Eating before and after running. The general rules.

1. The golden rule is to try not to eat up to one hour before running as this is a very common source of sickness, stitches and stomach cramps. Allow adequate time for digestion – three to four hours for a large meal, two to three hours for a smaller meal and less than an hour for a small snack.

Pre run food

For evening runs like above try not to eat an hour before, good foods before then which give off energy are snack-able foods like Peanut butter or Jam sandwiches/Bagels, energy bars and nuts and dried fruit as they are packed with proteins and give off slow energy. Eat high-carbohydrate meals through the day to keep your muscles fueled such as pasta and rice, this will give off slow energy and good for endurance runs. Coffe is a good source of caffine and can give you a boost, but can also dehydrate you, so drink some water and on the subject of water drink upto half an hour before you run, then sip for the last half hour if needed. ( you also may find pee pee problems aswell if you drink too much)

Avoid sugary foods, such as candy and soda, within an hour before hard exercise.

For morning runs, Muesli, cereals and porridge are great slow releasing foods as well as Jam, Honey and bagels.

During a run

ts gels or sports drinks during your workout or race if you’re running 90 minutes or more. Make sure you drink plenty of fluids throughout.

Check with liquid foods if digestion is a problem.

Eat familiar foods before a race and don’t try anything new on the day.

Post run.

Bananas are better after a run as they are high in potassium and with Water to re-hydrate and build back up your energy levels in your muscles.

Replenish immediately after exercise with a glass of juice/electrolytes or other high-carbohydrate foods. Follow up with a high-carbohydrate meal, especially after a race or hard workout.

Good eating!

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One minute guide to trail running

Off-road running might summon up dark memories of being sent round the school field in the cold. But there’s much more to going off-road.

Springing along a forest trail is easier on your body than Tarmac, and the world beyond road racing is packed with beautiful, friendly fixtures offering an exhilarating sense of freedom and adventure.

Getting Started

Once synonymous with hardy veterans in their club vests through the depths of winter, trail and cross-country running is now hitting the big-time thanks to popular trail series.

There’s plenty of opportunity to pit yourself against vertiginous mountain trails, but if you fancy easing into the world of trail running gently, don’t fear – many modern trail courses also loop through suburban parkland.

Top Technique

If you’ve stuck faithfully to the pavements or treadmill so far in your running career, your first trail run can be an eye-opener. With uneven ground underfoot and wayward branches overhead, it’s best to run conservatively and keep your eyes on your feet to avoid nasty falls.

Rough ground and increased twists and turns can seem tough at first, but regularly heading off-road will help you cultivate stronger ankles, knees and quads, solid core stability, and a sharper running technique.

Kitted Out

Although your usual road shoes will be fine for suburban park paths, they won’t cut it in the mud slicks that some off-road races can become.

With increased traction or large studs on the sole, toe bumpers and hard-wearing fabric to keep mud and water out, specialist

New races for 2010 

Sat 27^th Feb        Bremgarten – Zurich  11km ( 13.30 to 15.00 start on age ) or 6.5 km 12.30 start

http://www.reusslauf.ch/reusslauf-2010.html

Sat 27^th Mar       Birslauf 10km                                                  18.00 start

http://www.birslauf.ch/

Sun 28^th Mar      Freiburg  Half and full marathon                     14.00start ?

http://www.marathon-freiburg.com/

Sun 16^th May      Dreilander – Basel 10 km and Half Marathon 11.00start

http://3land.free.fr/

Tue 2^nd June       Gempen 7.8 km 460m climb                            18.30start

http://www.gempenlauf.ch

Sun ^20st June        St Louis 17km and 7km                                   11.00start

 http://www.saintlouis-nature.org/

Wed 23rd June   Chrisona – Basel 12 km 300m climb              19.00start

Sun 8^th Aug         Bruggelauf 16 km and 6km                              10.15start

http://www.baslerbruggelauf.ch/

Wed 26^th Aug     Liestal stadt     12 km  hilly                             18.30start

http://www.tvliestal.ch/index.php?id=126

Sun 12^th Sept      Basel Half and Full Marathon                         9.00start

http://www.manorruntothebeatbasel.ch/

Sat 18^th Sept       Hegenheim Festival – France  9 km    hilly     17.00start

http://www.asl-hegenheim.org/

Sat 26 ^th Sept       Binzen 10km and half marathon                         11.00start

http://www.viertel-marathon.de/lauftag/

Sun 17^th Oct       Bremgarten bei Bern 11km                                11.00start

http://www.bremgartenlauf.ch

Sat 14^th Nov       Augusta Raurica  -  12km  or 6km in morning 14.00 onwards

http://www.laeufervereinbaselland.ch

Sat 27^th Nov       Stadtlauf – Basel 5.5km                                               18.30 onwards

http://www.stadtlauf.ch/

Sun 5^th Dec         Klausenlauf – Allswill  Basel 12.0km                        10.15 onwards

http://www.stadtlauf.ch/

Why join Basel Dragons running club?

1. Experienced professional coaching system with top  ex UK athletics coach.

2. A twice weekly running group with up to 40 people per night.

3. Clean and secure shower changing rooms.

4. A choice of 4 different levels of running groups.

5. Bar and restaurant under one roof for meeting after runs

6. Trained chef prepares food for after runs at a cheap price.

7. Race preparation with your coach to specific race distances

8. Organised meetings at races together with the team.

9. Regular organised nights out around Basel.

10. Lose weight, get fit and meet new friends all in one club.

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What went wrong?

Recently, A runner who runs at the club I coach had a bad race/run and even an injury. To him, the poor performance and injury seemed to come from out of nowhere. Like all of us do, he began to doubt himself. He began to doubt his training. How could he be so good one day and feel so bad the next day? When I discussed this predicament with one of my fellow coaches from back in the UK he suggested a simple way to help. Her suggestion evolved into what we call the “What Went Wrong Diary.”

Using a Diary

The What Went Wrong Diary is easy to use and, within minutes, usually identifies the cause of your poor performance or injury, a big relief for both coach and athlete.

Start with a sheet of paper or computer spreadsheet. Starting at the top of the page, number each row or line down the page from 0 to 21. This will correspond to the 21 days prior to the injury or poor performance. Why 21 days? It’s often called the training lag and it reflects the common problem where training seems to catch up to you after three weeks or so. Due to this training lag, it’s important to look back the full 21 days when trying to identify the cause of your problem. Our experience is that nearly every poor performance or injury started during the previous three weeks.

Note:

Don’t use a calendar; use a column in order to stack the days one on top of another. Calendars fool us into thinking it’s a “new” week but the body doesn’t know weeks. The body knows only what you did to it yesterday and the day before and the day before. It knows no Monday. It knows no Sunday. It only knows “tired from long run” or “recovered from workout, ready for more.” Thus, you must lay out the days in a series.

For each day, jot down the “Stress” for that day — things like easy run, track workout, long run, etc. Since most of us follow a training plan, we can usually recall (using our log) what we did on each day. Though easy to recall, the training stress information is often reveals the problem as you suddenly realize that you’ve stacked too many stressful training days together. In this column also list any other factors that impacted the training stress — hot/humid conditions, cold weather, wind, hilly terrain, etc. It’s a good idea to always include this type of information in your training log and also what you have eaten, so that you can easily gather the relevant data when examining the reasons for a subsequent poor performance.

Next, go through and circle your particularly stressful training days. All of your key workouts and long runs/races will be circled, as well as any day you can remember where you may have experienced a lot of stress (running too fast, difficult weather, breathing issues, etc.). If you see several circled days stacked too close together, that is probably what led to your poor performance, and you can use this information as you go forward in your training to avoid the problem in the future.

If the training stress information doesn’t reveal where the problem started, then you should go through each day and think about your recovery from each day’s running. Rate your recovery using simple ratings like great, normal, or compromised.

If your training log isn’t detailed enough, you might have to think hard for this information, but you may remember things like not eating enough after a long workout or feeling really dehydrated but not being able to re hydrate like you normally would. Or maybe your warm-down or stretching routine was compromised. What about sleep? Did you not get your normal sleep on a night or two? Is there something there that seems amiss? You may see that for a period of time, your recovery was inadequate. This may have been the start of your problem.

The next area to log is life stress. Like training stress, this one is pretty easy to recall by looking back at your work/life calendar. Things like working late or stressful work would go here. Maybe the car broke down or the child got sick. Life happened. Something caused extra stress. It could be working long hours, it could be travel, or it could be emotional distress or illness. Were you simply busier than usual, did it suddenly get hot/humid or bitterly cold? All of these are additional stressors that can cause poor performances.

Judgement Day

After you’ve laid out your What Went Wrong Diary — and be honest since you are trying to help yourself and aren’t proving anything to anyone — look down your rows, one by one, and circle any compromised situations. Circle all hard workouts and races, circle all problem recoveries, circle all increased life stress days.

Use a red pen just to emphasize the stressful days. I bet when you complete this step, the reason for your poor performance will jump out at you: You’ll see several circled days with little recovery.

The greatest benefit to the What Went Wrong Diary is to help overcome all the emotional distress from the poor performance. While the performance will still be there, at least there is a logical reason for it. It wasn’t just the universe being mean to you. Having an objective, black and white (and red) account of what your previous training and life has been like helps overcome the hopelessness and “why me” feeling. Plus, the log and what it reveals are instructive for future training and racing. You’ll know to respect the impact of training and life stress on performance and, hopefully, manage them better before something goes wrong.

Don’t let muscle spasms ruin your next run

Painful, paralysing and PB-unfriendly, cramps can strike at any time. “There’s no one definitive cause,” says Dr Steve Ingham, head of physiology at the English Institute of Sport (eis2win.co.uk). Research in the Muscle & Nerve Journal shows that genetics might be one factor, yet there are several other possible reasons for cramping up.

Fatigue

“All muscular contractions are controlled by electrical impulses in the brain, communicated via nerves,” explains Dr Ingham. One theory says that very long runs overload and fatigue the nervous system. “Muscles get over-stimulated, so cramps are common after marathons,” says physiotherapist Alex Floyd, of BUPA’s Sports Medicine Centre of Excellence.

Cut it out: Build long runs gradually, never extending mileage by more than 10 per cent weekly. Massage fatigued muscles: especially after a race.

Warm-up properly.

“The membranes of muscle cells rupture under stress,” says Ingham. These tears stimulate the growth of new, stronger muscle fibres. Yet too much stress, too soon, leads to an uncontrollable situation in which cell contents – including vital electrolytes – leak out, upping the likelihood of cramps.

Cut it out: Prime your system with a Gentle warm-up run then gradually include dynamic stretching, like leg swings to loosen up muscles and increase blood flow.

Sweet treats

“When you eat sugar or refined carbs, rising blood sugar puts muscles into a state of high-fuelled activity.” Do this just before bedtime, and you might find yourself waking in agony with cramped legs. You still need sugar to fuel speedwork and long runs, but on rest days try to avoid sugar after midday, and eat more complex wholegrain products to avoid blood-sugar spikes.

Cut it out: Exercising before, rather than after, meals, possibly because exercise primes the body to process fuel more efficiently.

Cold or hot weather days

“Muscles seem more inclined to cramp in very cold or hot weather – or in transition between different temperatures.” You can minimise the effects of cold weather with compression kit i.e. socks, which dilates blood vessels, improves blood flow and helps keep muscles warm.

Cut it out: On cold days, do dynamic stretches before leaving the house, so you are semi-warmed up before stepping outdoors.

Salt Imbalance

Hydration is a delicate balance: too little water and muscles will cramp; too much dilutes levels of the electrolytes your muscles need to process signals from the nerves, resulting in yet more cramps. This is where sugary isotonic drinks come in – they are specially formulated to keep electrolyte levels up during intense or long runs.

Cut it out: “Plain water is fine for short runs, but in hot weather or on longer runs, you sweat more, and need electrolyte drinks.” Stick to cool – not cold – water to avoid stomach cramps. Also try a fruit juice and water mixed and add a pinch of salt.