When juggling busy careers and lives, it's not always easy to find the time to hit the gym or prepare a healthy meal. For inspiration, we're asking influential women in a variety of fields to share a typical day of food and fitness. Tony-winning Broadway actress Cynthia Erivo may be known for her showstopping voice, but she's also the ultimate fitness inspiration (case in point: she once did a two-day show after doing a half marathon, nbd). This Sunday, she's running the New York City Marathon–her first ever. Here, she shares a day in the life ahead of race day.
This is what I usually have first thing in the morning. I always have green juice with something: porridge, or an apple, or other fruits. I keep another green juice in my bag just in case I'm getting a bit hungry and I don't want to have something terrible. It's great to get all the nutrients down at once.
I started getting really health-conscious completely when I was on tour and I was 24. I sought out advice about what I should be eating and what I shouldn't be eating. When you consider having to sing every day, you sort of need to be as vigilant with what you eat and what you drink as much as possible, because you want everything to be working the way it needs to.
I don't know why I fell into running. I just decided one day I wanted to run, and it only started as like doing five kilometers every day, and that was enough for me. I think as the time went on, your body starts to get used to being able to do that. I would take less time to do the 5K and it would be less effort, so you would have to increase the amount. By the time just before I got here in New York, I was running about nine miles every other day, and I liked it, so I thought I wanted to explore how far I could go with it. I did the half-marathon, then decided I wanted to do a full marathon.
My training for the marathon was like this: On a Monday I do a long run, on a Tuesday there's strength training, and the strength routine changes daily. Right now [for] the strength training my trainer, Craig Thomas, and I work to make sure that we're focusing on the marathon, so anything that helps us with balance and redistributing the weight on my feet, we do.
For my abs, I'll do up-side down push-ups. Those are harder to do than if you're in a headstand because you've got gravity pulling down on you. That is just to encourage core [strengthening]; we switch things up and make that burn. A strong core can take the weight off the legs when you're running, or take any pressure off your back. We use lots of workouts for the legs' exteriors, like the outside my thighs.
For my arms, it's all body weight work too. I do pull-ups, I do push-ups. Where I've got a rope in front of me that's connected to weight; you pull it from behind and in front of you, so you're actually working on the outside of your arms. I do a number of things for my arms, but mostly it's probably my diet and a combination of body weight work. And I have lifted weights before as well.
My lunch here is a wrap with peanut butter, apple, and raisins. It was on the go and I had a meeting, so I had that with green juice after a workout. Without the pita, I would normally have apples and peanut butter together anyway. They're a really good travel snack; it's a really, really good source of energy and protein and it tastes good, too.
Even when I wasn't training for the marathon, my diet is always really clean because I've gotten into the pattern of eating that way. You just stick with it, even if you're going to have a "day off." I'll still always end up going for the healthiest version of things. If I want a burger, it'll probably be Bareburger because I know that everything is grass-fed, organic, there's nothing added.
Essentia water is really alkaline, so it sort of eases out the system and it means that I'm balancing out the acidity in me. Because I sing, that's the best thing for me. It means I'm not having something that will do anything to my vocal cords.
I discovered Splendid Spoon [food delivery service] on Fresh Direct. When I'm rushing around like I have been these last couple of weeks, the easiest thing to do is get a service food, throw it in the microwave, and go because it's easy to carry around. This broth, which is one of several foods they'll send you, has everything in it. It's got your protein, it's got your nutrients, it's all whole food and good for you. Why not have a giant thing of it? I'm not particularly vegan or anything, I just like the light taste of it. You can't go wrong with it, to be honest.
I'll have snacks at different times of the day, so just before a show or maybe during a show's intermission I'll have an apple and some tea. Cashews I'll have throughout the day as well if I need something quickly. They're a really good source of energy if you're hungry, and I can't have very much while I'm doing a show!
One of the things that is vital for singers is our energy output. One thing you need to do when you're eating clean, is you're eating more often but you never eat until you're completely full to the brim. So you're always teetering on the edge of, "I might need something today," so you pick something up constantly. What it does is make sure that your energy is constant. I've got enough energy to last me to the end of the day. Now your body is just wanting to process things quicker. You see the results quicker.
This soup was tasty, tangy, but good. I don't know why I'm a fan of tomato soup—I'm not supposed to eat it because it's too acidic, but I always try and make sure that if it's the last thing I have before I go to bed, I will at least give myself about two hours before I sleep because you don't want to have acid reflux. This soup is so hearty and warming, so that's what I like.
The idea of being able to do a marathon is another milestone. This whole year has been full of different milestones and incredible occurrences happening, and I feel like to be able to establish that kind of achievement in my physical being, in my sport, in my running, almost brings everything full circle. It's like you've done well in your work, you can do well physically, and I like that it's a new challenge I've given to myself. Every time I've done a long run, it's longer than the last, so it's longer than I've ever done. I did 20 miles recently–that was the longest distance I had ever run ever, and that is an achievement. To know that I know that I'm going to be able to do that again when I do the marathon, and to be able to say I ran the marathon the year I won a Tony, it's awesome to be able to have all these firsts happen all at once.
