Has anyone tried this and if so, what was the 30 days like with training mixed in?
I’ve done it a few times. Depending on how you’ve been eating leading into it, the first few days can be a little rough. The first time I did it I was basically eating paleo anyway so it wasn’t a huge adjustment. More recently I went into it after eating whatever the hell I wanted for several months and it was a tougher transition. I don’t do full distance or 70.3 so I can’t offer any specific insight WRT training for those distances, but I’d think you have to focus on getting enough carbs through potatoes, sweet potatoes, etc. so as not to feel run-down. The plan itself isn’t inherently low-carb but it often ends up that way since bread, pasta, rice, grains, etc. are eliminated. I will say that I’ve never felt better than I did at the end of my first Whole 30 - tons of energy, sleeping great, lost a few pounds, and generally just felt good.
I’ve done it a few times. Depending on how you’ve been eating leading into it, the first few days can be a little rough. The first time I did it I was basically eating paleo anyway so it wasn’t a huge adjustment. More recently I went into it after eating whatever the hell I wanted for several months and it was a tougher transition. I don’t do full distance or 70.3 so I can’t offer any specific insight WRT training for those distances, but I’d think you have to focus on getting enough carbs through potatoes, sweet potatoes, etc. so as not to feel run-down. The plan itself isn’t inherently low-carb but it often ends up that way since bread, pasta, rice, grains, etc. are eliminated. I will say that I’ve never felt better than I did at the end of my first Whole 30 - tons of energy, sleeping great, lost a few pounds, and generally just felt good.
Good info. Much appreciated.
I have, at the beginning of this off-season in September/October. I put in about 7-9 hours training throughout. My schedule consisted of about 1 hour a day during the week (mixed between running, cycling, some strength work), then an approximately 3 hr long ride with 20-30 min run off the bike on Sunday.
In general, as someone who loves sugar, the first week was really hard for me. By about day 12, I started to feel a lot better. I also became much more efficient at work, because I didn’t have the mid-afternoon slump.
With workouts, I was sluggish, especially running (although this is probably because I ran roughly 10 miles in all of August). I ate a lot of carbs (mostly from sweet potatoes) and runs were limited to an hour, so I think the sluggishness was a “sugar withdrawal” issue, not a fuel issue. Felt crappy running until about day 20, where I developed this magical feeling of being able to run forever. The long bikes were sometimes an issue - I can’t ride for three hours without taking anything in. I finally settled on using the kids squeeze pouches of applesauce for mid-ride fuel - easy to stick in a jersey, easy to eat while riding, and tastes delicious.
I think Whole30 is great for pinpointing food causes of any type of GI or allergy issues. I did the Whole30 program about 3 years ago, and discovered then that dairy makes my allergies way worse. I stayed dairy-free for about two months after finishing it, then my love for cheese won over my desire to wake up without a sore throat, congestion, or just feeling crappy every single day. I’ve been “reminded” how much better I feel being dairy-free. Actually, along that vein, if anyone has any suggestion for protein or recovery shakes that are dairy- and soy- free, i’d love to hear them.
Whole30 is also hard, and not something I could imagine doing around the holidays or when I was building towards a race.
It’s a good program as is The 30Clean; although their is a charge for the 30Clean. 30Clean is not as militant (meaning it doesn’t require you to start over if you slip up). p.m. me for a discount code for the later.
I’ve done both and use dates and Larabars/Kit bars during long training. Both are totally doeable
I did it in early 2013. Combined it with 30 consecutive days of riding & running. Lost 10 pounds.
Requires a LOT of planning ahead and (optional) spending some extra money on organic foods, coconut oil etc.
Cutting out the sugar in training (Gatorade and Gels) is a bit of hassle but doable. I went with nuts and Lara bars. I considerd UCan but never did follow through.
Giving up the booze was probably the hardest thing for me,but after the first week it’s mind over matter.
All in all I had a good experience and it’s had a lasting effect as far what I should eat.
Good luck
I’ve done it before, but was only training for a half at the time… so just using Lara Bars and/or dates was enough for me to get by on longer training days. I did miss Nuun tablets, and Gatorade, but never trained so long it was a huge issue without them. I really didn’t see a drop in performance even at the beginning of starting the Whole 30 plan, but if I were training for a full at the time I don’t know if I’d still be saying that. The wife and I try and do a hardcore 30 days a time or two a year, but I don’t think I’d agree to such while training for a full, for what it’s worth.
Definitely be ready to be in charge of prepping 99% of your meals. I actually just put together 30 days worth of dinner recipes for the wife and I that we started. If you want access to it, message me and I’ll email you the Google Drive link. Some of them might not be Whole 30 as is, but it would be easy to alter them to comply. Also did 30 days worth of breakfast smoothie recipes to go with it.
I’ve done 3-4 of them. I echo what others have said about planning ahead and being prepared to do a lot of food prep. There are tons of great resources on their forum, I highly recommend joining up with a group doing one at the same time as you. Misery loves company and it helped me stay on track/accountable.
I tend to do these in the off-season, so I don’t have to worry about structured training and could go by how I was feeling, but I did train for a 25k trail race during one of mine. Once I got through the first week or so, I actually felt pretty great. I brought big gel flasks with unsweetened applesauce and winter squash soup with a chicken stock base (sounds weird, but it tasted good at the time.) For any kind of endurance exercise, you’ll want to stay on top of your carb intake – starchy veggies of all kinds are your best friend. It’s really easy to go low-carb when you take grains out of the equation.
W30 is a really great way to check in with your eating habits and see how your food is affecting your body. It’s definitely not easy, but I had great results from mine and have kept a lot of elements from the program in my day-to-day diet. It also vastly improved my cooking and veggie repertoire. I definitely eat a lot more variety of produce than I used to.
Good luck!
M
Excellent insight!