Week 5: What to eat before your run

A little bit about our week (family reunion + the 4th + drug testing), plus this week's meal plan, grocery lists, and Jackie's deep dive on how to fuel before your run.

Hi friends,

Happy 4th of July weekend! The 4th probably takes the cake as my favorite holiday—good food, together time, and fun traditions (hello, post-parade donuts!). Plus it’s easier to ignore the consumerism that’s so prevalent during Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas.

I’m grateful to live in this country, even as I acknowledge that things are far from perfect. There are so many people who are trying to do good on so many levels and in so many ways, and I’m proud to be a part of a nation that keeps on trying.

We spent the first half of the week at Clayton’s family reunion. Fun family time, not a lot of sleep!

We were in charge of a group lunch, and I took the easy way out: sandwiches. We provided bread, sub rolls, turkey, ham, condiments, guac, pb, honey, and jam. Plus corn mango salsa, tomato salsa, chips, Cape Cod chips, and a fruit & veggie tray. It was a good spread! Very accurate to Clayton’s favorite (and simple!) lunches. The corn mango salsa, of course, got rave reviews.

July 4th is the one day of the year where my running comes before Clayton’s running. :) I had fun in the local 5k with my brothers, dad, cousins, aunts, and uncles. Clayton pushed the girls in the stroller and cheered us on!

After enjoying a late night of fireworks, we woke up to pounding on our door at 6:06 a.m.—a visit from the U.S. anti-doping agency. Clayton’s in the testing pool, and while I would have rather gotten more sleep this morning, I’m appreciate USADA’s efforts to keeping the sport clean.

Here’s to a great week ahead, and a lot of good eats!

Take care,

Ashley

Breakfast

Clayton runs twice a day, and his morning run is usually 10-12 miles. So breakfast is a big event! We aim for protein and lots of carbs, particularly carbs now that his training is intensifying. In addition to this week’s options, we’ll serve things like toast, hash browns, or granola each morning.

Lunch

Clayton usually eats big breakfasts (post morning run) and big dinners (post afternoon run), so we keep lunch time pretty simple. His typical go-to is turkey sandwiches with pretzels or chips. We’ll include a serving of tuna this week for omega-3s as well.

Snack

I’m excited for these! I’ve been on a coconut kick lately, plus I’ve got some bananas ripening to destruction on my counter, so this combo is perfect.

Dinner

Monday: easy mileage

We enjoyed these at the beginning of the build, and I’m happy to see them again. Now that Clayton’s mileage is higher, we’ll round out the meal with a side of fruits and veggies—probably cantaloupe and carrots for us. These sandwiches are yummy on croissants, or we’ve also been enjoying these wheat sub rolls from Walmart.

Tuesday: workout

A favorite at our house! I’ve used tilapia before with great results. You could swap white fish for salmon for more omega-3s, although it will change the flavor profile a little bit.

Wednesday: easy mileage

Chicken salad sandwich leftovers.

Thursday: workout

Pickled onions, mangos, and guac? Sign me up!

Friday: easy mileage

We’ll serve this over noodles, but rice could be a great option too. And we’ll have sourdough and broccoli to round things out.

Saturday: long run

Chuck roast slow cooker tacos leftovers. I might reimagine this as a bowl situation and use some of the cilantro lime crema from the fish taco bowls.

Sunday: recovery day

Pesto bruschetta chicken leftovers.