Regarding pickles and cinnamon toast.

I am now in my third cycle of Marathon Training. WHY??? WHY???!!

Oh right. Because I am badass. Duh.

 

Each and every time I start logging higher than average mileage I notice that I have strange cravings for odd foods. (odd for me, anyway.) People commonly ask if I am preggers, which I most certainly am not. I just want all the strange foods ALL THE TIME. NOMNOM!

For example. For breakfast today I had sensible oatmeal, followed closely by pickles and cinnamon toast. That really is not right... But it really was so delicious.

 

I would like someone knowledgeable in nutrition to analyse the following data and explain it to me.

And "Sara, you eat all the strange foods because you are strange..." Is just not helping.

 

So. During Marathon training cycle #1 I was running high mileage during June and July. Yuck, it was very hot. Lots of sweating!

 

My top 3 food cravings were:

-GRAPEFRUIT!!! OMG GIVE IT TO ME!!!!

-Pickles. Dill, obvs.

-Vitamin Water- the XXX kind ONLY (btw, I tried to consume one of those the other day and was grossed out. I had to rinse my tongue under the faucet I was so disgusted...)

 

I ate an ass ton of grapefruit.
Like, a dozen a week. WTF?

Marathon Training Cycle number TWO rolled around during September and October and (as previously mentioned) was quite light on the miles and stress in comparison to round one. After running Around The Lake I have had ZERO grapefruit and ZERO vitamin water, so that was a one shot deal. I still ate my fair share of pickles but my cravings seemed to shift slightly.

 

Pre-MDI my top 3 food cravings were perfectly sensible. *ahem*

-KALE!!! ALL THE KALE!!!

-Twizzlers. So many bags of them. I'm embarrassed.

-Orange veggies. As a rule, my least favorite thing. However, I could not stop stuffing squash, sweet potato and carrots into my face at a high rate of speed. Yuck. I'm so over that.

I ate Kale in EVERYTHING.
Cups and cups a week. I might have turned into a kale plant.

So delicious.
So red and waxy.

Here I are now, in the dead of winter preparing like a teeny tiny superhero for Marathon number THREE.

Let it be known that I still am consuming upsetting quantities of kale, spinach, chard, whatever. I do not discriminate against any green leafy OMG delicious veggie.

 

At this juncture my top 3 wants are:

-Brussels sprouts!!! (I used to HATE them, now I LOVE them.)

-Twizzlers. I had to stop buying them it became so bad.... What the hell is wrong with me?

-Ginger ale. Out of everything this makes the least sense. I have strong feelings of dislike towards soda and have not consumed any in close to 10 years, I bet. After every long/challenging run it is ALL I WANT. So I drink it ALL. And IT. IS. AMAZING!

(And on off days I add a little bourbon, thank you very much.)

Get in my belly! I have a relationship with these little buggers...

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM. Ginger ale. I love your face.

I think at this point it should be easy for all of you out there to understand my confusion. High mileage seems to give me cravings to eat things I would never want to consume otherwise! Please help a girl out and explain to me the logic behind this nutritional mess, I would most appreciate it!