Cross Training Questions
INdulging Sweets During Cross Country Prep Training?
I am currently training for cross country. I run 30 minutes casually in the morning (6 AM), at around 6 PM I have a hard run (tempo, fartlecks, hill repeats, tapering, intervals-depends on the day). Anyway, my dad is trying to keep me off sweets, especially since next year is my junior year of cross country and I've been recieving letters from colleges to run on their cross country team. Is it really reasonable not to indulge in any sweets preparing for cross country. I do not see how damaging it could be to indulge in a few french fries or some ice cream. Yesterday I grabbed for a bite of cake and my dad scolded me!
Public Comments
- Okay, here's the thing. My roommate was a psycho cross country runner and would never ever eat anything bad for her at least four days before a race. She said it affected her race, because it developed the wrong kind of stored energy in her body. One night before a race we were having a b-day party for a friend and she ate a bunch of candy and sweets and had the worst race of her life the next day (she got plenty of sleep and everything else). Now, I personally think that you should have the right to eat something indulgent once in a while, but maybe before a race for a few days stick to healthy foods. You can't give up everything permanantly... don't become one of those crazy sports freaks that can't enjoy life a little!
- excess sugars/carbs kinda burns out your system processing those, especially carbs since it takes energy to break down the starches into sugars, and excess sugars get stored as fat so taking in more than you need is taking energy away from training. sugars are also very stimulative, i'm guessing eating sweets would only provide you with a temporary high before you burn out, and whatever gets stored would give you the same effect the next day while running or racing. as for indulgence, you could try replacing french fries with baked potatoes fluffed with sundried tomatoes, sea salt, pepper and scallions. you could also try replacing icecream with mashed frozen bananas and strawberries and raspberries with a couple of nuts on top. and um try replacing cake with maybe a layer of healthy biscotti cookies soaked in almond milk layered with fresh figs or dried figs, topped with nuts and a drizzle of honey. it's up to you to improvise, but I tend to find frozen bananas and strawberries much more satisfying, and an oh so great compliment to cross country training! for snacks, instead of sweets, try making cinnamon pecans, or honey pumpkin seeds or dried coconut pineapple pieces. there's tons of healthier options! raisins, sundried cherries and carrots with honey are so yummy too.
