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Sometimes a long run is more than a long run. It’s social hour (well, three hours) and therapy, emotional recalibration and guided tour of one’s own backyard. This morning it was all these things and more. Twenty-two miles seems like a daunting distance and, no matter how much experience you have, it is. This morning’s training run was helped out by great weather (clear/40s) and, as always, endless discussion. As it usually does, the topic of nutrition came up. I was pleased to learn that my friend Yetik, who occasionally comments at Eating Plants, has reached the point of becoming vegan. Perhaps not incidentally, he looked and ran better than I’ve seen in at least a year. He’s big on almond butter.
The danger of the long distance run is that it can waste you for the rest of the day. The way to prevent this, I have learned, is through nutrient dense pre-and post-run meals. Fifteen minutes before a run I’ll eat a banana with a piece of wheat toast covered in avocado and a dusting of nutritional yeast. This morning I should have eaten a little more as I started to feel incredibly hungry at mile 20, so hungry that a slice of pizza sitting in the middle of the street looked really appetizing. After the run, I had the meal pictured above—a meal that I’m immodestly deeming the best recovery bowl of food ever: quinoa, amaranth, blueberries, flaxseed, nutritional yeast, and toasted pumpkin seeds. Delicious. Nutrient dense. Restorative.
A lot of runners are addicted to gels and goos and power bars and such things*, but I’d gently suggest that real food can deliver as much, if not more, in terms of preparation for and recovery from one of the most satisfying and natural things a human can do: move through space, talk, breath, and enjoy the world around us.
* Ward, no offense intended here.
None pf this is without cost to the environment or the social cost of neo colonialism as subsets of the externalities, or unquantified costs of capitalism. Similarly for bananas and Amaranth
Quinoa is delicious! but the indigenous Peruvians who grow it can evidently no longer afford to buy it and instead have made dietary substitutes of cheap wheat and corn. The externalities of intensified Quinoa growing have made life harder in terms of the already above market level water costs and resultant prices incurred through the sale of Peru’s riparian rights to a Spanish company 15 years ago. We should all be against all forms of oppression and quinoa consumption is an issue we should all consider our role in.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jan/16/vegans-stomach-unpalatable-truth-quinoa
Though there may be a seed (not a grain, in this case) of truth in that quinoa article, it is sloppily researched and more wrong than right in several respects, as a good look at the comment thread will reveal. Here’s a more sophisticated view:
http://ain-bolivia.org/2011/05/bolivian-quinoa-questions-production-and-food-security/
Excellent article. Yes the concept of market substitutes is more complex than the Guardian portrays. Still, its content was confirmed for me firsthand by a group of indigenous Peruvians I worked with n a presentation for Global Justice for Animals and the Environment where we helped stop GMOs in Peru in November. Similar economics at work in GMO context in Mexico where Mexicans can not afford native maize and eat the GMO shit instead because it is subsidized and sold at below market cost. The locavore thing is at play here as well
Thanks for the observation that the joy of good food extends beyond just its taste. That’s a quality that gourmands and foodies may not appreciate as much as those who regularly exercise.
James, here is a lecture on running and thinking that I’m sure you would want to attend if you had the chance. It’s by AR philosopher Mark Rowlands.
http://www.theschooloflife.com/shop/runningandphilosophywithmarkrowlands/
And here is a piece by Rowlands on animal morality that everyone will probably want to read.
http://www.aeonmagazine.com/being-human/mark-rowlands-animal-morality/
Appreciate the link to the London lecture, Taylor, where I learned of Rowland’s riveting-sounding book “The Philosopher and the Wolf”; am going to track it down through the library’s loan program pronto.
Thanks, too, for pointing us to his piece on animal morality. That reminds me, I forgot to post my reply to your own essay, which you referenced earlier this month here: http://james-mcwilliams.com/?p=2935. I’ll do that right now.
Hi There,
First off, thank you for such a great and informative blog.
I have a question regarding long runs and fueling. Are you saying that you do not fuel at all during a long run? Do you just eat before and after?
I do eat before, but I find I need additional fuel during the longer runs — or at least that’s what I have thought. I do make my own gels though, out of dates, lime and lemon zest, salt and seaweed flakes. Thanks.
Dawn,
I’d love to get a copy of your gel recipe. How do you carry them? Generally, when I run over marathon distance, I try to eat 300 calories an hour, usually in the from of gatorade, sweet potatoes, and bananas. For marathons, I motor through with gatorade and water. Nothing else. Glad you like the blog and I’d love to hear more about your experiments with nutrition and running.
James
Oh thanks so much for getting back to me. If you don’t mind me adding a link, here is the actual recipe for my gels http://rouxbe.com/recipes/4817/text While it might not sound so delicious, I have many skeptics say “oh wow, this is actually really good”.
I usually take in about one gels worth about every 45 mins to an hour. When I make my own, I just add the mixture to a gel flask that I have. Sometimes, I water it down a bit, just to make it easier to consume/digest. I can fit about 5 gels worth into my little flask.
I also make some pretty delicious “power cookies” that are a nice treat after a long run. They are inspired by a Whole Foods cookie that I could never get the recipe for, so I just made up my own version http://rouxbe.com/recipes/3174/text
I would love to know if you try the gels or cookies and what you thought of them.
Cheers!