I’m officially in love with running, especially the amazing feeling you get afterwards but I’m concerned my body is failing me. I’m in week three of my half-marathon training program and yesterday I ran three miles (30 minutes) on the indoor track. Well, I had shin splints the entire run and by the last three or four laps my knees were really starting to bother me. Yuck, not fun at all.
Also, I’m wondering if I am eating enough for the workout regime that I’m keeping up. I’m doing this scheduling thing now remember. The last two days have went very, very well. I strayed from the schedule slightly but I still stayed within good calorie range, 1739 calories on Monday and 1735 calories yesterday. But, I was reading Margarita Shapes Up yesterday and she eats 1950 calories a day. Now I know we have different body types and different needs and whatever BUT I have been feeling a little hungry the last two days, I don’t know if that’s because I’m not eating enough or if I’m just not eating enough of the right things though.
Here’s what I ate yesterday:
Breakfast (7 a.m.): 1 cup oatmeal with 1 tsp peanut butter and 1 tsp honey, ½ a banana = approx. 280 calories
Snack (9:30 a.m.): Apple = approx. 80 calories
Lunch (11:30 a.m.): 1 cup minestrone soup, ham sandwich on whole-wheat bread with ½ tbsp light miracle whip, mustard, lettuce and cucumber = approx. 450 calories
Snack (2:30 p.m.): Curves peanut/chocolate granola bar = 100 calories
Snack (5:30 p.m.): Nature Valley sweet & salty peanut butter bar = 170 calories
Dinner (8:00 p.m.): Stir-fry made with two cups mixed veggies, ½ cup baby shrimp, ½ cup brown rice and approx. 4 tbsp soya sauce = approx. 500 calories
Desert (8:45 p.m.): Low-fat butterscotch pudding with ½ a banana = approx. 155 calories
Total for the day = 1735 calories
I’m wondering if I’m eating enough? I workout for approx. 60 minutes/six days a week, on Monday I swam for 60 minutes (did 2,550 metres, which is 102 lengths of a 25 m pool) burning approx. 675 calories. Yesterday I ran for 30 minutes then did 40 minutes of weights, burning approx. 675 calories again.
I know that none of you are necessarily nutritionists or anything, but I know a lot of you are on the same shape-up train as me and your advice would be appreciated. So, should I be eating more, less, different things? I read that most women only need between 1200-1500 calories a day but I’m pretty sure I’d starve if I was only eating that much. Also, for all you runners out there, what do I do about the shin splints and hurting knees?
Thanks for any advice you have! 
Update: Thanks for all the great tips guys, keep em coming! Just to let you know I am getting my calorie counts from the BBG program at glamour.com, the program is set up so you can log your exercise and food. Lots of my meal ideas are from it so that’s where I get the calorie count from. Same with exercise I just log my activity and the amount of time I do it for and it estimates my calories burned based on my weight I’m guessing? Anyways, that’s where I got the approx. calories burned for my workouts.
Also, PLEASE PLEASE let me know some snack/meal ideas that have less sugar and more protein, because I have been feeling a bit hungry during the day. PS: I NEED my after-dinner sweet fix at night, it’s just something I crave and if I don’t satisfy it with something then I’ll go big-time overboard and eat like 10 cookies. Seriously. But if you have ideas for something that will give me a sweet fix that has less sugar or calories or whatever let me know!
Thanks again, I LOVE all the feedback
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
ahh i hate shin splints! i had them my freshman year of hockey. Stretch those babies out every time after you run, and i always throw ice on my knees after i get back from a run too. If you can find someone to help you stretch out your shins… sit with your legs out, and have someone push your feet towards you, and you push back against their hands. then have them push your feet towards the floor while you are pushing the tops of your feet up against their hands. This should really help stretch them out! hope it helps!
Oh, you poor thing! If you’re in pain, I would recommend easing off on the running — although I know how hard that is!
I think more protein would help you feel more satisfied. And you know my fixation, but there’s a fair amount of sugar in what you wrote down.
I used to run track and has these issues too. As for shin splints, you may need to get a really good pair of running shoes. Not just athletic shoes, but honest-to-goodness running shoes that are designed to absorb impact. Also, stretch really well before running, drink plenty of water, and don’t forget to take occasional days off to let your body heal.
As far as eating, if you’re really planning on running a half marathon eventually when you definitely need to be above 1700 calories. In HS cross country we had to eat about 2300 to maintain weight. If you’re trying to lose weight, 2000 would probably do it for now- a little more on days you run a lot, and when your distances start increasing. You’ll still lose weight gradually but you won’t risk running out of energy. Good luck from one runner to another
~Amanda
http://onehappypanda.blogspot.com
I agree, more protein and less sugar….the majority of what your wrote down for your meal is great, but there is a lot of hidden sugars, which will make you hungry again quicker. Low-fat foods usually are just as bad as the regular stuff, they say low fat but they have to pack it full of extra sugar and other things to make it taste good.
I can email you some snack idea’s if you like.
And i was so excited i was going to call you last week, I ran for 20 mins straight on Thursday!!! WAHOOOOO But then I got the stomach flu….lol BOOOOO
Katrina
It sounds like you did pretty good yesterday on your nutrition. Veggies, fruit and protein are highly important during training (along with water of course). I would also say that you may want to reevaluate how many cals you’re actually burning. About 30 min of running is more like 300-400 cals burned and 40 min of weight lifting might be about 100, more if you’re doing lunges and things that will boost the heart rate. Keep up the good work. I go more by what my body is telling me it needs, although I do mentally keep track of cals as well.
If your shins are hurting it could be because of how you distribute the pressure to your feet. Is it posible you run more on the medial or lateral portions of your foot or you run more flat footed or on the tips of your toes? An easy way to tell is to look how the bottom of your shoe has worn. I’m a medical student studying podiatry and I would suggest getting some insoles with shock absorption preferbly SPENCO brand they’re a little more expensive but should help!
I am not very good at this kind of thing…I track my calories through sparkpeople and I base it on my BMR and the Harris Benedict equation…I find though if I work out TOO much that I don’t lose, which I think means that my body is clinging to what I am feeding it because I am burning a lot…
Anyway, try adding a bit extra (like maybe some cheese with your apple and some yogurt with your granola bar) and keep track of EVERYTHING and then monitor…
Our bodies are so so so different and it can be SOOOOOO frustrating!!
Yeah, protein is the way to go! Try loading up on fish or chicken at lunch and dinner and preparing it yourself to reduce salt content. Almonds are great for munchies…just a small handful works. I also like string cheese or a glass of light chocolate Silk soy milk. Avocado may help you from getting hungry so often too. Quick trick - try 2 minute intervals (speed walk/run)to go the distance while easing up on your knees.
I totally forget if they’re available in Canada, but here I often eat the single-serving size tins of flavoured tuna. They’re often on sale for 4/$5 or such and come in awesome, low fat flavours. They’re a quick, protien snack that fills you up if you eat them with some crackers or something. They’re about 150 cals each so with crackers they’re more of a small meal then snack. I sometimes eat them as an early dinner before the gym.
I sometimes mix plain yogurt into my cereal instead of milk as it has more protien. Or eat low-fat cheese with fruit, or add beans (filling, CHEAP protien) to dinners. They go with pretty much everything.
Shin splints are not cool, do some research there on webmd. i’ve been fighting them for a couple of months now, and they leave my left shin in constant pain all day every day for the last several weeks. it’s really more discomfort than full blown pain, but still you want to treat it now. have someone look at your running form to see how you need to move your foot differently during the running motion. See if you can find an excercise physiology or excercise science major at the gym. they know about these things. but shin splints are a muscle problem, not a bone or ligament problem. Deal with it now, or suffer my consequences.
if you’re maintaining a 1700ish calorie plan now, you need to add about 200 calories per hour of aerobic activity to the daily plan. This is just to refuel the muscles after the excercise. Additionally, when your workout is going to last more than 90 minutes (like it will when your runs get over 8 miles) you need to consume 100 - 200 calories per hour during the run, either with sports drink, gels, i like a granola bar too for really long runs. this saturday i’ve got a 22 mile run planned for my marathon training plan, and i’m going to consume 4 bottles of gatorade, 2 granola bars, 3 gels, and some shot blocks, all during the run. it’s about 800 calories total. and at least 60 oz of water, maybe more. nutrition and hydration on longer runs will become very important, it might be good for you to start looking into it now.
sorry for so much information in one comment, but i think you’re doing something really cool here. when i started really getting into some long distances, i had to raise my intake from about 2200 calories a day up to about 2800. 22 miles is the longest run in my plan, marathon is only 4 weeks away.
Ice those shins, and stretch them out as per someone’s comment. Get good shoes and use Cottage Cheese for on of those snacks, it’s got lots of protien in it.
Love you.