Figuring out hydration and nutrition

I got home today to find a parcel full of goodies I had ordered for my marathon training:

Bonus: free Nuun water bottle... gotta love a freebie

Ordered from The Feed Station

There is no denying that the correct hydration and nutrition strategy can make or break a race.  There is a plethora of literature on how much you should drink, how much carbohydrate you should consume, how frequently, what combination of sugars and electrolytes are best, real food vs gels or chews... the list is endless (and my mind is completely boggled). 

I did not have any plan when I ran Brighton Marathon 2011 – the only thing I did do was practice hydrating with Powerade, as this was the drink provided on the course.  I did my longest runs with diluted Powerade in my CamelBak and munched a few jellybeans halfway through if I felt like it.  That was it... the full extent of my nutritional plan.  I knew they were supplying Clif Shot Bloks on the day so I figured I would just help myself and all would be well.  However, they had run out at every station by the time I reached them (thank goodness for the wonderful supporters handing out sweets).

This year, being older and wiser, I have decided to be sensible about fuelling, both in training and during racing in the hope that it will help me achieve my goals and postpone the dreaded ‘wall’ for as long as possible and help aid my recovery.  

I choose not to take any water or nutrition with me on runs of 13 miles or under.  However for runs over this distance I always take my CamelBak filled with Nuun for hydration and electrolyte replacement.  Once I reach 18 miles and over I will begin to experiment with nutrition and frequency whilst running to find something that works for me. 

I find it very difficult to run holding anything in may hands and therefore use a hydration backpack which allows me to take a swig whenever I feel like it whilst keeping my hands free.  It can take some getting used to if your not used to running with a backpack and it is important to try before you buy to ensure you get one that fits you properly and doesn't bounce around too much as this will cause chaffing.  

Practicing your nutritional strategy before your race is essential – you don’t want to try anything new on the day as digestive issues and stomach cramps can make for a thoroughly miserable experience.  It is also useful to remember that what works for one person may not work for another so you must find out what works for YOU and what works well at 5 or 10 miles not be so great at 21 miles! 

I really like the Clif Shot Bloks and find them easy to eat and digest whilst running.  Each pack contains 6 individual blocks which contain just 33 calories each and 3 blocks is equivalent to one gel and will provide 24g carbohydrate.  I like the fact you can eat a block every 15-20 minutes rather than having to neck an entire gel in one go.    

I have never got on that well with gels as I find the consistency is often unpalatable making them hard to swallow but after trying a free Gu gel sample – which were thicker than others and actually tasted quite nice, I decided these may well be the gels for me!!  Each gel contains 100 calories and approx 20g carbohydrate.  Obviously, being the chocoholic that I am, I opted for the Chocolate Outrage flavour – with added caffeine.  Not everyone tolerates gels containing caffeine as it can cause light-headedness and palpitations but I am a big fan of the caffeine boost (and have been known to pop a couple of ProPlus when on long training runs). 

I think I have my pre and post run routine sorted and it works well for me:

Pre Run:               35g porridge oats with skimmed milk, 12g honey, 10g pumpkin seeds and 10g chia seeds
2 cups of black coffee
1 pint of water
1 bottle of lucozade or lucozade light

Post Run:             Chocolate milkshake
                                1 pint water with Nuun
                                Wholewheat toast with peanut butter or bagel with philly and tomato
                                Banana

I try and drink lots of water the day before my long run and for the day after my run.  I also try not to drink beer the night before my long run (but I’m not always successful!)

Early morning long run

Today’s workout

• Run        12 miles                01:54:02               Avg: 9.30mm

 Yesterday was a day over over-indulgence – not only did I eat out for lunch, I then headed to the in-laws for a family dinner.  I offered to be the designated driver for the day as I knew I wanted to head out for my long run fairly early and didn’t want a repeat of hangover Friday! 

I headed to bed about midnight, knowing with the plan to get up at 4.30am to have some breakfast, then crawl back into bed before heading out for my run about 6.30.  I just could not sleep, I tossed and turned... but it was no good, the 17 black coffees I had during the day were conspiring to keep me awake.  I was so awake in fact, I was sure I would never sleep again.  I made a deal with myself – if I was still awake at 3.30 I would just get up and have breakfast.

Needless to say, at 3.40am I was chowing down on a bowl of porridge with honey and seeds.  Just after 5am I headed out for my run as the sun came up... beautiful!

It turned out I wasn’t even the only nutter out at 5am on a Sunday, I passed the same guy and a cyclist at two different points on my circuit... glad to know I’m in good company!

My plan was to run the first 7 miles at 10 minute miles then speed up and run the final 5 miles at 9mm.  The first 7 miles went by like a dream, lovely easy miles – legs felt strong and no problems from the dreaded blisters.  I still felt good as I sped up to start my 9mm but at mile 9 I got a bit carried away and ended up running an 8.30.  I really paid for this in the last mile.  It was torturous, was really hard work and I just could not keep my legs turning over at the required pace.  I got slower and slower but managed to pull out a sprint for the last 0.3 miles (it felt like a sprint but was actually only 8.20mm).

I tried out my new Nike arm sleeves. 

 I love the arm sleeves, I wore them with a t-shirt and they were ideal to protect against the slight nip in the air first thing, but as it heated up I was able to roll them down to cool off.  They are not too thick and stayed up really well without slipping, think they will be a regular addition to my running attire!  I went for a size small and they were tight enough to make my muscles look big ha!!  

I also tried out my new SPIbelt. 

 I don’t normally run with a belt but for safety reasons I have decided to start taking my phone with me on my long runs.  It is great.  The pouch is not huge but stretches to accommodate essentials such phone, keys and money will also fit in a few gels for when my runs get longer.  The best bit is it was so comfortable and didn’t move or bounce an inch then whole run, I actually forgot it was there.  The best part is it comes in a range of colours, I went for the black with pink polka dots!

So that was it, 12 miles done by 7.15am... time for a nap!           

Run Mr Westy Run!

I am very excited... Arran has decided he wants to start running and has even entered a 10K as motivation!!

After trying for 18 months to whet his appetite for running (but failing miserably), about 6 months ago I gave up the hope that one day we could run together.  However, out of the blue last weekend he asked whether I would take him out for a run (ha, it makes him sound like a dog)!  We went out and did a walk/run and he managed 2.6 miles in just over 28 minutes, managing runs of 5 minutes with walk breaks of about 3 minutes.  I was sooo proud of him, and it was really great to run together. 

Me and Mr Westy heading out for a run

Later that day, he told me he was thinking of running a 10K race to give him motivation to keep running and that watching me in races had inspired him to try... I am quite chuffed I actually inspired someone (even if it is just the hubs) YAY! 

In my excitement, I immediately got on the net to find a suitable 10K and signed us both up for the Battle of Sedgemoor 10K in August.  I am really looking forward to running his first race along side him and finishing together – it will be a great achievement.   I then got on and organised a training schedule for him using the Couch to 5K starting from week 5 (or it might have been 6, I can’t remember) building up slowly to 5.5 miles before the race (there isn’t enough time to get up to race distance). 

I am trying very hard to contain my excitement and to throw in some non-running related conversation every now and again.

Today’s Workout

• Swimming Lesson            01:10:00
• Walk/Run:          2.6 miles              00:30:30              

Today’s interval session was abandoned due to the mother of all hangovers!  My sister-in-law Vicky and Graham are staying with us for the weekend and we may have over-indulged slightly last night.  The worst part is that I didn’t even drink enough to warrant a hangover on this scale, it was completely disproportionate to the amount that was consumed. 

Anyway, after I finally finished throwing up and my brain stopped trying to escape my skull I dragged myself to my swimming lesson.  We did lots of kick drills and lung-busting breath holding drills.  I worked really hard and actually felt all the better for it. 

Before dinner, I went out with Arran to complete another walk/run session.  We did 8 minutes running with 3 minutes walking and covered 2.9 miles in just over 30 minutes.  Arran has his first attempt at a continuous run on Sunday.    

I just need to convince Arran that he needs proper running trainers and a technical T-shirt or two (he reckons he will be fine in his Nike's and cotton tees).  I can foresee bleeding nips and shin splints in his future... he should have realised by now that I am always right... and what I say goes ha ha!!

Blister Misery!

Today’s Workout:

• Easy Run:             5 miles                 55:02

My feet are falling apart!!

This mornings run was scheduled to be an easy 5 miles at 10mm pace.  I set off and found it was difficult to maintain for the first couple of miles as my legs felt quite tired and my heart rate was ridiculously high and didn’t drop below 168bpm the whole time (even when I was running down hill). 

I had taped up a couple of hotspots I noticed on yesterdays tempo run, but after a couple of miles my feet became increasingly painful.  I slowed down even further but was completely miserable and spent some time trying to decide whether it would be more painful to carry on or chop my own feet off and drag myself home on my hands and knees.  After my somewhat overdramatic attempt at distraction techniques I stopped to walk.  I walked for 0.5 miles then decided my feet were so painful the sooner I could get home the better, so I forced myself to start running again (this turned out to be the most painful experience ever) and managed to get home doing a run/walk (or more accurately a shuffle/hobble) of 5 mins run then 5 mins walk. 

Despite the walking, I was actually only 5 mins over my planned time – not sure how that happened!

The most disappointing part of all was I was supposed to go out with Arran for another run together and I was so looking forward to it.  I didn’t want to send him out on his own, so I hopped on the bike and cycled along next to him for moral support.  It made me feel like his personal trainer!

When I got home, I peeled my shoes and socks off to assess the damage.  My feet were so sore I had to soak off the tape I had used and was horrified to find extensive blistering on and below both little toes and on the outer edge of my big toes (you will be pleased to know I decided to spare you the photographic evidence of my manky feet). 

I have only very rarely suffered with blisters in the past and was wearing the same socks and trainers as always.  The only things I can think of is that for some reason I did my trainers up slightly more loosely than usual the last couple of days and that I could really do with renewing my socks, I have had them for about 18 months (I know, I’m disgusting). 

I have been advised to try moleskin for my hotspots as it has more cushioning and I have some silicone toe caps which may work on my little toes. 

Lessons learnt:

• Don’t carry on running and hope it will get better – stop and sort out your hotspots before they deteriorate
• Renew your socks frequently
• Tighten your shoes enough so that your feet don’t move and slide inside the shoe.  

Swimming etiquette

Monday’s Workout:

• Badminton         2 hours

Today’s Workout:

• Tempo Run         6 miles                 1 mile WU/CD and 4 miles at 8:40mm
• Swimming          32 lengths
• Weight Training
• Badminton         2 hours

 ***RANT WARNING***

I have only been swimming for a few months, and was really nervous about lane swimming before my swimming teacher finally talked me into taking the plunge (see what I did there lol!!).  My teacher enlightened me to some well-known (but often unspoken) lane swimming rules to that should make everyone’s swimming experience safer, pleasant and more efficient:

• Slower swimmers starting a set should not push off in front of a faster swimmer thereby blocking them, but should wait until they have passed

• Faster swimmers should try and give slower swimmers as much running room as possible before pushing off

• Allow swimmers doing a faster stroke to go ahead (e.g. front crawl is often faster than breast stroke)

• If resting at the wall stay as far as you can to one side out the way

• If the swimmer behind gently but distinctly touches the feet of the swimmer in front this indicates they would like to overtake, therefore the slower swimmer should stop at the wall and move to the corner to allow the faster swimmer to overtake before pushing off

• Swimmers should not swim wide in order to overtake mid-lap (this is not allowed at my pool)

More information at http://www.cartegic.com/pooletiquette.htm

At my swimming session this morning, I arrived a few minutes later than usual but to my delight I found I had the entire slow lane all to myself.  My aim for the session was to swim 60 lengths taking as few breaks as possible.  After I had done about 22 lengths another swimmer entered my lane and proceeded to break every one of the aforementioned ‘rules’.  

Now, I have absolutely nothing against slower swimmers (in fact, this is the first time I have actually been faster than someone) and as a slower swimmer I always show respect and try not to impede those faster than me. 

The other swimmer was doing breast stroke and as I came up behind her I slowed expecting that she would stop at the wall and let me pass – she did not!!  I gave her the benefit of the doubt, assuming she hadn’t realised I was there and continued to follow her for another length.  When she didn’t stop for the second time (and I know she had seen me) I was starting to get mildly annoyed so for the following four lengths I tapped her feet periodically to indicate I wanted to pass and.... nothing.... she just kept on going.  How rude!!

I decided to try a different tact and waited at the wall until she had completed a full length and then was halfway back towards me before I started again, figuring that this would give me plenty of room before I came up behind her again.  As I turned at the end of the length, I noticed she had stopped at the wall at the other end of the pool.  I checked her position again about halfway back and she was still at the wall.  Great, I thought, I can over take and get in a few more continuous laps.  Anyway, I when I was about an arms distance away from the wall – she pushed off to continue right in front of me.  By this time I was cursing her under my breath.  I decided to try the same tact again – letting a decent distance build between us and she did the exact same thing again.  I couldn’t believe it.  I was so angry by that point I had to get out and abandon my swim half way through (it was that or drown her). 

Now, maybe I am overreacting but for there is no excuse for someone to ruin your training session as a result of bad pool etiquette – it would have impacted her very little to let me past every now and again.  

RANT OVER!!

Injury and Excuses

Friday Workout

• Swimming Lesson

Saturday Workout

• Walk/Run:          2.6 miles              00:28:12               10:51mm

Sunday Workout

• Long Run:            10 miles               01:39:37               9:57mm

So, once again I start this post with more excuses about why I have missed most of my training this week.

 

I started this blog to document my training journey and it has turned into a weekly list of excuses about why I have jibbed out on all my planned session and despite my proclamations of cleaning up my diet to lose weight and properly fuel my training.  I am still consuming far too many empty (and liquid) calories and as a result my belly still has rolls to rival Buddha’s and my thighs still rub together when I walk.  No one else to blame but myself.        

So, this weeks excuse: injury!

Remember I mentioned I was having problems with cramping in my calf muscle at the beginning of the week, well the pain continued to get worse and my calf turned a lovely shade of purple with and the lump got bigger.  I managed to convince myself that I had a DVT (deep vein thrombosis) and that I was likely to drop dead any second if I dislodged it by moving off the couch.  I was all set to go to A&E when Arran reminded me that whilst at Damage Control Fest on Monday some bloke had accidentally kicked me and in my inebriated state I had barely even registered it and then promptly forgot it ever occurred.

 

Now I knew that I wasn’t likely die just yet I decided to hold off of any training until the pain and lump had disappeared just in case I caused any more permanent damage.    So when Friday rolled around I headed for my swimming lesson.  Now, not having swum for more than a week, I really struggled.  I found I was out of breath much more quickly than before (although it didn’t help that my swimming teacher made us do lots of anaerobic work).  I find one of the hardest drills we do is front crawl catch up on our lowest pull count (mine is 12-13 stokes per length) but only breathing every 6 strokes.  My lungs are fit to burst after every length, and the recovery time is never quite long enough.  Then, as if we hadn’t been tortured enough, we were made to do 6 lengths of butterfly to finish off the session.  Now, I am physically incapable to doing butterfly.  All that happens is I stay stationary while splashing around like a drowning baboon, periodically flashing my bum in the air... it is quite a sight to behold :)

I wasn’t planning to run on Saturday, but Arran asked if I would take him out on a short run – I couldn’t refuse as he has never showed any interest in running before so I jumped at the opportunity.  We did a walk-run for 2.6 miles, running for about 5 minutes then walking for 60-90 seconds.  He did so well, I am so proud of him (I think he actually quite enjoyed it as he has already mentioned the possibility of a 10K... I won’t get my hopes up just yet though). 

While it is great that he did so well, it is also slightly annoying that he did so well straight off.  I always harp on about how hard it was when I first started out running and that you have to build up really slowly and he went straight out and ran for 5 minutes without stopping (and could have probably managed more had it not been uphill) when I could only manage 30 seconds at the start.  I guess some people are more athletically gifted than others!  

Like the party animal I am, I was in bed by 9pm on Saturday night in preparation to get up at 4:30am to have a pre-long run breakfast.  I actually woke up 5 minutes before the alarm went off and snuck downstairs for my usual breakfast of porridge and honey with a variety of seeds sprinkled on top.  After two cups of coffee, a lucozade and some time spent catching up on my favourite blogs I headed out for a 10 mile run.  It was perfect running weather, cool but not cold, overcast and slightly drizzly for the last 4 miles. 

I also ran in my compression socks for the first time in the hope of helping my calves.  I felt like a bit of a twit running in knee high socks, but at 6:30am on a Sunday, there was no one around to see me anyway... anyone with any sense was still tucked up in bed.  Not sure they made any difference during the run, although my legs felt really good the whole run (although that is probably because I have done nothing all week).  Time will tell whether they make a difference to my recovery time.      

I tried a new route which circumvents the whole of my town.  It was really nice to run a new route and kept things interesting.  While I was running through our local country park, I rounded a corner and was confronted by three women screaming and brawling and in the middle of the path... at 6:45am... what a nice town we live in.  I literally stopped dead in my tracks – like a deer in headlights, unsure of what to do.  So, as one of them looked up and caught my eye, I turned around and ran away before I became the new target!!     

After that little bit of excitement (which added on about 0.5 miles to my route) the rest of my run was uneventful.  I worked really hard on sticking to my 10mm and actually succeeded, except for mile 7 which inexplicably was 9:44mm and was mostly uphill... weird. 

I felt really good at the end of my run and could have kept going comfortably, I even managed to keep my heart rate under 159bpm. 

And so a new week begins... excuses are banished!!  

Shoot for the stars

I have decided to divulge my little secret... I really want to run a sub 4 hour marathon.

There, I said it – there’s nothing like shooting for the stars (feel free to laugh and mock).  I have had this dream for a while, but never spoken of it out loud as it seem too far fetched to ever become a reality, but after speaking to a friend, I realised any goal worth achieving takes hard work and so with a bit of self belief (and a lot of hard work) I can conquer the 4 hour marathon. 

 

Okay, now to be realistic – I don’t think this is achievable this year as I don’t have the base mileage to fall back on, therefore I am hoping that 2013 will herald  a marathon time beginning with a ‘3’.

For this year, I have decided to try for a sub 4.15 at the New Forest Marathon (improving on my last marathon time by 30 minutes) which I believe should be achievable if I put in the hard work (and everything comes together on the day).

As you know, I don’t do speed work (or hills) normally as it always seems far too much like hard work.  However, I realise how short-sighted this is and if I want to realise my goals I need to suck it up and speed up.  Therefore, I have referenced the Runners World sub-4 plan and added their suggested speed and tempo sessions into my training plan (the rest of my plan is very similar anyway).  The Runners World plan suggests running 5 times a week but I know from previous experience that my body just can’t handle this so I am sticking to 4 times a week.  I am also going to use and stick to (that would be a first) the suggested RW training paces:

Easy Run:        10.00mm

Tempo Run:   8.30mm

Intervals:        7.06-8.00mm

Long Run:        10.00 - 11.30mm 

On the topic of my training – this week has been LAME!!  While I have done all my scheduled runs, I have done nothing else, nada, not a thing, I mean it’s not like I have my first triathlon coming up or anything... right?  My motivation seems to have completely left me this week – and the fact I gave in to the laziness so easily is the disappointing thing.  I need a serious kick up the caboose.   

Weekly Workout Round-up (pathetic, I know)

Monday

• Badminton Club

Tuesday

• Easy Run:       6 miles                 58:12     9:42mm

Wednesday

• Easy Run:       3 miles                 26:38     8:52mm

This run was way too fast for an easy run, but I felt good and the pace felt reasonable so I just went with it.  I need to be more disciplined with my pacing from now on. 

Friday

• Tempo Run:   4 miles                 36:04    

I did an easy warm up mile at 10mm then the middle two miles were run at 8:02 and 8:15 (target was 8-8:15mm) followed by another mile easy cool down at 9:50mm.  The final 0.25m of my tempo section was up a steep hill and even though I slowed a bit, I managed to hang on and not let my pace drop too much.  I did have to stop at the top for 30 seconds to recover as I thought I might throw up.  It felt great to work hard though, I felt like I had a proper workout when I got home.  

Sunday

• Planned LSR:     8 miles at 10-10.30mm