Shoe and hydration belt questions. (Read 1058 times)

1) Sometimes folks only get a couple hundred miles out of shoes, some people can run 7 or 800 in them. Personally, I toss mine out in the garage for lawn mowing duty when they are too damaged for running or when I start to develop a twinge around my knees. Of course, this doesn't work so well for people with existing knee problems. Another thing to try is to go ahead and get a new pair and rotate them until the old pair just seems to far gone. 2) I've tried lots of different hydration "systems" and find almost any sort of belt very annoying. My advice get a hand held water bottle with a strap. Mine also has a pocket. I resisted initially, but now I don't know what I'd do without it. 3) No idea. Maybe try a different pair of shoes next time and see how they work. A lot of people get really hung up on their shoes, when it is not the shoes at all. It is our newbie runner muscles adapting to this thing we call running. I spent a lot of years sitting on the couch or computer chair getting my muscles in prime couch potato shape. It took several hundreds of miles before those newbie aches and pains went away. 4) Leave the gels for if/when you train for a marathon. You don't need them.

Oh, I know that with my mileage now I shouldn't even be thinking about them. I do plan on extending my mileage over time, and wondered how far I can go before needing them. Thanks for the help!

Sorry, it seemed like you were asking about them in relation to training for a half. I normally don't use them except for long runs (i.e 18-20+).

Shoes - 300-500 miles, I believe, is the average. What that says to me is some people get that, some more, some less. This can be for any number of factors. Your weight can factor into it. If you are what is considered a "heavy runner" - odds are you're going to be on the low end of that average. Generally, if you qualify to run the race as a Filly - you are what is considered a "heavy" runner. The weight isn't standardized for what is considered heavy for women - but anything over 150lbs is usually a pretty safe bet. I start phasing my shoes out when I notice it is taking me longer to recover from a certain distance run that I have been running for awhile. If I'm lucky, I'll get about 200 miles out of a pair of running shoes. For your next running shoes - try different brands. FWIW, the shoe you mentioned is considered a stability shoe, not a motion control shoe. I have had no luck with Asics, but that is just me. You might try New Balance, Brooks or Saucony in a stability shoe as well, and of course the other brands that are out there. What works for one person doesn't necessarily work for another. Gels - if you eat a good breakfast before you race, you shouldn't need them for anything under a marathon, except maybe for the psychological impact of it. I've run 20Ks and half marathons and never "needed" the gels as long as I've eaten well before hand. Fuel belts - only one I have ever had any luck with is the amphipod fuel belt. If you go with something hand held, I would definitely recommend something with a strap.

Run your own race, fuel your own race. When it comes to nutrition ... practice. Experiment. See what works for you. Constantly refine it. If some people can run a half (or a full) with nothing, fine. (Although they're foolish not to experiment and see if they couldn't run better.) If you like 10 Gu's in a marathon, fine, if that's what works for you. The only bad thing about taking that many Gu's is that sometimes they're hard to find in the middle of a race. It can be panic inducing to discover promised Gu's aren't where they're supposed to be. (Unless you're carrying your own. If you figure out how to carry 10 of them, let me know.) And there are in fact good runners who eat so many of those things in a marathon that I could hurl just thinking about it. Whatever floats their boat. It's all pretty individual. You don't know what I need, I don't know what you need. All I know is what the research suggests and what works for me. Whether it works for you or not is up to you to find out. (For the record, I find that - for me - the directions on the Gu packets are pretty close. I take one an hour or so, which means one in the middle of a half marathon).

It is a lot of fun to see the expressions on people's faces when they see me pull something out of my bra or shorts....just an added bonus that can help lift your mood on long runs.

Now see there, that's the problem with most runners -- very few are willing to put in the extra effort to entertain the world around them like Andreia -- bravo for her, but shame for the rest of you.

Shoes - 300-500 miles, I believe, is the average. What that says to me is some people get that, some more, some less. This can be for any number of factors. Your weight can factor into it. If you are what is considered a "heavy runner" - odds are you're going to be on the low end of that average. Generally, if you qualify to run the race as a Filly - you are what is considered a "heavy" runner. The weight isn't standardized for what is considered heavy for women - but anything over 150lbs is usually a pretty safe bet. I start phasing my shoes out when I notice it is taking me longer to recover from a certain distance run that I have been running for awhile. If I'm lucky, I'll get about 200 miles out of a pair of running shoes.

Oh, I know my shoe is a stability shoe...and I definitely am a "heavy" runner. I'm 30 pounds away from being on the high end of such a statement, but I'll get there. I actually am generally neutral/supinate a tad but since I'm "heavy" I got stuck in the stability category. I honestly don't think my shoes will make it to 300 miles, but we'll see. Thanks for the help! To clear things up, I'm a newbie and don't run especially long distances, and I'm not worried about fuel right now...I just tend to worry about things in advance. It's my nature. If I ever run a marathon, I will look into them. Thanks! And andahuff, LOL. I used to keep my MP3 in my bra before I got my armband, and the looks I got just by pulling it out of my bra...haha.

I eat a gel if I'm going to be running for an hour and a half or more. I eat it at the 45 minute mark and I can definitely tell a difference in my energy level for the rest of the run. I'm very slow, so my hour and a half is a LOT fewer miles than what everybody here is saying, but hey.