My terrible and wonderful year with Runner's Delight - burying the myth of happy running and entrepreneurship

It's been exactly a year now. This time a year ago, I was warming up before my first half-marathon-ever on the Isle of Wight. 2:23 hours of pure hilly hell later, I was unknowingly about to embark on what proved to be a whole new chapter in my life. Hilly as hell, long as a marathon.

I ate my weight in porridge that summer and I had a whale of time. Running was going well and everything was going well. I had a great job, friends, and not a care in the world.

Then on one of the sleepless, post-long-run nights I came up with the idea of making instant, but still 100% natural porridge for runners. We were going very creative with our porridge back then - not the usual way; we had it with honey and raisins, lemon curd and even... tomato concentrate (no, not all at once though!) It seemed like a great (and easy) idea to make a mark in the world (I was self-employed and really wanted to have my own business I could grow from zero to hero - and if it could be running-related, that would be all my dreams come true). 

1. The very, very beginnings - August 2014 

What seems like an eternity ago, I scribbled some recipes on a single sheet of paper one night and called it endearingly 'Runner's Delight'. It was a private joke, since my then runner-friend invented banana-and-peanut-butter porridge recipe (which has become the first of our flavours) and I laughed at how he has his own 'Runner's Delight' and a lightbulb went off in my head...I immediately started first taste trials (which were all absolutely awful) 

September - October 2014

Marathon, another half and weeks of research 

In the summer of 2014 everything revolved around my first marathon in Warsaw. After I finished it on the 28th of September (the time was rubbish, 5:02, but all I wanted then was to finish and not let my knee stop me) it was clear a rapid come-down was imminent. I tried to offset it by running another half in Gdansk to celebrate my 25th, but that was it. I approached designing flavours very dilligently and spent the next 6 or 8 (I can't remember) weeks scoring the internet for evidence that beetroots and sour cherries are the best combo ever for endurance athletes. 

November - December 2014 

First successful taste trials! 

After weeks of researching and designing recipes, we (that is me and my business-partner, Adam - yes, he actually exists outside my head...) decided to put them to a test...which was, this time, rather successful. Rather, but not  quite, as adding any supplements to the original recipes would invariably turn a Runner's Delight into a Runner's Nightmare. After writing the original recipes (in hand, on porridge-stained paper) immediately started searching for a private label company that will do all the hard work for us, while we sit back, relax and admire the fruits of our genious...

January - March 2015 

The film, website, brand identity and failed crowdfunding campaigns

WE-WERE-SO-WRONG. First lessons learnt - the idea is impossible, and if possible, than probably not profitable enough to outsource at this point. We make up our minds not to give up and decide to run a crowdfunding campaign instead. Adam is apprehensive. We've done it once already (and raised a spectacular amount of 5 (five!) pounds) and it was a spectacular disaster. I maintain this time will be different. It wasn't. We still failed to work on the campaign and flopped like we did before. But this time, we spent a good bazilion of hours filming and editing the epic BEAT THE WALL movie (see the link

BEAT THE WALL - Runner's Delight film - role of a lifetime ). My artistic concept -as the title suggests - involved beating the proverbial 'wall' faced by long-distance runners, which in turn involved building one of cardboard boxes and brick-print wallpaper. After 14 hours of putting the boxes together, filling them with the contents of my desk for better grip, and painstaikingly wrapping them in the said wallpaper (which cost us a small fortune and required a 1,5 hour drive to the other end of the town) we already began to hate each other, but unbeknownst to us, the worst was yet to come...

The film itself was a bit of a nightmare - while the winter was certainly mild, we picked the worst day in the year to film - insanely cold and windy. I spent about 5 hours on 15-second runs in a hoodie, jumping into the trunk of my car, from which Karol, our tireless cameraman, was shooting the whole thing, with Adam behind the wheel. We were briefly joined by Ewa, who - as if braving the first trimester of her first pregnancy  was not enough - was now casted to run into the pile of wallpaper-wrapped cardboard boxes...madness. 

Watching myself run in the film was a horror in it's own right. I thought I must have clearly overindulged over Christmas. So bring on the most common New Year's resolution, bring on the high-protein, low-carb diet, which will damage my kidneys and two months later regale me to severe haematuria after my next half-marathon...

Meanwhile, we have been working hard on our website http://www.runnersdelight.eu/ (that is, mostly Adam has - I was just standing by criticising every minute detail), the visual identity of RD - logos, colours etc. (with endless fights over fifty shades of...beetroot) and the packaging

March 29th; Warsaw Half. Reunion 

A bit apprehensive about my general state of health (still no connection made between how I felt and the bloody diet - well done me!), I went for the Warsaw marathon with my brand-new RD t-shirt and a bag full of porridge (rather than hope). I was about to meet the friend of mine who first inspired Runner's Delight, but doubted I'd ever bring the project to a successful completion. Well, another one bites the dust. We met in a small deserted cafe on Nowy Swiat and I handed him a small box with a few Runner's Delight packages that cost me a hell lot of time to make. He opened them with real astonishment and cracked a big smile. Win. The finish time (2:18) did not matter for me that much. 

April 2015 

The injury. London Marathon. Putting things into perspective. 

Back in October, I got a special b-day present form a close friend - a race pack for the impending Lodz Marathon in my home city. Meanwhile, with everything on my plate and my private life and career coming to a little stall all the same time, my running went a bit downhill...not totally out of the window, but downhill. I had a conversation with an elderly man in the forest (I know how it sounds) I usually went to for a long run. He ran all the Lodz marathons and was about to run another one again. I told him how scared I was, as I was feeling totally unprepared. 'Just wing it' - he said. And I didn't. Days before the event, I pulled a tendon in my foot, which practically immobilized me for 6 weeks. 

Instead of running a marathon, I went to watch one - the London Marathon 2015

I booked my and my tireless best mate's (Stefania's) tickets for London a month before and decided this would be our deadline to launch the Indiegogo campaign. We struggled madly in the run-up, up to the point that I almost missed my last train to Warsaw and Adam had to defect from a party to print the leaflets I wanted to hand out after the big event. We met on the train and then I realised the leaflets had a spelling mistake...in the company name. We were clearly off to a good start. The campaign was launched without Cava and even we did not believe it had a chance to succeed... but Runner's Delight was on its way anyway. 

After London, I went to Portugal with Stefania (one of the best people on the planet) for a week to limp around and put things into perspective (perspective pictured) 

May 2015 

The false start

Since I was to start my summer job in Southampton soon, the days we could work together were counted. From now on, every weekend looked the same for us - working hard to make RD happen. We sent requests to send samples to all UK parkruns and got a positive response. The same with bloggers. And as it quickly turned out, we couldn't quite handle the demand...Finishing work at 4 a.m. on Saturday night became a standard. I remember the bank holidays, when we went to sleep at 2 a.m. packing parcels and got up at 8 a.m. to pack some more... we needed systems. Systems and strategy... 

June 2015 

Southampton 

 I cannot lie - I wanted this to end. I was happy to leave. We divided our duties and I left for Southampton. The first few weeks went on smoothly, ordering and sending ingredients,  dealing with emails from out keen future customers ... and wallowing in mud... for charity (yes!) 

July-August 2015 

Ready to ship, hoping it's not another Titanic 

Launching the venture in Southampton has a little irony to it - but I  really wouldn't want this ship to sink. Last year was so ridiculously long ago we don't even I feel like I was a different person when I first started off. And I probably was. It has been the longest and most exhausting run in my life so far and bless me I did endurance running before foolishly embarking on this apparently innocuous but totally mad journey. Starting a business in an industry in which you have no background, no experience and no connections, is like running a marathon without training. In other words: don't do it. I did it and I haven't died (yet) but it's certainly hurt more than made me tick so far. 

Having said that, I baked a little porridge cake today to celebrate Runner's Delight first birthday (and make you think I'm totally deranged, yes. And yes, that's supposed to be a candle on top. Please stop laughing now.) Apparently having a baby can make you more depressed than a divorce (I know I'm not allowed to use the porridge-baby analogy, Trevor, but it's my blog and I'll do what I want ;p ) - so it looks like we're gonna be just fine. http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2015/08/11/the-most-depressing-statistic-imaginable-about-being-a-new-parent/

6 *not so healthy* things you MUST eat before your race

Ok, so - what do we eat in the run up to the race day if - as we already know - eating our usual healthy diet is a *no no* on the day (and - to be on the safe side - 2-3 days before if you're taking part in a longer event - a marathon or a half)?

The to-do thing is plain, bland carbohydrates that have as little fibre and gluten as possible:

1) Rice or rice cakes 

Plain white rice cake with a dash of cream cheese and strawberry compote...mmm, carbs! 

The beuty of plain white rice lies in its almost complete lack of nutrients rather than carbohydrates...100g of cooked rice provides 28 g of easily digestible carbs, with 0 g of fat, 0 g of fibre and 3 g of protein; it's also naturally gluten-free (although some cross-contamination may occur in factories that handle other grains). 

You can have your rice with tomato sauce and basil or - if you like it sweet - with strawberry jam and a dash of cream cheese or apple jam and cinnamon. For a to-go option, choose rice cakes (you can also make a rice cake strawberry jam sandwich from them) 

2. White bread 

Oh hello carbs. If you prefer bread to rice and don't have gluten intolerance, go for it. Choose white, highly processed varieties (yes! Blasphemy no 1) to reduce the intake of fibre. 

And - as you can see from the nutrition information label below - it's an unbeatable source of carbs, with 45.5 g per 100 g. 

3. Dark chocolate 

Consume moderate amounts of dark chocolate (preferably 70% cocoa)  before the race and the flavonoids from dark cocoa should prevent you from *going* on the race day. 

4. Bananas 

The runners' staple food, banana is probably the only fruit that you can safely consume before a race...Interestingly, their nutritional value is pretty similar to that of rice, with 27 g of carbs and only 3 g of fibre per 118 g (a medium banana). At the same time, unlike grains, bananas do help you cover your DRI of vitamin C 

5. Porridge* 

*Well, porridge is probably the only *healthy choice* I've decided to include here. Even though it does have a lot of fibre, a small portion (50 g) made with water and e.g. a square or two dark chocolate and sliced banana is a perfect quick-fix for your pre-race breakfast. Porridge (if prepared with just a little water, thus thick rather than runny) has great water-binding properties and this alone can save you from a running to porta-loos. 

6. Pasta 

Well, but of course! This list could not be complete without pasta. It's so important. Pasta parties before races wouldn't be called pasta parties without it. Prepare your own the night before a race and eat with tomato sauce and basil (you can have a sprinkle of parmesan cheese on it, yes.) Don't come any close ready-made pasta dishes with lashings of mayo in it - it may contain viscious bacteria that are likely to upset your stomach and will sit there for hours making you feel heavy (the high fat content increases digestion times and reduces the GI of your pasta dish - which can be a good thing, but not before a race) 

Pasta - yes, pasta salad - *NO*!

My last pre-race breakfast...

6 healthy things you should *NOT* eat before running this summer 

I've heard somewhere 'the real courage is when you wash down prunes with sourmilk'. I think it was a stand-up comedian...but unless you want your next race to take a more melodramatic turn, you should steer clear of some 'healthy choices' in the run up (pun intended) to your next long run. 

1) Fresh veggies &  salads

- especially iceberg lettuce, mung bean sprouts, cucumbers, tomatos 

Iceberg lettuce, cucumber and tomato = a portaloo disaster; the thin skin and loads of fibre and water are guaranteed to send you on a run...the last thing you want on a race. Plus, fresh salads are easily perishable and may contain bacteria that may cause more serious food poisoning.

2) Fruit (except bananas) - especially strawberries and raspberries

 

Fruit make and excellent source of fibre, which keeps you regular and which is precisely why they shouldn't make their way into your pre-race diet routine. This applies especially to seasonal fruit such as strawberries and raspberries that have lots of tiny sees which pass our GI tract undigested, sweeping everything out on their way.

3) Dried fruit

A real fibre-bomb. Even a handful of innocent dried fruit can already contain your DRI of fibre. If not convinced, just compare the fibre content in fresh and dried fruit below:

FRUIT TYPE	FRESH	DRIED
Prunes	1.6	16.1
Apples	2	10.3
Apricots	1.7	10.3
Grapes / sultanas	1.5	7
Figs	2.5	12.9
Dates	No data	8.7

After: http://poradnikzdrowia.net/tabela-zawartosci-blonnika/

4) Beans & Pulses 

Fava beans, white and kidney beans, soy, lentils

A great source of fibre beloved by vegans, they can cause winds and flatulance which is surely *not* desireble on a long run...

5) Whole grains

Wholegrain bread and cereals are great, but due to their high fibre content and relatively low digestion time (lower GI), you'd better leave them for another day than the race day  

(* RUNNER'S  DELIGHT  #BLACK Race Day porridge is ok !) 

6) Dairy 

- cow's milk and yoghurt 

I love milk and I defo do not have milk intolerance...but I stay away from my favourite lattes the day before a longer run. Milk is a fairly biologically unstable product and it goes off quickly - you never know what your bacteria tolerance will be on any particular day. Plus, the bacteria in fermented milk products may additionally upset your stomach. 

Opublikowano 22 hours ago, autor: Runners Delight

  

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One for the ladies ... sex hormones and running

'Running? On my period?! You must be joking...I struggle to climb two flights of stairs on these days...' - a friendly female doctor told me lately when we were discussing how hormones affect running (and the other way round, coz running actually does affect our hormonal balance to a significant extent)

Well, I was blessed to have run a full marathon on 'those days' and didn't really mind; the real nightmare for me is the week before I start my period (if I have it, which is usually 'off-season', in the colder winter months, when my inner sloth cuts back the mileage - we'll come back to that.) I was often wandering why what comes so easy one week later seems like an impossible feat just a few days before... it didn't take long to find the answer. I am a woman, I have a menstrual cycle, and my performance / physical capacity in general is acutely affected by two sex hormones: oestrogen and progesterone.

 Oestrogen rules the first half of your cycle and is your buddy. In the follicular phase, the increasing concentration of estrogen will:
- adjust your body temperature set-point down in your hypothalamus - that's why your body temperature drops during this phase and your body responds to the temperature outside quicker by switching on its cooling mechanism. As a result, you don't feel like your boiling as you may towards the end of the luteal phase;
- your body uses more fat as energy source - estrogen promotes and speeds up the use of fat as energy source, thus helping you spare your glycogen reserves, and increasing your endurance on long runs;
- your muscles build up strength more quickly - in one study, quadriceps femoris strength after a series of 12 repetitions every second day over the two phases was tested, and - surprise surprise - the strength gains were at 27.6 per cent during the follicular phase training vs only 10.5 per cent during the luteal phase
- your breathing activity goes down - and since we associate our breathing activity (how fast we get 'winded') with perceived effort, running in your mid-follicural phase will seem easier;
- you don't retain so much water - hence you are lighter and experience less swelling; your blood circulation is also more efficient then;

Progesterone is king during the luteal phase and this is the bad guy who gives you PMS, increases your apetite so that you consume roughly 12% more calories than during the follicular phase, sets your body temperature at a higher level, thus putting you at risk of overheating, ratchets up your ventilatory activity, thus making you feel more winded, and makes you use mainly carbs as your energy source, thus making it harder for you to burn fat and stay on track for a longer run.

Period holidays, anyone? Amenorrhea 

I mean, honestly, who actually invented the menstrual cycle in the first place? If you were to choose, wouldn't you rather...get rid of it at all? So most of endurance athletes actually welcome secondary amenorrhea - the condition when you period magically disappears as you increase your mileage, and replace your adipose tissue with muscle (when your fat stores edge towards the dangerously low, erm, 15 %) - your body thinks you are starving and reacts by shutting off oestrogen production (it's clearly not the best time to have a baby!). This may sound good enough, but estrogen plays one more imprtant role in your body - it regulates calcium absorbtion in your bones. Hence, low oestrogen due to excessive training may increase your risk of stress fractures. Not exactly what you want! 

One thing we don't really think about is how sex hormones and menstrual cycle affect our performance. And it does. Don't stop running in the run up or on your period, but be considerate to yourself - it doesn't mean you're a bad runner if you feel winded and demoralized on these days!

Sources:
http://ubermotherrunner.com/2013/04/10/womens-hormones-and-running-guest-post-by-jason-karp-ph-d/
http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/staying-healthy/30-things-every-woman-should-know-about-running/285.html
http://www.elitefts.com/education/training/women-running-into-trouble/
http://www.shutupandrun.net/2012/11/how-your-period-affects-running.html
http://www.active.com/running/Articles/8-Ways-Estrogen-and-Progesterone-Affect-Your-Running?page=2

A *tough tough tough* mudder

Finally, after almost 6 weeks of unwelcome rest due to an injury which prevented me from running my second marathon, I've returned to running. This time last year I was running 30ks, last week, I struggled to run 3 for the first time. It was a bit like learning to walk again, and a funny mixture of joy at being able to experience the miracle of running again and disappointment. I had not expected my shape to *go* so quickly; my levels of fitness seem to be at an all-time low and so are my levels of confidence.

This is not something you would normally expect to read in the running community. We are expected to be always bubbly and motivated, spark joy and ooze with endorphins, love our bodies and inspire others. But this is not always the case. I am now on the way to full recovery, but it's not only my body, but also my spirit that needs a good physio. The truth is, we get a fair share of our runner's highs over the course of our running lifespan, but we all have our runner's lows as well.

I have been going through a pretty bad patch lately in other departments too. Last year I came up with an idea of a running-related start-up. I was inspired by my then better-running-half who used to go wild with his porridge in an attempt to fuel his crazy triathlon training regimen. I joked he is making 'Runner's Delight' and that's how the idea of porridge made especially for runners was born. 10 months and bazillion hours spent on research and development, designing packaging, testing different recipes, writing copious amounts of text, I finally have a product that is awesome and ready to ship. The only crack of the issue is, for now it is too expensive to produce to ever bring any profit and the manufacturing process is proper hell. I've spend most of my weekends over the past 3 months packaging porridge till 4 or 5 am on a Sunday. Not exactly the kind of Saturday night fever you'd expect... There have been countless, really countless obstacles on my way and I often felt really helpless about them. I've always had very high expectations of myself and I always want to deliver great results, quick.  couldn't even find the words to There is no business model, no marketing budget, and the dream vs reality match has so far been a heavy defeat of the former.

When porridge takes over... my house is my warehouse; let's not talk about comfort...

But I decided not to give up. I've been doing faster but shorter runs every day for the past week, fartlek and relatively short (for me at least) (10-13 k) 'long' runs. I am getting stronger with every run.
I also decided not to give up with my porridge dream. I had an honest conversation with a friend of mine who's been working on this project with me over the past 10 months and I realised the only direction we can go now is forward. That the reality will always fall short of the dream and that blood, tears and sweat are a part and parcel of starting any project up, chasing any goal, let alone one as ambitous as Runner's Delight (a quantum of solace here...https://medium.com/boost-vc/9-things-entrepreneurs-get-horribly-wrong-when-starting-a-company-1a2032b68441)

So onwards and upwards! Now I can go for a run!

Running Giveth, Running Taketh Away

It's finally really sunny, warm and nice outside, my friends are posting their happy post-marathon selfies on Facebook and everyone seems to be out on a run (judging by their Endomondo posts). Everyone but me. I have not been running for 10 days now. TEN freaking days! The longest time I have not been running in nearly a year and a half, since I took up running 'seriously' again after a longer break. The reason? I broke a metatarsal. 

And that not even running! Although probably the miles I was packing could contribute to the stress fracture I incurred while gracefully stepping down from a ladder I was using to paint the walls in my late nan's flat.

So now - the way it looks - my life is a mess (quite literally - I am not able to finish the redecoration on my own now and I'm living in a nightmare of paint rollers and books strewn everywhere) - and it's begun to dawn on me how important running was. 

Actually, just before the injury, I wasn't having a very good time running. After my last half-marathon in Warsaw (followed by acute hematuria and recommended rest) I didn't feel too confident on my feet and running a stupid 10k was a bit of a struggle. So when I heard (or felt...or both) the cracking sound while landing on my foot last week I thought the break would be welcome rather than difficult.

Serious running-freak? That wasn't me. I like to think I was just a recreational runner. I did it for fun and had no interest in setting records or constantly chasing my personal best. I went to races solely for fun, to meet new people, see new places, experience the runner's high multiplied by the factor of thousands and  cheer my better running friends.

So, I thought, a break in my case would be easy. Wrong. The 900 miles I did last year took a toll on my body and mind. It left an indelible mark, as if creating a new psychological need I now desperately want (but can't) satisfy. I am incredibly surprised. It seems I needed this fracture to realise this.

I feel like my body has also changed rapidly over the last 10 days. It's absolutely stunning how quickly you lose muscle. 

The time that is coming is going to be difficult. Very difficult. I am about to launch a crowdfunding campaign I've been working on for the past 9 months and I was supposed to be logging miles and sending postcards from the runs as one of the rewards. I was supposed to have finished redecorating my apartment by now. I am going to LMV (as a spectator, of course) this weekend and on a trip to Portugal the day after. How on earth am I supposed to do it all on crutches?! 

And how on earth am I supposed to stay fit (both physically and emotionally) under house arrest (I work from home), unable to go for a run and having to put up with the mess around me? This time last year I started preparing for my first marathon. I remember the 20 and 30k runs I did last May. I felt a sense of pride and accomplishment. Now I feel like I've let myself down. I can smell the putrid whiff of the word 'failure' in the air. 

In such situations, there are two ways out - give up and despair (not very much like me) or face the music and persevere. What can I do to stay fit while waiting for my foot to heal? 

Today I decided to make an experiment and try to run on crutches. I will soon let you know if it worked...

Also, more on metatarsal stress fractures coming! Brace yourself! (Quite literally too!)

Gelatin recipes that taste wicked and are oh-so-healthy

Gelatin is a real powdered gold...it is pure collagen and works wonders for joints, skin, teeth and many other things you would't even think of  (which you can read more about here http://www.mamavation.com/2015/03/10-reasons-you-should-eat-jello-every-day.html) - but on its own it's not exactly the most exciting food at all... the ready-made jello mixes you can find on store shelves are packed with sugar and artificial colours and flavours, and so it's better to steer clear of them. However, you can easily make your own delicious treats packed with natural goodness to reap the benefits of gelatin without compromising on taste. Check the infographic above for a really chocoloatey (and guilt-free!) treat.

Things runners never say #1 hematuria

It turns out a lot of runners experience it at some point. Blood in your urine. It can certainly give you a fright and send you running to your GP. While it actually should (because there may be several reasons for passing blood through the urinary tract which are not exercise-related), there is no need to panic if you're not experiencing pain and the red hue does not persist a few hours after you have stopped exercising.

Apparently, there are as many as three (!) reasons for passing blood through your urinary tract (a.k.a. Hematuria) that are induced by running itself. Gross? Good news is, it could be worse :) Welcome to the world of endurance running!

1. Footstrike hemolysis / mechanical muscular trauma
   The reason for blood in your urine may actually lie in your...feet. The foot strikes, repeated several times over a few hours, especially on hard surfaces, cause damage to red blood cells in the feet and releases haemoglobin into the bloodstream, whose excess is then lost to the urine. This type of hematuria is actually called haemoglobinuria.
2. Microscopic lesions in the interior wall of the urinary bladder as a result of bladder-jostling on the run
   We all know that if you are a runner, you are prone to injury sooner or later...but we often associated 'running injuries' only with the musculo-skeletal system. But would you think you can actually injure an internal organ while running? Well, now you do! The impact of your foot strikes, especially if you are running on hard surfaces without sufficient padding, can cause trauma to the delicate walls of the urinary bladder, causing tiny capillaries inside to bleed and tint your urine. If hematuria has happened to you after a long run before, do not urinate later than 30 minutes before exercise. The little urine in your bladder may prevent the bladder walls from making contact and alleviate the symptoms.
3. Increased permeability of the glomeruli
   Strenuous exercise has a serious impact on the renal function. It is estimated that the renal blood flow may drop to 25% of its resting value. This changes the permeability of the glomeruli. The increased glomerular permeability allows the red blood cells to pass to the urine, thus colouring it before normal filtering capacity is restored.

All in all, passing blood into your urine after strenuous exercise (especially a marathon or half-marathon) has several physiological causes and is not as serious as it may seem. However, if it has happened to you for the first time, you are experiencing pain or the blood remains in your urine several hours after you have stopped exercising, it is important to consult your physician, as it may also be a symptom of an infection, kidney stones or a tumor.

Read more: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6567229

http://www.time-to-run.com/doctor/bloodyurine.htm

http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s004210050480#page-1

How to deal with *Runger... *

When I typed 'runger' into goolgle I got surprisingly (or even disapplointingly) few hits. Even more disappointingly, when I pressed 'images', I got pictures of those gorgeous, skinny, leggy actresses, without warning and any real reason.

But runger is a real phenomenon and it is a very logical consequence of how a day (especially Sunday, the staple long-run day) in the life of an endurance runner/ athlete looks like.

Say you're going on a long Sunday run. Say a 20-miler. You get up at nine and have some light breakfast rich in carbs. Preferably complex, whole carbs with different GIs like porridge topped with some fresh and dried frui with a dash of almond milk / natural greek yoghurt. But you know how it is – some of us just don't feel hungry early in the morning and will just grab a banana and chew it absent-mindedly over the Sunday morning catch-up with the news.

Then you duly wait for the meal to settle in your stomach and set out at – say, 10:30 or 11.00. For a *really slow* endurance, ekhm, jogger like me, the finishing line of a 20 miler is almost 4 hours away from now.

Let's say I didn't forget and take a gel or two. At best, I am going to consume 200 kcal between breakfast (9 a.m.) and the time I come back from my long run (2 p.m. - let's be optimistic!). In that time, I – at approx. 115 Ibs – will have burned about 2000 kcal.

I come back home and the first thing I can think about is shower. Then bed. Never the fridge (yet; but it will hit home in 2-3 hours, and it will hit hard); I forget about post-run, pre-shower 4:2 carbs:protein snack of course.

So...now it's 4:30 p.m.; I have not eaten in more than 7 hours and have burned more than my daily calory intake. The slight feeling of nausea has subsided, I have had a snack and the a dinner and then...the hell breaks loose. I spend the rest of the evening on trips to the fridge. The weight loss miracle for me does not happen. (I actually put on half stone in the run up to my first marathon);

So, what to do to avoid this scenario? (And runger can last the next day too!)

1. Take enough gels/ gums/ Gatorade to re-fuel on the run. It will do three tricks:
   - prevent you from 'hitting the wall' (bonking) when your carb tank runs empty;
   - it can actually make you go faster! A recent study (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1113/jphysiol.2008.164285/full) found that the cyclists who washed their mouths with glucose solution on the bike had faster times and lower perceived fatigue levels. All thanks to the stimulation of the reward system in the brain...
   - the sugar oozing in your blood will help you stave off hunger; and if you actually feel nauseous after endurance training, it may be because of your depleted blood sugar levels
2. DO EAT A POST-RUN SNACK. Just do it. Do it. Really. Prepare some plant-based chocolate milk & banana smoothie beforehand – boil a little water, add a heaped table spoon of cocoa, a few stevia leaves to sweeten it up without loading on sugar, and a two pinches of salt (that's actually important! And it will be tasty too, don't worry); pour two glasses of natural unsweetened almond/ soymilk (before buying, check the ingredients first) and leave to cool; mix in a blended banana (gives 1-2 servings).
3. Take shower and have a proper dinner. This should include a good source of protein (e.g. chicken breast) and complex carbs with lots of fibre (I personally opt for more low-IG sources of carbohydrates, e.g. steamed veggies – green beans, collard greens, spinach – than high-IG foods like rice/ pasta, which spike my blood sugar levels and make me feel drowsy when it drops);
4. Don't shun fat – healthy fats (e.g. salmon) make you feel fuller for longer – unlike carbs, which are digested quickly and which can cause you to feel hungry soon after your blood sugar level drops
5. Snack healthy – if you have to, prepare a bowl of crunchy veggies (julienned carrots, cucumbers and celery sticks) with some spicy hummus – the capsaicin in chillies ratchets up your metabolism and will make you simply...eat leass.
6. Sip on 'sports' water – people often confuse thirst with hunger and overeat when they should be hydrating; but be careful about drinking too much of plain water! This can cause hyponatremia (water poisoning) – a common condition among endurance athletes caused by the loss of minerals with sweat; hence, prepare your own 'sports' drink: mix two pints of still mineral water with 2-3 pinches of salt, a hint (teaspoon is enough) of honey and lemon slices for a low-calorie, 100% natural 'sports' drink; you can go creative with fruit and make different flavours – I personally love my water with lime and blackberries.
   Hope this helps...Do you have any other life hacks for fighting 'runger'? Please share your tips, I'm curious!

More useful tips can be found here:

http://dailyburn.com/life/health/control-your-hunger-distance-running/

http://www.bengreenfieldfitness.com/2013/07/what-to-eat-before-during-and-after-your-workouts-races/

Am I a runner? #Netty

The Spenborough Athletics Club was taken by storm (of discontent) by the running community on Facebook and Twitter last Sunday, as Netty Edwards, one of the participants in the Spen's annual 20-mile road race, was pulled off by a marshal only 1.5 miles in for 'running too slow'. At 12 minute mile pace, Netty was actually doing fine for a 20-miler...or wasn't she?

Come to think about it, I am no better than Netty. At 5:2'23'' my marathon time qualifies me to be pulled off track for running too slow. And I'm a 25-year old, and at at 5'4" I'm a healthy weight of approx. 115 Ibs...(so much about me as a matter of introduction :) ) So I really look up to girls like Netty who need to go an extra mile to compete at that pace!

Hold on a sec, so why am I going that slow? And why the heck am I taking part in races, if I'll obviously land at the bottom of the K20 list?

Well, there's more to running (and even racing!) than just results.

Dear marshals of #Spen20, some of us run for fun! Some of us run to test themselves. Some of us run to face their inner demons.

Chasing a PB is not something I'm interested in. I don't mind closing the list (or even the race, although that hasn't happened yet), as long as I can enjoy the atmosphere and meet like-minded people. Racing is fun, going to a distant location and packing in those 13.1 or 23.6 miles is certainly worth it. It shows me that, yes, #thisgirlcan.

I was a very outdoorsy kid (football, swimming, skiing, ice-skating, hockey...you name it) but I neglected sports a bit (well, a lot) at college and took a real beating at Uni and my first job. Before I knew it, I began crumbling under pressure. I hadn't a clue sports plays such an important role in maintaining not only physical, but also mental health. Until one day...I just got out for a run. At first maybe with the intention of shaping up a bit, but then my attitude to running gradually changed – it became a substitute therapy for the pressure I couldn't quite cope with that well earlier.

And as my mileage increased, I began to cope better and better. I learnt to let things go and – when I was stressed - take it out on the asphalt rather than myself. 

Four years after I first started running regularly, I decided to take part in my first marathon. At that time I had no idea what a 'good' marathon pace was. No idea, in fact, about running whatsoever.

But as I started taking more interest, I realised there was a lot of pressure in that too...pressure I wasn't happy to invite into my world now that I had successfully made running my pressure-coping strategy!

I began to question whether – at an average pace of 10 to 12 minute mile - I am a runner at all. But after a few failed attempts at 'starting to train properly' I stumbled (pun intended) upon a really good article (http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-ways-youre-sabotaging-your-own-life-without-knowing-it/) and finally asked myself whether I really wanted to compete with other runners and whether results were really so important to me. And the answer to both was a clear and straightforward 'no'.

I have finished my marathon within an unimpressive time of five hours and two halves at equally unimpressive 2:26'. I still run regularly, whenever I need, at a pace I find comfortable. And running is still something that helps me cope with stress without stressing me out.

So - to all that doubt in themselves - if you run, you are a runner! 

Support Netty with a few warm words...or follow the story @ ...#Netty at #Spen20