Training Myself to Eat and Drink During Running and Triathlon Training

Training myself to eat and drink during or in close timing with my workouts has been a challenge for me. For years, I was just used to exercising first thing in the morning. I might drink a few sips of juice or have a homemade chocolate chip cookie on my way out the door, but I was convinced I needed 3-4 hours between substantial eating and exertion. Drinking anything much inevitably gave me a side ache.

When I started participating in races and attempting longer workout distances a couple of years ago, I began to have 2 problems. For one, races were usually in the mid morning, around 9 or 10 AM. This was TOO long to wait for breakfast! When a race was as early as 7 or 8 AM, I didn’t want to get up at 3 or 4 AM. Secondly, with longer exertion times, I was hitting the proverbial wall. I seemed to need some fluid if I went over 6 miles, even in cool weather. I also found I needed more calories, especially once I got leaner from all the workout fun!

My husband/coach encouraged me to experiment with eating and drinking some things during workouts. He knows I have a more sensitive digestive system than he does, so he wasn’t adamant about exactly what I should ingest. He did convince me that all my work would be better rewarded if I could come up with possibilities.

The first thing I tried was a mixture of ReaLemon 100% Lemon Juicelemonade.  I had already been making my lemonade this way for hot days in the garden. I just follow the directions on the bottle. I tried a generic brand of lemon juice once, but it upset my stomach. When I am filling my water bottles for running, or CamelBak for biking, I add a pinch of salt and dilute the lemonade to almost half with water. This satisfies my thirst much better than plain water, which I found I ended up drinking too much of since it never quite hit the spot. This drink also works for calories sometimes, especially during a run.

Next, I tried adding some special Jelly Belly Sport Beans. I did find the assorted mix was decent. This was the only palatable thing I found out of all the sport’s gels and bars. I could eat a couple of these in transition between legs of a triathlon in training or in the race, or for a quick boost right before any workout. The jelly bellies are easy to keep on hand and seem to store well.

When I began having trouble with motion sickness in my new pool, I discovered I could tolerate dry carbohydrates in close timing with swimming and biking. Things like graham crackers or a piece of bread that are easy to chew worked well. Confession: I have now started to butter my graham crackers and have them ready next to my stationary spinning bike when I am doing a swim-bike brick workout at home. I don’t think I could have done this initially, but now that I have worked up to it, I can munch on them while I am putting in a good effort spinning. I can even eat during the biking for a bike-run brick workout if I do it early enough in the session and am riding for 45 – 60 minutes before the run.

At this point, I still have to eat my first meal of the day (breakfast) about 2 hours before significant exertion, if I want to be comfortable. The reason is that this meal activates my previously sleeping bowels! So far, by being conscientious about this, I have only been “uncomfortable” once during a race. That time was also within a week after international travel across multiple time zones, so I don’t think it counts as normal. That was also the only race wherein I had heart palpitations.

My standard pre-race/pre-workout breakfast is Malt-0-Meal with butter, turbinado sugar, and chocolate chips. You may ask how I came up with this. It is because my stomach has always done better with something easy to digest in the morning. And I’m hungry enough to be impatient with a lot of chewing. I’ve never been very good at chewing. It always takes me longer than everyone else! The toppings on the cereal are “my cup of coffee.” (I don’t like real coffee). I usually also have some fruit juice or fresh fruit on the side. Anything fried or greasy or with much protein in the morning tends to distress my stomach during a race even if it is 3-4 hours later. Other times of day it doesn’t seem to matter so much, but I still do better if any main meal has been a 1-2 hours ago. I don’t stuff myself, so I rarely feel full for more than an hour.

With the progress I’ve made in this department, both with tolerance of intake and understanding my weaknesses, I can see how it has helped me train and race better. It is only the correct kind of stress on the body that brings worthwhile results. Other kinds of stress need to be moderated to get the most from my efforts and to enhance the fun of it all!