3 things before getting to my workouts from the week:
1) Recovery after a stomach virus is real.
Although I wasn’t even actively sick for that long, not eating normally followed by then dealing my time of the month has left me more tired than usual which means taking extra time to get back to feeling 100% when running.
I don’t even understand how my paces have been what they have been. It’s like my legs are there but the rest of me does not feel up to the same speed even though my body is running that speed. Does that even make sense? It wasn’t until Saturday’s long run that I can say I felt truly myself.
2) Yoga has been put on the back burner.
3) I need to eat my pre-run breakfast within 30 minutes to one hour (maximum) before my workout.
If I try to start my workout much later than that window, my workout is just not right. I do not feel my best. So really, the time of morning that I run isn’t the issue, it’s more the time I wake up, eat and then go outside.
So what I am saying is, I can sleep later and run just fine at a later than normal run time for me so long as I don’t wake up early and then run a few hours later. It happened to me twice this week. I got up regular early time but ran over an hour later than normal which was two hours after breakfast. Not okay!!
Monday – Pure Barre Mile High DVD #1 & 5 Miles
My only plan for my run was 5 miles with hopefully 3 miles of negative splits followed by 2 miles where it felt comfortable. This run felt good!
Tuesday – 7.50 Miles
My pace looked a lot better than I felt. At least for the first 5 miles that is. I don’t know – my legs felt right but the rest of me didn’t feel in sync yet I was doing well. So strange! I felt much slower and didn’t feel that my breathing was right. Don’t ask me what right is, I don’t really know, I just know something didn’t feel correct or normal for me even though I wasn’t out of breath.
Wednesday – Pure Barre Studio Series DVD #4 & 30 Minutes Running
I ran later than normal this morning. I was getting hungry by the time I went outside so I grabbed a small piece of banana which shouldn’t bother me but it did. Sort of like a cramp that wanted to appear but didn’t fully cramp but you felt it anyway < – does that make sense?
Thursday – 8 Miles
I ran a little later again but planned accordingly, or so I thought, by eating breakfast slightly later and having an extra piece of banana sooner rather than closer to my run. I can’t say this helped! Ugh.
I started out okay. I was going fast and my legs felt fine, although again, the rest of me wasn’t so sure. My breathing felt weird, maybe it was wind, I don’t really know. All I know is that by mile 5, when I noticed MapMyRun decided to pause again for a full mile (as you will see, there’s a mile missing somewhere), I wanted to go home.
I didn’t go home, I stopped listening to MapMyRun and finished out my run. It was not fun but I was glad to complete the distance.
Friday – Pure Barre Tone in 10 & 30 Minutes Elliptical
Pure Barre Tone in 10 combo before going to the gym:
- Arms & Abs
- Thighs & Seat
- Seat & Abs
Saturday – 15 Miles
I slept over 11 hours Friday night (!!) and woke up later than normal for a Saturday. However, because I slept later and ate breakfast later, running later did not affect me! In fact I had a great run. I kept it easy for the first half and then picked up the pace a bit for the second half. There was a terrible wind in the second half but I did okay. When I reached 13 miles, I continued to 15 as a cool down.
I don’t love the every 2 mile split thing but whatever. At least the darn thing didn’t pause for this run!
Sunday – No Running (maybe Pure Barre)
[bctt tweet=”workout recap & best time for me to eat before a run #running #workouts #purebarre #fitfluential @pure_barre”]
When do you need to eat before your run to feel your best?
When is your next race?
Best thing you ate so far this weekend?
The Cookie ChRUNicles 
For me, the food I need before a workout depends on the time of day. If I’m working out straight out of bed, I eat afterward, but any other time of day I like to have something small around 45 minutes beforehand.
I am so not good at running any time other than after breakfast but it’s been so long since I tried any other time so who even knows!
If I eat before a run its usually just a banana, unless Im running more than 10 miles or so. Usually I am fine if I don’t eat anything before I run, unless I wait too long. Like if I wake up at 4:30 and do blog stuff and then do a short run at 6, then I am already hungry by the time I am out running. But most days I am out the door within 45 mins of waking up and feel fine doing that on an empty stomach.
it’s all about timing and we are all different on this! So important for people to realize what works for one, may not work for another. BTW – I will know this week if I am going to run the LI half. I think I will but I will let you know for sure.
Yoga was basically nonexistent for me this week as well, mostly because it’s very low on my priority list now! I’m sort of the opposite with eating, as in my run is bad if I eat too soon beforehand, which rarely happens since I run before eating except for long run days. On those days a half a banana before is usually good. I wish I could eat sooner before though.
So funny how different we all are! I do better if I eat closer to my run than let time go by.
Oh my gosh did I deal with this last year! I did a post on it afterwards because I felt like my legs were ready and rested but the rest of me, not so much. Hope you continue feeling better! http://www.healthyhappierbear.com/2015/02/26/running-after-stomach-illness/
thank you for this link! I was starting to feel crazy but it really does take time to recover!
Great job on that 15 miler, and I’m glad you’re feeling back to normal! I need to eat before a run (unless it’s a super early 3-4 miler), so I’ll have a banana before anything 10 miles or less and then add on a piece of toast. It’s usually a couple hours from when I wake up to when I run, so I need that fuel.
It’s so funny how we are all different just reading the comments! I absolutely cannot run on an empty stomach and I am totally learning that I can’t run too long after eating because if I feel the slightest bit hungry or my stomach feels empty, things are just not good for me!
I am exactly there with you about my schedule and running right when I wake up! I hate getting up early and not running right away! Same with food. It’s 30 min before or nothing haha!
Your splits look awesome! I would love to get even in the 9 minute miles. Let alone 8s! Great work!!
I can’t eat that close to a run at all. I find I need to eat at least 2.5/3 hours in advance of a run or I end up crippled with a stitch, which is mighty annoying as it means waking up really early just to eat when I’d really rather just keep the snoozing going… Hope you feel better soon.
If I run super early and I’ve had a super solid dinner then I run well without food or a small piece of banana. If I head out later on the weekend then I half my breakfast before my run and half when I get back otherwise I would be too famished. I try to listen to my body if I’m feeling a bit empty and thinking about food as soon as I wake up then I’ll eat something.
There’s definitely a sweet spot for the pre run meal. For me it’s just about one hour. Any more and I’m not fueled properly, but less than 45-50 minutes and I tend to feel nauseous or like the food might reappear about 2 miles in.
Being sick is the worst! I feel like it takes me so long to work up my endurance! I hope you’re 100% soon 🙂
Also, I just got back into running! I got new running shoes which feel SO nice and I signed up for a 10K! I thought of you when I signed up, haha. You’re my inspiration!
aw that makes me so happy! new running shoes are awesome and I am really excited that you signed up for a 10k! a 10k is a great race! you will do awesome.