A Journey to My First Marathon Part 7

When I was running my Half Marathon I didn't consider about any fueling. I just ran on an empty stomach for 3 hrs and 10 mins. I should have fainted in the first place. But I may have too much body fat or muscles that complement the lack of glycogen after it has depleted. I have never really run more than one and a half hour during training. You can imagine running a 3 hours race without fueling just plain water and sports drinks.

Running a marathon requires a lot of mental toughness. Some claimed it is as much as 50%. The physical and mental challenge is what draw people to run a marathon. Most of the time during my training runs, the first 4 km is tough. Your body is still not warm up and you find it a  strain to run. After the warm up and you really start to sweat, the endorphin is released. And you experience a runner's high.

Having listen to a number of podcasts from Marathon Training Academy, I have decided to follow some of the advice give in the podcasts. Those 10km or less run which I can normally finished in less 80 mins run, I will just run on an empty stomach. If I run in the morning I will probably just drink some water and go for a run. But if I run in the evening on a treadmill, it is usually a banana will do. I can mostly run the first 60 mins to 70 mins without water. (I still have a camel in me).

But during the Sunday long runs (or LSD) which goes to 16km or more, you will not be able to have a good run without any fueling. I have started to look for energy gels and they are mostly sold in GNC. There are quite a few varieties of energy gels with different pricing. I have tried most of them during my long runs to test which of them are suited to my taste. Currently, I have find out that I can either take one or two bananas before the run in the morning or one energy gel before the run. And I am also a coffee lover so I have normally need the caffeine booster from the early morning coffee before my run. The energy gels also come with caffeine or without caffeine.

I have chosen GU energy gels after trying a few others.

The morning coffee on Sunday is mainly because you have to wake awfully early to run. It gets earlier and earlier as your runs get longer and longer. Those non-runners will consider runners as "siao-lang"(crazy people in Hokkien). People don't wake up before 12noon on Sunday and for me is normally from 5.30am to 6.30am depending on the length of the run. To runners, if you tell them you wake up at 5.30am that is late to them. They usually wake up at 4am in the morning.

My fueling strategy during the run is that I will normally take an energy gel after every hour of run. So far, I have only taken one during the run even for run as long as almost 3 hours. The energy gels are pretty expensive so I have been taking less than required. You have to try out your fueling strategy during your long runs especially what you want to eat before the run. It has been recommended you have to take your food, 3 hours before the run. This is a bit illogical if you are going for a morning run. Meaning you don't have to sleep then.

But how do you get through the boredom of the long runs especially treadmill running ?

To be continued....