Fueling: Terrell Owens Was Right

As I’ve become more serious about running, I’ve gotten more serious about what it takes to perform well.

Side bar: How did this happen? I remember not being able to run at all not too long ago. I’ve gone from trying to run to considering myself a serious runner. Weird.

Several years ago, The Boy and I read an article about Terrell Owens, a high performing American athlete. Terrell was open about his philosophy regarding diet and exercise: The body is a machine and must be treated as such for maximum performance.

That meant consistency in meals and consistency in routine. We marveled at his discipline and noted that it was likely the key to his superb athletic performance.

Again, that was several years ago.

Now I find myself subscribing to Terrell’s philosophy, and I didn’t even realize that I was doing it until I was in the midst of a long training run. (Long training runs = plenty of time to let the mind consider random topics.)

The Boy and I are extremely disciplined these days.

• No alcohol during the week until after Saturday training runs are over.
• Reasonable bedtimes that allow us to get a good night’s rest.
• Omelets and toast with honey every Friday night for pre-run fueling.
• No high heels the day before a run (ahem – this applies to me, not The Boy…but I’m pretty sure he’s not wearing heels either).
• Proper fueling throughout a run, balancing calories ingested and calories expended.
• Compression socks after long runs.

With discipline has come better performance and, ultimately, the desire to be even more disciplined so that we can perform even better.

I suppose this is probably true for life in general – discipline leads to desired results which reinforces our need for discipline.

You’ve all been to the stadium and seen the athletes race. Everyone runs; one wins. Run to win. All good athletes train hard. They do it for a gold medal that tarnishes and fades. You’re after one that’s gold eternally. I don’t know about you, but I’m running hard for the finish line. I’m giving it everything I’ve got. No sloppy living for me! I’m staying alert and in top condition. I’m not going to get caught napping, telling everyone else all about it and then missing out myself.
– 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 (The Message)

Sports beans – my long run energy food. Every long run.