[AmberD]

Hi everyone!!

I'm Amber, a Phase 1er at the moment! I'm new to the South Beach side of the forum and I have a question.

I run on Saturdays. I'm training for a marathon that's at the end of this month, so I'm running pretty far. This Saturday, is a "short" run of "only" 8 miles, and it takes me about two hours to finish. Before runs our coach tells us to carb up. I normally have some kind of pasta the night before and a bagel and a banana for breakfast Sat morning.

During the run we eat too. A power bar, pretezels, starbursts.

My question is: Will it hurt my Phase 1ed-ness to eat this many Carbs? As it is a "short" run, I can live with out the pasta and the starbursts. But I think the rest of it is pretty essential for me to have enough energy to get from point A to point B, but if it will be a major set back, I can try to hang with just the power bar while running.

I'd appreciate people's thoughts!

[SunLit]

Well, none of the foods you mentioned are allowed on Phase 1 (some aren't allowed on Phase 2 or 3, either). It's not the number of carbs that's a problem. South Beach is a good-carb diet, not a low-carb diet.

Check out the food lists in the FAQs section. Phase 1 involves lots of veggies, lean meats, cheese, nuts. No fruit or grains for two weeks.

Good luck! Sounds like you've got the exercise part down!

[beachgal]

Amber, this is a tough question! You might want to try posting in the exercise forum and see if someone there can tell you if the carbs in SBD will be enough to last you through marathoning...I don't know enough to say.

That said, personally, I'd consider trying to do a modified Phase 2 until the marathon is over. That's what I'd call 'setting yourself up for success.' So...here's what you'd do:

Follow the book for the Foods to Enjoy list for Phase 2...be aware that since you aren't doing P1 first (do it when the marathon is over, okay?) you'll probably have cravings, so you'll have to try to have extra control over how much you eat, okay? You'll want to take a look at the lists for P2 in our FAQ to make sure you have the most up-to-date stuff, since the book is often behind, especially if it's a hardback version. As to what you mentioned eating, here's the P2 substitutes:

Whole wheat pasta the night before

Morning of: whole wheat bagel (check ingredients very carefully...make sure there's nothing that says 'enriched') and a medium banana

During the run: SBD protein bars, whole wheat pretzels (you might find it easier to eat Newman's Own Organic Spelt pretzels...they also have a bit of protein, which is helpful), and no starburst. If you need a fast jolt of energy, instead of the starburst, consider a small piece of fruit...maybe grapes? Or small pieces of dried fruit?

Hope this helps. Good luck with the marathon...what an amazing thing to do!

[Phish44118]

I am a runner. I have done a couple of halfs and was training for a full, got up to 18 miles and had an injury, so I am waiting until the spring. You cannot, cannot, cannot do SB Phase 1 or even really Phase 2 and train for a marathon. You are just begging to hurt yourself. It's not possible. You have to carb up for long runs. My suggestion to you, is to do the marathon (good luck), have a great experience, finish strong, then give SB a try. If you don't, you are going to have a hard time of things during the marathon. Even if you did SB and just carbed up while running with GUS or whatever, you still would not have enough of a glycogin store. Why would you want to compromise all of your hard work and training. Sorry if I sound harsh, I just know how bad it feels to hit the wall when running.

Which marathon are you doing? Philly?

[AmberD]

don't worry about sounding harsh.

I'm doing the marine corps.

I had planned on going South Beach after the marathon. My reason for doing South Beach BEFORE the race is because I started having feet problems on my longer runs. My longest run almost killed my feet. I thought dropping a couple pounds pre-marathon would help them, and I figured South Beach was the safest and fastest way to do that.


Everyone's advice is greatly appreciated. I don't want to do anything to jeopardize my run.