I like to run, but I’m not big on running outdoors. Unless it’s for an official race. Part of the reason is that I don’t like running on sidewalks, I’m afraid of dogs, and I’m more motivated if I head straight to the gym after work.
I saw this book in a book store and I thought it might be a good resource to have and a nice addition to the other books I own on running and fitness. Specifically, I thought this was going to be specific workouts to help get runners in shape.I get bored just racking up mileage. I like runs that are structured around changing incline and speed. It keeps my mind active and it helps the time go by. Unfortunately this book doesn’t have any specific workout plans other than your typical long runs, tempo runs, and speed runs.
What is a good aspect of the book is the break down of how much food affects your body and your fitness goals. Taking each food group like sugars, proteins, carbs, vegetables and fruits, the authors explain the effects of each on runners and suggest how runners can effectively use the best of each group. I found the suggestions very achievable and easy to remember. They’re small things like not consuming food that has more than 10g of sugar per serving.
After building on the food groups, they then help you decided how to put all of the food groups into a healthy diet. They recommend recording your calories and keeping track of how much and of what you consume. I started it for one week and couldn’t believe how little some foods had and how much others did. It definitely made me more cognizant of the foods I was eating and helped me be more strategic regarding what kinds of food I chose to eat.
Overall, this book helped change how I look at food. This is definitely a good guide that I’d keep around my house.
This sounds interesting. I’ll have to pick it up at the library. What would you say the biggest surprise was? I already track my calories, but I don’t have the patience to pay attention to the macro breakdown.
I don’t pay much attention to the macro breakdown either. The biggest surprise to me was that once I knew the calories of the food I ate and knew how many calories I had left for the day, some of the snack foods or desserts didn’t seem appetizing anymore. I think it made me smarter about what food I chose to eat.