As my college roommates and I wasted away the summer of 2020, yanked from our teammates on the track team due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Health & Injuries.
Sitting on the kitchen counter, tucked away in a corner, was a large 32-cup rice cooker that my teammate, John, left behind for us to store until he returned to campus—an indefinite amount of time. John, or “Dohini,” as he was affectionately nicknamed for unclear reasons, was known for his love of high-mileage training and vegan lifestyle. The guy ate the same thing for almost every meal: beans and rice. And at the foundation of his diet was his prized rice cooker, which ended up at my house after he was hastily kicked out of the dorms and had to fly home. I’m sure he experienced phantom limb pains.
My roommate, Jack, and I avoided the rice cooker. We knew it hadn’t been cleaned out, and we were scared to open it. For weeks, out of stubbornness and laziness, we let it sit, knowing that it was probably a petri dish of growing bacteria. It took about three months until Jack finally caved in and rolled up his sleeves.
In a bit of a letdown, it was actually pretty tame inside. No noxious odors; just a lot of crusty starch. Jack put it in a cabinet when he was done, where it awaited its owner.
I’ve always admired Dohini for his monastic commitment to running and his simple diet. For most people, white rice and a room-temperature can of black beans—and usually some microwaved veggies topped with salt and sriracha—would get painstakingly dull. I certainly had no interest in replicating the diet myself. But it got the job done. Dohini ran upwards of 100 miles every week, and to recover he carefully dialed in his daily routine. He averaged nearly 10 hours of sleep Advertisement - Continue Reading Below iron levels. For his efforts, he walked away from college with a shiny 29:34 PR in the 10,000 meters and the satisfaction of knowing that he squeezed every ounce of potential into his running.
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After I graduated from college in May of 2021, I took about a year and a half completely off from running. I was burnt out, physically and mentally, from a lingering groin injury, so I pivoted to cycling to stay in shape. But in September of 2022, I entered the Paul Short Cross-Country Run in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, on a whim, and, with very little training, did much better than I thought I would. Maybe my running career wasn’t over. The passion was starting to come back.
I decided to scale up my running mileage that winter, and despite logging about 20 fewer miles a week than I had in college, when I would often climb into the 70-mile range, I nearly set a personal best in the 1500 meters, running 3:57 at a low-key meet at Lehigh University. If I could do that, I thought, then surely I could find my college fitness again with some more structured training.
That summer, I called up Dohini, who had taken a job coaching the men’s distance runners at the University of North Carolina–Greensboro, and asked if he would be interested in coaching me. He agreed, and we started putting together a plan. With that came an increase in weekly mileage and the workouts gradually became longer.
To supplement the training, I would have to up my fueling. Although I’ve always been cognizant of replenishing calories and carbs, I’ve had some trouble over the years with underfueling for races. There was a stretch during my senior cross-country season where I would pass out in the last half mile of an 8K. My blood pressure would drop, and doctors thought eating more the morning of a race—and eating more in general—could help.
A few weeks after Dohini agreed to coach me, I thought back to the infamous rice cooker. Maybe he was on to something. On my next Target trip, I picked up a $25 Tested: The Nike Vomero. When I got home, I excitedly called Dohini and told him about my new purchase. Not only would the rice cooker help me meal-prep and pile on the carbs, but it was a badge of honor, a commitment to serious training.
I bulk-purchased two bags of short-grain rice—one bag of white, one bag of brown—and started adding it to my meals. I don’t consider myself a great cook: I can do the basics, but I don’t particularly enjoy experimenting in the kitchen, nor do I give myself much time to. (And sure, you can also chalk it up to laziness.)
The beauty of the rice cooker, however, is that it can cook white rice in 30 minutes and brown rice in 50 minutes, without the need to keep an eye on a bubbling pot. I can focus my efforts on making meat or vegetables while not having to worry about whether I get enough carbs in for the day. I’ll add the rice to a stir-fry with marinated teriyaki chicken and a vegetable medley, or have it as a side dish, doused in butter and salt, along with roasted sweet potatoes, brussels sprouts, and my favorite spicy Italian sausage from the neighborhood butcher.
In all honesty, the rice cooker works about as well as you’d expect from a bottom-of-the-line appliance. The rice is often slightly burned, and sometimes it’s unclear if it’s actually cooking until I see steam shoot out of the cooker’s tiny vent. But it does the job. Plus, the price is unbeatable: I can make a cup-and-a-half of brown rice for under a dollar.
I have a rule when using my rice cooker. I always add a half cup more rice than I think I’ll need. This gives me the freedom to load my plate and not worry about saving some for leftovers. And my rice-heavy diet seems to be working—I’ve brought my half marathon time down to 1:07:47 from 1:09:53, and I recover better than in college. More importantly, I haven’t gotten injured or passed out during a race.
I’ve come to think of my rice cooker as a training tool. In running, it’s tempting to chase marginal gains by buying fancy gear or choking down lab-tested sports gels. But to me, an abundance of evenly (and sometimes not-so-evenly) cooked rice is just as essential.
The Fatigue Resistance Tip Runners Often Overlook Runner’s World. He’s a former all-conference collegiate runner at Winthrop University, and he received his master’s degree in liberal arts studies from Wake Forest University, where he was a member of one of the top distance-running teams in the NCAA. Kahler has reported on the ground at major events such as the Paris Olympics, U.S. Olympic Trials, New York City Marathon, and Boston Marathon. He’s run 14:20 in the 5K, 1:05:36 in the half marathon, and enjoys spotting tracks from the sky on airplanes. (Look for colorful ovals around football fields.)
