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Essential Foods To Fuel Your Running

An overview of what runners should eat before and after training

Eating the right foods during training is essential for any athlete’s health and performance and it is something that runners at all levels of fitness should take into consideration, both during training and on race day itself. Low body mass and body fat levels offer biochemical and physical (power to weight) advantages for runners, especially those of you training for long distances, however, it is important to remember the impact of training and strict diet on your long term health. The ideal body mass should be set in terms of ranges and should take into consideration long term health and performance rather than short term benefits alone. For example, the exceptionally low body fat levels of professional athletes should not be considered natural or a necessary for recreational and sub-elite runners like ourselves, who need to take a more holistic approach to running nutrition.

Running Nutrition 101 – Carbohydrates

Availability of carbohydrate as a fuel is vital to running, a depletion of carbohydrate stores will result in fatigue and an impaired performance. Therefore, approximately an hour before embarking on a run be sure to have eaten something light but rich in carbohydrates. The best foods are things like bananas or fruit, granary bread, cereal or Rivetta type cracker bread. Try not to eat anything heavy within two hours before your run as your body needs time to digest the food before it can work hard to get you around the running track without feeling bloated or sick!

Running Nutrition 101 - Protein

Prolonged daily training sessions will also increase your body’s need for protein. Protein is used primarily by the body to support muscle gain and repair damaged tissue, however, it also makes a small contribution to your body’s fuel requirements through protein oxidisation. Most athletes actually tend to eat more protein than required and it is considered unnecessary to invest in expensive protein supplements. Runners can fulfil their body’s protein needs easily through eating a balanced diet that incorporates meat, fish, cheese and eggs. Vegetarians can gain protein from nuts and seeds, tofu and soya based foods.

Graze.co.uk offers punnets of fruit, nuts and berries delivered straight to your home or office where you can select from over 100 of natures tastiest foods. They are a great way of getting your daily protein intake for both vegetarians and non vegetarians alike and your first order is half price.

Running Nutrition 101 -Vitamins and Minerals

Conclusively, a runner’s level of minerals and micronutrients are most at risk during heavy training sessions. Inadequate iron intake can reduce performance and is often termed as ‘sports anaemia’ caused by an increased loss of haemoglobin in the blood from enhanced physical activity. It is more important for people with restricted diets, such as vegetarians or vegans to ensure that they consume a substantial amount of iron rich foods to maintain a peak level of health. Iron can be consumed through cooked spinach and other leafy green vegetables, almonds, tuna fish in oil, beef, chicken, sardines, humous, dried figs, cooked lentils and tehini – a rich sesame seed paste used in many Chinese, Korean and Japanese dishes – give it a go as is top of the list for its high iron content!

Running Nutrition 101- Hydration

Fluid levels also need to be increased during training, dependent upon the environmental conditions (hot/cold weather) and the intensity of the training. For instance, the same route completed at ease in the cool spring breeze can feel three times further and much more of a struggle on a hot summers day, causing you to crave water almost instantly. It is important that your fluid levels are sufficient before your run (drink a pint of water about an hour before) and that you keep hydrated whilst on the run – take a small flask or Camelbak, take regular sips as you need them and be sure to re-hydrate after your run with a second pint of water. Be sure to avoid fizzy, highly acidic fruit juices or alcoholic drinks on running days as these can impair performance and cause you to experience discomfort when running.

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A Weeks Intensive Running and Swimming to Find My Fitness Before Sunday

So this coming Sunday is a big day for me. I found out last weekend that I had won a day’s worth of coaching over at Loughborough Performance centre with top Olympians, William Sharman and Tom Pearson’s, along with Team GB coaches, physiotherapists and nutritionists, courtesy of UK Athletics. I should probably point out that the competition was a web based one and I didn’t win on the merits of my running – but a prize is still a prize right!?

For a few days after the news I was bouncing off the walls so to speak but towards the end of the weekend It finally hit me that I actually need to be in shape for the session. These Olympians obviously aren’t going to expect the next Usain Bolt, or Mo Farah to turn up on the day, but I still need to actually have the fitness to manage at least one lap around the track and a maybe the odd VO2max test (eurgh!)

Seeing as I have just arrived back in the UK from three months worth of binge drinking around Asia (er I mean travelling), I am not exactly on top form at the moment. The hip tendonitis that I have been suffering from for the past eight months is all but gone, but now I am left with the task of trying to regain some vestige of fitness left over from my university athletic club days. Oh dear – this is going to be tough!

At the beginning of this week I set a plan of six targets that hopefully I can achieve by the end of the week. Completing all six will hopefully give me both the fitness and the confidence to go into Sunday’s session with the knowledge that I won’t collapse during the warm up and embarrass myself in front of two of Team GB’s most promising London 2012 medal hopes!

Targets:Sunday – 30 min run at sub 4:40 min/km

• Monday – 30minutes of physio exercises
• Tuesday – 2.5km swim in 52minutes
• Wednesday – 30minutes of physio exercises
• Thursday – 30min run sub 4:30min km
• Friday – 2.5km swim in 50minutes
• Saturday – Rest

So far both Monday and Tuesday’s targets have been knocked on the head with no problems which means hopefully Thursdays and Fridays sessions shouldn’t be too much of an extra challenge.

Tuesdays swim was quite eventful (for a swimming session) as when I was halfway through my 100 lengths of the pool a bloke of about 30 started swimming front crawl at a pretty fast pace in my lane. I was hard pushed to keep up with him and eventually after 20 more laps he caught me…only to promptly leave the pool. One of the other swimmers in the next lane told me that the bloke has had to leave because he was worn out and usually swims for half an hour or more! Confidence boost over, I finished my 100 lengths in a time four minutes faster than last week.

UKA Master Class Competition Winner!

I had some pretty exciting news yesterday (it makes a change from the usual training blog entries anyway!). A while ago, I entered an online competition with UK Athletics for a training master class with top Team GB Olympians, coaches, physiotherapists and nutritionist and for some unknown reason I actually managed to win!

So, a week tomorrow I will be shooting down the motorway to the state of the art training facilities that Team GB use at Loughborough University to have an entire days worth of coaching from amongst other people; Olympic finalist hurdler William Sharman and Olympic finalist high jumper Tom Parsons! I haven’t had many other details about the day as of yet and really have no idea what the day is going to entail, but from the hurried emails that I managed to send off at five minutes to 5pm yesterday the day is going to completely change everything that I think I know about running! Apparently, the Olympians, coaches and support staff are going to analyse every part of my running and give me shed loads of advice about how to improve both my running, overall fitness, sport specific drills and nutrition. And also thrown into the mix is half a day’s strength and endurance coaching which I expect is going to be both on the high tech track and the gyms that they have at the Loughborough National High Performance Athletics Centre so I am going to be shattered by the end of the day!

Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS Running and Cycling Watch Review

Cheapest online retailer – Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

The Gamrin Forerunner 305 is an advanced running and multisport GPS watch that brings together some of the best features that the Garmin Forerunner series has to offer, making it not only one of the best value for money GPS running watches  available on the market, but also an invaluable training aid for the serious runner or cyclist.

Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS Watch – GPS Functionality

The Garmin Forerunner 305 has an in-build high powered GPS receiver that allows the watch to track a number of useful training statistics for use with your running or cycling including:

• Time (average, last lap, current lap, stopwatch and even the current time of day!)
• Speed (average, average last lap, average current lap, best, current and target speed zone)
• Pace (average current lap, average last lap, best, current and target pace zone)
• Distance (total, last lap and current lap)
• Cadence (current, average for lap, average for total)
• Heart Rate (average, current, average last lap, heart rate zone)
• Elevation (current and total)
• Laps completed
• Calories
• Date
• Direction of current travel
• Time of sunset and sunrise based on your time zone.
• GPS accuracy

The watch has three rotating displays that can be customised to show you four of the above on each screen making the watch a very flexible training aid, and one that can be set up differently depending on the nature of your training session.

I really value the Forerunner 305’s flexibility as when I go out on long runs, I like to track both my average speed over the entire run as well as my current speed to ensure that I stay on track with regards to my target pace. However, if I train on an athletics track then I can set up the watch so that it records all of the essential time, speed, pace and distance for each lap of the track as well as for the overall session.

Unlike alternative sports watches that use a footpad to measure vital speed and distance statistics, the GPS functionality of the Garmin Forerunner 305 means that these statistics are recorded much more consistently and accurately. Unlike a footpad watch, the Forerunner 405 used 4 satellites to track your progress and is therefore independent of any changes that may occur in your stride length that may vary over your session or between different types of sessions (sprinting vs distance running).

To begin with I was suspicious of the Forerunner 305’s ability to track my statistics accurately in the kind of environments that I run and cycle around. I do a lot of running in London and London suburbs, so I was unsure if the Garmin 305 would be able to keep track of my runs due to the high rise buildings and factories around where I live. However, straight from the word go the watch proved itself perfectly competent and even with the occasional loss of signal when running through covered walkways and underpasses, the watch finds a signal again after a few seconds in the clear.

Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS Watch – Heart Rate Monitor

Unlike the previous Garmin 305 model you can use a Garmin Heart Rate Monitor with the Forerunner 305 to record your heart rate or train within a target heart rate level. The heart rate monitor pairs with the device when heart rate recording is enabled and is comfortable and easy to fit and wear.

Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS Watch – Navigation

Something that you don’t have with either the Forerunner 405 or 110 is the ability to use the Forerunner as a basic satellite navigation unit.

You can create and name waypoints on your runs or other multi sport evens and save them to the Garmin Forerunner 305’s memory. You can then choose to navigate to the nearest waypoint or select the waypoint that you want to navigate towards. The screen of the Garmin 305 then changes to a display showing the waypoint as the destination and then an arrow (representing your location and direction) as you.  The watch also displayed how far away you are from the target waypoint and offers a great way of finding GPS marked locations for if you are trekking or hiking but is unsuitable of your are running at speed over say uneven ground as it involves a lot of looking at the watch unit.

Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS Watch – Virtual Trainer Mode: Race a previous workout

One of the best features in my opinion about the Garmin Forerunner 305 watch is the ability for you to race against a previous workout. This can either be a route that you have run or cycled before, or can be someone else’s route downloaded to the watch using the Motionbased network. The watch displays another display when you are in Virtual Trainer mode which shows two small running figures where one represents you and one represents your previous workout. The figure representing your previous workout moves either in front or behind the figure representing your current workout depending if you are currently behind or in front of your previous workout. This virtual trainer can either be set against a previous workout (where the pace of the figure representing your previous workout will change depending on how fast you ran/biked in the current section of your previous route) or can be set to move at a constant pace.

The Virtual Trainer is a great way to track your progress over the same route or time trial and the ability to run against another person’s route is a great way to get some race experience against your competitors before the actual race day!

Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS Watch – Advanced and Interval Workouts.

Another something that the Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS watch has over  the 405 and the 110 is the ability for you to create custom workouts on the watch.

It is possible to setup a quick training session where you set either the time, distance or pace that you want to train at and the Garmin 305 displays the virtual trainer for your to race against. You can also set up speed or interval sessions on the Garmin 305, where you enter your desired distance or time for each rep and then enter your desired rest time and number or reps. This is something that I have used in the past but prefer to use the Auto Pause and Auto Lap functions (as described below) as this lets me dictate the session depending on how I am feeling after the first few laps as I might want to do more or less laps than I have actually programmed into the Forerunner 305 watch previously.

Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS Watch – Auto Pause and Auto Lap

The Garmin 305 Watch can be set up so that when your pace drops below a certain pace, or you stop completely, the watch will pause your time and stats. It will then resume recording when you start moving again over a certain speed.

You can also set the watch to start a new lap after a certain time or distance. Combining both the Auto Pause and Auto Lap functions is something that I do when running 400m reps sessions as the watch beeps to let me know I have completed the 400m lap and when I stop the watch automatically pauses, meaning that I don’t have to remember to do so myself. Trust me, after 12 400m sprints I am barely conscious let alone have the presence of mind to pause the watch!

Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS Watch – Best for Cycling

The Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS watch has a wide range of functions that make this watch a great training aid to any multisport athlete. Whilst cycling I like to use the Virtual Trainer to race against time trials and races that people have uploaded to the Motionbased network or to explore new routes that people uploaded in my area. Something which it is now possible to do without getting lost thanks to the GPS navigation function build into the watch.

If you have an optional Cadence sensor then you can also record the cadence of your bike rides.  Using the alerts that the Forerunner 305 has inbuilt you can program an alarm to sound if you drop below a certain cadence. I tend to use this on either sprint sessions or when I am using an indoor trainer for my bike and have found it to be a useful tool when trying to structure my various training sessions on the bike. The sensor was easy to fit and once you program your bike tyre size into the watch it is very accurate and I have had no problems with it so far.

Garmin Cadence Sensor on Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

The auto pause and auto stop features can be customised for cycling so that when my speed drops below a certain mark the watch pauses automatically and when I reach a predetermined distance the watch automatically starts a new lap. I use this feature for sprint practice on the bike by riding for 3miles fast and then coasting for half a mile or so for recovery with the watch paused. When I want to do another sprint rep I then just start riding hard again and when my pace picks up the Garmin Forerunner 305 automatically un-pauses and starts recording again.

Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS Watch – Bike Mount Kit

As the Forerunner 305 watch is aimed at the multisport market, I was surprised that when I bought the unit, it wasn’t supplied with a bike mount kit. Upon doing a sport of research a few years ago I found that a quick release kit for the 305 watch can be bough quite cheaply, and I have been using one for two years now.

Garmin Forerunner Quick Release Kit – Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS Watch – Garmin Connect

The Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS watch allows you to upload all of your training data to Garmin ‘Connect’ platform, where you can analyse every aspect of your training.

Although the Garmin Connect platform used to be just  a quirky add-on that wasn’t really that useful, over the past year Garmin have added a variety of features and charting that makes the platform a very informative and practical tool that I use on a daily basis to track my running and training progress.

You can not only track the averages of your running and cycling training session statistics but you can also break down each session and see the stats for each and every section of your route.

The platform can also be a useful way to keep track of your overall progress as well. You can categorise each run that you upload to the Garmin Connect Platform not just by Sport type, but by training session type as well. Averages and total can then be displayed by each trainings session type over a given period of time such as months or years. I tend to use this to track the progress of my various races and speed training sessions over the athletics season.

There a lots of other things that the Garmin Connect platform lets you do such as share your training sessions in your own blog or social media profile, along with letting you set your own training goals and showing you how far you have to go to complete the goals.

All in all the Garmin Connect platform is a great tool that compliments the Forerunner 305 and Gamin are constantly improving and updating the platform to make it better and better (trust me, two years ago it was pretty basic and barely worked!) The best place to read about Garmin Connect Features is on the Garmin Connect Features Webpage

Garmin Forerunner 305 Watch – Battery Life

I have found that the Battery life of the watch is about 12 hours on a full charge and charging takes about 180 minutes with the provided AC adapter or slightly longer when connected to my laptop with the USB adapter. I have been using a Garmin Forerunner 305 watch for about two years now and the life of the lithium battery has not diminished noticeably.

Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS Watch – Water Resistance and the Swimming Pool

Although according to Garmin, the Forerunner 305 watch can only be submerged for a maximum of 30minutes in up to 1m of water, and should never be used for swimming, I did once accidentally forget to remove it after a bike ride and dived into a Lido in London before realising that was still wearing it.  The watched survived the dive and subsequent two lengths in the pool without any damage at all so I am pretty happy about its rain resistance capabilities!

Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS Watch – Design

The Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS watch is slightly bulkier than either the 110 or 405 watches but handles and feels like a real watch so this isn’t a problem. The increased size of the watch is due to the large screen (larger than any of the other Garmin GPS watches), which lets you display up to 4 pieces of training data at any one time which suits me fine as I am able to get all the information I need from the watch when I am training without having to slow down and fiddle with the watch controls.

The menu is intuitive and as the Garmin Forerunner 305 doesn’t have the annoying touch sensitive bezel that the 405 has, the menu is easy to navigate even in the rain or when training whilst wearing gloves.

The strap is much more comfortable than the Velcro straps that I have worn with other watches and is easy to clean off. I have heard that you can also extend the Garmin  Forerunner 305’s strap if you prefer a looser fit; something that I was unable to do with my other sports watch.

Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS Watch – Price and Cheapest Retailer

The Garmin Forerunner 305 is in my opinion the best value for money GPS enabled running and cycling watch on the market, as you have a huge range of customisable functionality at your fingertips without an extortionate price tag.

The cheapest online retailer without a doubt is Amazon where the watch is almost 30% cheaper than either the Garmin website or high street retail stores.  You can find the Forerunner 305 on Amazon using the links below:

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Cheapest Retailer Links:

The Forerunner 305 on Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

Quick Release Mount Bike Kit on Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

Garmin Cadence Sensor on Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

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Read Dave’s review on the Garmin Forerunner 110 or Ross’s Review on the Garmin Forerunner 405

The Hip Tendonitis Saga Continues

The running has been kind of slow this week so there isn’t really much to blog about on that front! I went out on a cheeky 5km run on Saturday along the canal where I live but after two kilometres of seven minute mileing,  my hip tendonitis started showing itself again and annoyingly I had to slow things right down and jog the remaining 3km. After resting it for three days it still feels weak and sore so I am going to give it one more day off and then hit the physio exercises twice as hard to see if I can bully it back into shape!

Note to self: Don’t try to run fast with messed up hip tendons again!

Sunday was a much better day as, I had a pretty successful swimming session where I managed to knock six minutes off my 100 lengths time (25m pool), coming in just under the hour at 58 minutes. I have decided that if my hip tendons are still going to give me grief for a bit longer then I can at least try and keep up some fitness by really cracking on with the swimming. The next step is to try and bring that 2.5km swim time under 50 minutes.

I spent Sunday afternoon recovering from the pool session by  surfing a few blogs to try and make up my mind about what beginner triathlon bike I should buy. Nothing is finalised as of yet but I now know the difference between a compact and a triple chainset…which is a step in the right direction at least right?! I am still really in the dark when it comes to choosing a bike so if anyone has any recommendations that would be great!

Goals:

Sub 50 min 2.5km swim – Curent: 58 min

Build up to 10km again  - Current: 5km