29/05/2021
****Sorry for the long post****
My diet plan for a 10km run for three months:
Every runner is different, so there's no one-size-fits-all formula, but if you're in need of some pre-race inspiration I am writing down some dietary tips and guidelines. I follow a healthy diet pretty much all the time but 3 months before the race I was strictly looking into what I put on my plate and religiously avoided junk. Except for the Eid day, I enjoyed few kilos of barfi on eid hahaha
I am a regular runner and run 15km per week, 3 times a week with 1 day of strength training. For this 10km run, I gradually increased the time, 500 m every week to reach the goal of 10km. I ran 10km twice as a practice run before the actual run.
Breakfast:
Now let’s talk about diet. Whenever I ran in the morning, I would only eat half of the banana and then do breakfast afterwards. Eating and going for a run is not ideal and it can make you throw up all the food. The reason behind it blood is directed towards the stomach for digestion and less blood is circulating in the limbs at the time of digestion. My normal breakfast included oats with banana, dried raisins, and full-fat milk. Banana provides the magic combination of slow-release carbohydrate and quick-release energy (you could also use another fruit, or stir in some honey. Use water, oat cashew milk if dairy upsets your stomach. My 2nd favourite breakfast is peanut butter on toast. It is easy to digest and light on the stomach. Breakfast is always followed by a cup of chai.
Around midmorning, I would eat a kiwi, orange, banana, apple any form of fruit whatever is available or a handful of mixed nuts if the fruit basket is empty.
Lunch:
For lunch, I always prefer a salad so I don’t fall asleep behind my computer screen. My bowl is filled to the top with mixed leaves like lettuce, rucola, watercress with a beans mix (red kidney beans, chickpeas, corn), boiled egg or piece of fish, chicken (any leftover of meat from the previous night’s dinner). If ever salad leaves were not available, I would replace those with boiled broccoli, cabbage, green peas and sprinkle some chunks of cheese, salt and pepper or masala on top.
Dinner:
Around midday, a cup of chai is necessary with 1 or 2 digestive biscuits or more fruits and nuts or some readymade soups sometimes. If not a chai fan, you could add a smoothie, a brilliant way to stay hydrated and intake essential nutrients. My dinner plate always consists of half vegetables (steamed, boiled, stirfried) and half meat E.g. stirfried salmon, chicken piece, on a non-stick pan. I usually steam the meat first and slightly fry it on a non-stick pan. If I am making a curry, I make sure there are enough vegetables in it to fill my plate and less liquid curry. Dinner is usually with one wholemeal roti. Among desi dinner recipies< I preferred palak gosht, aalo gobi ( aalo kam, gobi ziada), baingan ka bhurta, daal (fantastic source of protein).
On the running days, I am usually hungrier than on normal days. Therefore, I finish off the dinner with yoghurt or sometimes vegetable halwa but rarely. I did not take any supplements (except for Vitamin D), protein shakes. I prefer to tweak my diet and physical activity to stay healthy rather than relying on processed products.
Below are links to 10krun plans and running apps that I used to train
For pacing tips:
https://lmeldigitalcontent.blob.core.windows.net/$web/V10K/2021/10-weeks-to-10k/TVL10K_10WeeksTo10K_2021_Final.pdf
Train for 5 k first and then go for 10k C25K® - 5K Running Trainer
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.c25k&hl=en_GB
Good luck and feel free to ask questions :)
