Long run and nutrition

[दिवंगत]

I absolutley hate carrying anything in my hands or on a belt while running. To that end, I do my long runs without taking any water or nutrition with me, unless it's really really hot.

Example, last LSD I ran was 25k in 2h20m with no stops, no water and no nutrition. I was definitely tired at the end. Occasionally, I do stop for a few mouthfuls of water at a public building I pass on my usual route (if it's open).

Question - I know you were wondering if there was going to be one - is doing my long runs this way hurting my training or making me stronger?

[scrumhalfgirl]

The main way I could see this impacting your training is if you aren't recovering well from your long runs and it is impacting your subsequent workouts. Otherwise, I think probably not. I do my long runs usually in loops by my house for the same reason, and will stop in about once an hour for a few swigs of water and maybe a gel.

Some people argue that you can train your body to better access your fuel stores by training without additional nutrition, but I'm not sure how true that is.

[ultraslacker]

as always, depends on who you talk to. But I don't think anyone would advocate being dehydrated... and you can't train for that.

However, it also depends on what you're training for. 25k is not a huge distance to go without nutrition (I don't normally take anything except water for that distance). But if you're training for a marathon or ultra, nutrition is part of the training, and I can't see how it would be helpful to eliminate it completely from your training.

[scrumhalfgirl]

Good point, Holly. You do need to be sure you know what will work in your stomach for the run on the IM day - but this can also be worked on through your long brick workouts.

The other disadvantage to your training would be if you are slowing down due to lack of nutrition, but it sounds like you aren't having that problem.

[jonovision_man]

as always, depends on who you talk to. But I don't think anyone would advocate being dehydrated... and you can't train for that.

Agreed - drink water. There's absolutely no benefit to not being hydrated, and a million reasons why it's a bad idea.

jono

[La]

Right, you won't be able to run a marathon (and certainly not an IM marathon) without taking in fluid and nutrition. 25-28K is likely the threshold you can run without suffering too badly from not taking in nutrition (hydration is a different story, espcially when the warm weather gets here). But as Jesse said, it might impact your recovery. And you do want to "train" yourself to take in nutrition on the run so that you'll know what it's like on race day.

Now, it sounds like your issue is more the fact that you don't like to carry stuff, not that you don't like to eat/drink. One tactic you can try is to "hide" stuff along your route so that you can stop and get it along the way.

[दिवंगत]

Thanks for the comments.

Now, it sounds like your issue is more the fact that you don't like to carry stuff, not that you don't like to eat/drink. One tactic you can try is to "hide" stuff along your route so that you can stop and get it along the way.

Exactly! Yes, I don't like to carry stuff, I don't deliberately dehydrate myself but I find that I can go a couple of hours easily with no hydration - I take in a lot of water before setting off.

I think I'm at my limit with the 25k/2h20m run for no water though, so I'll have to figure something out.

I just wondered in a more general sense whether going long without taking in fuel was a good thing or not.

[दिवंगत]

as always, depends on who you talk to. But I don't think anyone would advocate being dehydrated... and you can't train for that.

Agreed - drink water. There's absolutely no benefit to not being hydrated, and a million reasons why it's a bad idea.

jono

I don't think I am dehydrated at the end of 2+ hours, I certainly didn't say that I was. Given that I can only absorb ~500ml of water an hour through my stomach it follows that if I drink a litre before going out I'm more or less as well off as I can be for hydration?

[Robinandamelia]

I don't like carrying stuff either, so I didn't hydrate during my training either, until I reached around 8 miles, then I started carrying the smallest thing I could find which was a 6oz gel bottle that clips to your waist. I put 6 oz of gatorade in it and that was good enough. When I hit 12 miles I thought I should use more than 6 oz and bought a bigger bottle that straps around your waist. It gave me a stomach ache (carrying the bottle that is), so don't think I'll use that again. I may get another 6 oz bottle that clips onto my waist, or I may just settle for 6 oz.

Robin

(PS I'm only training for a 1/2 not a full marathon).

[ROW]

I usually feel thirsty after about 6 or 7km, but I have 20km with no nutrition and hydration and I was fine. I didn't feel dehydrated at all. though it may help your performance if you are well hydrated.

[eljeffe]

Long training runs are dress rehearsals for the big show. I use them as a chance to try out different nutrition and hydration ideas. Carrying stuff around in training is a small price to pay to dial in my race day routine.

[Robbie-T]

I don't think it will hurt you unless these are turning into depletion runs every weekend. It doesn't sound like they are. Although the occassional depletion run has its place in my opinion. If you can hold your desired pace for the full run then I think it is fine. I do a lot of my long runs taking in minimal liquid and no gel, until I get upwards of 25k or so.

Will it help? Not sure