When I was studying for a degree in Integrative Medicine, we had a saying: the day begins the night before. Essentially, this champions the idea of prevention as being key to good health. If you want to wake up tomorrow with good energy, what you do tonight counts.
It probably wasn’t until I really got into that I realized just how helpful this advice could be. Because I wasn’t or anything, I just scheduled my long runs when they worked with the rest of my life, always leaving a couple of days in between to allow my legs time to recover. Sometimes it felt great to lace up my and go for miles, other times it felt like I was dragging a piano up the trail.
Soon enough I figured out that what I did the night before my long runs was having a big impact on how I felt during and after my time on the trail, and I realized it was time to get back to that great advice. Now, when I plan to spend over an hour on the trail, I swear by the following tips to help keep my stamina and spirits up on endurance days. Left to my own devices, I like to take my biggest meal in the middle of the day and have a light supper.
I don’t have the biggest appetite in the world, and this means I’m not trying to digest a large meal at bedtime. That in turn means I get better quality sleep, which is always the key to a happier tomorrow. However, I quickly learned that it can also mean I’m lacking a little verve if I want to run in the morning.
Nowadays, I’ll make sure to eat a slightly lighter and.
