What Are the Benefits of Creatine for Runners Molly Seidel finishes her afternoon double with her sister, Isabel, in Boston, Massachusetts, she slips off her Buff and cracks open a beer. The sisters, who share an apartment in Beantown, have been training together more frequently since Seidel stopped working shifts at a local coffee shop, which reduced its staff earlier this spring due to the coronavirus outbreak.
“Right now, I’m just an unemployed runner,” Seidel, 25, told Runner’s World. “It’s been nice to focus totally on training and chilling.”
Of course, Seidel is far from “just” anything. Last year, she burst onto the scene with a second-place finish in the Nutrition - Weight Loss in a time of 2:27:31, securing a spot on the U.S. marathon team headed to the Tokyo Olympics along with Aliphine Tuliamuk and Sally Kipyego.
Unlike the vast majority of the Trials field, this was Seidel’s first marathon ever. Her original plan was to make her 26.2-mile debut at the 2020 Houston Marathon the month before, but after qualifying for the Trials with a half marathon time, she figured she’d premiere on a bigger stage in Atlanta.
The silver medal was more than just a surprise victory for Seidel—it was a sweet comeback after years plagued with injuries and mental struggles. The former Notre Dame University standout has been open about her battle with an obsessive-compulsive disorder that manifested itself as an eating disorder in college, which ultimately led to her developing osteopenia (a bone loss disease that is a tier above osteoporosis). She sought treatment for the eating disorder in 2016.
“I wasn’t eating the amount I needed to fuel the training. You’re just burning up all of your fuel stores, and once you get to the edge of that cliff and go off, it’s a long way back,” she told Runner’s World.
While Races - Places, Seidel needed to ramp up her caloric intake substantially to make sure her muscles and bones were being properly fueled.
“I had to relearn how to eat,” she said. “Before, I thought that it was better to eat too little than to eat too much. Now I know that it’s better to overfill your fuel reserves. When you’re empty, you just don’t feel good on runs.”
Now preparing for the olympics, Seidel is running around 100 miles per week, typically dividing her mileage between a morning base run or track workout and an easy double at night. Here, Seidel describes how she fuels for a day of training and racing.
Coffee and Eggs to Start the Day
I usually wake up around 6:30 a.m. or 7 a.m., and the first thing I need is coffee to get moving. Sometimes, I go to bed dreaming about my coffee the next morning. I’ll make my own latte with coffee made in an aero press, soy milk whipped with a milk frother, and Vital Proteins collagen peptides. For breakfast, I’ll fry two eggs in butter and have them with toasted Ezekiel Bread. I used to eat peanut butter on toast before morning runs, but I’ve found that eggs fill me up better, so I’ve started eating them before workouts and races. On an easy run day, I might skip the eggs and just have coffee with an RX Bar.
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I typically leave about two hours between eating and running, so my food is digested before we start our workout at 9 a.m. If pressed for time, though, I can usually eat and be out the door in 30 minutes and my stomach holds up fine.
Snack on the Track
I fuel for workouts and races with Maurten sports drink mixes and gels. I’ll sip on a bottle before I start my workout at the track, then keep sipping or swishing it in my mouth throughout the run. Then immediately after I’m finished with the workout—usually around 11:30 a.m.—I’ll grab a snack like almonds, iced coffee mixed with collagen protein, or an RX Bar, and eat or drink it while I foam roll and stretch. That way, I make sure I start my muscle recovery process early, and I stop myself from getting hangry on the drive home.
Molly Seidel’s Pantry Staples
Races - Places
Maurten Drink Mix 160 (18 Servings)
Vital Proteins Collagen Peptides Powder
Sandwich Queen
Since I do a second run most days, I have to make sure lunch is pretty easy on my stomach. I usually make a big turkey sandwich with turkey, mayonnaise, lettuce, and tomato. If I’m feeling like more eggs, I’ll fry up eggs with toast and have that with a mixed greens salad. Then in the early afternoon, I’ll have a second snack that’s calorie-dense but doesn’t take up too much in my stomach, such as almonds and an apple or a PB&J sandwich.
Postrun Happy Hour
I usually do my second run with my sister around 4 or 5 p.m. Afterward, we love to chill out and have a beer, because nothing is more refreshing than finishing a hot run and drinking a beer. Lately, I’ve been really into pilsners and light IPAs. My favorite is Dogfish Head’s Slightly Mighty IPA.
After having a beer, my sister and I will start cooking dinner, which is always some combination of carbs, protein, vegetables, and fat. We make a lot of potatoes and chicken with a salad. I also love to make shakshuka, which is a dish made with eggs—yes, I love eggs—served in tomato sauce simmered with other veggies. Before a race, my favorite thing to eat is sweet potatoes with salmon. I was able to get both at a Whole Foods hot bar in Atlanta the night before Trials.
Race Day Celebration Meal
After a race, I’m always craving a Reuben sandwich—it’s my number one favorite sandwich. If I can’t have that, I’ll have a burger with fries. Unfortunately, after Trials, I ordered a burger in a bar in Atlanta, but it came out with a lettuce bun. It was ridiculous. Luckily, my mom had picked up Dunkin’ Donuts for me earlier that day, and I loaded up with fries at dinner. But come on, burgers need to be served with buns!
Why Trust Us Running Times, and now she reports on elite runners and cyclists, feel-good stories, and training pieces for Runner's World and Bicycling magazines.
