As part of our partnership with the wonderful ladies at Megs and Soph, they’re providing us with a series of tips and tricks to help you get on top of your training and nutrition ahead of the Vineyard Half on May 11. Here is the first blog in their series – Back to Basics: Fuelling Pre-Workout.
At Megs and Soph, we whole-heartedly believe in fuelling your body with proper nutrition by using a whole-food approach to help our bodies run optimally, so we can train and perform at our best!
Whole-foods are amazing because they naturally contain fibre as well as an abundance of various vitamins and minerals. These are needed for all of our bodies everyday processes such as creating energy, brain power, healing and boosting our immune system. Fibre keeps you fuller for longer because it slows down the digestion process, keeps you regular (30cm a day please according to Ben Warren) and promotes the growth of healthy gut bacteria. Too much fibre can cause digestive troubles, so just be mindful and pay attention to how your body responds, but we discuss that below as well.
We can’t recommend enough the power of fuelling your body before training to give you a consistent supply of energy throughout your workout and day. Your body primarily runs on carbohydrates in the form of glucose, especially during training and workouts. Carbohydrates are also the main source of fuel for your brain. So it’s essential you are eating a meal or snack full of wonderful carbohydrates before training to get the most out of yourself.
Types of carbs we love:
- Oats, porridge, overnight-oats
- Rice, brown, white, basmati
- Sourdough, gluten-free toast, homemade loaves (yum banana bread)
- Homemade muesli mixes – check out our recipes for inspiration
- Smoothie with banana and honey
- Banana on rice cakes with cinnamon
- Apple with almond butter and cinnamon
- A glass of freshly squeezed orange juice – great alternative instead of a coffee!
- Homemade granola/muesli bars or balls
- Kumara
- Gluten-free Weetabix
Pairing your carbohydrate-rich breakfast with a little protein and fats pre-workout is going to help sustain you, keeping you feeling fuller for longer as well as being able to train harder! It’s a big win-win combination.
Some great options for small protein and fat are;
2 Tbsp. Greek or natural Yogurt
1 Tbsp. nut butter – peanut, almond, ABC,
1 Tbsp. Tahini
2 Tbsp.’s Hummus
a handful of nuts and seeds (roughly 10-15)
1x egg
½ serve protein powder – pea, whey, hemp, rice
1 tsp soaked chia seeds
1x bliss ball – we have tonnes of recipes for these [click here]
½ – 1x Granola/muesli bar – ideally homemade so you know what’s in them
We have a Nuzest Clean Lean Protein 15% discount code: ‘megs&soph’
Timing your pre-training meal or snack
You ideally want to be eating 90minutes before you go training, this allows energy to be sent to digest your food instead of going to your stimulated muscles. However, we know this isn’t always the case especially if you have a full-time job, kids, and poor time availability etc. so just eat when you can. Snacking within 60mins of training is appropriate and will give you that boost you need, especially if your training in the afternoon after work and lunch was 4-5hours previously. Sometimes it might work best to break your breakfast meal into two portions, having ½ before training such as a small bowl of oats and the other half after training adding more protein for optimal recovery (recovery foods blog coming soon). This way your body can digest foods easier and focus on directing energy to your hard-working muscles. If you’re someone who can’t stomach food in the morning, then don’t force it, just have a decent serving of carbs the night before e.g. roasted kumara. Then maybe start experimenting with having ½ banana or slice of GF toast before training and see how you go. If you don’t have breakfast before you train please ensure you are getting enough nutrition post-training to replenish your glycogen stores and aid in recovery = making you stronger, fitter and faster.
RECIPE: BASIC PORRIDGE
½ cup rolled oats
dash of real sea salt
¾-1 cup water or milk (almond, rice, cows)
1 tsp cinnamon
Ideally soak oats overnight.
Add all ingredients to a small pot and bring to a boil, turn down to a simmer for 4-6mins stirring occasionally so the porridge doesn’t stick to the bottom.
Once cooked to the consistency you like, pour into a bowl and serve with your fav’s.
Here are a few great options:
Sliced banana
Peanut butter
Sprinkle of LSA or nut mix
A drizzle of honey or pure maple syrup
Fresh berries sliced
SERVING SIZES AND PORTIONS
INCLUDE STARCHY CARBOHYDRATES
SOURCE + PORTION SIZE (raw weight)
Sweet potato (kumara) 130g (1 cup cubed)
Yams 115g (¾ cup cubed)
Butternut squash 168g (1 ½ cup cubed)
Pumpkin 232g (? pumpkin)
Beetroot 272g (3 small beets)
Parsnip 166g (4 medium parsnip)
Green snap peas and snow peas 145g (1 cup)
Spaghetti squash 150g (1 ½ cups)
Swede 150g (1 cup)
Potato 225g (1 medium potato)
Banana 120g (1 medium banana)
Brown rice 100g (3/4 cup cooked)
FRUIT OPTIONS
Fruit is a great choice of carbohydrates, full of fibre to slow down the digestion process as well as providing huge amounts of fundamental vitamins and minerals. However, we believe fruit is best eaten in the morning before lunch to limit the fermentation process that can develop bloating, gas and wind in the afternoon.
Try either consume fruits on an empty stomach or pair one serving of fruit with a healthy fat source such as; 1 Tbsp. nut butter/hummus, 1 boiled egg, 2 Tbsp. Greek yoghurt also listed above in the table
Raspberries 123g (1 cup)
Blueberries 148g (¾ cup)
Cherries 80g (½ cup)
Strawberries 168g (1 cup)
Blackberries 148g (1 cup)
Grapes 50g (½ cup)
Oranges 140g (1 small)
Mandarins 80g (1 mandarin)
Tangelos 100g (1 tangelo)
Pomegranates 50g (¼ cup)
Apple 180g (1 medium apple)
Pineapple 100g (1 slice)
Mango 100g (½ cup diced)
‘Back to Basics’ is a new series of blogs, videos and recipes we are launching as part of our role being the new Run Coaches for the Saint Clair Half Marathon in Marlborough, on the 11th May 2019.
We have created 12 different training programs in both 10 & 16 week formats, we’ve got you covered;
- walk
- hybrid
- run
- full fitness
- coming back from injury or being post-partum
Now all you need to do is head over the www.vineyardhalf.com/training to sign up and download your very own running program, set a date to start, lock yourself in and we like to grab (or convince) a friend to join you because it’s always so much more fun together!