Random Running Questions

That's the one, thanks@Ceepo , hope it helps @Annie get your Run

I've found that while insoles can help give some relief from the discomfort cause by flat feet or "weak arches", they are usually just treating a symptom rather than the root of the issue. The posterior chain refers to the group of muscles which run down the back of your body and keep you upright (lower back, glutes, hamstrings, calves). They are important for all sports but especially in runners. If you lack strength anywhere along the posterior chain, it can show up at either end (e.g. tight/sore hips, weak arches or achillies issues). Are you doing any strength work at the moment? Building your glutes and hamstrings could potentially help you to run without the need for insoles.

Anyone know the recovery time from a pulled calf muscle?

Yeah I thought as much was hoping to run a half marathon in October. It's pretty sore but I'll rest it for a week or so and then give it a little test.

Have had a surprisingly quick improvements with back to back long slow runs every Saturday and Sunday (21k each day) the past 8 weeks or so.

Very busy in work and with family so can only squeeze in a few 5k's or 7k's on the way home during the week.

Started doing the back to back LSR on the weekend simply because that is when I have time getting out early. Trying to build up weekly distance for DCM training.

Why does nobody talk about doing back to back long slow runs? Am I being an idiot doing this?

There was a good discussion on the latest trail running Ireland podcast about back to back LSRs

As long as you're managing recovery well it shouldn't be an issue. It's not something a lot of people do because a 21km run can be a big effort if you're not used to that sort of distance or if you're pushing the pace. But provided that you're keeping it controlled (I like to go by Heart Rate and RPE to gauge intensity) then it's just a big weekend of mileage. Just be careful about further increasing the distance or pace of those runs, and maybe consider throwing in the odd deload week where you only do one LSD run over the weekend. The extra day off (once per month would be plenty) helps to ensure that you're body is recovering fully and you're not building up a lot of fatigue.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/7EHDRwvAlEVooceS6f4kcM?si=pxyecD6wRuGIysSCoj4KXw

Couple of relevant quotes on back to back hard runs from Advanced Marathoning (Pfitzinger/Douglas) which I realised I'd bought on Kindle years ago.

In my case yeah, 50km+ both days easily. At my peak I would have comfortably done 7 hours on day 1, with 6.5 hours (finishing with 1 hours progression) day 2. But that was after years of building up steadily towards being able to comfortably knock out those numbers. That's more an example of what's possible than any kind of recommendation! Very few people put in those kinds of numbers for a good reason. Even for an ultra runner I'm a high milage merchant.

There are extremely successful ultra runners who never run more than 30km in any training session (But some of them will sometimes do doubles so the daily totals then start racking up). Lots of approaches seem to work. There's definitely no one obvious correct way. The fundamentals are the same as ever though... consistency and 80/20.

How far are you running? Everyone is different, I generally (when I could run) wouldn't have anything except fluids if I was running in the morning.

The morning of marathons I'd only have a peanut butter bagel.

For me it was always more important to get it right the day before.

Maurtan seem to do a drink that has plenty of carbs never tried it but some swear by it.

I typically run first thing in the morning without haven eaten a proper breakfast.

I tend to eat dinner at around 5:30-6:30 pm, not currently doing anything special for dinner, just eating whatever regular dinners we are having, and then other than maybe a square of very dark chocolate, that is the end of my eating for the evening.

In the morning I eat a banana before I go for a run and bring gels for any runs longer than 90 mins.

I also do some stretches in the morning before I run, as a warm up but I also find it helps with any bowel movements before running, which helps eliminate bloating etc

I find my issue is when a run is on at any time other than first thing in the morning! That it's harder to know when to eat etc. I do actually need to practise getting up at whatever time I need to get up for the DCM at for some of the long runs to practise eating something that early in the morning.

I run for about 2 hours typically. Yeah, that's really my focus to get things on point the day before. I'll check that drink out cheers.

I'm a reasonably experienced runner, but I've always been an evening runner. Now, this is the only window of time I have available (work and other life commitments) and my body really doesn't seem to like performing at 5am. Yes, as you say completely impractical to get up at 3.30am to eat something - I did try this a couple of times, and it was a total disaster tbh.

I might try eating a banana and see how that works. Do you find it ever upsets your stomach? I run up quite a few hills, so it doesn't take much to make me feel sick. I would usually have eaten one of those microwave rice packets with tuna and some plain pasta sauce, this worked fine when I ran in the evenings. But it doesn't seem to work at all when I tried it before these morning runs. I even tried just the rice and sauce without the tuna, still didn't work.

What time would you run at in the mornings? And would you carb load or anything earlier in the day so you don't need to eat much later on in the evening? I don't think I would get away with not eating anything after 6.30.

Yeah, I'm really just dragging myself through these morning runs. Intensity is rubbish tbh.

I've had plenty of evening runs, where I was a bit slow getting going, but then eventually you find another gear. Never seems to happen in the morning for me... but I don't know maybe it just takes a long time to convert into a morning runner. Interesting point regarding relative effort. I don't really have any opportunity to run in the evenings anymore.

I do have one of those coros pace watches and pod. But I didn't have that back when I was an evening runner, as it was before covid, so I don't really have any data for comparison purposes.

What would you typically eat the day before and the evening, and when would you cut off meals?

I know we're all different, but I would like to try lots of different ideas/strategies and see what works for me.

Someone on another forum suggested focusing on "low residue" foods later in the evening to avoid stomach problems. So, basically cutting out all high fibre foods and also high fat foods. Just focusing on more simple carbs and protein later in the evening, so things like plain chicken white rice pasta etc... the theory being that it's much easier on the digestive system, but you can still get a good few calories in at the same time.

I'm going to give that a try and see how it works. It will mean getting all the fruit/veg wholegrains and quality fats etc, in much earlier in the day... so I don't know how my body will respond to that. But we'll see what happens - bit of trial and error I suppose.

I used these a couple of times this week, and they seem to be the job, thanks for the recommendation.