hydration - AnnaTheApple

March 4, 2015

The big scary “M” word

The big scary “M” word in my case (as I’m already married ;-)) is of course the marathon. It’s my favourite distance. It’s the distance I find the hardest to train for and indeed to run. But the feelings when you finish it are just amazing. It’s like you’ve just done something so incredibly wonderful – and in my eyes, you have.

I feel a deep sadness and regret that I’m not doing the London marathon. Even worse is that I’m not running it when Paula Radcliffe is running her last marathon. And the fact that quite a few of my running club are doing it too (and one lovely lady is running her first marathon and absolutely smashing the training despite being a more short-distance lover – she’ll say she’s doing terribly but she’s really not, LAUREN).

But that’s by and by. I’m doing the Southampton half marathon on that day so I’m not going to be sat there moping. And let’s be honest, I can’t do ANOTHER marathon on a pathetic amount of training and then get injured AGAIN.

I do want to do another marathon soonish though as it’s just something I bloody love doing. I’m not a short distance runner…5ks and 10ks are just horrifically hard and painful. With a marathon I just zone in and feel alive.

So Liverpool Rock and Roll marathon is my marathon of choice and it’s in June (a week before my birthday, how very lovely). Obviously I will quickly throw in a disclaimer to say I could get injured and it might all come down in flames. Who knows, I don’t have a great track record for these sorts of things. But I am hoping and praying to the running God on the big fluffy track in the sky.

I don’t really have a proper training plan this time around (what good has it done me so far…). It’s more of a very gradual mileage build-up with long runs plotted in the calendar. I won’t run more than four times a week and so far I’m not sure if I will run more than three times a week. I’ll also still go to the gym (balancing it with the number of runs I do/how I’m feeling) to continue strengthening my legs and core etc.

Loving my Helly Hansen leggings!

I hope to get up to 18 miles as a long run but I’ll see what happens when I get to 16 and judge it then. I’m also running more hills regularly in the hope that they’re strengthening my legs in a very functional way. Basically it’s a “let’s see how this goes” kinda marathon plan. Nothing set in stone because it never can be with me it seems.

Nutrition won’t change dramatically (Hi I’m Anna and I like cake) but as I start hitting the higher mileage when the weather gets warmer I’ll need to think more sensibly about hydration. I do know that I drink enough water as I have stupid amounts of squash all day long at work and at the weekend. I did try to cut out/reduce squash but it wasn’t successful…

My problem is drinking too much water and flushing myself out of the good stuff.

Over-hydrating is a far worse issue than dehydration. I need to drink water more sensibly. Especially the day before a long run, the day of the long run and the day after. Happily I’m a big fan of the hydration tablets. Nuun are my favourite.

I actually wrote a review about nuun hydration tablets – find it HERE. I love their flavours and I love that they also do a caffeine one (especially for during a run). This way I can drink lots of water but not flush my system out of the good stuff.

My longer long runs will be run in May so the temperature won’t be too hot but I know I’ll be in need of water and electrolytes more than at the moment as the runs are longer and warmer. Oh the days of carrying a water bottle on a run! How very annoying.

But I am literally holding my breath right now. Dare I even make the merest suggestion that running is going well for me right now? I am desperate to not get injured and feel I’m trying really hard at injury prevention (loads more strength work regularly, my standing desk, not jumping back into stupid mileage, gradually building up long runs…). My one problem area is running the long runs too fast. I go out with such good intentions but then feel so good speeding up I can’t seem to help myself. I’ve told myself though that when I hit 10 miles and over I WILL SLOW DOWN. And I plan to run my really longer runs (13 miles plus) a minute slower than marathon pace.

It all sounds very rosy doesn’t it? We shall see…

How do you hydrate for hard work outs and/or long runs?

Do you drink a lot during the day?

What’s your one injury prevention tip?

***nuun inspired me to write this post concerning hydration and marathons, but I received no compensation.***

September 3, 2014

nuun revisited

So a while ago I did a post on comparing High5 electrolyte tablets and nuun electrolyte tablets. I came to the conclusion that I preferred the High5 tablets because they had the added caffeine, which I always found helped me.

I like to have a coffee before a race as I find it wakes me up and I’m motivated to run fast. But if I have a regular run in the morning (oh I wish…) then I wouldn’t have time for this coffee as I just want to get out and go and having coffee sloshing about isn’t pleasant. If it was a long run (over 10 miles) I usually take two small water bottles (like 300mls each) and hold them in my hands. I’m strange in that I quite like holding things in my hand when I run. For the Paris marathon I held three gels. It’s quite reassuring to me, not sure why. Especially gels as they’re squidgy 🙂

Anyway, I digress. In those two water bottles I’ll put an electrolyte tablet (half in each) to help with the electrolyte balance and the caffeine. After I did my review, nuun contacted me to say actually they do have caffeine versions and would I like to try some? Well of course!

The flavours I was sent sounded a bit quirky but actually I quite liked them: Kona Kola and Cherry Limeade. Exactly as I said in the previous review post, you just pop one tablet into about 500ml of water and let it dissolve.

Each tube contains 12 tablets and each tablet gives 360mg of sodium, 100mg of potassium, 25mg of magnesium and interestingly 13mg of calcium. Really low in carbs and zero sugar (8 calories per tablet). Not too shabby, eh! Also the caffeine hit is 40g so solves my caffeine issue.

For our 41 mile bike ride we did on Sunday, Ben and me each took a 500ml bottle with a nuun tablet in it (I went for the Kona Kola flavour as that’s my favourite out of the two and Ben loves the cherry). It was a rally good way to make sure we stayed hydrated during the ride. Especially as we were quickly dashing out for a walk afterwards and it was quite a warm day. What was good was that because it was caffeinated it helped with not having had any coffee in the morning before we left.

Yes nuun are more expensive than High5 electrolyte tablets but I honestly prefer nuun. And I was SO excited to find out that nuun now do a watermelon flavour. I am currently addicted to watermelon – buying one every week as a treat at the weekend (I say treat only because they’re quite expensive and such a faff to cut). I’d quite like to get one of the nuun water bottles for my bike as well as they just look cool (yeah turning into a weird nuun fan I guess). Anyway, if you like the sound of nuun you can buy from their website HERE or other online sports shops like Wiggle or ProBikeKit. Happy drinking!

Do you use electrolyte tablets?

Which is your favourite sports nutrition brand?

Have you tried nuun products before?

***Full Disclosure: I was sent these products for free to review. The links in this post are no affiliated links. All opinions are my own***

August 14, 2014August 14, 2014

High5 or Nuun for hydration?

Hello! I have the second part of my ProBikeKit review for you today.

If you missed the first one and are interested it was reviewing the Clif energy bars (find it HERE). As I got the choice of what to pick from the website (was actually really hard to choose, so many good products) I decided to do a little stand-off between the High5 electrolyte tablet product and the Nuun version. And with it being so warm and sunny recently it was actually a perfect choice.

The idea behind the electrolyte tablets is that it’s better than water in that there are important electrolytes added which help keep the athlete properly hydrating. Water is only good for so long and indeed if you have too much water it can be very dangerous as it effectively washes out valuable salts from your system. I’m no scientist so if you want to read more go HERE.

High5 Sports Zero X’treme Caffeine Hydration Tablets – Tube of 20 (find HERE)

Basically you add one of the tablets to around 500ml of plain water and let it dissolve (I vigorously shake my water bottle to speed this up). The flavour is very subtle – kind of like weak squash with a little bit of a chemical taste. I wouldn’t describe it as delicious but it’s not horrendous. There are two flavours available in this range: berry and pink grapefruit (I had berry).

It contains zero calories (hence the name) and this version contains caffeine. I’m a big believer in having caffeine before big races or parkruns. I need my morning coffee. But I dislike drinking coffee before my long runs because I want to just get out there and having coffee sloshing around is not good, whereas there is time before races for it to ‘go through the system’ if you like.

I would fill my bottle with this and take it with me during a long run. Sometimes I would drink 500ml the day before a race if I know it’s going to be hot to make sure I’m fully hydrated leading up the race, not just on the race day.

According to High5, it helps improve attention, concentration and reaction time. There’s added vitamin C (supporting the immune system) and magnesium to help with the “electrolyte balance, reduces tiredness and fatigue, whilst supporting muscle protein synthesis” (source). There are no artificial colours or preservatives and it’s suitable for vegetarians and vegans. There are 20 in this tube and on ProBikeKit it’s £4.99.

Nuun Active Sports Isotonic Hydration Tablets – Tube of 12 Grape (find HERE)

Similar to above you add a tablet to 500ml of water and let it dissolve. Nuun seems to be very popular in American and I hear about it lot on different blogs so I was keen to see what it was like in comparison to the more widely known High5 above.

This product only contains 12 tablets and is slightly more expensive at £5.99 per tube. So obviously it’s more expensive than High5’s version.

Each tablet contains 360mg sodium, 100mg potassium, 12mg calcium and 24mg magnesium – and again very low calorie (6 per tablet). But there’s no caffeine added variation available. There are lots of flavours to choose from: citrus, lemon tea, lemon/lime, orange, grape, strawberry, fruit punch and tri-berry. Mine was citrus fruit flavour. It tasted OK, again kind of like weak squash but not unpleasant.

Thoughts

Which did I prefer? It’s funny because I prefer Nuun as a company but I prefer the High5 product. The added caffeine and vitamin C win me over. Probably taste-wise, Nuun is better but I’m not that bothered about taste. High5 is also cheaper, when considering how much you could be using this product it is a definite consideration. I think either though are fine to use and it’s just down to personal preference. I know that High5 also do a caffeine-free version if the caffeine isn’t your thing.

Hope you enjoyed the review! Check out the ProBikeKit website for more cool products (for both running and cycling).

Do you drink a lot of water when you run?

Do you use electrolyte tablets or sports drinks? I tend to avoid sports drinks as they are so sweet and it makes me feel ill when running. I like the fact that these have no sugar in them so it avoids that stomach issue. Ben however loves his sugary drinks when running and after a run.

Have you tried Nuun or High5 products before?

**Full disclaimer: I was sent these products for free to try. All opinions are my own**