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I'm looking for food recommendations for my long runs. I'm building up my long runs to 15miles+ but it's all on the flats (lockdown)so what and when should I eat. So far I've been scoffing jelly babies every 40minutes. In MM I'd eat snack bars and nuts but this doesn't like a good idea. What do other people consume when on the roads/flat trails?
Jam sandwich.
To be honest i'd not be eating anything on training runs of that distance. It's only a couple of hours on the flat at a steady pace.
For those of us who do need to take food on a two-hour run (although mine are never on the flat) . . . I take a flapjack bar.Quote:
Originally Posted by Travs
I don't take food on 3-4 hour runs - the Fairfield Horseshoe for example - unless it's a race and the rules require it. Then I take a Nak'd bar of one variety or another - I find them palatable and they are not full of rubbish.
Those aldi bars - cashew and date (or similar). The main thing is it's palatable. A gel is handy but only if you've dipped too far to give an energy boost.
Agree Noel. I like the Aldi bars too. My favourite is the Hazelnut and Cacao Paleo Bar. Very tasty, easy to chew and digest.
Yeah, Nakd bars are good. All natural ingredients and go down easily. I like nutty stuff for proper long runs, but need to be going pretty slowly to digest them comfortably. Gels are good for an instant hit and/or when you're working pretty hard and chewing is difficult. Some are pretty rank. I like the OTE ones best.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike T
I don't normally eat anything on runs of 2hrs or less but when I'm going for longer I start eating early - a couple of jelly babies after 30 minutes then a home made energy ball on the hour. Repeat.
My energy balls are mostly date and nuts but they are easy to make and there are lots of options. If I expect to be out for over about 4-5 hours I'll also take an energy bar of some kind (Home Bargains usually have a variety and they often drop the price on some of them) and maybe a small flask of coffee. Then I'll have a proper 5 minute stop for a brew after about half way. I've usually also got a bit extra - maybe another energy bar, in case I decide to stay out longer, and perhaps a gel as a last resort if I really run out of steam.
On shorter runs I still carry a few jelly babies just in case.
So my question to those who are saying they generally don't eat. My limited understanding of sport science says that the body starts to run out of glycogen stores after 90ish minutes. WHy wouldn't you keep this topped up? What benefit is there to not eating?
A lot depends on how well you are able to use your fat stores as fuel - in theory if you are well enough adapted you have enough fat to fuel you for many hours.Quote:
Originally Posted by matthew
Personally by trial and error, and at a steady endurance training pace (for me around aerobic threshold) I've found a little over 2 hrs to be a reasonable time. I suspect I could go longer but I try to be pre-emptive and start fuelling early rather than bonk at 3hrs plus.
So I suppose one of the possible benefits of not eating is training your body to use its fat stores. Like during a fasted run.
My thoughts are very similar to MarkG's...
Training your body to burn fat.
Weight control.
Getting yourself used to psychologically running on empty stomach.
Similarly a psychological boost when you do a similar distance race but fully fuelled, you feel you have energy to burn.
My overriding thoughts are that your fuelling and hydration benefits generally come from the days/weeks beforehand, not what you can squeeze in on the morning of a race/session.
But as AnthonyKay alluded to in his post somewhere above, everyone is different and has different needs... i've been training this way in various sports for almost a decade now and i wouldn't go back.
I went out on a 14 mile XC run on sunday morning... for breakfast had a swig of milk with some protein powder, and took a 500ml bottle of water, of which i drank approx half.
I guess the benefit is to condition your body to make the most of the energy reserves it has rather than relying on topping that up with food. In my experience the conditioning it takes to do that isn't worth the effort, so I'll eat if I'm out for more than 90mins or so, though might go longer if it's easy and shorter if it's a harder effort where I'm bothered about performance.Quote:
Originally Posted by matthew
There's also a personal element to it. I'm pretty light and my body doesn't naturally carry much in the way of reserves, so I've accepted that I run better for longer if I eat. Also, my preference is for longer/ultra stuff, so getting good at fueling on the move is a necessary skill. If I were focusing on say HMs or medium fell races, I might think differently.
Whether to eat in training runs or not depends what you're training for. And remember that not eating doesn't make you more manly! ;) Eating on a 2h run may seem unnecessary but it will still have a cost on the body that eating during can limit.
If you're training for <1.5h race times then you can maybe get away without eating/a token handful of sweets.
If you're training for longer races/events, you need to train your gut to be able to take in fuel on the go at race pace, so eating on training runs would help with that.
Of course Carl Bell can get round Wasdale etc. without any food. It's horses for courses.
Too much of the Aldi pressed fruit/nut bars left me with degradation of my mouth which was pretty sore. This was on the HPM though, so nearly 9h of race effort.
As I've got older I have found that I can still get around a 2 hr run, not that I'm doing that at the moment, or a 4/5hr bike ride without food, although I always drink on the bike.
However, what I have found is that if I do not eat I am much more tired the day(s) after than if I had nibbled on something.
Apart from ripe bananas two of my favourites, which I can digest on the hoof, are cooked Charlotte salad potatoes and hard boiled eggs, both wrapped in a bit of foil which is easier to undo than clingfilm.
They also make a nice change from the sweet stuff.
To be honest i'm currently not eating a jot on anything 4hrs and below, except some electrolyte drink.
I'm hardly in the league of ba-ba though, so i'd take that electrolyte drink with a hearty pinch of extra salt...
Horses for courses, but as far as I am concerned the benefits of not eating are numerous - you don't have to carry the food, get it out of your bumbag and out of its wrapper; you don't risk inhaling it because of heavy breathing, nor do you need to worry that it will make feel nauseated or need to open your bowels, and in the longterm, that you will risk losing dental enamel if the food contains sugar.Quote:
Originally Posted by matthew
The 90 minute limit for glycogen stores is overstated - stores reduce, but they don't run out. That does not mean low glycogen stores cannot cause problems, of course it can, but fell running involves periods of lesser exertion where the main fuel by far would be fat, so that 90 minute limit is unhelpful.
I ran my last 2 road marathons on no food or fluids - and it did not adversely affect my times compared to previous marathons - 3 hours 15 odd.
Ultras - all the rules change....
Hi thanks again for the replies. It's made interesting reading. I'd also posted this on UKC and it was much more civilised on here.
I think for the time being I'm going to keep eating my jelly babies. They are tasty and don't seem to be negatively effecting me. If I get clear evidence not to eat them, I'll stop.
Now if I can just figure out the correct pace to run at for each of my sessions I'll be well away!
Quote:
Originally Posted by matthew
Do a 2 mile (or 3km) time trial as fast as possible. Work out your pace per mile/km
Do your steady runs around 60-70% of that pace
Do your tempo runs around 85-90%
Do your "reps" faster than that pace (20% faster if you can)
That is a very rough guide, but you won't be far off.