Let the carbo - loading begin

 Thanks for all the sweet comments about my Gram! She is an amazing woman, that's for sure. She's not on board with this whole internet thing so I printed it and mailed it to her to read.

Good thing I got a head start on my to do list last night, because grad work took forever tonight and I didn't sit down to dinner or put the TV on a non-classical music channel until after 8pm.

Carbo - loading is basically the main reason to run a marathon an essential part of marathon preparation. I actually have a strict policy of carbo - loading year round, because I always want to be prepared for an impromptu marathon. When I know of one in advance though, I step it up a bit. When training for my first marathon, I went to a nutrition talk and learned that you are actually supposed to carbo - load 2-3 days before the marathon, with two days out being the most important day (that would be tomorrow). The day before, just eat normally. Since we'll be in the car tomorrow, and I hate road trip food, Eric suggested making pizza tonight and then eating the leftovers on the way to Virginia Beach tomorrow. I was going to bring a tuna sandwich - this idea was far superior. That's why I married him.

There is some seriously delicious food going on in my house tonight. I am going to show you pictures, which will solidify why I am not a food blogger, and link to the recipes. Why would I retype them when other nice bloggers already invented them and typed them for me?

1. Salad aka using up the few veggies left before leaving for the weekend, with this awesome homemade dressing

2. Pizza on this breadmaker pizza dough recipe. I believe pizza is go hard or go home, and I go hard. I pile veggies halfway to the ceiling. Toppings tonight included broccoli, red pepper, onion, artichoke, banana pepper, mushroom, and shrimp (I read it in runner's world, gotta get that protein!). I took a picture next to my fist to show how high the toppings really were piled. The only thing that kept me from crying when I finished was knowing I could eat another piece tomorrow night.

 

Note: This is why regular pizza doesn't fill me up, and I have anxiety about going to people's houses when they order it because I have to eat 14 pieces plus appetizers to get halfway full.

3. These brownies from Women's Running Magazine. Check out the weird ingredient list. I require dessert nightly, so I figured I could try a healthier version pre-marathon. Post marathon, you better believe I'll be eating dessert full of butter and cream without any black beans. Haven't tried one yet but based on extensive batter eating they will be pretty good.


It's almost my bedtime and I've been sleeping horribly this week! I need to rest up for my last training run tomorrow!