2015 Running Thread Part 5

[actiongirl1978]

Hi everyone, new thread started!

I hate gels.

I think I'm a bit phobic of them as i had a friend i trained with when i ran my first maraton 5 years ago, who tried them out running and got APPAULING diahorrea. As in, she didn't go to work for 2 days.

I'd much rather just have a juice or a lucozade sport for a bit of a sugar high!

I think until you are doing HM + you really should be able to run without additional sustenance!

Yes gels are as disgusting as you'd imagine!
I run all parkruns on an empty stomach and have run up to 10miles training runs without eating but not rates.
I take jelly babies to have during hm and I have had them at 6,8 and 11 miles or just before the next water station.
My club mates who do a lot of marathons and ultras and even 24hr races are amazingly good at eating while running!!! Although they tend to do a slow lap after having eaten on their long runs. I can't eat at all before or while running. A couple of them run parkrun have a pot of tea and tea cake and then run home which is 9 miles

Anglaise i agree!!

I have done training for marathons with no food with me on long runs.

They are also expensive and utterly revolting.

I think this supplement thing has gone mad. I started running 5 years ago, and honestly I don't remember nearly as much of this...
All this protein power, gels, etc etc
What's wrong with real food!

Local 10k race today. I was really looking forward to it but found it hard from the get-go. It was much hotter than I was anticipating and I paced myself pretty slow, hoping to be able to speed up in the second half but was finding it really tough even at a conservative pace. Was tough not to lose motivation and I walked a few times. Then someone collapsed at 8km and was having CPR when I went past... really unsettling but did make me feel weirdly grateful that I was at least able to be putting one foot in front of each other (even if it was my slowest time ever!). Loads of kids fun runs afterwards which were great to watch, although standing in the sun all day means I am now as red as a tomato. Still, not going to moan too much as I'm very lucky compared to that poor guy.

Laughing thats awful :(
Hope he's ok.
I ran my slowest ever in a race today too! Self inflicted by not eating anything on moppsaturday but drinking about three bottles of wine... Woops

WooHooooooo! I've done it, first run in over six months. Not fast, not impressive, but I ran for 30 mins (and 11 seconds, I wanted to make it to the tree!) and did a not very impressive but a good start of 2.27 miles. I worked through the C25K a couple of years ago, as I wouldn't have managed the 0.27 miles before that, but I am impressed with now being able to go for half an hour straight from nothing :-)

Is the total in miles or km?

family That's the irony- I already have a bladder pack (Salomon S-Lab 5L vest) - but I still don't drink enough. I've trialled pretty much every option (waist pack, soft flasks, hand held bottle etc) but it just comes down to me. I think I maybe haven't quite switched over into trail runner mode so I still tend to think in terms of distance rather than time, which means I don't conserve my condition well enough and underestimate calorie expenditure. On the longer races (50-100k) you'll see people stopping in the checkpoints for a quick bowl of instant noodles, peanut butter sandwiches etc which is totally alien to me. It's basically a different strategy/ mindset to road racing and it's hard to flick the switch. I kind of think "No way can I waste 5 mins eating some noodles" whereas I need to think "If I don't eat these noodles I'll lose 10 mins down the road". I did give myself a good talking to after Saturday though as sorting drinking and eating is probably my easiest "win" in terms of improving my race times.

Re. all the supplements, there's definitely a lot more out there, but a lot of it is just brand explosion. The basic offerings are the same. I used gels in the LM in 2008 so they were definitely easy to get hold of them. I think a couple of factors have affected the uptake -

1. Quite a lot of people now have carb fear so maybe they need the glucose hit more for racing as they don't have the glycogen stores if they usually eat paleo.

1. Gels are pushed on the electrolyte argument (i..e they're better than jelly babies because they had sodium, potassium etc) so if you sweat very heavily, you could cramp if just drinking water. However, that's in jeopardy as there's now research to show that cramping isn't necessarily caused by low sodium ( people who cramped had normal sodium levels). A very small trial showed that drinking pickle juice (literally drain some off a jar of pickled onions) stopped cramps within 90 secs. Since this is too short a time span to have any impact on salt levels, it suggests the juice is somehow triggering some neural pathway when it hits the back of the throat. It's far from proven but there are a few guys here who swear by it and carry their little vial of pickle juice on long races.

I must admit I do use protein shakes after heavy lifting sessions and long races and I do think it helps recovery and also facilitates maintaining lean tissue but could just be placebo effect.

That's always scary to see LaughingM. I haven't ever see cpr but had a very poorly lady who was carried back by two fellow runners on one race.

Well done UmBongo!!! We record in miles

I can't imagine stopped for noodles ever when running AgressiveBunting! Not to do with time wasted just because I wouldn't to eat something so stodgy in the middle of a run.

LaughingM are you ok? I know you are better off than the poor man, but you've had quite a shock. No wonder the whole race felt awful.

UmBongo - well done. when is your next run? I have found the trick is to get out regularly. I have a really heavy schedule over the next two weeks. I plan to get out regularly but will need to make them short runs as I have no time.

Wow LaughingM - that's disturbing. Hope he's ok. I saw someone collapse on a 10k once. Does make you think.

I'm certainly not going to try gels if they are that disgusting! I rarely eat my snack if I take one with me - it's more just in case I have a real energy crash.

I've decided not to start running club until after my HM on 7th June because it would mess with my training schedule. A woman I know in my village has just suggested we do my long run together tomorrow. I'm partly really pleased (we are still new here and it's nice when people want to meet up) but partly a but worried I'll slow her down! She is a swimming coach and is in charge of the running club at my kids' primary school and she's built like a whippet!

Oh and well done UmBongo! Just keep at it and you'll go from strength to strength!

Interesting debate. Like Aggressive I find it difficult to contemplate "heavy" food on long hill runs as I'm not craving it, its similar if I'm doing other sports especially at altitude (ski touring, Mountaineering) but when you do eat you notice the difference. I've never done longer distance flat/road runs so I don't know how I would be say in a road marathon. I agree the gels are pretty disgusting but jelly babies etc whilst running get stuck in my teeth. They are also not that expensive (ones I bought are about 50p a gel). I run a lot of longish distances without food and don't feel the need, but anything over 3 hours and with hills and I do.

Family I take either a bumbag or a small 7 litre pack depending on what I'm doing and the weather. Both are designed for runners rather than walkers and after of while you don't notice they're there (except for the sloshing water).

UmBongo well done, good to know that initial c25k work is still paying off!

Laughing that would have been a really unsettling experience, hope he's ok, and you.

4 gentle miles today, legs were sore but feel better for it.

959.27 + 4 + 2.27(Bongo) + 6.2 (Laughing) = 971.74

Laughing hope you and he are ok. Just awful.

aggressive pickle juice?? I suppose it would be preferable to yucky gels though
Interesting about different mind set re eating and running for ultra runners. I really can't imagine eating shortly before or during running as I just feel sick. I can see the rationale but the concept is so alien. I suppose one of the difficulties must be working out the optimal pay off between stopping and running more slowly just after eating vs not taking in enough energy to keep going at a good overall pace. I guess that is part of the skill of ultra running.

at carb fear! I absolutely love my toast, pasta and baked potatoes. I could never go low carb. Maybe that is why I can easily run 10 miles on empty in the morning. Good glycogen stores. Never thought about that before.

Well done UmBongo, that's great

6.52 rainy and wet miles, but feel much better for it
971.74 + 6.52 = 978.26

runtothehills yes, I don't notice my rucksack either. Mine is an 18 litre day sack which is really a walking one but has clips at each side to keep it closed tight if almost empty so it doesn't flap around. It is more space than I need, but it is light enough and I have got so used to it now I don't notice it. I often run to get papers and a few things from local shop and it is roomy enough that they don't get all crushed/squashed

running is hard and can be daunting, we need talismans and good luck charms to help us cope mentally, for some of us that might be jelly babies.

I get nervous about being too cold or caught out in the rain so often take unnecessary hats and rain jackets with me.

11.59 from me
989.85

it was very windy and rained most of the way, I was slow but comfortable on account of my magic good luck rain jacket:)

I'm still here and still running, just not been getting on line much recently. I've also taken the crazy plunge and entered the ballot for the Paris marathon next year!! I don't know what came over me.

22 miles from me over 5 runs.

1011.85

Gonna go and catch up now.

10.4 yesterday with a stinking hangover and on very little sleep (must have been the day for it). But at least it was sunny.

4.4 today (intervals) in the driving rain and wind. Bit odd as I was the only person on the running track but there were about 10 men repairing the grass in the middle of it. I had to keep dodging wheelbarrows.

aggressive Urgh to pickle juice! I only take fuel with me if a run is more than a half marathon distance (2hrs). Some of the gels are absolutely foul, but through a lot of experimentation, I can recommend the Gu ones (especially the chocolate and berry flavours). I can't stomach lucozade sport while running and can only drink water. I have wondered about jelly babies, but to be honest, for me the gels work on long runs. My tummy is always a bit iffy afterwards even without food so I think its the run rather than the fuel that causes it. The thing I really need nowadays before I run is not food but coffee.

alley what are the chances of getting into Paris through the ballot? Has to be better than London surely?

Well done to all the racers this weekend. laughing that must have been really hard to see, hope you are ok.

On that note, has anyone had a cardiac check-up? I have promised DH I will before I run another marathon. My DM had to have a stent put in to her main artery when she was relatively young (in her 50s). It wasn't picked up until it was almost blocked as women are generally low risk at that age so she was lucky that she didn't just drop down dead. I'm going to book an appt with the gp but I think they may well look at me like given that I'm still early 40s.

1011.85 + 10.4 + 4.4 = 1026.65

Louey I had a cardio check up before my marathon just to make sure. In France is paid for by the state healthcare, you should have a test every couple of years when you are a woman over 40 practising endurance sports.
7,5 dog running miles today
1033.65

I have lately because resting heart rate had doubled as part of thyroid thing, inherited from my mum and it caused her atrial fibrillation which unfortunately didn't go away with treatment and so emboli and then a stroke - luckily mine has settled to 55bpm and I can have coffee again! Nobody told me not to run though, just said it would be hard work. It's kind of scary so I try not to think about that side of things much.

5.68 from me today

A brief gush if you don't mind. But i thought i had gone out way way way too hard and managed to keep the pace the whole way. Had a real lightbulb moment today that i've got so much stronger. I gave up running for a year having totally lost my confidence after an AWFUL marathon (fell over, had a stress fracture, it was too hot etc etc etc) and took it up again literally 5 weeks ago on a whim as i was bored on a saturday i went and jogged a mile and a half round the park. I honestly feel like a different person in 5 weeks. My self esteem is so much better, i'm noticeably more happy and confident.
Was hoping by now I'd be able to rattle off a 5k... going for a nine mile run on saturday with SIL and totally confident and excited.

on a bi of a runners high at the moment!!!

1039.33

What a lovely post Queen!!

I have 4 miles to add today. Finally got over my "post event blues" and had a lush run in the rain this morning. Feeling back on it again!

Thanks all. Yeh, I'm ok (well, I'm horrifically sunburnt and aching but physically fine) and feel a bit more together than I did last night. Have been thinking about that poor guy though... It was reported on local news site that he had been taken to hospital but nothing more. Fingers crossed for him.

Adding 6.2 miles of hill work with my new running coach yesterday. It was really good- we did a 2k power hike up a massively steep hill and then 3 x3 300m hill repeats with a recovery jog in between each one (so run up, jog down). Did one at just normal "run up a hill" pace, one at "ultra shuffle" which is an energy conservation technique where you take really small steps and try not to swing your arms and one "Do or die" where you sprint as far as you can and then run up at normal pace the rest of the way- idea is to try to get a bit further each time.

Total 1045.5

Scheduled to do a quick 10k tonight over the hills but it's forecast for storms and I dont really want to get struck by lightening so might have to can it. I really want to try out my new head torch which the "Ay-Up" one with two lights so you can point one at your feet and one ahead of you.

Re cardiac check ups- yes I should probably get one. I tend to think if I was going to have a heart attack I'd have had it by now blowing up those hills, but that's probably a stupid way to think about it.

Queen Glad your return to running is going well. Always nice to read these posts as a reminder of why I do it- it's for "those" runs.

laughingM. So sorry that you witnessed that. It must have been awful.

Really enjoying the chat about gels and camel packs etc. I don't run far enough for them to even be an issue yet but maybe one day...

In the meantime another 5k from me yesterday and my fastest time at 30mins 42 seconds. Working on losing 43 seconds to get a sub 30 5k. Slow and steady is the way for me.

1045.5 +3.1 = 1048.6