Sunday, April 7, 2013

Fueling...It's Time

Up until today, all of my runs, have been without additional fuel.  My treadmill runs would have some water, but my outdoor runs did not.  I know I will need some fuel to make it through the Half, but have no idea what kind, when to start, how often, etc.
Image Source:  Run and Become website

Trolling the web for info and it looks like I should have started already.  Today's run was 8 miles, with a tiny water break in the middle...not enough.

According to Runner's World writer, Sarah Bowen Shea, I should be fueling for any run that is over 75 mins.  And according to marathon coach, Jason Fitzgerald, I should be fueling every 30 mins after that. He recommends gels or chews with water, or even just sports drinks (for Halfs and shorter), but not both.

But I'm eating clean so the chemicals and general non-naturalness (it's a word...now...) of performance "food" concerns me a bit.  But thanks to my friend, Janice, I may have a solution for that.  She recommended this Natural Race Food article from Active.com.

The author suggests:
  • Dates
  • Coconut water
  • Pureed fruits/veggies
  • Sunflower seed butter
  • Frozen grapes
  • Homemade honey/molasses "gel"
  • Watermelon dipped in salt
  • Dehydrated fruit
  • Honey
  • Navitas Power Snacks
Some of these seem a little messy and/or inconvenient, so I just ordered 2 different flavors of the Power Snacks.
 Image Source: NativasNaturals.com

The Blueberry Hemp was sold out.  Probably a good thing since my job does random drug testing.  Wouldn't that be fun to try and explain?

Half Marathon Training Progress Report
  • About .25 mile walk
  • 8 mile Run/Walk (12:44 pace...hence the focus on fuel today)
  • .75 mile walk
Total Distance - About 9 miles
Total Run Time - 1:41:55
Total Time - About 2 hours

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