Week 11
This week:
This week the weekly mileage was 85 miles.
This is comprised of two workout sessions, whilst the rest were easy paced runs, including three double day workouts.
For my easy paced runs, if I can’t run on trails I try to run on a treadmill just to limit the impact. I’m excited to be using the NoblePro Elite E8i treadmill to support my marathon training.
As training around parenting isn’t easy, but it now gives me the flexibility to train around the family.
This model has a WiFi 10.1″ tablet touch screen preloaded with entertainment and training apps to keep you on track and motivated. A review will be coming soon so stay posted.
To follow my training I post my training on my Strava account.
Thoughts on the run:
Whilst this training goal appears to be focused on the number. A 2 hour something marathon isn’t my main focus.
If you think about a big goal too much it can overwhelm you into inaction and doubt. So I switch my primary focus away from the goal and move it toward the process.
Each day I commit to giving my best effort. That’s my focus. Whatever happens on race day, will happen but during my training I’ll give my best effort on that day.
I’ve spoken about this before, about treating your long runs like races.
Each week is an opportunity to dial in the key details, from race kit, nutrition on the run, to pre-race nutrition or sleep etc. In this blog I’ll be talking about nutrition.
The long run:
Nutrition: Often I hear people say “gels don’t work for me, they just make me ill” now whilst I don’t dispute this fact, often when you dig down you find it’s not solely the gels fault. So let’s look at the factors around how to not to feel sick whilst taking gels.
So 24 hours pre marathon or training running and post race, these are the ten food commandments:
- Thou shall have a dinner with a 4:1 ratio carbs to protein. Whilst vegetables, fruits, beans, wholegrain foods are good for you, the fibre in them will cause thou runners trots. So look to reduce the amount pre race. You can try to take Imodium but that can cause you constipation and isn’t something you should take regularly;
- Thou shall avoid fatty foods 💩 and eat naturally constipating foods like white rice or pasta or bananas. All fats aren’t bad, like avocados however they have fibre, so maybe try a touch of olive oil for example;
- Thou shall stay hydrated and up your electrolytes. Please note that if you sweat more than 4% of your body weight, this can increase the risk of 💩
- On the morning of the race the fibre rule still applies. Thou shall not fill your bowl with high fibre cereal topped with all the berries for the reasons stated in rule no. 1 💩
- Thou shall eat breakfast upto 2 hours before the race. Having a minimum of 100g of carbs. This could look like a bagel with peanut butter for example;
- Thou shall go easy on the hydration pre run, this isn’t a colleague drinking party! Drink no more than 600ml upto several hours before the start to avoid the sloshing feeling;
- Thou shall practice the gel strategy in your long runs each week. Don’t rock up to the race unless you’ve practiced it. And don’t take anything new on race day!
- When running at a pace, the gels jiggling in your stomach will struggle to digest, because blood is moved away from the intestines and towards your working muscles, lowering the functionality for you to digest food, which can cause 💩 issues;
- Thou shall not swallow the gel quickly in one go and take more than several sips of water with it unless you want to feel sick! For gels when I’m running at pace and I take an SiS isotonic gels (which means you can consume without water) and I sip them over 10 minutes;
- Post race (within 30 minutes) aim for 4:1 carbs-to-protein meal and rehydrate. If there’s no food available I’ll take a recovery shake, as a stop gap.
Nutrition is a minefield, if your running an ultra marathon, what I’ve said wouldn’t apply in particular as it’s a moving buffet of eating and hydrating. Also it’s different if you were hitting the weights at the gym.
But if you are a runner, practice, practice, practice and stick with what works for you!
For balance I want to clarify that the opinions expressed here, are just around the 24+ hour period for the long training run and the marathon. It’s not advising the avoidance of food groups generally, as YOU need to have a balanced diet to function at your best.
Manchester Marathon is approximately six weeks away, to see my journey on Instagram follow the hashtag.
#2019projectsub3
Marcus Runs 