Caffeine for Runners: good or bad?
Great news! Seems that caffeine (and here I am thinking of coffee, in particular) is OK and probably “performance enhancing” for endurance sports people. Good news for us coffee drinkers. But if you aren’t a coffee drinker, should you start???
Here are the pluses to being a coffee-drinking runner:
1. Caffeine isn’t as much of a diuretic as was previously touted, unless taken in high doses, so the fear of dehydration from caffeine is less of a major issue.
2. Caffeine heightens alertness and increases performance, helping athletes runner harder and longer. It makes effort seem easier (by about 6%) with improvements in performance of about 12%, more in longer duration type exercise than shorter (8-20 minutes). It is thought that it increases the concentration of hormone-like substances in the brain called beta endorphins which give us a senes of well-being and reduce our sensation of pain…COOL!
Eating on the Run Part 2
Now for a few specifics about when to eat and how much.
Sports drinks provide easy access carbs for runners
While we vary in how much we weigh and the intensity of our long runs, if you are running less than 75 minutes, you may have enough stored muscle glycogen (aka easily accessible FUEL). At longer than 75 minutes, the sugar in your blood and liver glycogen become fuel. TO have sugar available in the blood stream requires consumption of relatively easy to access carbs (which breakdown to sugar). Simple carbs are easier to take in and turn into “blood sugar” so they seem to be the preferred carb while running.
You could choose to drink your carbs in the form of sports drinks or you could choose bars, gels, goos or gummy type candies. After about 60 minutes of a long run, you should start to consume about 100 calories and after that, 100 calories again every 40-45 minutes.
Knowing these rough guidelines, now comes time to read labels and experiment. For example, I like the Cliff Bloks. There are 30 calories a piece. I’ve found that taking one Blok every 15 minutes starting at the one hour mark gives me the extra boost I need. I find eating any more than that challenging so I could top this up on two hour runs with taking in a bit of sports drink to wash down the Bloks.
Since our long runs will be greater than 75 minutes now, and moving into the 2 hour zone, now is the perfect time to start practicing your feeding strategy!
Find out if runners should “caffeinate” or not
Hill running technique 101
In case you missed our last Thursday session with Jen Segger, local ultra athlete and owner of the new Challenge by Choice Studio, I thought I’d pass on the tips I remembered from the class.
Since I was getting over the flu and definitely pushing myself to run and not puke, I may have mixed up a few things or forgotten others so I’d appreciate your comments at the bottom in case I goofed! Thanks!
Uphill Running: look up the hill, pump the arms, shorten the stride length a little. Arms are at 90 degrees at the elbows, hands are relaxed.
Eating while running
Hmm. When I contemplate that title I shake my head- how DO those two things go together?
When I trained for my first full marathon years ago, when Power Bars were basically the only energy bars on the shelves, I practiced on my long runs to figure out what my body tolerated. Because the full marathon was going to take me 3.5 hours of continuous running and I would be burning about 2000 calories or more, which was an entire DAYS worth of calories, NOT eating would mean crashing.
But for a half marathon, with the duration being between 1.5 and 2.5 hours for most runners, how much food is necessary? Can you get by running without eating during the race?
The best advice I can suggest is PLAN and PRACTICE. Plan to eat properly BEFORE your run and what you will eat during your run. Practice eating during your run so your body is used to it and you can figure out what doesn’t digest well. Learn what works and what doesn’t for YOU. Everyone is different. That said, here are some general guidelines:
Why am I so sore after exercise?
Post exercise soreness…why does it happen?
It’s the harsh reality that follows a hard workout or the first intense workout after a long period of relatively more mellow activity…DOMS: delayed onset muscle soreness.
It’s cruel! It’s makes you want to lie on the couch for a few days, but oh, the agony when it comes to getting OFF that couch, or the toilet…you know what I’m talking about!
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