Trotting for Turkey (November Running)

[yellow]

Well, BC, you are experimenting, which is what you need to do! Maybe it was just an off day. Any number of factors can contribute. Hormones, hydration, attitude, alignment of the planets. And for the record, there is nothing wrong with taking walk breaks throughout the run. It probably won't affect your overall time that much and it gives your body a little break. Unless you are racing to win, of course

My hunch is that you might not be taking in enough fuel. What is the timing of your gel? Is the interval more than 40-45 minutes? Every person is different, but as an example, I fuel every 30 minutes (I try for 20 to 30 g of carbohydrates at each fueling) whether I think I need it or not (and I normally start the solid fuel at 1 hour). I cannot remember the last time I bonked and I never feel like I am getting too much fuel (the exception to that being events where I tend to get off because the aid station spacing never matches my regime). Is your gel plus the Perpetuem approaching 55 to 60 g/hour? It's a fine line: too many calories and your body can't process (with the standard reaction being GI distress). Too little and you suffer miles later.

However, given that you felt bad from the start, maybe what was affecting you is what you ate (or did not eat) the day before or the two days before. Are you getting enough low GI carbohydrate (enough to recover in between your long runs)? I've found that can make a big difference. I think that's more important than what you might eat immediately before you go for a run.

Good luck with your 20. It's hard. I don't care what anybody says. I hope it is better than yesterday's run!

[jessmarimba]

Bike chick, food really can be pretty personal. But I find that I can't stomach too much sugary food while running - after awhile, I don't want anything more sweet. And then I don't eat as much as I need to to keep going. It sounds weird, but I like homemade baked potato wedges or slices with a little salt. They're soft, they don't stick in your teeth, and they don't taste like sugar. (My sister does french fries, but cold french fries just taste gross to me!)

My best guess on what happened towards the end is that you didn't fuel enough in the beginning. The first hour and a half or so I don't really feel the need to eat and then when I do, it's too late. It's tough to train yourself to eat when you really don't want anything.

[Bike Chick]

Thanks so much Jess and Yellow. That's such good advice and the same thing DH pointed out. I've done 4 half marathons and could get through by doing a couple of gels. I'm realizing that's not the case training for a marathon and I think you are both exactly right. My stomach doesn't really tolerate anything solid prior to my runs so I've been just been eating yogurt before my runs and then I do a gel every hour. Its obvious to me that I'm not taking in enough calories. I also lost 2 pounds last week and wonder if that had something to do with it.

I'm going to be more concious of my nutrition through the week and take in more calories before and during the run and see if that makes a difference. I really don't want to suffer through another run like I did yesterday.

[GLC1968]

BC - I have no advice about long run nutrition since I haven't ever run that far myself! Another way to get in more calories before hand might be to put that yogurt into a smoothie with some fruit and maybe some protein. I've been using smoothies before my longer runs lately and it's working out really well for me.


Today we had our Chi Running clinic. It went really well. It confirmed a lot of what I already knew, taught me a few new drills, and reminded me of a lot of form points that I really hadn't been thinking about lately. A couple of reminders and my running felt just awesome! I'm really looking forward to my next run on Tuesday!

[jessmarimba]

After you mentioned the clinics I looked up the ChiRunning clinics here. The cost is outrageous! I wish I could take one but they are $225 here (I think? Maybe $250) for one day. I'm glad it was useful and maybe some day I'll get to try one but I feel like that's just insane.

[7rider]

Watched my ChiRunning DVD for a refresher and then went out and did 4.2 miles yesterday on a MUT. Had a metronome playing in my ear, tapping out 78 rpm cadence. That's a bit faster than my normal plodding 76, and I'm trying to train myself to have faster leg turnover.
But my leg stride remains too long, I think, as my splits were all under 11 (that's about race pace for me, and not what I intended for this training run). It was an exhausting effort, and I ended up stopping a few times (okay, I hit stop on my Garmin on the side of the trail those times...is that cheating?) just to catch my breath. I'm really not used to such a constant level of effort in my cadence. So much for the endurance I thought I had from riding bikes all season.
I'm such a stupid runner. At least nothing hurt at the end of it. So that was a positive step for my back issue.

[GLC1968]

Jess - that's about right, actually. Ours was $100 for a half-day clinic. I think that a half day was enough to supplement the book. Without having read the book, I would think you'd probably want more instruction.

7rider - my DH has an 80 bpm stride. He was one of the slower ones in the group yesterday (in stride, not in speed) and could not seem to hit the 90 bpm cadence. As a quick drill for him, the instructor set the metronome to 110 bpm and we all tried to match it for half a lap...it was hard! Then she dropped it back down to 90 and lo and behold, he was able to hit 90 with no trouble. Then when she did the video of us, he used a metronome set to 90 and was not only able to hit the beat, but his form was greatly improved right away. He had significantly less over-striding than he'd had just 30 minutes earlier!

It might be worth trying it out.