Is there anything you ever told to yourself that you will never do this again before?
For me, it has been a peanut butter sandwich straight before a run in the morning. Today I figured out that Indian takeaway a night before isn’t a brilliant idea... just barely made home... enough said!
Oh, and alcohol a night before is not great either. Which is great as there’s one more reason not to drink (too much).
Porridge!!! It's a bit like jumping up and down with a brick inside you, especially on the fell!
Energy gels, before during whatever. I think the polite term is GI issues.
I don’t eat for at least 4 hours before a run or drink for 2 hours before. Never had a problem with having a curry the night before, having six pints of lager with the curry would be a problem.
I try to not eat less than three hours before a run (a lesson learnt from ice hockey). Sometimes though, life gets in the way of that. In January I ended up doing a horrific interval session a couple of hours after a Sunday lunch.
Never again.
Wholemeal wraps and spicy salami for breaky, which I then continued to (attempt to) eat on my first 20+ mile Fell race.
Basically meant I did the whole thing hungry, dehydrated, and bloated. Awful.
Similarly during a run - jelly cubes and water (funnily enough) turn to jelly in your stomach, bleurgh!
> Porridge!!! It's a bit like jumping up and down with a brick inside you, especially on the fell!
Burn the heretic!
Seriously, I don't know where I'd be without porridge.
> For me, it has been a peanut butter sandwich straight before a run in the morning.
I regularly take PB sandwiches in my pack on long runs.
I can pretty much eat anything before a run, which I put down to being pretty used to ultras which are basically eating contests with running between courses as the old saying goes, so I think you just get used to it. Some things will obviously make the run more difficult than others (as mentioned, booze, curries, I often find fish and chips is an issue just in terms of the 'mass' it generates the next day) but its not usually a dealbreaker.
That said, if I'm going to run a fast race (rare these days) then I'll pay a bit more attention to what I eat.
One thing I don't do be before a race now is assume I know that our local club 10km race starts at 10, waking up leisurely at 8.15, then checking seeing it actually starts at 9 and is a 30 minute drive away. I managed to make it to the start line with literally seconds to spare with a very empty stomach.
Last year I ate a huge bar of chocolate the night before the Three Peaks Race. All my training had gone well and I was in great shape, but on the day I suffered terrible cramps and really struggled from early on. The only thing I did differently was the chocolate the night before and I suspect it actually dehydrated me.
Never again!
> Porridge!!! It's a bit like jumping up and down with a brick inside you, especially on the fell!
It's like eating sick out of a bowl anyway, so I never get that far with it. It's such a sensible, practical food but it is utterly vile in every possible way.
> Last year I ate a huge bar of chocolate the night before the Three Peaks Race. All my training had gone well and I was in great shape, but on the day I suffered terrible cramps and really struggled from early on. The only thing I did differently was the chocolate the night before and I suspect it actually dehydrated me.
> Never again!
Chocolate about half an hour before a run gives me a nice energy kick (sugar and caffeine) and speeds me up, though.
Seconded. It always looks to me like someone sneezed it into being.
This was a huge bar of Fruit & Nut and it was the night before. I'm convinced it affected me as it was the only variable that was different from everything else I had done...
Not something I've done myself, but about 5 years ago, I was walking along the main street in Chamonix at 4am on my way to the start of the Trail des Aiguilles Rouges (50km Ultra), and saw a couple of youths piling out of Choucas bar (it was about kicking out time) in full race kit. Respect!
> It's like eating sick out of a bowl anyway, so I never get that far with it. It's such a sensible, practical food but it is utterly vile in every possible way.
Add more brown sugar.
Play 3 hours of tennis before a 15 mile trail run
Admittedly it was 4 days before the run, but as it was my first game for a year I was still aching at the start of the run. In fact I'm still aching now, and it's been 16 months
> Add more brown sugar.
Even if it was a bowl of brown sugar with one oat on top it would still be vile.
> Even if it was a bowl of brown sugar with one oat on top it would still be vile.
Noted, no flapjack for you.
Try cracking an egg into it. I love porridge and eggy porridge. I've never managed to convince my girlfriend of the merits if eggy porridge though (or anyone else doe that matter!).
Tuna porridge, now that was a big fail. "it'll just be a bit like Cullen skink" I mistakenly told myself.
Your body and mind do odd things. Just because you ate chocolate you may be wrongly attributing it to your problems. Could just be a bad day. You need to repeat the experiment to be sure.
I couldn’t look at a jelly baby for about 3 months after one miserable marathon. It wasn’t the fault of the jelly babies, it was the fact I was eating jelly babies while having a bad race.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conditioned_taste_aversion
Not eating related, but i will never not tape my nipples if it looks like I could be running in heavy rain. A painful lesson not to be repeated
A spicy peperami, not nice burping that back for ages in a run.
Nothing specific just like others have mentioned, nothing too heavy before a run, I could imagine a very spicy curry the night before might be an issue, but I have had mild/medium curries before events no problem.
The one that springs to mind was having too much porridge before an ultra, I left 2 hours, but It was the density and quantity that ruined it, I had to retire at 50 miles having suffered on since mile 35.
> Noted, no flapjack for you.
I was exaggerating slightly as oddly I do like flapjacks. The issue is primarily that I have a very strong revulsion for any form of warm milk - taste or smell - the only exception being if it has so much espresso in it that the taste and smell is completely masked. While porridge made only with water is, well, horribly watery and like eating sludge.
> Your body and mind do odd things. Just because you ate chocolate you may be wrongly attributing it to your problems. Could just be a bad day. You need to repeat the experiment to be sure.
> I couldn’t look at a jelly baby for about 3 months after one miserable marathon. It wasn’t the fault of the jelly babies, it was the fact I was eating jelly babies while having a bad race.
> https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conditioned_taste_aversion
I had that for a while involving tuna mayonnaise after having got very ill (unconnected to the actual food) just after eating a tuna mayonnaise sandwich. Isn't an issue any more, but it was for a long time.
> Not eating related, but i will never not tape my nipples if it looks like I could be running in heavy rain. A painful lesson not to be repeated
Two bullet wounds to the chest is always a good look!
Two beers, two bottles of red, half a dozen Jaegermeisters and a whole chateaubriand the night before running Grindelwald-Schwarzhorn-Faulhorn-Grindelwald on a hot, hot day. Vomited at least 10 times before the first summit with dehydration becoming an issue. Perked up en route to the Faulhorn and had a magical descent.
Unfortunately we did pretty much the same thing in the following 24h. Slow learners.
Running at 6am after a night on the piss, a curry and, likely a kebab thrown in for good measure was part of the rules for anyone who served in the military.
It's actually a weird sensation, running while still pissed. Its like you feel no pain.
Don't have the shits for a week before a big race and then think you won't be dehydrated during the race.
Three Peaks Fell Race 2017, I'd recovered from the shits, the day before, and thought I would be OK as long as I drank plenty during the race. I was even quite happy at the thought of the 2.5 kilos of weight I'd dropped. Anyway I was OK up Pen-y-ghent, but a bit slow across to Ribblehead. No problem, I'm good at the uphill. Powered up Whernside passing many people that had overtaken me on the way over, got to the top in reasonable time and set off down. Got cramp in my left leg. Ran it off. Got cramp in my right leg, ran it off. I can almost smell Chapel-le-dale at this point. The path was crowded with walkers and I'm "excuse-meing" my way through them. Suddenly, cramp in both legs and fall over in total agony - crowds of people asking me if I'm OK - "it's just cramp" through gritted teeth. Eventually managed to arrive at the Hill Inn, 9 minutes past the cut off. The final ignominy? Sharing a lift back to the start with my ex on the bus of shame.
I stick to traditional English food like pizza, curry, kebabs and pasta for energy. The only problem with pasta blowouts the night before an event is the bulk combined with the lack of fibre, meaning the morning bathroom session can be quite a prolonged affair, not what you want when time is ticking by to the start.
Large latte. Turned into a coffee flavour ball of cheese pinballing around my stomach.
Not quite what the OP wanted but
When 13-14 years old i ate 3/4 of a pavlova before sprint training. I was running 150m and 250m reps i'd never completed before.... till i sugar crashed and could then barely move.
Leave the house for a 10 miler, mildly needing a poo. "I've had one already today, it'll be fine." Well, it nearly wasn't and 90 mins of occasional hop/skip/clench and a general and uncomfortable fear of farting throughout later I got back to the sanctuary of home to find the culprit mysteriously reluctant to emerge.
To this day, I still worry if I have only had one release the day of a long run or race... it's lying in wait!
Ate a Pret chicken salad after work one evening. Spewed the lot up about 3 miles into my run home. Can’t even look at them now.
Not looking at the map properly before heading out....
> Not eating related, but i will never not tape my nipples if it looks like I could be running in heavy rain. A painful lesson not to be repeated
A nice rub with a body glide stick works wonders, although Mrs Ridge is convinced it's some sort of sex lubricant for the double life I lead when pretending to go out for a run.
Unlike to OP a nice bit of peanut butter on toast seems to do wonders for my energy levels on a run.
Apples.
Don't know why but an apple in anything up to a 6 hour window before a run is a guaranteed stitch that is near impossible to shake off.
Never, ever accept a free packet of sugar free sweets from an attractive young lady promoting the damn things and then scarfing the lot during the warmup. What started as an amusing tommy squeaker at 2km became a worrying chug by 5km, a disturbing foghorn by 7km and a terrifying coronal mass ejection a few metres past the 10km finish. Fortunately a discrete waddle to a shower was available. I only just saved my shoes.
All these stories so far seem to be foodstuffs!
Some years ago I was having problems with pain in my calves when running.
I had spoken to an NHS physio on the phone who told me it was muscle tightness and I should stretch them.
The stretching didn’t help but I had some leftover Valium in the house and I knew it was very effective for relaxing muscular tension in the back so I took one and then went for a run.
It didn’t help at all with the leg pain but made my mind so relaxed I got lost on a familiar route and had to run extra distance to get home. And I was running really slowly, just couldn’t get going. Rather unpleasant.
However it did prove the physio was talking rubbish.
On a similar tack i have suffered on and off from back problems and have a good stash of high strength cocodamol. After some knee pain i decided to take one before going out for a run. Result, a most blissed out run on coastal paths listening to old school euphoric trance. A very pleasant experience, pace was crap though
For several years on the trot I had a full English breakfast on the morning of the National XC, threw up on the finish line every time. I’d didn’t this year and never even made it to the start line for unrelated reasons.
I think 2011 was the last time it was held at Alton Towers, it was pretty brutal. I remember lapping Ron Hill, quite early on. I think that was the last one he did, 45 years after winning it.
> A fart in the morning is a jogger's warning.
Farting through the night
Probably need a pre-run shite
Have you ever done cheesy porridge? Once it's cooked, grate a good strong cheddar into it. Add some chorizo too for added protein. I'm not sure I'd run on it, but great start to a winter hill day
> Have you ever done cheesy porridge? Once it's cooked, grate a good strong cheddar into it. Add some chorizo too for added protein. I'm not sure I'd run on it, but great start to a winter hill day
I can see how the cheddar would work. My Turkish friend hates porridge too, she's a bread and cheese and ham in the morning person. .
> It's like eating sick out of a bowl anyway, so I never get that far with it. It's such a sensible, practical food but it is utterly vile in every possible way.
Have you tried it with full fat or semi skimmed milk, and sultanas in and brown sugar sprinkled on top?
The thing is, porridge is as bland a base as bread is, so works with anything that would work on bread. It's just warmer and I feel it keeps me full longer than bread does
> Have you tried it with full fat or semi skimmed milk, and sultanas in and brown sugar sprinkled on top?
You mean muesli? That's nice.
The reason I dislike it cooked is that I can't stand the taste or smell of warm milk and oats unless there's something that completely masks it, e.g. I'll drink latte because two shots of espresso completely mask it.
> The thing is, porridge is as bland a base as bread is, so works with anything that would work on bread. It's just warmer and I feel it keeps me full longer than bread does
It's not that bland, though, it has a very distinct taste, smell and texture. Yuck.
It's as bland as bread though, hence takes other flavours just as well.
I can see that texture could put people off.
> You mean muesli? That's nice.
> The reason I dislike it cooked is that I can't stand the taste or smell of warm milk and oats unless there's something that completely masks it, e.g. I'll drink latte because two shots of espresso completely mask it.
Ah I see, I find the smell of warm milk and oats quite comforting.