Fat Run!

Jason Robillard was nice enough to let me test drive his new book, Never Wipe Your Ass With a Squirrel. It's a odd name, but a very good read so far.

One thing he writes about is running on fats. The purpose of this is to ease the transition from carbohydrate fuel to fats. This is what "the wall" that marathon+ runners hit. The idea is that if your body gets used to making the transition it is not so bad.

1 Pound of Fat - DaveyWaveyFitness.com

 Yesterday I did not eat much. I probably was around 1400 calories give or take. I did not eat a lot at night and a majority of my caloric intake was from fats and proteins. You see where I am going here?

This morning around 10AM I split an omelette with Whitney and ate a pear. Oddly these eating habits had nothing to do with Jason's writing. I was just trying to practice portion control.

Anyway, around 1PM I was feeling a little hungry. That's when I reflected on my caloric intake over the past 12 hours and decided it would be an excellent time to try out Jason's ideas.

Now, Jason says there are two ways to burn fats while running. 1) Run slow and keep your heart rate below some number a mathematical formula gives you. 2) Fast before a run. Then just run.

"I'll just do a little of both." Guess what people! It worked.

Around half a mile I started to feel depleted. My pace did not change and I didn't feel too bad. This feeling lasted for about 4 miles, then I started to really feel the fat burning.

I could tell I was burning fats because I did not want to run anymore. My mind was telling me to walk. I was not sore, but my brain was scavenging for calories. I kept wanting to drink out of my bottle, which had nothing but water in it. Ha body! I tricked you!

It was at this time that I started craving some stupid stuff. For example, raw oysters. I have never craved this on a run, but today I wanted it. 

I did my best to just keep going. I told myself that if I stopped I would have to run another mile. The last half mile I said, "I wonder how much gas I have left in the tank?" I started running faster and it felt great. I was able to keep a sub 7 minute pace for that half mile and cruise to my destination.

I debated if it was a good idea to eat a meal once I got home. I decided that I would take a shower and eat something really clean. I ended up eating some black raspberries, a pear, some strawberries, and a cup of orange juice. Update: 20 minutes after eating this Whitney brought a milkshake from Chick-Fil-A to share...



Enough about what I ate!

So what did I learn? I think my body is used to making this transition already. It wasn't nearly as bad as described by noobie marathoners, but I can definitely still use some practice. Since 10 miles isn't really long enough for my long runs I am going to try to do the first 10 of my next run slow and low carbed, then eat something(like a peanut butter and jelly) and run 10 more miles. That will put me in a good place and give me some ups and downs during my runs.