Fueling Through

While I was training for my 10K, fueling was not a concern. Most of my runs were under an hour and all I needed was to hydrate. I would keep a bottle of water at the lobby of my apartment and stop there for a quick drink in between my rounds. I only needed to hydrate every 3-4 hours and I would take a few sips (probably 100 - 150 ml) every time I stopped.

At the beginning of my half marathon training I did a lot of reading up on running tips, good running form etc. On all the forums you are advised that just hydration is not enough on runs that last longer than an hour because the longer you go and the more you sweat, the body loses a lot of salts and must be replaced with suitable electrolytes. Most of my research advocated sport gels and fancy sport drinks and being American websites, the products recommended were also mostly American which are of course not available here. 

I was very nervous when beginning and truly wondered that the lack of these sport gels in my system at the start and during my run would seriously affect it or worse prevent me from going the distance. I definitely didn't want to "bonk" having read a lot of articles on what it was like to hit the wall and feel like you just can't go on.

However I use a quick fix drink during my long runs which has served me well. About 4 Tablespoons of Glucon D and a teaspoon of table salt mixed in a 600ml bottle of water does the trick! Glucon D has been around in India for ages and is very accessible. So on my long runs I keep two bottles one with this drink and one with plain water. 

I'm not sure what the organizers of the run will have at the aid/water stations. The race website said "isotonic sport drinks" - I'm wondering if I'll be okay with that. They will also have high energy fruits like banana at these stations, but I've never eaten during the middle of a run so am not going to try it now.

Fueling also involves what you eat on the night before and the morning of the run. The body will need enough carbs to store as glycogen in the muscles to power you through the run. There is only so much that the muscles can store - so somewhere during your run when these stores get depleted is when lactic acid builds up in the muscles leading you to bonk.

Usually I eat rice and curry the night before a long run or pasta which has worked fine so far. In the morning (45 - 30 min before the run) I have a banana, maybe some chocolate and definitely a cup of coffee.

I've read lots of interesting articles on fueling for a run including this very colourful & visual one from BBC Good Food which I found most helpful.

2 more days to go!!