Ever wonder how to stay motivated on the long, arduous journey that is marathon training? We've got your back! Join us for another recording of my athlete Hotseat where we focus on the Marathon as we share personal experiences, tips, and strategies that have kept us going. From the highs and lows of the London Marathon ballot to the importance of goal-setting, we reveal how to focus on the journey and not just the finish line.
Our conversation doesn't stop there. We highlight the benefits of incorporating sports massage into your training cycle, a secret weapon that promotes recovery and contributes to overall wellbeing. We also provide practical tips for maintaining body alignment and relaxation after exercise. Trust us, your body will thank you!
But what about fueling your body? We've got that covered too. We delve into the critical role of nutrition in running performance—from pre-race gels and optimal carbohydrate and protein intake to hydration strategies. Get ready to discover how to maintain muscle mass and health while keeping body fat low. All this and more in this episode packed with insightful tips to help you stay on top of your marathon training game. Let's hit the ground running together!
Thanks for being part of our running community. Keep clocking those miles, keep pushing your limits, and above all, keep finding joy in the run. See you on the next episode of Maximum Mileage Running Podcast!
JOIN OUR FREE FACEBOOK GROUP! Your support here helps to keep making content and weekly podcast episodes... in return, you will have access to fantastic discounts through our numerous partners, plus we upload lots more content and chat to help you with your running!
Thanks to all our partners at Maximum Mileage who you can get huge discounts via the Maximum Mileage Facebook Group! :
You can find more resources including the blog or enquire about having one...
Ever wonder how to stay motivated on the long, arduous journey that is marathon training? We've got your back! Join us for another recording of my athlete Hotseat where we focus on the Marathon as we share personal experiences, tips, and strategies that have kept us going. From the highs and lows of the London Marathon ballot to the importance of goal-setting, we reveal how to focus on the journey and not just the finish line.
Our conversation doesn't stop there. We highlight the benefits of incorporating sports massage into your training cycle, a secret weapon that promotes recovery and contributes to overall wellbeing. We also provide practical tips for maintaining body alignment and relaxation after exercise. Trust us, your body will thank you!
But what about fueling your body? We've got that covered too. We delve into the critical role of nutrition in running performance—from pre-race gels and optimal carbohydrate and protein intake to hydration strategies. Get ready to discover how to maintain muscle mass and health while keeping body fat low. All this and more in this episode packed with insightful tips to help you stay on top of your marathon training game. Let's hit the ground running together!
Thanks for being part of our running community. Keep clocking those miles, keep pushing your limits, and above all, keep finding joy in the run. See you on the next episode of Maximum Mileage Running Podcast!
JOIN OUR FREE FACEBOOK GROUP! Your support here helps to keep making content and weekly podcast episodes... in return, you will have access to fantastic discounts through our numerous partners, plus we upload lots more content and chat to help you with your running!
Thanks to all our partners at Maximum Mileage who you can get huge discounts via the Maximum Mileage Facebook Group! :
You can find more resources including the blog or enquire about having one...
Did it say you were recording? No, it didn't. Hi everybody, welcome to the July July, is it? Yeah, it is July 2023, edition of the Hot Seat. And I'm doing this intro because it's now a podcast, so just so I know which one's which. And we have had a special day. It is the day where we all get told you can't do the London Marathon. So who actually applied for the London Marathon? Yeah, several hands going up. Even Zoom put its hand up then. And did anybody actually get in? No, no, no, it's National Letdown Day. I can't believe people actually get in through the ballot. But, chris, you got into the ballot right.
Speaker 3:I did last year. The people I know this year that got through are both friends of mine that really, really don't want to do it. I think they've got a long journey ahead of them, so maybe it's a good chance with the UFA.
Speaker 1:Yeah well you know where we are Right. So how did you get in? Last year? I can't remember. Were you charity? I had a charity spot. Yeah, I can't be asked to raise money for charity. It's just too much money. I'm going to friends that will donate me that much money. So, yeah, now I'm going to try and get in through Good for Age again. I had a level organised in the bingo night.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow yeah, I got a good good in last year but I didn't take it up because I was sorry. This year I got good for age, but I didn't take it up because I was in mountain ultra marathon mode and then family things happened anyway. So, anyway, I was going to kick things off today with. I wanted to talk about goal setting and just a strategy that I find that keeps me motivated to keep on training the way I do. It's nice to have breaks from time to time, and particularly after your big A races, but I always find that if I don't have another goal in the future in my calendar, I can very quickly not lose interest as such, but I think, for somebody as passionate about running as I am, I think if I lose a little bit of that focus and a little bit of that motivation to keep on running, then it's pretty hard for people to stay motivated, and I just tend to find that if I've got something booked in in the future, that it's a really good way of keeping yourself motivated. So, yes, you may be focused on the race that's coming up ahead of you and absolutely that is the thing that you should be doing, but if you want to keep yourself nice and motivated, you know, either book something very quickly after the one that you've just done or have something already booked in. And the other thing around goal setting I just wanted to sort of touch on was because I've spoken to loads of people over the years around the races, and particularly something like London. You know it is so important to some people that they forget about all of the stuff that they've got going on around them. They are so focused on the race and the result they're going to get in the race and maybe the time that they're going to run and so far out. You know it could be four months down the line. You know in this case what it's July and the race London isn't until April. That's a long, long time away and a long time to be thinking about what's you know, eight, nine, ten months away.
Speaker 1:So when I set goals it's like right, okay, so my goal is the Manchester marathon. That's my personal goal in 2024 is to run. You know I want to run a 245, hopefully 240, marathon at Manchester and that's my goal. It's in, it's in the diary, it's set. I know what I want to do and now I can forget about it. Yes, I've got it kind of in my mind.
Speaker 1:It's something I will keep talking about and, you know, keeps me focused on the future, but it's so important to focus on what you've got here and now.
Speaker 1:Focus on the sessions that you've got in front of me, in front of you. Focus on, you know, the strength training that you're doing. Focus on, you know, keeping yourself well and eating well and hydrating well and sleeping well, and not focus so much on oh, you know what, what, what do I think I'm going to run in 10 months time, because it can completely derail your training. It can just totally ruin an entire training plan because somebody is so focused on getting a result that they forget about what's going on right now staying consistent, turning those boxes green. So yeah, I just wanted to sort of throw that out there as a once you've set your goal, it's really important to have them, but don't focus on it so much that you forget about what you're doing right now. Focus on your training and all the things that are going on around you. Any anything you want to add to that, faye or anybody else.
Speaker 4:I would agree with you, having convinced myself a few years ago that I didn't need a goal and I just love running. And why would I need a goal? Because I just love running. And it became actually my worst enemy as a result of not having a goal, because I basically overdid it and because there was no method to anything. I was doing it but just become an escape and it just became too much. And then, as a result, I was like I actually really don't like this at the moment and realised how important a goal is, or even just something to give you some structure and some variety. I think that's what I learnt, having been convinced I didn't need goals. But actually I had inadvertently always had goals, but just not thought of them like that.
Speaker 1:Certainly from a coach's perspective, from this side of the fence, when I see an athlete that doesn't have some sort of goal in their plan, whether that be a race or I just want to work on getting faster at the moment or building up my base strength, whatever it might be If there is no goal, it's quite hard to plan because I don't want, and no coach should ever, make the goal for. And that's when you ask me, what race should I do? What do you think I should do? I can only give some kind of advice and guidance. It's got to be down to you what your goal is. Ultimately, it's you that's got to get out there and do the work. And if you don't have that I always talk about it that strong why You're not going to buy into it. Make sure you've got those goals in your diaries. Cool Shall we kick off the questions. Steve, I got itching to ask Faye a question. My new co-host, faye.
Speaker 5:I was really interested, faye in, so I've been talking to a few friends recently some of them swear by sports massage who are runners, and I just wondering from your perspective as an expert in this sort of you know what the benefits for runners are and, if there are, when you should be thinking about it as a particular part of training where it can be more beneficial than others, or perhaps when it's more intense or when it's a bit more sort of easing off.
Speaker 5:So yeah, because I'm just finding a bit. As I get older, I think you do have a few things where you feel like you could do with a bit. So I get some of the tight shoulders from sort of stress at work as well as doing all the exercise as well.
Speaker 4:I think it's a very interesting topic because massage comes in lots of different forms and I think that's part of so. Basic massage is fantastic for relaxation, recovery and general well-being and I think I would certainly prescribe it to anybody. That is a runner, certainly, but even for life, you know. Just to give you that time, you almost just reset your body a little bit. If you're looking at it in regards to, I think it's in a dream world I would have one every two weeks. But you know, like as I and in the sense of it works, you have to be careful where you put it in a, let's say, in a training week or over a month, because it is essentially a what's the word? It might hurt, it might leave you with some doms, basically of a different sort, and, as a result, you wouldn't have like a deep, you know, real deep tissue sports massage the week of a race.
Speaker 1:Certainly not within the first, within the, the couple of days of a race. But you might have a massage, the, you know, within a couple of days of the race or even on the day of the race. That is quite gentle, it's all about lactate flushing and and kind of that's it and just, you know, generally just helping you to feel a bit relaxed. I mean, I just like having massages because they're nice.
Speaker 4:Exactly and I think, like you said, nick, there is. You know there's general massage that you might have. You know where it's soft tissue massage, and then if you see someone who is a bit more advanced in there in their practice, they might do more muscle energy techniques and other things that essentially help to repair and recover muscles in a different way and that's really really valuable and that can help with things like imbalances, muscle imbalances, or it can help with helping to encourage recovery. If you've got any, you know, micro tears because, as we know, if we train hard we do create those muscle tears and massage can help to increase the recovery when it comes to things like that.
Speaker 4:But certainly, like Nick said, you wouldn't have anything within a week of a race because you want to give the body time to kind of flush through the toxins, because it does, you know it creates a lot of stuff in us and, for example, what can often happen is if you go and have a massage and if you've got any hint of an underlying cold, that will bring it out.
Speaker 4:So I know I've been turned away a few times where I go and I say I'm not feeling great today and the person I go to see for massage, she'll say, right, we're not doing that today. If you're not feeling very well, we're not going to do a massage, because I guarantee you if I do, you'll wake up feeling awful tomorrow. So it's really important to do it at the right time. But it can be so valuable in regards to the kind of recovery process and just to make you feel better, because sometimes I don't know about you, but I get to a point in my training program where I just feel really heavy, like I just feel my legs, don't they just feel like lead and I'm just like if someone could just like flush it out, that would be fantastic. But yeah, I think it's just good for your wellbeing and general. You know, longevity, let's say.
Speaker 4:Okay brilliant, thank you. I should definitely start doing it then yeah.
Speaker 1:What about things like foam rolling, self massage, rolling sticks sitting on a ball? I've got a book upstairs actually called the roller the roller method, I think it's called. I saw Killian Jornay recommend it actually. Yeah, I mean, killian, we go with you?
Speaker 4:Yeah, absolutely, I think they've all got a place. It's how you use them and knowing the right ways to use them. And with foam rolling it's not about pummeling yourself until your calves feel like they're going to fall off. It's quite a subtle kind of massage and even the action of just rolling your calves up and down the foam roller is kind of flushing toxins, creating increasing blood flow. Doing all the right things and self massage around like calves, particularly ankles feet, can be really valuable, especially with a ball. I don't know. I've got a mini roller that I use to roll my feet because I find if my feet are tight, my calves feel tight. It's a chain of tightness basically. But if you know little things like using small foam rollers, tennis balls for your feet, if you're that hardcore, yes.
Speaker 1:I did start with. I mean, I did start with the bath sponge at some point and then I didn't go strong. I love it. I sit there on my desk just hammering my feet. I just like the sensation of it. I like the crunching of the plantar tendons and probably goes through some people.
Speaker 4:But it is very, it is worthwhile and does help certainly does help if particular muscle groups are feeling a bit tight or restricted.
Speaker 1:So yeah, I mean, I, I, I just get scared, cringe like oh God, when I see the Facebook doctors advising people do things like foam roll your IT band. Oh, no, no, no, don't, don't. Don't try and massage a tendon, especially something like the ITB or the Achilles. Don't do that. That's really bad.
Speaker 4:So that's a really good example of misusing a mist. So I'm going to try and illustrate this on the screen. But if, say, you've got a tight IT band right, it's probably coming from your glute mead, so you're outside hip.
Speaker 1:So this bit here Now smallest muscle in the gluteus area, but it's also the hardest working, because it's do know, know, which is the muscle we call the runner's muscle? That's the psoas, isn't it? Yeah, that's the psoas, I think. Normally.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah, but essentially you think about what connects into your pelvic area is everything, and when it comes to something like an IT band issue, it's usually coming from the hip, the glute, somewhere it might be feeding into from the lower back, because that you know. So it's never necessary. It's not necessarily where the pain is. It could be referring from somewhere else. And that's really important, you know, because often, commonly, people go I've got knee pain, often runners will be experiencing a tight IT band, but don't be rolling your IT band nor be massaging too much, you know, round your knee and thing. I've seen things and I think, no, don't think about it Then. Then again, that's where it's worth reaching out to someone who can kind of guide you to get a better understanding of where that tightness might be coming from, because it's not always and 99% of the time what you, where you think it's coming from.
Speaker 1:Yeah, work with a professional every time. The yeah. I've just written a blog on this and I haven't posted it yet, but I've just written a blog on it and I talk about just talk to a professional Like get off Google, get off Facebook, for God's sake. The Facebook groups drive me mental.
Speaker 1:The amount of people that ask oh, I've got such such insert, horrible injury, slash, niggle here. What do you all do? Like no, no, just because you know all these people have done all these different things. You are an individual, you are totally different and what you're experiencing might be completely different to what that person was. And if you do what that person was doing, they might actually cause you even more problems. Go and see a professional. Yeah, get off my soapboxer. The Facebook groups.
Speaker 4:So just to add, whilst we're talking about, that is taping, because that's a pet peeve of mine is when I see people rock up to races taped up like Christmas present and they've taken no professional guidance on regards to taping they just magic tape, as I call it.
Speaker 4:Probably doing nothing, and that's another one that's worth finding out about how to apply, because it's very easy to learn how to do it properly. But equally, you know, find out first before you just go popping it on and hoping that it will just work because it's on, stuck to you. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Cool, thank you.
Speaker 4:That's okay.
Speaker 1:Rachel, you've asked a question. Why don't you ask it right now?
Speaker 2:Hello, hello, mine's just in relation to gels and your thoughts on gels pre race Like 5K is 10K is half marathons, I know, obviously in halves with fueling anyway I'm not necessarily in a 10K, but your thoughts of a pre gel?
Speaker 1:100% I do. Even if I'm just popping down to park run. I'll have a gel 20 minutes before, because it takes about 20 minutes for a gel to get into the system. But I'll take one. And you know what? I might be absolutely full to the blim of blim, brim of glycogen, Bye. Even if it just gives me the psychological boost, why not? There's absolutely no harm in it. It's not going to contribute to any significant extra weight gain.
Speaker 1:So if you're on a diet or anything like that, I worry about people that avoid taking gels because they say they don't want to gain weight. No, okay, you don't want to be sat on the sofa on Saturday evening watching Netflix chucking gels down your neck because that is straight sugar when you're sat there idle. But when we are exercising, intra-exercise glucose ingestion is totally different to when we're not doing anything. Our bodies use that in a totally, totally different way. It is fuel. So absolutely 100% is the short answer to that.
Speaker 1:I take a gel, I say 20 minutes before every race I do. If it's an ultra, I might have a banana and a bagel just to kind of get things going, but you're going to be fueling all the way through it as well. On a half marathon, I do take a gel mid-race. Probably don't need it, but I do anyway because, again, if it's just giving me that little bit of a psychological boost to keep pushing for the last, I usually take it around mile 7, 8. So it gives me that 20 minutes to get into the system and then it gives me that sort of last 30 minutes of the race to power through. So, yeah, 100%, I say all the time fuel yourself and me and Steve have actually both just started working with a nutritionist. I don't know how many calories he's got you on, steve, but I've struggled the last two days to get all my carbs in.
Speaker 5:Yeah, I've struggled with the protein.
Speaker 1:I can't believe how much carbohydrate we're eating Not a dangerous way at all. I said to him, one of my priorities is health first and then performance, so it's not like we're just having loads of sugary stuff. It's a very, very healthy approach. But, oh my God, the carbs Wow. But I felt great on my session today.
Speaker 4:Tell us how much carbohydrate.
Speaker 1:One moment.
Speaker 4:I'm intrigued now.
Speaker 1:And protein.
Speaker 4:And I want to join this club.
Speaker 1:Protein's pretty high as well. Mine was, and yours is probably similar as well, steve 2 to 2.5 grams per kilo per day yeah, it's about 160 grams a day. Yeah, 180 to 200 grams of protein for me. Yeah.
Speaker 5:I'm about 360 carbs on a medium demand day. I haven't had a high demand day yet because I've been tapering for the weekend.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I'm on a high demand day today, Sorry. Moderate demand day today 435 grams of carbs yeah. Wow, it's quite hard.
Speaker 5:It's quite hard to get that in without eating things like Frosties. You have to have like a bowl of something like that just to get that much in.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, I've had porridge with lozaburys like a big squeeze of honey. I've had three wraps, loads of potatoes, massive bowl of tomato salad, a bagel with jam and a gel like just loads, absolutely loads.
Speaker 3:Sorry, what's the? Aim here? What? Do you kind of re-sculpting yourself for power?
Speaker 1:So, yeah, for me, I've always been pretty good with nutrition. I mean, I wouldn't have written a recipe book for runners if I wasn't. But I don't come at it from a nutritionist perspective, I come at it from a I understand it, and these recipes have helped fuel my running. One of the recipes I one of the meals I had today was one of those recipes. So it's serving a purpose. But a bit like anything for me. Really, I want to really dial in on my performance and, like all of you guys coming to me for coaching, I've gone to somebody for coaching on that. Yes, I know plenty about it, but I still like that accountability. That was a big thing was the accountability piece, because I can just be a bit of a shit, particularly on the weekends. Just totally let everything go and eat. Probably, in fact, I would almost guarantee I eat too much fat on the weekends and, yeah, I come for eat probably a bit too much. I clear the kids plates daily.
Speaker 1:I am Daddy Dustbin number one and I, you know, for the goals I've got. I think I carry probably a little bit too much body fat, not weight, and it's really important that I say that. Because body weight you see these skinny runners, these Elliot Kipchoges of the world, you know they're kind of built like that. I'll never be built like that. You know, 30 kilos, in fact, 35 kilos heavier than Elliot Kipchoges. And you know there is precious muscle mass that I don't want to lose. It's a significant indicator of mortality, muscle mass. So you know we need to keep it, keep it, keep ourselves strong, keep ourselves healthy. But I can feel my belly when it. You know, when I'm running, it's bouncing up and down a little bit.
Speaker 1:And for somebody who runs a 17 minute 5K, well, maybe if I wasn't carrying 5 kilos that I didn't need. Then you know, and I'm not looking to get crazy lean, none of that. That isn't my aim at all. In fact, like our nutrition coach said, for some people 10% body fat might be perfect, but for others it might be 15, 16. And I actually think that will probably be where I would sit, particularly at my age as well 40, 41 next month. You know, 10% body fat for me, probably no, not now, maybe 10 years ago, 20 years ago, but not now. So yeah, we'll see, you know. So it is a bit of an experiment as well. It might not glean any performance improvements, and that's the beauty of nutrition. It's all just so different and challenging. Chris, you're going through your own nutrition path at the moment, aren't you? But for a very different reason.
Speaker 1:Yours is less about performance, incremental gains and more about it not totally derailing your entire race because you've struggled with issues over the years, haven't you?
Speaker 3:Yeah, exactly, and there was only really really kind of prepping for this ultra that I've now pulled. Out of that I realized I've got a particular issue with running when it is into the early hours of the morning and my stomach just cannot deal with it, and so that's kind of taken an underlying kind of IBS issue that I've had the decades and kind of really I'm putting a focus on that now to try and get to the bottom of that to see how I can control it better, because I'm kind of at the stage where I'm with but I'm realizing now there's definite things that I can't do. In fact, when I got the note that I didn't get into London, one of my friends in Luxembourg said come do the Luxembourg one with me. It starts at 7pm. So I'm feeling I'm able to do so.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I really want to get to the bottom of that for sure. And yeah, I've had a whole host of blood tests and not set the word poo yet. All those kind of tests just to get the amount of stuff I've had ruled out is great, but getting to the bottom of exactly what the issues are will really help me. And once I'm on something stable with that, then, yes, I look at the health side of nutrition. But yeah, getting my stomach sorted is job number one, I think.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So anyway, to circle right back to race as a reasonable question Gel before a race? For me personally, hell yeah. But like with anything with nutrition, I think it's quite good that we went down that little rabbit hole there, because I think it just illustrates that we are all so different and I could say, yes, definitely get a gel in you before you race. But if it doesn't work for you then it might not be the way to go. But practice, test it out, see what works for you. A gel might not be great if you straight before race, but maybe a banana is, maybe a spoonful of honey, maybe a bit of chocolate. It is that experimentation piece. Ok, there was another question, Let me just find it. Ah, that was it.
Speaker 1:James, again on the nutrition realms of things. So James, who is training for and he got his number through in the post yesterday for a 145 mile canal race? He's mental, but he's asked drink to volume or time or drink to thirst. He was using a precision hydration tab on Sunday and on the tube it says drink to thirst and it got me thinking. Well, I would agree with them. I've, I have, I have gone into the realms of trying to achieve a certain amount of hydration per hour or whatever. Your strategy is based on how much you sweat and and that's not bad advice, it's maybe just slightly older advice that actually, as as companies like precision hydration, who do work with a lot of great people who are doing a lot of great studies on this, I mean there's been studies coming out, pretty recently actually, that the whole sodium thing and cramping is total rubbish, Total rubbish. They did, they've done control groups where they've given one group sodium, you know, hydration tablets, whatever it might be and other groups where they've had nothing and there's been absolutely no difference in when people got cramps. It was all, in fact, they. They actually believe it's more around muscle endurance, muscular endurance. You know how, how strong are you and you know how much can your muscles take before they start seizing up and start cramping rather than the sodium bit.
Speaker 1:Now you know, I think that the jury is still a little bit out on it, but to sort of answer James's question, I am in the I'm in the camp now of drink to thirst. You, I do think you really need to keep an eye on it. So anybody who is playing on doing an ultra or has ultra books or even marathons you've, I think you've got to just drink to thirst. But really keep a check on yourself. Don't let it get too far, particularly when the weather's hot, because it's so hard to come back from dehydration.
Speaker 1:And actually I had Jerry, who is based in Pittsburgh, over the weekend. He DNF this 50k at 40k. Unfortunately he just couldn't go out for the last loop. Unfortunately he did find himself in probably the worst running conditions you could ever imagine the Canadian wildfires that have been in the news recently and it was like 97 Fahrenheit and 96% humidity apparently. So I mean it just couldn't be any worse conditions to run in. So you know, no, no, no bad play on his on his part, but he basically said by 20k he just couldn't keep up with the water, the hydration demand. So you know, that's kind of one extreme, but I, to ensure that I do keep hydrated, my personal strategy is, every time I watch, watch, beeps for a mile, I'll make sure I take a sip, Because then I know, you know, I know I've had something, so I'm at least staying on top of it.
Speaker 1:And then another strategy I have is on ultras, is that, particularly if the weather's warm, I have every bit of fluid I've got on me, so usually a liter between each aid station. So I'm really on top of it. And if I find like I'm peeing a little bit too much and it's not too far to the next aid station, then I might skip it, Particularly if it's a shorter race. But yeah, one of those strategies I I I employ is just make sure you have every drop of what you've got on you by the time you get to the next aid station and then refill and then do the same again. So, yeah, I'm in the camp of drink to thirst.
Speaker 1:I think if you go in with a strategy of I am definitely going to have one liter every hour and then you can't achieve that, or it's too much or it's always too little. You know it might be that for some people a liter is too little and they will get dehydrated. So I think it's dangerous, dangerous territory going in with a specific number. I think you've just got to really stay on top of that. So yeah, I think that's it. Thanks for watching Peace. Any thoughts on that? Chris, I know you're a stickler for your water. You drink a liter just on a park run, don't you?
Speaker 3:Yeah, just on a zincal. I guess I've got a follow-on question around. I noticed I was with this stomach stuff that I was testing around the ultra I found that Towwind seems to work okay for me as well as gels, and whether I want to go a whole ultra on gels or even if I'll be able to cope with doing that. I guess Towwind has got its own problem with calories in versus hydration as well. So there's a bit of a problem with just running with Towwind that they'll not be able to control fueling versus hydration or carrying a bottle of water and carrying more weight around to be able to mix the two. If you've got any recommendations or thoughts there, yeah.
Speaker 1:So Towwind kind of pissed me off a little bit because on their packaging, if I'm not mistaken, it says something like all you need all day, right? That just fucking pisses me off. Excuse my French, why am I saying, excuse my French, it does it fucking pisses me off because that is a. If somebody is running all day in Elstomath and they need nutrition, real food, they need it. You can't go all day on just Towwind. And if you do, then there has been some very, very, very serious training of the guts that has allowed you to be able to do that. And, yeah, not just Towwind.
Speaker 1:But I think, yeah, I'm in the camp of it's very hard to control your hydration if you have a carbohydrate drink like Towwind, particularly on a hot day, because if you are trying to get loads of water in to get your hydration up and you continue to ingest lots and lots of carbohydrates, your gut is just going to go. Well, I can't process all that. So unfortunately, I'm either going to puke it out or shit it out. And here we go. We're talking about pooping every time and I you know he won't mind me mentioning it, but James on, who asked the previous question, you know I've been coaching him for just over two years now.
Speaker 1:The first race we did together as coach and coachy I ran the last bit with him was Race to the Stones, which is this weekend, and he had no end of problems because he was using 100% tailwind I think it was tailwind in in his bottles and he was so dehydrated but it he just couldn't rehydrate and deal with the amount of carbs that were going into his gut and he's he's one was sent a pretty sensitive gut. So I I go with the strategy of hydration in the bottle, carbs in the pocket, because then you are in control. You know, if you need to get loads of extra fluid in, great, you can without it, without having to ingest more and more carbohydrates. If you need to get more carbohydrate in, you can just take it out your pocket.
Speaker 1:You know because that's the other thing, if you feel like you're starting to bonk because you're running out of running out of fuel, if you're only on something like tailwind, you know you've got to drink like a liter just to get 60 grams of carbohydrates in you, which is insane. So you've got to have that. You've got to have those control mechanisms. I think if you've got 100%, you know something like tailwind in your. You know salicum bashing tailwind here. But you know this goes for all other brands. You know I work with talk. That includes talk, I think, unless you're being crude and you've got other means to be able to get hydration in in a in another way.
Speaker 1:I think going with 100% carbohydrate drink is just. It's a dangerous strategy really, particularly in warm weather. Not so much in cold weather you can get away with it, but in in warm weather that's. That's tough on the gut for anybody. Great question. I have a question for Fay.
Speaker 4:Okay.
Speaker 1:Muscle tightness. My calves are tight. No, this is not a this. This is a question. I get loads.
Speaker 4:Oh, okay.
Speaker 1:Lots of different people.
Speaker 4:Okay, yeah.
Speaker 1:And I'll get the. You know. People say, well, you know, my, my calves are really tight. I'm like, okay, so one of them or both of them, both of them really tight, and they get worried about no, that that's. You know. Am I injured? And my sort of experience is that if it's in both sides, probably not. If it's in one side, maybe. But that tight feeling is usually, in my experience, not tightness. And actually you might know I'm actually Mike James, the endurance physio. He's Eberveil based, I think I know his name.
Speaker 4:But I don't know. Yeah, yeah, I've heard I love something he's yeah.
Speaker 1:I love something he was that tightness is not tightness, that's fatigue. It's when it turns into the realms of it's painful that you then need to start worrying. So my question is is this such thing as a tight muscle?
Speaker 4:I think how would I describe it? If a muscle feels let's use the word tight, because it's universally understood tight, it's probably because you've used it. You know it happens and the muscle will shorten after you've exercised it. And that's often why we, you know, suggest or encourage some kind of you know, post exercise stretching of some sort. You know I'm saying this like I'm golden and I do it all the time. I don't, but in the sense of, you know, you exercise a muscle, you put it under stress and then afterwards it shortens, as you know, and it repairs itself and is part of the recovery process and it's quite normal.
Speaker 4:As you said, there's a few different things that can come about. If, for example, you are finding that pain is consistent and it's quite specific and it doesn't move, that could be suggesting that you have a small muscle tear of some sort or something that could be problematic. Generally, muscle tears will manifest themselves in feeling a little bit grisly and a bit riggy, maybe, if you know, if you poked it and and so, and generally it won't. It will get worse if you were to continue exercising on it. The other thing that people get are what called trigger points, and you may have, may have heard of these, and they come about again through normal daily function. But they also particularly come about through exercise, and this is slightly different because that manifests itself again. It feels like a pee or a lump or a ridge and what tends to happen with that is if you put some, apply some pressure to that that point, it will radiate and it will. It will kind of radiate out from that particular place. So it might, if it's in my car, for example.
Speaker 1:It might radiate up towards my hamstring Is that the technical word for hurt like fuck.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah, that one, yeah, and that's different. But to touch they can feel the same. And this is a conversation I was having last week with someone. Because at first you can think, oh, I instantly think on the positive side and think, oh, I've just got another trigger point, I'll just get the phone roller out or the tennis ball or something and try and work on it myself and get rid of it, and generally I can manage it.
Speaker 4:It's like I said, if it becomes more persistent and it's quite localized, you might be thinking, oh, maybe I've done something or I've. You know there's some potential damage, but it might not be, it might just be overworked. But I maybe I've become too accustomed to it, but I generally have something that's tight 100% of the time I think I was saying this to you, nick, not that long ago where I don't know a day that doesn't pass, where I don't feel like something hurts or feels tight in some capacity. But yeah, I think it's often. Maybe it's get, you get used to it, but it's not. It's often nothing to worry about. It might just be out of your comfort zone, of what you've known before.
Speaker 1:That's the thing I think. I just said. There is exactly, I think, what I think sometimes people just need to hear is just, you know, don't worry about these little things that you know come about from time to time and might.
Speaker 4:I add, our bodies are very resilient and I'm not suggesting ever to run through an injury, but don't always assume that you have it is an injury or it's something that's going to curtail your training, because you know some muscles do get tight. You know we might have a tight back after, and this is a common thing. You know we do our exercise and then we go to work and we sit down for however many hours and then we get up at the end of the day and that's part of the problem. And I'm not saying you know we all have jobs to do and we can't we can't change that. But you know simple things like throughout the day, making sure you're standing up for periods of time walking around. You know making sure you're just not sat down, and you know causing your body to kind of. You know tighten up and muscles to shorten. One of my best tricks and this is something I do a few times a day is I just lie on the floor. Lie on the floor, let everything realign itself, and just relax.
Speaker 1:We get one of those in the tables. Oh, hang upside down for a while.
Speaker 4:There's always that option, but I swear it's one of the simplest things you can do. But it just aligns, realigns everything. If you've been feel like you've been sat down in a bit kind of like hunched up, yeah, nice and simple, but does but does make a difference.
Speaker 1:Yeah, good stuff, cool, if nobody has any other questions. I did forget my opening joke today, so I'm going to close with a joke, and it's another pirate one. What did the first mate see when he walks into the toilet on the ship in the morning? The captain's log and with that, thank you everybody and we will see you next month.