Platypus' Beginners Guide to Running

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Soldato
Joined
10 Mar 2006
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East Lancs
Keep trying to keep up running to work but baby and other life stress is taking its toll. Getting up to run is just painful at the moment.

I need to be hitting some distance too. Not only have I the Manchester Marathon in April, I was gifted the Liverpool in May... I've never run a marathon before! Going to be interesting :D
 
Soldato
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Well done, If you can go 18 within a few weeks that'll be seriously impressive. It gets exponentially harder the faster you go.

I kind of thought that also it's just I've improved exponentially with a weeks training. Your probably right though, maybe hit a wall at 20-21mins
 
Associate
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Tewkesbury, UK
Keep trying to keep up running to work but baby and other life stress is taking its toll. Getting up to run is just painful at the moment.

I need to be hitting some distance too. Not only have I the Manchester Marathon in April, I was gifted the Liverpool in May... I've never run a marathon before! Going to be interesting :D

I am doing Manchester also, my first one, are you following a training plan? I am just using the Bupa one at the moment, only requires 4 days of exercise a week!
 
Soldato
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Hondon de las Nieves, Spain
Mmmm jelly babies

On the subject of marathons. What do people take with them in the way of nutrition/supplements? I always see people running with bumbags but i think they'd annoy the hell out of me as they bounce around. So anything more than a couple gels in my short pockets will be annoying,
 
Associate
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Congleton, Cheshire
Mmmm jelly babies

On the subject of marathons. What do people take with them in the way of nutrition/supplements? I always see people running with bumbags but i think they'd annoy the hell out of me as they bounce around. So anything more than a couple gels in my short pockets will be annoying,

I have a running belt thing but also have the annoyance thing going on.

Normally, I put the holding part at the front and all it had in it was a house key and some gels that I stick in the part where the water bottle is supposed to go. For London, I managed to get 7 or 8 in there (Gu Gels)

On the Gel subject, I much prefer the SiS gels over the Gu ones. They can be squirted in nice and quickly and just washed down with a couple of mouthfuls of water. I found the Gu ones were like eating a chewy lump of goo (Suppose thats where the name comes from :) )
 
Soldato
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Northern Ireland
Obviously, most of my long runs are 10km (70mins) with the longest being 13km (1hr 20min), so probably fall short of some people's longer runs but even on a 10km, I'm pretty low on energy. What sort of length of a run should I start thinking about taking an SIS gel with me?
 
Soldato
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Location
Hondon de las Nieves, Spain
Probably as and when you need it, but i had this email through recently giving a suggestion.

https://www.scienceinsport.com/sports-nutrition/which-gel-when-infographic/?utm_source=Science in Sport&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=10179734_Global - 2 - Tuesday - Which gel when&dm_i=2578,626QE,SACGF8,NS6A7,1

If you're low on energy for a 10k, try taking one around the half hour mark and see how you feel afterwards. They're cheap if you pick them up in the sales, so not an expensive way to trial and error your way to the best option.

Alternatively look at what you're eating prior to running.
 
Soldato
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Posts
4,144
Location
Northern Ireland
Probably as and when you need it, but I had this email through recently giving a suggestion.

https://www.scienceinsport.com/sports-nutrition/which-gel-when-infographic/?utm_source=Science in Sport&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=10179734_Global - 2 - Tuesday - Which gel when&dm_i=2578,626QE,SACGF8,NS6A7,1

If you're low on energy for a 10k, try taking one around the half-hour mark and see how you feel afterwards. They're cheap if you pick them up in the sales, so not an expensive way to trial and error your way to the best option.

Alternatively look at what you're eating prior to running.
A timely email indeed. Cheers.

I would typically do the 10kms on Saturday morning, so beforehand I'd have some breakfast, 2x Weetbix with a banana, glass of orange juice and a coffee. Obviously letting it settle for an hour or so before heading out the door.
 

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Soldato
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Location
East Lancs
Deffo meet up on the day. 3 OcUK novices about to ruin themselves! Give yourself some credit Mart, you weren't that far behind.

I'm not sure about energy boost during a race. Done a few halves without it so doubt I'd need to take much if I'm smart about it. Shouldn't be too hot on the day really and it's hydration that's key for me. I'll likely start training with a running belt with my phone and some bits at some point just to get used to it as for Manchester I wanna play it safe and see how I do.

As for training, no plan, can't plan with a newborn. Just gonna pick a day a week and stick some miles on me on top of the frequent/infrequent 3 mile commutes (depending on how I feel).

I progressed to halves last year in just a couple months so I'm not too worried but obviously will take this a little more seriously as I go.
 
Associate
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Herts
Obviously, most of my long runs are 10km (70mins) with the longest being 13km (1hr 20min), so probably fall short of some people's longer runs but even on a 10km, I'm pretty low on energy. What sort of length of a run should I start thinking about taking an SIS gel with me?

You don't really need food on anything less than two hours. You may want to eat on shorter runs than this if you are practicing nutrition strategy, but you don't need to.

For water, in the summer I'll take it on runs over an hour. In the winter I take it on runs over two hours.
 
Caporegime
Joined
18 Oct 2002
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32,615
Keep trying to keep up running to work but baby and other life stress is taking its toll. Getting up to run is just painful at the moment.

I need to be hitting some distance too. Not only have I the Manchester Marathon in April, I was gifted the Liverpool in May... I've never run a marathon before! Going to be interesting :D


How long between the 2 marathons? There is some startegy and care required.

Be warned, when i did my first marathon I couldn't walk properly for a couple of weeks and couldn't run for 6 weeks. Being your first marathon, if you race it hard you probably want to have hard think about the 2nd one so soon after. If you take the first easy you should be able to recover for the 2nd, but you wont get your fastest possible time (but would guarantee a PB anyway).

I was never a morning person but running made me go to bed way earlier and get out the door at 6am. Although these days I am flexible and typcialy wait to mid-morning
 
Caporegime
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
32,615
Mmmm jelly babies

On the subject of marathons. What do people take with them in the way of nutrition/supplements? I always see people running with bumbags but i think they'd annoy the hell out of me as they bounce around. So anything more than a couple gels in my short pockets will be annoying,

Typically about 5 gels, with a 6th I consume 10 minutes before the start. I usually end up with a gel left over but that is the backup if I drop one or feel the need.

For my first 5 marathons I carried a hydration belt with 2 10oz bottles filled with slightly dilute GU Roctane. I use this for all longer runs. As i got faster I was definitely alone in using this, but I find it way nicer to carry your own sports drink that you know you get on with, you can drink it whenever you want, e.g. takes sips with the energy gel, and can avoid over crowded aid stations.

Also, it is veyr hard to drink form the paper/plastic cups when running, so you end up slowing down to drink. If you are a slower runner this is less of an issue, and walking through an Aid station wont be a big impact on finish time. But as you get faster you really don;t want to loose that time. there is also a mental cost of slowing down and then having to speed up. And even then, the number of times cups of powerade when all over my face or a I choked on aid station water really puts me off relying on aid stations.

Once I got to racing marathons under 7min/mile the hydration belt became a pain with a lot of bouncing. Works great at 8min/mi in training but not in racing.
Instead I make a homemade handheld bottle. I use a water bottle that has a bite valve, somewhere around 500-700ml. 700ml is a little too heavy but a nicer amount of fluid. You make a handle out of duck-tape so it fits snug in 1 hand. It takes some getting used to having that weight on 1 hand. Also important to swap hands every few miles because it can create uneven stress on joints.

This way you can skip all the early aid station and sip on the go. I sometimes grab a watercup if convenient but know it isn't required since you have the bottle. The bottle wont last thw hole race, I typvcially get to mile 16 but depends on temperatures and 500 vs 700ml bottle. You just throw the bottle away at that point (preferably near an aid station for easy cleanup by the crew). At that point I mainly try just to get to the finish but on a hot day will have to rely on aid stations.


You can also carry a straw with you to make drinking out of the cups easier while running. Never tried that though.


As a slower runner you have a lot of choices that don;t have a huge impact. Taking a hydration belt wont be an issue, but walking through aid stations wont hurt your time much either. So the main advantage of taking your own is you get to use your favorite sports drink at the correct dilution. And that is the killer for me, because most races use terrible stuff like gatorade which is just regular sugar and no where near as digestible.


The final advice is not to over stress hydration. No one ever gets in to serious issues with dehydration, but overhydration causes Hyponatremia which is very serious and every year people runnign marathons die form Hyponatremia. Hydration and electrolytes balance has a small impact on performance until it becomes severe. So being very well hydrated before the race and then drinking a minium throughout is perfectly sufficient. You can finish slightly dehydrated and easily catch up passed the finish line.
 
Caporegime
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
32,615
Obviously, most of my long runs are 10km (70mins) with the longest being 13km (1hr 20min), so probably fall short of some people's longer runs but even on a 10km, I'm pretty low on energy. What sort of length of a run should I start thinking about taking an SIS gel with me?


I normally don;t bother under 16 miles, although i used to take a single gel on 16mile runs. Getting low on energy is partly normal, but may also mean you are running too fast for a regular run.

It is useful to take gels on your longest runs simply to get your stomach used to digesting gels after a couple of hours running.

Froma pure physiological perspective, you wont need any gels on runs less than 15 miles run at marathon pace, and you can typically cover the 26 miles at easy pace without gels. At an easy pace you get much more energy form fat so the 2000 calories of glycogen you have stored are sufficient to get you over the line. As you go faster the energy requirements increase and you will also use more glycogen because using fat requires increased oxygen.
 
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