Tracking food consumption while you are training for any kind of physical challenge is essential. There is more to running a 1/2 marathon than just hitting a treadmill every other day and completing 13 miles of mind numbing running. One has to know the physical challenges ahead and ensure that your body is in the perfect condition to handle it.

As I am training and gradually making progress I like to keep track of my stats and what is going in my body and for what purpose. A typical day for me now can be seen in the following diagram (click for large version):

All this may look very bland and robotic but after a few days it starts to feel very ‘clean’ and eating rubbish actually feels like my body can do without it. I tend to sleep better eating like this and I don’t wake up parched through the night.

Once your in the mindset of eating this way you can swap things around a fair bit with the inclusion of fish, cottage cheese, wholemeal bread, brown pasta, and marinades etc. I find it best to think of food as fuel and your body as a car that needs to be properly looked after and maintained in order to get the best out of it.