We’ve partnered with On Running to bring you a series of episodes about three important aspects of running. This first episode is all about nutrition and features internationally renowned long distance runner Alicia Monson.
As the new year rolls around, there’s a lot of talk of resolutions. For some of us, that means creating new goals that help us get outside and move our bodies. In that spirit, we’ve partnered with On Running to bring you a series of episodes about three important aspects of running.
This first episode is all about nutrition and features internationally renowned long distance runner Alicia Monson. She has run the 4th fastest 5,000 meter time in US history. Alicia built an incredible career as an athlete, but she's also studied nutrition. In this episode, Alicia shares her favorite nutrition tips and tricks for runners.
The guests in our series with On Running are not coaches, physical therapists or doctors. Their advice is for educational purposes only and does not substitute professional medical advice.
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Shelby Stanger:
As the new year rolls around, there's a lot of talk of resolutions. For some of us that means creating new goals that help us get outside and move our bodies more. One way I love to move is to go running. One of my favorite ways to challenge myself physically and mentally is to try to achieve faster times and/or longer distances. Plus, I really enjoy racing and beating my partner, Johnny. Maybe you're a beginner runner and you're ready to start training for your first 5K or maybe you're a veteran and you're going for a PR in your next marathon. This episode is the first in a series brought to you by On Running about three big topics important to running: nutrition, training and recovery. We're talking to three professional runners on the On Running team about how each of these subjects can help us become better runners.
Shelby Stanger:
I'm Shelby Stanger and this is Wild Ideas Worth Living.
Shelby Stanger:
Remember the guests in our series with On Running are not coaches, physical therapists or doctors. Their advice is for educational purposes only and does not substitute professional medical advice. On this first episode of the series, we're talking to professional runner, Alicia Monson about her approach to nutrition. Alicia's an internationally renowned long distance runner and an NCAA division one champion. She's run the fourth fastest 5,000 meter time in US history. Not only has Alicia built an incredible career as an athlete, but she's also super into nutrition and how it impacts her running. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a degree in nutritional science and she's often her teammates go to resource for nutritional advice.
Shelby Stanger:
Alicia Monson, welcome to Wild Ideas Worth Living.
Alicia Monson:
Thank you. Happy to be here.
Shelby Stanger:
I'm excited to talk to a runner that's also an expert on nutrition and studied this, which is great.
Alicia Monson:
Yeah. It's kind of a cool little mix of backgrounds that I have.
Shelby Stanger:
So tell me about your background real quick. What kind running do you do? For those of us who don't know who you are.
Alicia Monson:
So I'm a distance track runner. I ran in high school and then college, and now I'm a pro runner do about the 5K, 10K on the track, cross country as well. And yeah, I train in Boulder, Colorado. And then in school I studied nutrition dietetics. And if I not pursued full-time running, I would've gone on to do an internship and then sit for an exam to be a registered dietician, but I didn't do that. So I just kind of know a lot about nutrition.
Shelby Stanger:
Well, you have to know a lot about nutrition to be a runner because one, running can really upset your stomach, but also like you have to have fuel to run and there's so much that goes into it. So yeah, I heard a lot of the On athletes go to you for nutrition advice.
Alicia Monson:
Yeah. Whenever we have team dinners, I always just feel obliged to be the person who makes the salads just to make sure that they actually get in vegetables. But yeah, no, it's kind of great.
Shelby Stanger:
That's awesome. So what are things to consider about nutrition for runners and how did you get attracted to this field?
Alicia Monson:
I've been interested in nutrition for a long time and I think part of it is that I picked up running more so when I got to high school. Like I played a lot of sports growing up when I was really young, but as I got more into running, I realized just how big of a role nutrition plays in it. Even though I was just a high schooler, I figured out like, oh, I do better in practice if I eat a snack beforehand or whatever and I recover faster. So just learning more and more about it, kind of just interested me more and then majoring in it in college just really like opened up doors and it obviously, plays such a big role that it's actually really helpful in my own running and helping other people too.
Shelby Stanger:
What do most athletes ask you about when it comes to nutrition? Like what do most your teammates ask you about?
Alicia Monson:
I get a lot of breakfast questions, actually. Just because that's kind of one of the biggest issues I think with running is when people's stomachs get upset. Because you can feel perfectly fine aside for an upset stomach and it just kind of ruins your whole run. So yeah, I would say a lot of questions around breakfast and eating beforehand.
Shelby Stanger:
That's awesome. So great nutrition advice you've heard and maybe some like nutrition advice you really don't care about.
Alicia Monson:
Okay. Great nutrition advice is to really like focus on fueling. I even have a teammate who didn't used to eat breakfast before long runs and long runs you're running for like two hours. This year, he started eating breakfast before long runs and even that like he feels so much better. And then nutrition advice I don't love is fad diets. For me like some certain diets for medical reasons can work, but in general for runners living more of like a balanced lifestyle and focusing on getting fuel and food is just kind of the most important thing instead of just seeing whatever you saw on the latest like pop culture.
Shelby Stanger:
So what are common mistakes runners make besides just not eating enough?
Alicia Monson:
A major thing with running is GI upset. So when you have an upset stomach while running, a big contributor to that is if you eat something that isn't very easy to digest beforehand. I usually focus on eating really easy to digest foods before a run like oatmeal, toast, bagels, some like kind of simple carbs and maybe a banana. So I usually run in the morning and then go for a lighter run again in the afternoon. And so most of my fibrous vegetables and really kind of meat things, like anything that's hard to digest, I usually save for later in the day. Because it's still really important to get those foods, but it's not ideal if you're like in the middle of a run and you need to stop for the bathroom. So focusing on like things that you can control before the run and then eating things with nutrients like colorful vegetables afterwards.
Shelby Stanger:
So any nutrition fails?
Alicia Monson:
Yeah. So I actually learned this secondhand two different times, both in college and this year. We went to a grocery store hot bar and in college my teammate ended up like throwing up with 200 meters to go of a 10K and like two of my other teammates were also throwing up. And then this year, we did it again and Jordy couldn't even race because he had food poisoning. So yeah, I just kind of learned that going to some sort of buffet style food place isn't exactly good because you never know if they actually kept the temperatures high enough or if it was contaminated. So trying to get things before races that were like made to order or prepackaged are a lot better than going buffet style.
Shelby Stanger:
Any favorite recipes that you have for pre-race meals?
Alicia Monson:
Pre-race meals, I've actually been really into either pizza or chicken parm lately. .
Shelby Stanger:
You're a young runner. I would not recommend that to everyone but it's amazing.
Alicia Monson:
Well, as long as it's not Dominoes pizza, something like really heavy. But even if you just eat a high quality pizza with tomato sauce, maybe some... Not like super heavy on the cheese, but having some vegetables on it. Yeah, I would say that or like noodles are important, but also it's not that important to carbo-load if you're not marathoning. That's kind of one thing that I think that people kind of are misled by of like, if you're running a 5K, you don't really need to carbo-load. You just need to make sure to get in your regular nutrition routine, get in some vegetables, get in some grains, some protein. So yeah, making sure to not just like be super full and bloated before you go to your race, that's just not ideal. But if you are running a marathon, making sure to get in good carbs the entire week beforehand is important.
Shelby Stanger:
Do you have any recipes or go to pre-race kind of, I guess not during race, like right after racing and then kind of later that evening for recover? Like what are your go-tos and what do you tell your teammates?
Alicia Monson:
Pre-race, I usually like to stick to... Let's say you have a 10:00 AM race. It kind of depends on what time of day you're going to race. So if you have a 10:00 AM race, maybe I eat like two eggs and either some oatmeal or some toast or a bagel or like four to five hours beforehand and then have another little like toast snack two to three hours and have some coffee beforehand. But if you're having a night race, you kind of work your way backwards through the day. Like maybe you have a more complex meal. Maybe if you eat meat, you have meat for breakfast in the morning and then kind of eat lighter meals as the day goes on so that you don't hurt your stomach while you're racing. And then pre-race, I'm usually just like sipping on... Like literally, pre-race just sipping on a sports electrolyte drink, nothing too crazy and coffee, but not too close to the race. And then afterwards-
Shelby Stanger:
Wait, is there an electrolyte drink that you like?
Alicia Monson:
I have honestly just switched around. I usually drink some sort of electrolyte drink that also has carbs. Because I think one interesting thing that I learned in school is that even if you swish your mouth with, let's say Gatorade, like some sort of drink with glucose in it. Then the receptors in your tongue tell your brain that food is coming and so it like prepares your body more to perform. So even just, even if you don't want to like drink too much of it, swishing it in your mouth, tells your brain that you're ready to go. So I think that's a really kind of cool trick.
Shelby Stanger:
It is really cool.
Alicia Monson:
Yeah. And then after the race, usually after the race, you kind of go to whatever restaurant is open. Especially if we have nighttime races, which is kind of slim picking sometimes. But maybe after a workout, when I need to recover really quickly, I make sure to get in some, just really anything to eat right away. But then making sure to have a full meal with carbs, proteins and fats in it and some sort of vegetables or fruits is important to kickstart the recovery process.
Shelby Stanger:
What are some foods that are your kind of other go-to foods while you're running? While you're training? Like what are foods that you really gravitate towards?
Alicia Monson:
I do a lot of egg scrambles after my morning run because it's kind of like a brunch by the time I'm eating like my huge meal or not huge, but like if I'm eating a lesser breakfast beforehand. I'm like hitting the meals hard with a scramble and some toast. And especially if you get an egg scramble, you can put in some good vegetables and you get that protein from the eggs. And then I've been really into making curry lately for dinners because you can put in good spices like turmeric is and anti-inflammatory so that's always a good thing for a runner to have. So making curry, you get rice, you get vegetables, you get whatever protein you choose. So yeah, I've been really into anything that kind of is delicious, but also incorporates vegetables wherever possible.
Shelby Stanger:
When it comes to just bars and little bites that you eat before running, do you make your own or do you get bars and smoothies and protein that's already made?
Alicia Monson:
I would love to make my own on a regular basis, but when it comes down to it, I just like don't have the time and energy half the time. So a lot of the time I'll just buy even just a Nature Valley bar or Rx bars. If I'm going on a run like right away, I basically just have something with pretty much just carbs in it. But if I'm going on a run in a little while, maybe it's something with carbs, protein and fat to kind of balance it out more. Like I tend to gravitate more towards just getting whole foods, like literally whole food, like nutrients in maybe some toast or something that. Just because you know, you can buy powders but at the same time, if you are fueling yourself with whole foods, there's so much more room for nutrients.
Shelby Stanger:
Any other advice on nutrition? Like favorite books you like, blogs you like, recipes you love?
Alicia Monson:
So it's funny that you say that because I don't usually like order cookbooks or anything because I majored in dietetics. So I usually feel like I kind of have a handle of what to make and whatnot, but I kind of was just eating the same kind of things recently. And then Shalane came out with her new cookbook, Rise and Run.
Shelby Stanger:
It's so good.
Alicia Monson:
I just received it yesterday and I need to go to a store to get like bulk nuts and vegetables and stuff like that because there's so many new recipes that I want to try out. So yeah, I'd say like, just-
Shelby Stanger:
Shalane Flanagan is a runner and she has this new book out called, what's it called?
Alicia Monson:
Rise and Run.
Shelby Stanger:
Rise and Run. And it has recipes and all sorts of things. Any recipes that you really like that you tried?
Alicia Monson:
So I haven't even tried it. I literally just received the book yesterday, but there's like so many new superhero muffin recipes that I definitely think I'll have to try that. And then also, she has like chai mix that you can just like put in anything. Like she had cha peanut butter in there, which I think would be really tasty. So yeah, I'm really into just like ways you can add in fun, little tasty spices.
Shelby Stanger:
Awesome. And any really favorite, yummy things that you just love to make at night? I need some new dinner tricks.
Alicia Monson:
Ooh, okay. I've been really into making... I mean, this isn't really like a full meal, but to compliment if you eat maybe chicken or rice or something. Playing around with salads... I know a lot of people don't really love salads, but learning how to top salads can really be life changing if you don't really love vegetables. So if you have lettuce, maybe top it with pomegranate seeds and feta and salted nuts and buy a really yummy dressing. And you'll just... It doesn't just taste like grass anymore, which I think is good.
Shelby Stanger:
I eat a salad every day. We like, we shred beets. We shred carrots. Like we get pretty into our... And I make like a tahini dressing with just straight tahini and balsamic vinegar and mustard. It's so good.
Shelby Stanger:
Any advice to people who want to clean up their nutrition? I mean, it's becoming the new year, it's the holidays right now. We're going to eat really yummy stuff. But I imagine come January 1st people are going to be like, "ah, I need to change everything"or "I want to really clean up my nutrition".
Alicia Monson:
Yeah. I mean, I would say finding a routine is really important and maybe over the holidays we eat foods that we wouldn't always eat. But also I think it's important to enjoy those foods over the holidays. I think a lot of the time, like foods that we enjoy because they're attached to some sort of nostalgic memories. And so we really just like to enjoy that time of the year. Maybe we have Christmas cookies or your grandma's potato casserole or something like that. So it's not a problem to enjoy those things, but also like doing things that won't stress you out. So making sure to stick to your usual routines but not stressing too much about an extra cookie you had. And then come the new year, maybe you're focusing on, all right, I'm going to make sure to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner and maybe I'll make sure to have vegetables in two of those meals. And then just kind of focusing on specific things you can change instead of being like, all right, scrap it all. Start over.
Alicia Monson:
But yeah, like maybe writing down, these are three things that I do really well, and these are three things that I can do better and kind of reassessing that every week.
Shelby Stanger:
I think that's great. So for running, running's a tricky sport. Like I know when I ran cross country in high school, I dealt with an eating disorder and a lot of my teammate dealt with eating disorders. Like dealing with that is kind of common in running or it's not uncommon, let's put it that way. Any advice on just being aware of disordered eating patterns and how to kind of like...
Alicia Monson:
Yeah, I think, yeah, disordered eating patterns and eating disorders are a huge thing in running because there's such a stigma around what you should look like. And then maybe you're at the high school level and you see college athletes who look really thin or they look really muscular and ripped and then you look to the pro level and it's even more obvious. But it's kind of changing the tune of how we talk about that, I would say is the biggest thing. In the recent years that it's kind of come to light more about how we should be focusing on how we can fuel ourselves to be better runners instead of how we can look like runners. It's focusing more on actually being able to do something instead of just looking the part.
Alicia Monson:
And I think, yeah, it's definitely something that a lot of runners struggle with. And I think, it's really important to get help if you need it. So not just... Maybe it's important to listen to people's stories and whatnot, but if you really do need help, I think seeing a registered dietician or a sports psychologist or a sports dietician is really important. And just to have a network around you to kind of be able to talk about it, I would say is something I would recommend just because you can't make get that far in a sport if you aren't fueling yourself properly.
Shelby Stanger:
Totally agree. Thanks for sharing that. And there's a lot of resources out there today about that topic. Is there anything else you want to talk about Alicia, when it comes to nutrition?
Alicia Monson:
It's always good to kind of look at your routine and see what you can do better. But at the end of the day, like it's never a bad idea to ask an expert and someone who can walk you through things and maybe they have you do like three day food diary and they look at it and they tell you what they think you could do better from here. So I think that even if it's not for running, if you feel like you could use some help in just your daily life of eating, seeing an expert could be really helpful.
Shelby Stanger:
Alicia shared so many helpful nutrition tips, and I'm definitely going to rethink what I eat and actually eat something besides just drinking a cup of coffee before my next big run. Food is fuel and understanding how to fuel our bodies is an essential of staying healthy and staying strong. Thank you so much to Alicia Monson for coming on the show. I'm really excited about your upcoming race at worlds. If you want to learn more about Alicia's running and see pictures of delicious things like the French toast she eats on race days, check out her Instagram @MonsonAlicia, that's M-O-N-S-O-N A-L-I-C-I-A.
Shelby Stanger:
Wild Ideas Worth Living is part of the REI Podcast Network. It's hosted by me, Shelby Stanger, written and edited by Annie Fassler and Sylvia Thomas and produced by Chelsea Davis. Our executive producers are Paolo Mottola and Joe Crosby. This series on running is brought to you by On Running. As always, we appreciate when you follow this show, rate it and review it wherever you listen. And remember, some of the best adventures happen when you follow your wildest ideas.