After the turbulent last week, I was able to collect myself a bit this week. I had the opportunity to exchange ideas with other runners. At this point, I would like to thank everyone who has supported me so far. Be it with kind messages, with tips or simply by accepting that they see me less at the moment. With all this, I was able to cope well with the last week.
I know that not every workout has to be perfect (even though I would like it to be). I know that the pace doesn't matter for the long runs (even though I still want it to). I also know that conditions will be different on race day. The training workload beforehand won't be as high, the adrenaline will be flowing and I'll go to the start with a completely different mindset and motivation than to the training run. And even though I knew all this beforehand, it was good to be reminded of it again. And that from now on I will always remind myself of it.
But another point I was asked about was nutrition. So far, I have not eaten any differently than usual during the preparation, because I have always trained and run a lot before. I make sure that my diet is balanced and healthy. I only eat sugar at the weekend. Every now and then I count calories to get a feeling for the relation between food and training and to see what the ratio of carbohydrates, fats and proteins is. But generally I eat what I feel like. And those who know me (and see my WhatsApp status) know that I'm not completely averse to a donut, muffin or cake. But only at the weekend, of course!
When you think of running, you automatically think of carbohydrates. They provide the fastest energy during a run. But especially during long runs, there comes a point when they are used up. Then the body turns to fats. Of course, it does this beforehand, but when the carbohydrates are gone, it only has the fats. So for the half marathon it is important that the carbohydrate stores are well filled and that the body also copes well with the fat metabolism. I'm pretty sure my body can do the latter. I think my problem is that my carbohydrate stores are not always optimally filled. On the one hand, because there isn't always enough time between my workouts to regenerate and refill them. And on the other hand, I sometimes don't manage to eat as many calories as I burn. Sometimes I'm in deficit by 500 to 1000 calories for days. Of course, I could change that very quickly with cake, but that's not the point. Cake (unfortunately) has short-chain carbohydrates and I need long-chain carbohydrates.
So I still have to optimise my diet over the next few weeks. The training, on the other hand, I will continue as before. Because that's really good. Maybe I'll just add a little variety now and then. Like this week, when I did a stair run instead of interval training. Seven times up and down 400 steps. Fortunately, thanks to some nice company, it wasn't quite as strenuous as it sounds.