Most people would welcome the idea of not exercising and eating lots of carbohydrates for 3 days. The concept sounds great but to someone who suffers from an Eating Disorder it can wreak havoc with your Psyche.
In order for me to have the most energy possible for my marathon on Sunday I will have to do what's called carbo loading. What this means is that for three days, starting on Thursday, I will not do any type of exercise and I'll have to eat approximately 600 grams of carbohydrates per day, which is the equivalent of 10 bagels. It is a deadly combination that will challenge me mentally.
What accompanies this is a feeling of being "fat" which is something that I've had to overcome for most of my life. Even though I know that carbo loading works, it is something that I do not look forward to and I often will isolate myself during this phase of my training. I'm lucky to have some great friends who are aware of my eating disorder and they all are helpful at keeping me positive during this time. I will often go into a "cocoon" once I start the carbo loading and will only come out when I need to. I can honestly say that each time I do the carbo loading it gets a little better.
After training hard for 4 LONG months my body can use the rest and knowing that I will be running for 3+ hours on Sunday helps with the feelings of guilt for not doing much exercise this week.
If you are a runner and suffer from ED, I urge you to get yourself a good support network before starting a carbo loading plan. Although the plan works, I would not do it unless I had the support network that I have.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment