Food Hacks for the runner

I'm not at home and have no access to cooking materials and intend to stay at school all day with no time for meal prep. This is the athletes dilemma.

You wake up at the last minute to attend morning practice, with enough time to pack your books and a change of clothes. After a really tough workout which you barely survived because you had no time to eat breakfast and you realize 30 minutes into your first class that you have to plans for a late morning Breakfast or lunch.

You could have that protein bar or granola bar that has been sitting at the bottom of your training bag for weeks but that just aggravates the hunger or next thing you know you are paying $2 for a slice of pizza, a pack of Ramen noodles, a piece of bagel; alas the horror stories continue.

So, what to do?

Consider all the options available.

As a student athlete, you can sometimes have access to the staff microwave in your Coach’s break room if this is the case then try this quick meals.

• Sweet Potato! Grab a medium size sweet potato, stab some holes in the potato and place in the microwave on high for 5 minutes. It will come out cooked and ready to eat.

• Peanut Butter? A quick 2 minute fix can be to have pure unadulterated peanut butter or Almond butter and fruit jam or preservatives spread some on some bread and you can eat this before practice or after. (Due to the simple carb and high caloric nature of this meal however I encourage you to do this sparingly.)

• Oatmeal, there are several ways to eat this: buy old fashioned oats during your next grocery trip; they keep you full longer. Pack a cup of oatmeal, Grab milk of your choice and place in 6oz container. When ready Mix and microwave for a few minutes. Add fruit and nuts of your choice.

• Budget Friendly options! If you are on a budget walk into a budget friendly grocery store and by precooked but frozen fried rice, risotto, vegetables e,t,c And using the microwave in your coaches office or break room reheat on a disposable plate or carry your own microwaveable bowl

• Fruit Parfait. Make your own fruit parfait, although this can sometimes carry unnecessary calories, you can buy a small tub of yogurt, a pack of granola, some banana and a pack of strawberries. Grab a disposable cup from the staff break room or even the cafeteria and make your own parfait fo breakfast store the fruit and granola in your bag and save the yogurt in your coaches fridge or save the rest in your insulate lunch pack, and you can do this again the next day.

Be Alert, there is always left over food and snacks after team meets. Grab the bagel and you can spread some hummus on it. Again this is not perfect but it will do in a pinch. Many Coaches will keep a bag of bagels, peanut butter and jelly in the track shed for athletes let the coach know and that could help in a pinch.

Teamates! If you have teamates that live on campus, or live closeby. Making their acquaintance could be of great help

Be prepared. Buy and insulated lunch bag and that way you can save anything that needs to be kept warm or cold when you are away from a fridge all day.

#snacks #food #fruit #teammates