Mid-run nutrition/energy products? (Read 900 times)

What do you like? Why? Where do you purchase it? When I ran with Eryn yesterday I think I hit the wall a bit around the 8 mile mark (we ran 9.5). Suddenly I went from feeling good, strong, consistent to feeling like every step was a struggle. That morning I had eaten a filling, calorie and carb-dense breakfast (Burger King croissandwich, hash rounds, OJ), increased my carbs the day before, and had a big banana right before our run. But I'm thinking I could use GU or something similar for my long runs and races. What would be easy to carry? I have a Camelbak waistpack that I use for long runs, but the pockets are all on the back and hard to reach while actually running--I could attach some sort of small pouch to the waist straps, though (I generally do that with my cel phone while on runs). k

I have previously posted this re: calories and marathoning. This text assumes you are running using glycogen as 100% of your energy source. In reality, you use other sources, such as fats. The lower your %maximal effort, the lower a portion of your total calories come from glycogen. When you run out of glycogen, you hit the wall. *** The human body can contain a maximum of about 2000 calories of stored glycogen. Glycogen is the energy source we use when we run. Your body stores glycogen in the muscles and in the liver. Most of us burn about 110-140 calories for every mile we run, which means we will run out of glycogen after about 16-18 miles. After you run out of glycogen, your body will force you to stop as you transition from burning glycogen to burning protein (i.e., your leg muscles). Once your body has transitioned, you can run again. In part, it is because of this protein burning that your legs hurt for days afterwards and you require recovery before you can run again (that and the lactic acid buildup, etc). It is for this reason that many runners can go 16 miles casually, but require planning and extra effort to go beyond 20. Taking in calories during the run can extend this by preserving some of the (liver) glycogen. A packet of gu-stuff has about 100 calories (worth just under a mile of running) and a 4 ounce cup of gatorade has about 8 calories (about 50-100 yards). Even if you take in 8-10 gu packets during your run (yech, blech, eeeww, uch) you will not necessarily absorb all those calories efficiently, so you still are likely to run out. In general, the more you run in your life, the more efficient you get at burning glycogen. People who have run distance for years, and who put in 40-60+ miles per week use and replace glycogen more efficiently than folks who have only been running for a short time and who can only put in 20-30 miles per week or less. The more efficiently you burn glycogen, the less quickly you use it up, and the further you can go. Your body simply cannot store more than about 2000. Once you got to 2000 (or whatever YOUR body can hold) you will not store more. You burn glycogen all the time, whether running or not. If you were to sit at your desk all day doing nothing but surfing this board, you would still burn about 1500-1800 calories / 24 hours (although you probably burn a little more than that just by having muscles trained to run a marathon), and so all you are doing is repleting that when you carb load up every next day. When you wake up the morning of a long run or a marathon, you have already lost several hundred calories from your glycogen stores just by breathing and sleeping the night before. More if you were nervous. That is why your breakfast really counts as your carb loading unless done right before the run. If you finished dinner and went to sleep with 2000 calories in the tank, by time you woke up the next morning, you were probably down to 1400-1600. If you ate the oatmeal at 5am, you were probably close to 2000 by time the gun fired, but then you only took in about 600 during the run. If you ate after 6am, then you probably had a store of about 1500 calories when the gun fired, and the oatmeal would count in the 950. See Tim Noakes, the Lore of Running. Noakes has a long discussion in his book about energy stores and how we use them. I forget the exact chapter. Among other things, he writes: "The marathon is less a physical event than a spiritual encounter. In infinite wisdom, God built into us a 32 km racing limit, a limit imposed by inadequate sources of the marathoner's prime racing fuel -- carbohydrates. But we, in our infinite wisdom, decreed that the standard marathon be raced over 42 km...So it is in that physical no-man's-land, which begins after the 32 km mark, that is the irresistible appeal of the marathon lies. It is at this stage, as the limits to human running endurance are approached, that the marathon ceases to be a physical event...It is there that you learn something about yourself and your view of life." (Noakes, Lore of Running, p596)

Ahhh...Trent, that is interesting. I do know that I was running a bit faster than normal for a weekly long run. We did about an 11:30 pace, where I normally would run 12 minute pace for a run of that distance (trying to keep up with Eryn, LOL). I'm guessing that my race pace for the 10 miler I'm doing in a couple of weekends will be in the 10:30-11 minute mile range, so I was going pretty fast for *me*. I was really sore after that run and all last night, too (normally I don't experience much in the way of soreness after a typical run, even a long run...I was doin' some substantial hobbling-around last night). Today I'm a little sore, but mostly stiff, so it does make me wonder if I exhausted my glycogen stores and ended up starting run off of my muscles--I tend to watch my carbs most of the week (I'm hypoglycemic and if I'm not careful with the carbs I will get awful cravings and walk around eating everything in sight and gaining weight like nobody's business) and probably should have carbed-up on Thurs., instead of waiting until Friday. Does time play a factor? I would think that if two people ran the same distance that the person who took longer to complete that distance (assuming equal levels of effort) might run into more issues with glycogen depletion (I had probably been running for 90+ minutes when I felt that loss of energy)...but that's just a guess on my part. What about blood sugar issues? Would a person with hypo or hyperglycemia likely find that their body uses glycogen stores at a different rate? k

As Trent said the more you run the efficient your body is at burning the glycogen. I am using gels alot less frequently as I was this time last year.

That's really good to know--plus it's very measurable proof that your hard work has paid-off! Hmmm...I should keep track of how long it takes me to feel lousy during a run and what it would take to reverse the effects--then reflect back on it in a year, when I hope to be running longer distances each week and faster. k

Do your running shorts have any pockets? If not, I've heard of people safety-pinning packets of goo to their shorts (inside, so they don't bang around), I'm sure you could do the same with a packet of candy or a small energy bar. Also, I've been very impressed with the gummy "CliffBlocks" made by the CliffBar people. They are like goo (they say) but less messy and you can eat a little bit at a time.

Ooh, that reminds me--I recall seeing that Jelly Belly makes some sort of sport beans...I think those would be awesome during a long run or race. I need to see if anyone near me carries those. I know a cycling shop an hour away does. I like the idea of dried fruit (apples and apricots are my faves, or even some of those crunchy dried strawberries), too. Are there certain candies that work well? I've never even tasted GU, but I don't usually like slimey stuff. And I detest Powerbars (hubby likes 'em, but they make me wanna retch). What are my other options? Will certain things be more likely to cause stomach upset? I know that full strength Gatorade and Powerade make me a bit queasy, but if I dilute them to half-strength I don't have any issues. And what sorts of things will have the quickest and/or longest-lasting effect? k

Also, something I have posted before: To run, you need calories. To propel yourself at speed, you need stored glycogen, which is the storage version of carbs. At any given time your body stores a maximum of about 2000 cal of glycogen. Your body does not particularly care how it gets those carbs (i.e., there really is no such thing as junk carbs in terms of glycogen storage, however complex carbs are less likely to be easily absorbed from your GI tract and therefore less likely to replenish glycogen or to make you gain weight). French fries and potato chips help replenish glycogen as well as pasta, but bring with them extra fat. High fructose corn syrup may be more likely than other simple carbs to form abdominal fat when consumed in excess. Whether you run or not, your body uses up about a third to a half of its glycogen just to keep you alive as you sleep at night, so you are constantly using and replenishing your glycogen. To sustain and increase muscle mass you need proteins. To do this, you need to consume the variety of amino acids that serve as the building blocks for protein. As long as you are able to find and eat the diversity of needed amino acids, including the ones that your body cannot manufacture on its own (the so called, essential amino acids) then the source does not matter. If you like tofu, so be it. Egg whites, great. Steak or fish or chicken, bring it on. As long as you are getting all the needed amino acids in sufficient quantity, you should be fine (see the article on proteins in this past month's TN Running magazine). To sustain yourself when not running at maximal pace and to support your running at that pace, you need fats. You are always burning some fat, even when running at maximal pace; the proportion of calories supporting your effort coming from fat simply drop as you increase your effort. One pound of stored fat is enough to propel most runners about 80 miles, provided that there are also enough carbs around to support the fat (or that the runner is running slow enough that the carbs are not the major energy source). There are lots of different fats out there, and some are better than others. The fats that are bad are considered so because they damage your body in ways that the better fats do not, and some of the good fats actually protect your body. Trans fats inflame arteries. Saturated fats do the same, and increase your risk of cancer. Cholesterol fills the walls of the inflamed arteries. As we are learning more about fats, it seems that the more natural fats (e.g., olive oil, butter, grain oils) have fewer troubles than the relatively synthetic ones. The major problem with snacks and fast foods is that they are made using the synthetic oils that contain the trans- or saturated- fats. Eating out at nice restaurants, you often will encounter just as many hidden fats and bad fats as you will at a fast food restaurant, so don't be fooled by ambiance or price. However you choose to eat, you need to do it in a way that is sustainable. If you feel like you are eating special on a diet, or feel like you do not have energy then you will not sustain that type of intake. If all you eat is fast food, you will balloon up, feel terrible and then get sick and die, also not sustainable. A nice balance of interesting foods, including a healthy and well balanced base with occasional snacks and meals out is generally sustainable and inexpensive. Making your own foods helps you be in control, cut cost, and ensure that you get the needed calories to support your running. You do not need to eat salads only, and can loose weight eating pasta and bread and rice, so long as you balance those things with proteins and healthy fats, and keep the portions in balance with your energy needs. You can use on line sites like nutritiondata.com to figure out how many calories are in a serving of food, and match your running miles (~100-130 cal/mile) and your living calories (~1500-2000 cal/day) with what you eat. If you weigh, for example, 160 lbs and you run 20 miles per week, you need approximately 1800 cal/day to live and an additional 2600 cal/week for your running. No more.

Ooh, interesting stuff. And I like the idea of Little Debbie treats or a PB&J, too. k

I'm definitely going to try jelly beans--I'm always up for an excuse to buy Jelly Bellys (except for the nasty popcorn and PB flavors--which is funny, since I love the real versions of those things)! I'm sorry to hear that you deal with IBS. I have a friend who really suffered with that. In HS I had occasional bouts with stress-induced colitis (I think endometriosis may have been a factor, too). I sure wish there were a cure for these sorts of things. Definite quality of life issues with those illnesses. k