Advice (nutrition/hydration/pacing) for someone new to distance running (10 miles +)

dbrowne9212

Have recently begun to up my mileage (first marathon attempt at the back of my mind in October?) to include a long run at least once every two weeks. Enjoying the longer runs in a way I never thought I would but finding it difficult to dial them in.

Any tips/advice on how to eat/hydrate before/after longer runs to keep energy high throughout the run —as opposed to shorter distances where it's not such a big concern.

Also wondering what I should be doing pace wise (some gorey details below...) At the moment I've picked a spot a little off my 10k pace in a zone that's comfortable and fairly sustainable but have read that perhaps i should actually be going slower to go longer?

Finally I plan to add a mile to every long run and while I hate to run carrying anything or wearing a belt/bag with water etc (usually tuck €2 into my shorts in case I need to stop for a water/sugar) I'm wondering at what point people start thinking about carrying some water/food?

Thanks in advance.

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Currently running 7.5 minute miles for 10k and generally trying to run ~ 8min miles over the longer distance.

My running regime is a little erratic but it works reasonably well for me lifestyle wise - I alternate hills (~8k route with 5 difficult hill sections) and a long run (currently up to 10miles) every other Sunday. In between I get out whenever I can (~twice a week) and run a flat 5k or a 10k route at either a leisurely pace or as fast as I can -depending entirely on my mood that day.

Clearlier

dbrowne9212 wrote: »

Have recently begun to up my mileage (first marathon attempt at the back of my mind in October?) to include a long run at least once every two weeks. Enjoying the longer runs in a way I never thought I would but finding it difficult to dial them in.

Any tips/advice on how to eat/hydrate before/after longer runs to keep energy high throughout the run —as opposed to shorter distances where it's not such a big concern.

Also wondering what I should be doing pace wise (some gorey details below...) At the moment I've picked a spot a little off my 10k pace in a zone that's comfortable and fairly sustainable but have read that perhaps i should actually be going slower to go longer?

Finally I plan to add a mile to every long run and while I hate to run carrying anything or wearing a belt/bag with water etc (usually tuck €2 into my shorts in case I need to stop for a water/sugar) I'm wondering at what point people start thinking about carrying some water/food?

Thanks in advance.

---

Currently running 7.5 minute miles for 10k and generally trying to run ~ 8min miles over the longer distance.

My running regime is a little erratic but it works reasonably well for me lifestyle wise - I alternate hills (~8k route with 5 difficult hill sections) and a long run (currently up to 10miles) every other Sunday. In between I get out whenever I can (~twice a week) and run a flat 5k or a 10k route at either a leisurely pace or as fast as I can -depending entirely on my mood that day.

You should probably drop the long run pace back to 9:00mm. You're just building time on your feet at the moment. Probably worth investigating a plan though. There's a DCM novices thread for people who are planning to run their first marathon in October which might be relevant to you.

Hydration varies from person to person as well as depending on the environment. If you drink to thirst you'll do fine - if you do loops as part of your long run then you can always stash a bottle somewhere and pick it up as required. In general the less you eat on long runs the better. One of the things that you're doing on these runs is developing your body's ability to burn fat which won't happen so much if you keep taking carbs in. That said it's always worth having something available in case of a bad bonk miles away from where you need to get to.

dbrowne9212

Thanks. Yeah have been reading through the DCM novices thread and it looks quite helpful.

Interesting re. 'less you eat on long runs the better'.

16 mile long runs by the end of the summer is really where I want to be so as far as the marathon goes I'll either get there or i won't but I'm not that bothered either way. If I got to 16 miles by the end of the summer I will probably try to pick up a training programme. I know that's not the proper way to do it but I've got a busy few moths ahead and I'm not gonna be running 5 times a week for the summer so that is not my primary goal.

Thanks again.