Carb-loading for 13.1 Miles

The last three days, the final 72 hours, before the big race!! I'm so excited, and nervous too. But I will trust in God, and know I have done my best to train my body for this race. Unfortunately, I did some damage to the muscle above my hip bone(I believe the transverse abdominus; the same muscle I need to strengthen/activate to help with my back pain- coincidence? I think not!), and I could only run 2 miles one day, but after running in volleyball practice, it helped to stretch and loosen it up, I was able to run yesterday without incredible pain. My goal is to finish the half marathon, of course I would love to run the whole dang thing because I know I can, however I do NOT want to tear this muscle, so I may have to walk, in order to spare my body. So on top of light training(either running two miles, volleyball practice, or weight training), the last three days before the race I have been carb-loading. My calorie goal per day was 1300-1500 calories per day, with about 70% of those calories coming from carbs; my goal intake of carbohydrates each day was around 245 grams. I normally eat around 150 grams, carbs making up approximately 50% of my daily calories.

I knew I needed to find more carbohydrate-dense food; my regular routine was not going to get me there, with out going over my daily caloric intake!! I added kidney beans, chili, quinoa, fruit, and one more slice of whole wheat bread(per day) to my diet. My favorite cereal of all time is Kellogg's Mini-Wheats, which have 46 grams of carbs per serving!! For that amount of carbs, they are relatively low in calories, only 190 calories. So I bought a box of those, as well as Graham crackers(with peanut butter, anyone??) to add more carbs. Obviously these last two high-carb foods should be eaten in moderation:) I eat oatmeal several times a week for breakfast as well, so I continued to eat that.

Everyday I track the food I eat, when I eat it, as well as the calories and macronutrients(carbs, fats, and proteins). Here are the notes from my first day of carb-loading:

I have volleyball from 5:30 to 7 everyday; I don't usually eat after 7 or 8 pm, however due to the fact I needed more carbohydrates, I had me a bowl of miniwheats:) I measure out 21 "biscuits" (the serving size) and it turns out to be about a cup. I used coconut milk because it has less than half the calories of 1% dairy milk ( I do drink both however, dairy has much more protein).

So looking back on this, there are definitely changes I would make, especially around lunch time. However, overall, this was a good day, a learning day for sure. Until next time!!