Forums >Running 101>At what mileage is refueling necessary?
Maniac
See, I have been kind of nervous about going with the training program, because I'm scared that I am too slow and they will all run off and leave me!! lol I had no idea that there were near 100 people in the training group on Saturdays... I signed up for the training, and get "mama hobbit's" emails, but haven't been on Saturdays. I've been running my long runs on Fridays... good info!! I will have to show up for one! Yeah, I plan on running the half, kinda nervous, but surely won't finish last!
Marathon Maniac #6740
Goals for 2015:
Run 3 marathons (modified: Run 2 marathons--Lost Dutchman 02/2015 and Whiskey Row 05/2015)
Run a 50-miler (Ran a 53.8 mile race 11/14/2015)
Run 1,500 miles (uhhh...how about 1,400?)
Stay healthy
Beatin' on the Rock
Contrary to popular belief, running isn't rocket science... its just walking, only a little bit faster than normal.
In regards to refueling; if you're training for a marathon/half marathon, I'd play around with the idea of NOT refuleing during the long runs. Greg McMillan has writtten, I believe, an article about it in Running Times (or somewhere else). I've discussed this with him as well; as well as some other people like Lorraine Moller (bronze medalist in 1992 Olympic marathon). During the long runs, you're training your body to go through the wall; basically, switching your fuel sysgem from glycogen, after you run out of it, to fat. Fat produces much more energy per molecule but it requires more oxygen to burn. This physiological change is known as "the wall". The smoother you can switch, the less hard you'll hit it. Refuleing during the long run simply means you will be feeding your body more glycogen (or energy) and never tap it into your fat burning system. Now, in a strict physiology sense, this is probably not quite true because if you're running very slow, you are most likely starting out with fat burning system anyways. In other words, your hitting the wall during the marathon has more to do with tired legs. Basically, as someone else said before, we all have plenty of energy in our body to run a couple of marathons over; the issue is, can we use that energy more efficiently? Once again, if you continuously feeding yourself during the run, your body may never learn how to use your stored energy more efficiently.
Runners run
Good Bad & The Monkey
I'm running somewhere tomorrow. It's going to be beautiful. I can't wait.
Poor baby
Glad to see someone else with those ideas here. (although I don't do too much in mtns in winter) Except I take my headlamp with me if leaving in afternoon for a short run these days. (about 5.5 hr between sunup and sundown; 7.5 of visible light right now) I'll take fluids and food if I drive to trailhead (usually 1.5+ hr run if I drive; 1-2 hr if on out-my-door trals) Winter on trails is no time to be testing low energy levels unless for survival training, imho. I saw your pic over in favorite run thread. Spent 5 yr in CO going to school (CSU), but not running - but fair amt of time in mtns (research, hiking, backpacking). Glad to see Nobby here also. [May be in process of abandoning CR also. Heck, I can't get logged in. So came wandering over here.]
I am slowly moving up my mileage on my "long runs" (training for HM in March 2008). Right now I am at 6 miles and next weekend I move up to 7. So far I've not been carrying water or food with me. At what mileage point is it generally recommended to refuel?