs and felt stronger during them than weeks past.

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Tonight’s 5 mile run over the Queensborough Bridge after 19 miles in the past 2 days was no walk in the park. Instead of worrying over my speed I told my co-workers that my legs felt heavy and that I’d run behind them. In his normal style, Marcial refused, and instead made up for my silence as I focused on running by telling me about his fun weekend. Since I had gone out slow and steady, by the time we came back over the bridge I was able to let loose and pick up speed to the point that I finished our last mile running down 2nd Avenue at a sub 9 pace. Not bad for tired legs!

This week’s workouts will include a new mid-week distance record and some fun West Coast running with Bo!

  • 5 mile run
  • Personal training session
  • 5 mile progression run
  • 8 mile mid-week run
  • Yoga/Cross Training DVD
  • Hiking
  • 10 mile bridge race+warmup+cooldown miles

Oh and last but not least, guess who crushed his first double digit run in over a year and then has done 8 more miles since Saturday? BO! His doctor has given him a clean bill of health to start training for the New York City marathon and we’re both so thrilled. Fingers and toes crossed he’ll make it to the starting line with me this year! What better time now that we’ll have his sister Meg to cheer us on along the sidelines?! I’m so pumped to have my running buddy back!

If you’re training right now, how’s it going?

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