Endurance supplements

[gotcha]

has anyone here tried any supplements or sports drinks/gels that help you increase your endurance for the 1.5 mile run? if so, which ones and how do you take them?

[Chainring]

You don't need endurance supplements for a 1.5 mile run. You are talking anywhere from 9-12 minute effort. At most you will burn 250 calories. That's a Powerbar or a 32 ounce Gatorade. I've done events where I've burned close to 4000 calories and nutrition during the event was a matter of finishing or not. You should easily have 250 calories stored in your body to finish a 1.5 mile run. I'm sorry to say there just is no supplement that will overcome lack of fitness, proper rest, and a well balanced diet. Over the years I tried a little bit of everything (that's legal of course) and found that absolutely nothing works as well as good hard training, proper rest and good nutrition. The supplement industry knows this. They just don't want you to know it.

[K9 Police]

Originally posted by Chainring
...found that absolutely nothing works as well as good hard training, proper rest and good nutrition.

I agree.

K9

[2Bthefinest]

make sure that you are well hydrated also...and i don't mean start drinking water just a week before your run, start as soon as possible to allow your body to rid it self of toxins and it will help you during that 1.5mile run.

[CaptRidley]

Some great advice here!!!

1.5 miles no need to take any supplements, as the event will be over before you tap into stored energy. Drink water, drink plenty of water. Perhaps have a power bar an hour or two before the event. I have heard that a lot of marathon runners, either drink flat coke/pepsi (for the caffeine) or coffee. The stuff they hand out to marathon runners (goop or something like that), is like sucking down on a liquified power bar or something, and that thrash is nasty.

Hey if you are running 1.5 miles and you need a power bar or some other source of energy to maximize your efforts on the run, perhaps a closer look at your work out (running) routine is more in order.

In any event continue to run, and maintain your cardio within or above your recommended range for your age group. Try to maintain the range of someone in a lower age range than you, and you will be cooking with crisco, trust me on that one!!!

Out here!!!
Mike-D

PS., Like a marathon runner you can also eat some pasta the day before the event. This is not part of my workout, I just happen to love pasta, so it works out for me, however, too much of a good thing is not good either.

[Chainring]

I have heard that a lot of marathon runners, either drink flat coke/pepsi (for the caffeine) or coffee.

Cyclists do this too but it's not for the caffeine. It's for the instant rush of all that sugar. When your body has depleted all its glycogen stores you will bonk (I've done it a number of times and it ain't pretty). Drinking a coke sends a sudden rush of sugar that is quickly converted to energy. The reason it's drank flat is because the carbonation is hard on your stomach when you are hot and tired.

Gu or PowerGel isn't so bad. It's about the only thing you can stomach when you are three hours into a hard event and you need to keep taking in some calories to survive. These little packets only have about a 100 calories though and in a race I'll burn that in less than 10 minutes. Dehydration is what usually got to me before running out of calories. I once dehydrated so badly my legs locked completely up going up a steep hill and I fell off the bike into a fire ant bed on the side of the road. The fire ants were bad enough but the real pain came from watching my thigh muscles roll up my leg while I tried desperately to push them back down with my hands.

[gotcha]

do you guys do cardio everyday if so how long and what percentage of maxium heart rate i.e 70-85 %?

i heard you should run every other day to avoid injuires, shin splints knee problems etc, but do you do additional cardio like bike or elliptical on the other 3 days or so?

[CaptRidley]

Originally posted by gotcha
do you guys do cardio everyday if so how long and what percentage of maxium heart rate i.e 70-85 %?

i heard you should run every other day to avoid injuires, shin splints knee problems etc, but do you do additional cardio like bike or elliptical on the other 3 days or so?

I run and workout everyday, except Sunday.

Well I shouldn't say run. Depending on how I feel I'll either run or do the cross trainer. I do mix up my runs. One day I might run 2 miles, as fast as possible (treadmill maxxes out at 10mph). Other days I'll key in 30 minutes or more, and run the 1st 2 miles as fast as possible and bring it back down for the remainder of the time, and/or go up and down until completion.

What I used to do, is run/crosstrainer on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and run outside Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

The weather has been pretty bad in South Florida so I have been running mainly in doors.

I'm not sure at what HR out put I'm running at. All I know is that I get on the treadmill and according to the machine if I remember to check, my resting heart rate is at 64 - 74 sometimes it is lower, and when I start, I'll jump up to 120, 160, and usually stay at about 170, and then kick it up to about 182bpm for the last .10 of a mile if not more depending on how I feel unless I'm running 2 miles as fast as possible, as within about 3 minutes the machine will indicate that I'm at 175 - 180 bpm. Either way, the recommended range for my age group (I think is 80% of my max) is 165 I think, so don't quote me on that.

Out here!!!
Mike-D

[Chainring]

I usually run 3 days on, 1 day off. I always run outside because I can't stand treadmills. I'm not riding my bike right now since I'm focusing totally on running.