Running

Ran my first ever trail run today, local trail half marathon. Very different to the road running I’ve gotten used to since focusing properly on it from last September. Couldn’t have gotten a better day for it too!

As it was a total unknown for me, I went with what I know - gel on the start line and every 30 mins, 1 litre of water in a hydration vest. 21.4km and 670m elevation in 2 hours 12 minutes. I was surprised that the faster guys just ran with the shirt on their backs, no water, no nutrition. These guys are a different breed!

been okay at fuelling I think! Yesterday did a banana, gel, slice of banana bread and one of those solid food bars they sell at running shops. Still guessing as to when to eat but earmarking eat something every 8k ish.

Got some tablets for the water so I'll stick a couple in my vest's pouch

sorry to hear that. Did pausing running fix it?

The rule of thumb I was told by a coach was 1g of carbs per kg of bodyweight per hour, which for me translates to a pfh30 gel at the start line, and every 20 mins, right to the finish. I took one in the last 2 miles because at that stage you’re thinking of recovery. I took a bottle from every water stop and sipped it til the next station before taking another one. Same as you I used the pfh electrolyte tablets, I think i popped one at every other aid station.

very solid session, what's the aim for London?

get used to fuelling more
or at least more regularly

on a half marathon I take a gel every 20mins, which is probably a bit more than I absolutely need, but I'd rather have 1 gel too many.

on a full then I think I'd stick with roughly that frequency. get the gels that are isotonic too so that you're replacing the salts as well as just getting sugar

and train like you're planning to race. don't just aim to do it on race day, you need to be sure your stomach doesn't rebel against a handful of gels

Play it by ear ;)

Even just reading about this amount of fuelling makes me feel queasy. Fair play if it works for you!

For a standard 20km 1000m Lake District horseshoe, 2:15~
I’d take 500ml water, couple gels and a packet of shot bloks. One gel at around 10km, shot bloks to top up from 14km, then a final caffeinated gel once I need a final kick.

Need to be careful to not have too much caffeine as you only get a proper kick from it once.

I tend not to fuel up to the half. Past that, sure, and early.
But it’s probably not optimal.

I tried to have some jelly babies once on a marathon and I may as well have shoved them in my ear. Probably not the best advice, but all I can manage is a couple of orange quarters and a bit of water every now and again.
I wouldn’t eat on a half

You know your own body best but I’ve suffered no ill effects from 100g per hour of carbs when building up to IM70.3 and subsequently marathon last year, and never felt like I was red lining during training or racing at that level of carb intake. I found I recovered much quicker from big training days, and had no major muscle soreness or fatigue from the marathon by that afternoon.

Works for me so I follow that pattern, but I know some people can’t tolerate gels or drinks.

It’s no criticism, makes me wonder if I’m self sabotaging by not eating more!

Considering I’ve been on my arse all day after an 11km race when I had a small breakfast and a gel before the start, I do wonder if I need to just eat more (it couldn’t possibly be that I’m unfit).

John Kelly out of the Spine through injury.

He rolled his ankle 28th Dec (Strava note) so maybe a carry over of that.

I've been in cheap karrimor and primark (yes, really) shorts for years, but they're now all starting to look very ropey.

Is there a good band-for-buck 5" short out there preferably under £10-15? Black, with credit card-sized back/side pocket is all I ask for.

Worth checking if any of the dhb shorts are left in your size. Think they were about £5 in their sale.

Altra build quality

I haven't had a new pair of Altras in over a year. The uppers on my trail shoes (both pairs approaching 1000 miles) have worn through in the same place that every single pair of my running shoes goes eventually, think they lasted about 500 miles before wearing through. Road shoes have held up well but they have less mileage in them I think, but still a decent amount.

Newer models might have suffered in quality but the only issue I have ever had is the uppers wearing through by the little toe. I think that's a foot shape issue for me as my toe tends to press into the fold where the shoe bends in pretty much any shoe.

Jack Scott's a bit good at running/not falling asleep/not freezing to death, eh?

54 minutes sleep for the win !!!

So, I did my first base run based on heart rate yesterday. I had to go very slow, uncomfortably slow. I suppose that just tells me that I have to do more base runs so I can increase my pace at that HR.

Question is, how do you run slower than than feels right? Any tips?

It was a bit tedious tho

Question is, how do you run slower than than feels right? Any tips?

Find someone slower than you that runs at the sort of pace youre looking for, that'll make it easier.

I was thinking more form. Turns out it is a common question. Think I need to shorten my stride a bit to avoid plodding.

The culmination of immense preparation and planning to make one of the hardest races out there look easy! 10 hours off course record, wow!

I’m a bit obsessed with running in snow!
Has anyone done https://www.snowrunning.uk/ or any other similar events? Did Rovaniemi ultra years ago but that’s folded. Would like some climbing or interesting trails as Rovaniemi was a slog on long flat trails mostly.
Not keen on multi day so spine is no good, albeit I love following it!

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