FOOD, us runners, (that’s me) love the stuff, whether it’s before a run, after a run or even on the run. In fact, I get many of my family often say I could eat for England, well you could say that about any of us after running a half or full marathon. I’m going to share some of my experiences with food over my three years of running!

Food Is Fuel

One thing I’ve learnt since I’ve started running is how food is so important as fuel. Imaging your car getting low on petrol, it’s the same principle, if you don’t eat, you won’t run as well as you could. I’ve learnt this whilst running, there’s been plenty of occasions when I haven’t fueled properly, I’ve been to the gym once on an empty stomach and quickly realised it was bad idea after 20 minutes before suddenly almost grinding to a halt.

Food Is Your Reward

Food is your reward, if you go and run a 15 mile run or even a 5k, use fuel as your reward. Be careful not to over do it though, a lot of people don’t realise how many calories are in things, for example there’s 1,500 calories in a big bag of Celebrations, on average you burn `100 calories for every mile you run, be careful you don’t eat all of them though! I find the more I run the healthier I want to eat anyway especially before a race.

Food Is Your Secret Weapon

Yep, that’s right, if you were a running superhero, food is your secret weapon. Use food to your advantage, for example when I come back from a long run I’ll eat a protein bar which I know will strengthen my muscles for my next run whilst repair any damage. I’ll drink chocolate milk which also strengthens me. I’ll also eat plenty of pasta or eat a bowl of porridge before I run which I know will give me the carbs I need to get through. If Batman could run he’d use food as his weapon!

Do Not Feel Guilty

Whatever you eat, NEVER feel guilty, I find it so difficult to accept the food I’ve eaten. Every time I eat, I kind of feel guilty, I know I’m able to eat slightly more food than non-runners, especially on long run days but I just find it so difficult to accept this. I often think, “if I eat this, I’ll get fat again”, it’s so difficult to mentally change my thinking especially after losing 6 stone of weight. I know that if I keep running or exercising I’ll never go back to the weight I was. Keep believing everyone…