Throughout my life, I have always been someone who lived an active lifestyle. Whether it was youth baseball, soccer, basketball, or volleyball, I have always enjoyed it. Growing up, I remember constantly having neighborhood races, whether it be running our entire neighborhood or just sprinting on the side of someone’s house. Little did I know, these races that were so small at the time, turned out to be something that I would appreciate greatly now that I am older.
In 6th grade, I was lucky enough to have a middle school that gave us the opportunity to try out for the cross country and outdoor track teams. Immediately, I fell in love with it, and ended up doing cross country and track up until senior year. After 7 years of constantly running, pushing yourself until you can’t anymore, and being surrounded by a team atmosphere, it teaches you many more things than possibly imagined.
In the 7 years of running that I experienced, I not only learned teamwork, hard work, discipline, and dedication, but so much more. Before becoming an avid runner, I had never realized how important it was for individuals to fuel their bodies with food and nutrients that were essential to us. The first way I learned this was at a middle school track meet running the 400, when suddenly, I collapsed on the track, and instantly saw black. After getting up with scraped knees and hands, I realized soon after that the reason this happened was because I was extremely dehydrated. In fairness, I figured, “If my friends aren’t drinking that much water, I think I’ll be fine too.” Turned out, this wasn’t the case.
I can’t say that this was the last time that I passed out due to dehydration, but at least after this, I knew what I did wrong. For some reason, I literally just never drank water. By my senior year, I realized that so much of my high school running was impacted by nutrition. When I ate well, I ran well, but when I wasn’t eating well, I wouldn’t do as well. Although I can’t say I am sure that the reason I was so burnt out running senior year was because of my nutrition, I can say that it played a big part. Sanford Health states, “Runners need fuel during training. A runner logging 50 miles a week is burning, on average, 80-100 calories per mile (over 500 extra calories per day) on top of what they usually eat to maintain their weight.” Looking back, I can say that I was not doing this.
Progressive Performance states, “Food is fuel for our bodies. Food is how we will reach our health and fitness goals.” My point is, I wish I knew how important it was to fuel myself before I realized that my days of running for competition were over. As much as I loved it, and miss it, by the end, I definitely realized that my body was ready for a break. Because of this, I hope that my blog can encourage you to eat to fuel you and your daily activities, whether working out or not, because food is fuel.
Sources:
https://progressiveperformance.com/food-is-fuel-for-your-body/
https://news.sanfordhealth.org/orthopedics/eating-enough/
It is so easy to forget how important food is, especially when you value your fitness. I have fallen habit to not eating as much as I should or not eating at all in order to “not ruin what I just worked on.” However, I have gotten into cardio lately, which has shown me that I HAVE to eat if I want to be able to ruin three miles without being light-headed. I love this blog post and how it values the importance of food.
I really enjoyed reading this post! Although I am not a runner, I enjoy frequently exercising (usually a mix between cardio and weight lifting/strength training exercises) as well. I only recently realized how important it was to fuel your body with the right ingredients, and to drink enough water. I think I only realize I am dehydrated when I start to get bad headaches, which I suppose is my body letting me know that I’m not taking care of it as well as I should. Like you, I only realized the importance of nutritious eating before exercising after eating either complete junk food or not enough food before working out, and then realizing how much more tired I was than usual. I also appreciated the research you added to explain your experiences and connect it to a real-life lesson. Thanks for such an interesting read!
This is such an interesting blog! Nutrition is a huge factor in our lives. Especially hydration. When I was a kid, my mom would always tell me to drink water all the time. Of course, I did not listen to her then, but now, I understand. It is the same with food. Now and then, I forget to eat lunch or dinner, or do not have time. This affects the whole rest of my day. I get extremely tired, and realize it is because I do not have proper nutritional habits. Great post!
When I played basketball in high school, I was most definitely not eating and drinking enough before games and practices to reach my peak performance. This was mainly due to the anxiety that I would experience beforehand, and if I did eat anything, there was a good chance I could throw it up. I wish I would’ve been able to find that balance while I was still playing.
Nutrition and hydration in sports is definitely an underrated in terms of how much it impacts your performance. I know this first hand because I wrestled for about 10 years and have seen over and over again how eating and drinking right can change the outcome of a match. Of course, in wrestling you often had to choose between eating/drinking and making weight, which often meant competing on an empty stomach after drinking only 16oz of water in the last day or two. Maybe if you do a similar post in the future you can include some specific information as to some strategies or example meals you ate that helped (or didn’t help) you in running?
As someone who is also very involved in an active lifestyle, I agree in that food and water is fuel for the body. I am usually pretty good with the nutrition part, but I have a lot of trouble drinking enough water. I have to force myself to think about drinking water to actually do it, but when I do, I have noticed that my performance and how I feel while exercising is so much better. I look forward to reading more of your posts!
We have the same exact problem. I am TERRIBLE about drinking water and literally the only way I can drink water is through a straw and I have to force myself even then. But you’re so right, running takes so much out of you that you absolutely need to be conscientious about how much you eat. Passing out is so scary so I try my best to avoid it at all costs.