Fueling for a Trail Race on 80/20 Plants

Yesterday (Sunday) was supposed to be the day I ran my first 50K, the Nesbit Park Trails Classic in Bartlett on the Stanky Creek Trails (my favorite local trail system). But I got yet another stress fracture back in June, and I had to stop training for about 2 1/2 months. My foot was finally getting better at the end of August, so I started running again. But I had to bump my 50K down to the half-marathon distance. Fortunately, the Nesbit Park Trails Classic offers multiple distances.

I was super-bummed to not be able to run 50K, but I'm glad I was able to run at all! I'll just aim for 50K another day. Now I can say that I've successfully run my 8th half-marathon, so that's something to be proud of.

Fueling for a race always starts the day before. I try to eat super-clean the day before a race with plenty of whole, plant-based carbs. I'm currently doing the 80/20 Plants program, which calls for 80% of your meals to be whole food, plant-based, with the other 20% for indulgent meals and snacks. 

On Saturday (day before the race) morning, I made the Banana Oat Pancakes from 80/20 Plants. These are gluten-free and made with oat flour, mashed banana, and chocolate chips (the indulgent part), served with maple and fresh berries.

I had some homemade cashew cheese and whole wheat crackers as a mid-morning snack, but I forgot to take a picture.

For lunch, I met my friend Megan at the cafe at Crosstown Arts. It was her birthday! So we enjoyed mimosas (more of that 20%!), and I had a Big-Ass Salad (romaine, olives, chickpeas, tomatoes, vegan ranch, and focaccia croutons).

Dinner was a totally WFPB meal based off an idea from The No Meat Athlete Cookbook. I made the Peanut Butter Tempeh from that book and used it to top a bowl with quinoa, roasted beets, and steamed kale, plus tahini sauce on top. The PB tempeh is one of my favorite recipes from that book. You make this yummy PB nooch sauce and coat tempeh cubes before baking them in the oven. The peanut butter sauce gets all crunchy and delicious.

I always have one pre-race night-before beer, so I enjoyed a Bear Walker Ale after dinner.

Race morning is totally different though! I opt for white bread bagels because white bread carbs digest more quickly for quicker fuel. Here's my (poorly lit) Blueberry Bagel with Vanilla Almond Butter, eaten at 5 am before the race.

During the race, I used a combo of energy gels and chews. I'm loving Muir Energy gels right now (full review coming soon), which are made with whole, natural foods. Since this was a trail ultra, the aid station had all kinds of snacks, like soda, chips, cookies, and PB&Js. I would have gone for all of those things if I were running the 50K, but since I was just doing the half, I stuck with a few chips (for salt), Gatorade (for electrolytes), and a little soda (for fun). Soda is SO GOOD when you're running distance on a hot day. 

Post-race, I wanted to reward myself with something amazing! So first, I had an Oktoberfest beer from Ghost River Brewing.

Then I went to Imagine Vegan Cafe for a meal that I don't typically order because it's purely indulgent — Vegan Chicken and Waffles!!! Six crispy vegan chicken strips are served with a soft, buttery waffle. I ordered some collards on the side for good measure.

What a fun weekend! Now I'm back on that 80/20 plan!