Hey Team! As for this week’s coach’s message, I've had several of you ask me questions about nutrition. Specifically, how many calories you need to consume during training. The number of calories you need depends on how intense and long your workouts are. The average person burns 100 calories for every mile. So, if you have a 6 mile training run or walk, you're burning roughly 600 more calories than you would have if you had been sedentary. When you’re working out, you want to eat enough to avoid feeling weak or faint. But you don’t want to use your workout as an excuse to overeat.
It’s very important to eat for recovery after a long training walk or run. Ideally, you should eat a post-workout snack within 30 minutes of completing your run/walk. You need to replenish your glycogen stores, and the highest uptake of glucose is within 30 minutes after your workout. Many sports dietitians recommend that this snack contain a carb and protein ratio of about 4:1. Some great post-workout snacks include fruit with yogurt, toast with peanut butter, chocolate milk, and some energy bars. (There’s a reason we keep things like Clif bars with the sign in/sign out logs.)
I know it seems like we give you guys a lot of information each week, and it can be a lot to digest (no pun intended). So, instead of going on and on about how awesome beets and bananas are for runners*, I wanted to share a recipe for a natural, healthy energy bar. As a post-workout snack, I love fruit and nut bars like Larabars. But they are so expensive, so I like to make my own. Here’s my version of chocolate coconut energy bars:
Chocolate coconut energy bars
Ingredients:
2/3 c raw almonds
1/3 c raw walnuts
1 c pitted dates
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 c chocolate chips
1/8 c coconut
Directions:
Step 1: Grind almonds and walnuts in a high speed blender (or food processor) until the mixture is coarsely ground--the texture of wet sand. (I use our Vitamix for this.)
Step 2: Remove nut mixture from the blender
Step 3: Add dates and salt to blender, and blend until the dates are finely chopped.
Step 4: Loosen the dates and add nut mixture back to blender.
Step 5: Add chocolate chips to blender.
Step 6: Pulse mixture until it starts to come together.
Step 7: Pour mixture into a well-greased bread pan. You can also line the bread pan with plastic wrap to make shaping the mixture and cleaning the pan easier.
Step 8: Press mixture evenly in the pan.
Step 9: Cover with plastic wrap.
Step 10: Refrigerate for at least an hour, then cut into eight bars.
Enjoy!
* Just FYI, beets have vegetable-based nitrates, which allow for more blood flow and increased endurance. Bananas are packed with potassium, an electrolyte that is lost during workouts. And if you want any other recipes or a list of foods that runners should eat, please let me know!
TEAM, I want you to know how inspiring I find you guys! You all are doing great with training, and so many of you helped to make BC2 a success. Second, how about those mentors?! They organized an amazing event. We’re lucky to have Andrea, Heather, and Kristen!
See y’all on Saturday at Creve Coeur! Go Team!
-Jen
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