SUN RUN: AVOID TRYING NEW PRODUCTS ON RACE DAY
Race day not the time to try new products, sports doc says
Before you squeeze that salted caramel or strawberry-flavoured sports gel down your throat at the start line of The Vancouver Sun Run, you might want to ask yourself a few questions.
Have I ever tried this before? And do I really need a sports aid for a 10- kilometre race?
There are a lot of fun sports fuel products out there, from Gatorade to gels and even bags of jelly beans and chews. But what might look attractive as you’re picking up your Sun Run bag might not be the best option for race day, especially if you’ve never tried it before.
Dr. Jim Bovard, a sports medicine physician in North Vancouver and marathon runner, is in Sochi to work with Canada’s Olympic snowboarders. He took a few minutes out of his schedule in Russia to impart some wisdom on fuelling up for the race.
Bovard said race day is not the time to try a new product. You might cramp up, or find that the taste is so unbearable you gag — or worse, throw up.
“Sometimes people will buy a new product when they pick up their Sun Run package and say ‘ Hey, this looks cool, I’ll try this tomorrow,’ and then they get stomach cramps,” he noted.
Given that most people would prefer not puking their guts out when running with tens of thousands of other runners, the best advice might be to save the gels and jelly beans for longer runs.
Bovard said while most athletes who run all the time typically don’t use aids for a run as short as 10 kilometres, a novice runner who takes longer to run 10K may want to try one. But, he added, they should practise with the products first.
When doing a longer run ( over an hour and a half), it becomes increasingly important to have some nutrition and, of course, water — but not too much.
“You need to take in sugar, carbohydrates basically and you need electrolytes to prevent cramping as well,” he said. “You also need water. If you don’t have the right amount of those it will impact your performance, whether you are competing in the Olympics or just trying to run your first marathon.”
While some runners don’t like gels, Bovard is a fan. He said no matter the brand, the gels are well designed with the precise fuel to keep your body going.
Before a marathon, Bovard eats one gel with eight ounces of water. He also takes electrolyte and caffeine tablets during the run. He cautions that his routine may not be the best for every runner, adding that he developed his program with a sports nutritionist. After that he said it is up to the runners to figure out whether they want to take one every 40 minutes or per hour.
“Sometimes you just have to train the stomach,” he said.
Brian Baker, business manager, Canada, for performance nutrition at PowerBar, agrees that fuelling up properly and including electrolytes when you train is important.
“Gels are a great product but they are very niche. For people doing marathons and triathlons they are a staple but they are not mainstream,” he said. PowerBar also makes a product called Gel Blasts, which is like a candy chew that runners may want to try for endurance exercise over an hour.
He advised Sun Runners to ensure they eat something before and after a race. “Once you get around that hour range, nutrition starts playing a role,” he said. And if people are choosing a PowerBar or some other type of bar, he recommends a protein bar over an energy bar at the end of the race — for the carbohydrates and protein.
“That helps to rebuild your muscles,” he said. “It’s important to have a sports nutrition plan if you train for something.”
Runners who despise the taste of sports products and want a more natural product could experiment with bananas, which have a lot of potassium and sugar and some natural energy bars.