Now thankfully for Max, being Head of Sales for a nutrition company has its advantage when you attempt to take on crazy challenges like the calendar run. We have the products to take on the job. So we asked Max how he approached his fuelling, recovery and general morale for the month of January.
“So I am notoriously a morning person, young fam, full time job. I’d just prefer to get up and get after it rather then putting it off. After all with the national lockdown, going earlier means its quieter.
Before
05:30 alarm everyday with a plan of being running no later than 7am. I didn’t want to be eating a full bowl of porridge but needed something especially for the 90+mins run days!
Most mornings after snoozing my alarm I would have 30-60mins for my pre run ritual of a double espresso and a vanilla duo bar.
That gave me the next 25-55mins to sip on 500ml of Hydro Tab electrolyte drink. I’d then stretch, get dressed, choose my playlist and admire the January Yorkshire weather pondering over shoe choice and possible route swaps.
During
1 hour and less – no fuel as eaten pre run would give me enough
1-1.5 hr – Energy Gel at 40-45min
1.5hr+ – Pre run Apple Energy Gel for extra morale, super gel at 1hr (official release coming soon!!)
After
I’m not vegan/vegetarian but love the Soya Recovery Drink so got a shake in as my strava was uploading pre shower.
Breakfast came after most runs and was a substantial bowl of porridge. This was followed by a mug of coffee, bottle of Hydro Tabs and a quick shot of Super Greens to wash down a Health and Immune. Why? I eat pretty balanced, but with temperature being so low, weather being wet and recovery between sessions shorter than normal, I had to give my immune system all the greens and vitamins possible to help it over and above what I scoffed.
Night
Once the kids are in bed, me and the wife would sit down with a cuppa, and some form of sugary craving treat. I regularly switched this out for a Protein Bar, helps get my daily intake up and just have more in the system when I sleep too.
As for routines whenever I went early it worked fine, never did I feel an energy lag. I tried to stay in z2 for majority of each run too.
Whenever I went afternoon/evening runs (2-3 times) they were awful. I struggle with knowing when best to eat through a day to get the fuel right. End up taking a get me home gel 5km into a 20km run!!”