April Showers Bring May Flowers

Happy April! We made it through the dark, cold winter months and now we get to enjoy warmer weather, more sunshine, and perfect mild temps for running before things inevitably get too hot and we start complaining about the weather again.

This is always the time of year where I realize how fast the year is flying by. I love April because spring is in the air, which always makes me feel so motivated and hopeful. I also love April because it’s when track season is gearing up, we have the start of the marathon season with Boston, and the start of training blocks for summer and fall races. Not to mention, April is the time when things are in bloom and in LA everything smells like jasmine. Honestly, what’s not to love about April?! Except for taxes…don’t forget about those 😅

I like to go into each month with an intention for myself, and since spring is a time for growth and change, my intention is to challenge myself to say yes to things that scare me. You never know what might come from just saying yes to one thing! For example, starting The Fueling Forward Podcast was scary, but because I challenged myself to do it anyway I now have some incredible opportunities coming up this fall that I never would have dreamed of. I’ll be sharing more about that in my next newsletter so stay tuned!

It’s easy to settle into a routine that’s familiar and comfortable, and to some degree having a routine is a great thing. However, sometimes I find myself using that comfort and routine as an excuse not to challenge myself. This is a great example of one of the many parallels between life and running. If I did the same exact runs all the time, I likely wouldn’t see as much improvement in my performance. Challenging my body in new ways is what builds new muscles and new skills, and that is what leads to that PR. Same goes for a fear of discomfort. If I’m afraid of hurting or pushing myself in training, it makes getting the most out of myself on race day that much more difficult.

So, as we head into a new spring remind yourself that you already have what it takes to tackle that new life challenge because you practice it every day in training! As runners, we train to become comfortable with discomfort, so don’t forget that skill can translate to life too. We’ve got this! 💪🏼

In today’s newsletter:

• Recipe highlight 🥘 - I have been loving soups lately because they make a enough for lots of leftovers, always sound good, and can easily be balanced to make the perfect performance plate. I’m sharing one of my favorites below!

• Quick tip 💡- whether you’re gearing up for the championship season of track or for a new training block, every runner can benefit from more electrolytes. Check out my suggestions on how to do this below!

• Rapid fire thoughts 🔥 - want some inspiring stories to motivate you heading into this spring season? Read on to hear about 4 amazing people who’s lives have been changed by running.

Recipe Highlight

I love a good soup. Not only are soups easy to make, but they have so many benefits to for athletes:

1. They are hydrating - liquids from foods, especially salty liquids like broths, count towards your total daily hydration. Plus, I love that soups have electrolytes built in!

2. Immune boosting nutrients - many soups use garlic or ginger, and a combination of anti-inflammatory spices and herbs like cumin, turmeric, or pepper

3. Great for meal prep - most recipes make huge batches that are easy to reheat for quick leftovers, or even freeze for emergency meals when you’re in a pinch

4. Easy on the stomach - if you struggle with a lack of appetite or tempo tummy after a hard session, soups can be a great tool for getting in nutrition that doesn’t make things worse

I found this lentil soup recipe when I was searching for a quick lunch recipe. I got tired of making sandwiches, and in the colder months I wanted something warm and flavorful. I know we’re starting to thaw out, but this soup is still great for those cloudy and rainy spring days. This recipe incorporates low cost ingredients without compromising nutrient density, and makes a big batch that gets my husband and I through lunches for 3-4 days.

By itself, it doesn’t have enough carbs for someone who is training, so I pair this with a big chunk (or 2 or 3…) of sourdough bread that I either make or buy at the store. It also may not have enough protein for you and your goals, so you can always add chicken to the soup or pair it with some rotisserie chicken for a quick protein boost.

Whenever I make a recipe, I usually make a few adjustments to make it more performance friendly and/or more efficient. Here are a few things I did differently:

• Pre-chopped mirepoix - if you aren’t familiar with this term, mirepoix is the soup base of chopped onions, celery, and carrots. Although this recipe doesn’t include celery, I use it anyway because I like the added flavor and crunch, and I don’t love chopping onions. I use either 1 container of mirepoix from Trader Joe’s or 2 smaller containers from Whole Foods

• 8 cups of bone broth - instead of 4 cups of broth and 2 cups of water, I use 2 32oz. boxes of chicken bone broth. This adds more protein, nutrients and naturally contains collagen to boost muscle, tendon and ligament health.

• Pre-chopped kale - honestly chopping kale alone takes me as long as it takes to make this soup. I skip that step and buy pre-chopped kale instead.

• Skip the puree step - although I love a creamy soup, getting out a blender to blend half of the soup in is another step that requires me to dirty another set of dishes and do more cleanup. I also like the whole lentils and veggies as is, so I don’t do this part!

If you like this recipe and want more than one per month, upgrade today to the Sunday Brunch Club to get recipes like this every Sunday morning. You can sign up for free today and get a 2 week free trial!

Quick Tip

Do you get enough electrolytes? If you’re like most athletes I work with, the answer is probably no 👀

Did you know that endurance runners can lose up to 1000mg of sodium per hour of training? That’s the equivalent of 4 Gatorades, 3 Nuun tablets, 2 LiquidIVs, or 1 packet of LMNT! Most runners I work with train at least 30 minutes every day, which means even on your easiest days getting in 500mg of sodium from electrolytes is recommended. However, I usually find that runners only drink electrolytes on hard workout or long run days.

Getting more electrolytes can help:

• Make it easier to wake up in the morning - we need electrolytes for our adrenal glands to produce a wakening response, and dehydration can cause us to wake up not feeling rested even if we got good sleep.

• Improve heat tolerance - electrolytes help keep your core temperature lower during exercise. This is especially important as we head into warmer months.

• Reduce risk of GI issues - they help prevent overheating, allow your body to produce enough stomach acid for proper digestion, and help you better absorb and use the fuel you take in during runs.

• Hydrate you on a cellular level - water alone is not hydrating, it requires electrolytes to actually be pulled into your cells. If your pee is completely clear or you’re peeing more than every hour, you may be dehydrated on a cellular level!

• Meeting overall fluid goals - don’t love the taste of plain water? Electrolyte drinks can add flavor and make it easier to drink more.

My suggestion is to get 1 serving of electrolytes before your run and 1 serving after your run to get the most benefit. Depending on how much you sweat and how salty your sweat is, you may need a higher sodium option (like LMNT) or more electrolytes throughout the day.

You can get electrolytes through food as well! Keep in mind that getting more electrolytes alone doesn’t hydrate you, so make sure you drink more water too.

Some easy examples include:

• Adding more salt to meals

• Salty snacks like pretzels, salted nuts, nut butters with salt, etc.

• Fermented foods like pickles, soy sauce, miso, or kimchi

• High potassium foods like bananas, potatoes, spinach, kiwi, or melon

Rapid Fire Thoughts

When I was in college, I remember April being a tough time of year. Runners from other schools were often running crazy fast times in the first meets of the year, while I was just starting race specific workouts and grinding my way through races finishing in mediocre times. While it’s easy to get caught up in comparing yourself to others, it always helped me to remember the big picture.

With running, the focus should be on the long term. How can you focus on being the healthiest version of yourself so you can continue to stack training? How can you build up your body and your mind to be at their strongest when it matters most? This of course takes time, and a lot of us aren’t good at being patient when waiting to reap the benefits of our hard work and we tend to get caught up in the short term details. It’s easy to feel like having one bad workout or disappointing race means all of your work was for nothing, when in reality it’s just part of the process.

One thing that has helped me with this mindset is to read inspiring stories to remind me that running is just one part of life, and sometimes it’s so much bigger than just hitting splits in a workout or running a PR. Running can give you purpose, it can motivate you to change your life, it can lead to diagnosing health conditions that you otherwise may not have noticed, and it can bring people together.

Here are a few inspiring stories I have seen lately that remind me how much I love being a part of the running community:

• In a moving article, Grant Grosvenor shared with Runner’s World how his running dreams helped pulled him out of his alcohol addiction, and how running taught him to be tough when things get hard.

• Grayson Murphy opens up on her blog about recently being diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, and grapples with how that might impact her training while also showing her body grace and kindness.

• Allie Ostrander recently shared on her YouTube that she had to pull out of The Ten with a stress reaction, the difficulties of going through an injury, and how finding meaning outside of running, and remembering how much we appreciate running when we’re able to get it back.

• Bailey Ness, the co-founder of Cooldown Running, talks about her journey building the largest run club in the US and her vision for using running to bring all kinds of people together in this interview with Cooldown Running’s newest partner, Altra Running.

No matter where you are with running right now, I encourage you to take a few moments to reflect on everything running has given you. Whether that’s life skills, friendships, or a newfound appreciation for what your body can do, remembering to look at the big picture can help take the pressure off of every single workout or race being perfect. It can be important, but it doesn’t have to be everything.

Especially in the spring when everyone is in different places, staying focused on yourself and your goals is key. Setting big goals that scare you is part of the fun, knowing that even if we don’t quite reach them, we had the courage to try. I hope you find the courage to try this April!

Stay fueled,

Maddie

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