Blog: Feature Stories

You’ve probably seen them at the races, the start line, or maybe even the afterparty. Those brightly dressed people that are holding finish times on a stick in the air. They look pretty confident. How do they know exactly what pace they plan on running for the race? Well actually, that’s their job! (Not a “job,” really. They volunteer for the role.) The person you saw was a pacer, and if you use them correctly they can help you stay on track during the race and maybe even set a new PR!

Pacers are runners just like us, with a little extra training. In fact, if you’re running a race in your hometown you may even recognize some of your pacers. But whether you’re running on familiar streets or not, running with a pace group is a great race day plan to reach a particular goal, stay on track during the event, keep you from starting out too fast, or prevent you from fading in the final miles.

Connect With Your Pacers

If your race has pacers, it’s easy to find them at the start line. Again, they’ll be the ones with the signs indicating projected finish times. Simply line up with the appropriate group, and maybe even introduce yourself to the runners around you, too. You’ll be spending some time together. When the gun goes off, away you go!

If you’ve got questions about “how” and even “who” you’ll be running with on event day,  it can be a good idea to meet your pacers and talk to them about your race day plan before lining up at the start. Most events that provide pacers make them available at the race expo. If you’re running Charlotte, we know they’ll be at the Novant Health Charlotte Marathon Expo. This is a great place to meet your pacers and ask some questions. Like most every runner, they LOVE to talk about running, too!

Even if you’ve run with a pace team before, don’t assume you know exactly how it will work at a race you aren’t familiar with. For example, if you line up on the wrong side of the street at the Marine Corps Marathon, your pacer may be far away from you. Having to catch up to them or slow down to run with them can throw a wrench in your race day plans. Bottom line, if you have questions, don’t hesitate to ask them.

Speaking of race day plans, let’s talk strategy!

Create Your Racing and Pacing Plan

You know the pace you are shooting for, but if you are running with pacers it’s important to understand exactly how you are going to achieve that goal.

Our suggestions for running with pacers:

• Stick with your pace group from the start of the race. Nothing will ruin your race faster than starting too fast with an adrenaline rush.
• If your goal pace is between 2 pace groups start with the slower group and have a plan to break away from them once the course begins to thin out after the first or second mile
• Pace groups are great if you are hoping to PR, set a BQ, or even seek your first finish, They can give you extra motivation and help you maintain your pace as you get further into the race.
• Understand a pacer or pace team’s goal is to set even splits throughout the event.
• If you realize mid-race that the pace group you are with is going too fast, no worries. Slow down immediately and focus on getting your effort levels in check, connect with another slower group, so you can still make it to the finish line.
• Pro tip: Create your plan BEFORE the race expo so you can talk with the pacers about it.

Insider Race Info!

Introduce yourself to the pacers at the expo. Talk to them about your plan, and what you are hoping to accomplish. Your pacer can talk to you about a choke point on the course that might slow you down. They’re your “insiders” and can give you information on the race that might not appear on the event website. They are there to help, so use them!

“Making the race day experience enjoyable for all participants is what I focus on when pacing a race. Running a race requires concentrating on a lot of things at the same time such as fueling, hydration, and pacing. Leave the pacing part to us!”

-Eric Smith, veteran Novant Health Charlotte Marathon Pacer

Running Your Race Pace

Now that you know your pacers and you’ve got your strategy, you’re ready for race day– be excited! But don’t get caught up in the frenzy that is race day morning. Stick with your plan – including your warm-up. May we suggest “The Perfect Warmup?” But be ready to adapt if the weather, the course, your body, etc., demand it.

Lastly, run your race! You’ve put in the miles to get this far. And when it’s all over, remember to thank your pacer. They’ll be just as excited for you and your accomplishment.

We talked about coffee so of course, the next thing had to be energy drinks. There is no shortage of opinions when it comes to energy drinks, everything from, “you should drink one before every workout” to “you should never drink them they will burn through your stomach”. While we all know that the last one is a little far-fetched we sat down with a few caffeine experts from Novant Health to get the full story. Should athletes be drinking energy drinks? Let’s find out.

What Does Caffeine Do?

Before we can know if caffeine is right for you and your athletic endeavors, let’s start at the beginning… with what caffeine actually does. Caffeine is classified as a stimulant and works to speed up the signals from our brain to our body. The feelings of hyper-awareness and performance can be significant and make you feel like you have an edge in competition, but as some readers know it can also be addictive and the effects lessen the more you drink. It’s also important to pay attention to how you get that caffeine. Coffee, tea, and of course energy drinks are all different and provide different pros and cons.

Why Energy Drinks?

Energy drinks are the caffeine intake method of choice for many people, whether they need to stay awake for their next meeting or get in the zone for a workout. Energy drinks can provide a quick boost and some of the claims are pretty wild so how can they promise so much energy with no crash? Well as you might imagine things are not always as they seem.

The first thing you need to know about energy drinks is that by and large they are not considered drinks and therefore not subjected to scrutiny by the Food and Drug Administration. Energy drinks are considered supplements and the rules for supplements are much more relaxed than for food and drinks.

Check Your Labels

One of the biggest differences between a supplement and a food/drink is the label. When you buy food, a box of Cheerios for example, the law requires they add a Nutrition Facts Label, which is regulated by the FDA. However, when you buy some energy drinks you’ll see a Supplement Label, which is not regulated by the FDA. Companies that make supplements do not have to disclose what is in their supplement as well as how much of each ingredient is in each supplement.

Of course this raises some red flags with us, as well as our friends from Novant Health, because it is always important to know what you are putting into your body. Not knowing the exact amounts of caffeine you are consuming can quickly become detrimental to your performance as well as your health. Not to mention, since they don’t have to include a detailed ingredients list it is possible that you might not know about other ingredients in your energy “drink”.

Read the USOPC Caffeine Fact Sheet

Note for Elite Athletes: Be careful with the energy drinks you consume because some of the ingredients might be considered illegal performance enhancement, resulting in disciplinary action.

• Caffeine is a banned substance by the NCAA at high levels, so at the levels that are in some of these drinks, if taken close to an unexpected drug test can cause a positive test.
• Other substances like guarana, which is in Celsius, are also on the NCAA banned substance list.

To Drink or Not to Drink?

When you are deciding whether or not to drink that energy drink keep in mind that although the benefits of energy drinks can be great there is some risk associated with over indulging and with those strictly classified as supplements. It is important for everyone to know what is going into their bodies and that goes doubly for athletes that want to perform at their best.

Don’t get us wrong, for some people an energy drink once a day or every few days won’t hurt, and might even see an improvement in your training. Just remember everything in moderation, especially when it comes to caffeine and energy drinks. At least that’s what our friends at Novant Health keep telling us!

Cup of joe. “Go-go” juice. Java, mud, bean juice, or whatever you like to call it, coffee or at least some kind of caffeine has a long history with humankind and endurance. No joke. Because of its widespread availability in many plant species, historians posit humans may have consumed some kind of caffeine tens of thousands of years ago.

Certainly, our stone age ancestors were far from baristas. But it’s easy to imagine how the discovery of a plant, root, or flower that provided heightened focus and decreased fatigue might find some utility. Caffeine has fueled tribal hunts and ancient rituals to the rise of empires and the revolutions percolating their demise. From all-night cram sessions to long drives, from marathons to Monday mornings; caffeine has been civilization’s constant co-pilot.

Is caffeine necessarily “good” for you?

There’s actually no nutritional need for caffeine. Our bodies don’t store it, and yes we can have too much of it or even develop an unhealthy tolerance to it. (Just try and engage with any “coffee person” before that first cup in the morning.) We won’t even wade into the energy drink space here, but when used properly, caffeine can provide some performance and recover benefits for runners and athletes of all kinds.

Dr. Christopher Felton is a Primary Care Sports Medicine Physician with Novant Health. He’s also a runner and fan of HIIT workouts. He says caffeine can improve endurance performance and short-term, high-intensity exercise. Caffeine is a stimulant which speeds the signals between our brain and body. Our pulse rate quickens, our airways open up, blood flow increases to our muscles, our focus sharpens… in short, we’re fired-up and ready for rock!

Timing is everything.

To get the most bang for your caffeinated buck, Dr. Felton points to studies on endurance athletes that show 45-minutes to an hour prior to your run or activity is the best time to consume caffeine. Since caffeine can stimulate other bodily functions, like bowel movements, this should provide for plenty for time for things to literally run their course.

For extended efforts, long training runs or races, additional doses may give you a second wind. Gels, blocks, chews, or even a few swallows of soda can serve up enough caffeine to get you to the finish. Be mindful of how much caffeine each product contains, and experiment with your tolerance levels during training.

How much caffeine is right for me?

Caffeine tolerance is a very personal thing. Your size, weight, and metabolism all play a part in caffeine’s effects on your body, as does your routine caffeine consumption. A regular, daily coffee drinker may require several cups to get the same jolt as an occasional user.

Less than 3mg/kg of body weight (or about 200mg) of caffeine before, during, and after exercise has shown benefits without negative effects, adds Dr. Felton.

Here’s the quick math: 200mg of caffeine is about two (2) 8-ounce cups of drip coffee, one (1) 5-Hour Energy, one (1) 16-ounce can of most energy drinks, or two (2) energy gels. Note: most sodas get their punch from the sugar content, not their caffeine content.

Naturally, there’s a dark side.

Pardon the coffee pun, but there is a yin and yang to everything. And that includes the potential performance boosts that caffeine can provide. Too much caffeine can cause increased heart rate, heart palpitations, headaches, gastrointestinal upset, nervousness, mental confusion, inability to focus, and disturbed sleep.

Caffeine is also a diuretic, which means it will make you have to pee. And here’s a little more math. All that extra pee means you’re flushing essential nutrients faster than normal. That’s food for thought, particularly in warmer weather and extended efforts when salts and minerals are at a premium.

Bottom line here. Caffeine can provide safe, performance benefits when consumed at the right time and in the right quantiles. Take time to see what works best for you, and ask your doctor if you have questions or concerns about caffeine and its impact on your health.

Hydration can be a polarizing topic, not just with runners, or the workout community, but the entire population. We hear things like 8 cups a day, but that doesn’t make sense since everyone is different. You may have heard that you should start drinking when you are thirsty, but that may be too late. What about drinking constantly? That’s also probably not the healthiest option.

It’s just water! When did it become so complicated? Well not anymore!

The RunCharlotte Team was able to sit down with Dr. Christopher Felton from Novant Health to pick his brain about how we should hydrate, and maybe take some of the mystery out of one of the most important aspects of healthy living!

 Now, let’s get into this hydration thing!

Interview

How much water should the average person drink on an ordinary day?

According to the Institute of Medicine, on average 3.7 liters for men, and 2.7 liters for women. They go on to say that about 3L (13 cups) for men and 2 liters for women (9 cups), should be from liquids. The other amount can be from water intake through foods, like fruits and vegetables. So be sure if you aren’t eating foods with high water content that you drink more to compensate.

How much MORE water do runners require?

It all depends! Water intake for runners can be dependent on the climate, the exercise duration, and the exercise intensity, and thus can vary from person to person. However, some general tips would include:

• 2-4 hours before exercise you should already be thinking about hydrating for your run. Consider about 500mL (17 fluid oz) of water or sport beverage. This will allow your body enough time to optimize hydration and get rid of any excess water before your workout.
• Drink fluids during exercise when thirsty and at a rate that does not fill up your stomach. Overall, runners want to avoid losing more than 2% of body weight in a single exercise bout. This is obviously hard to gauge mid run, but drinking the second you become thirsty should work as a good rule of thumb.
• After exercise, your body should let you know to eat and drink to replace lost water and calories. However, excessive dehydration can be replenished by consuming 16-24 oz of fluid for every pound of body weight lost during exercise.
• Don’t forget that adding salty foods to meals or snacks will help your body retain fluid and replace electrolytes lost as well.

 Can you bank hydration, or does any “extra” water we drink just end up being passed through our system?

It might not be a great idea. Hyper hydration is discouraged, as this only increases the need for runners to urinate during competition or exercise. It also has not been shown to provide greater performance advantage over maintaining balanced hydration. So there isn’t any benefit to that fourth Gatorade unless you really need it.

If feeling thirsty is really a sign that we’re already dehydrating, what other signs should we look for?

Signs of dehydration can include muscle cramps, muscle fatigue, decreased performance, or dizziness. More severe signs include dry mouth, urinating less, darker urine, confusion, and lethargy. The goal is to either catch dehydration very early or not experience it at all by using your training runs to practice hydration.

We see a LOT of people with those 3 gallon water jugs. Is that necessary? Should we be drinking that much? Is that too much water?

Drinking a total of 3 gallons of water per day is not necessary. (We know we just lost a few readers.) This far exceeds the recommended average intake. However, intake is also dependent on your exercise duration, intensity, and environmental conditions. If you are exercising more and sweating more, then your water replacement needs can be greater. But for the average person, no you don’t need that much water.

Any tips on making sure we get enough water?

• Drink when you’re thirsty and with meals
• Utilize other fluid options to diversify, including milk, tea, broth
• Avoid sodas and alcohol, as these can cause more urination, plus adds extra calories to your meals
• Utilize fruits and vegetables in your diet. This increases water intake too!
• Add flavor to your water, like lemon or lime juice to make it more palatable.
• Keep a water bottle with you throughout your day.

Wrap-Up

Phew, is anyone else getting thirsty? Time to hydrate! Now you have the knowledge to stay well hydrated all day so that you can perform to the best of your ability in your training runs and races. We can’t thank Dr. Felton enough for taking the time to talk to us about hydration and how to make sure we don’t under or over do it. Hopefully you feel like a perfectly hydrated future has been demystified and is now well within your reach. If not maybe go back and write some of Dr. Felton’s tips down so you can try them on your next training run.

Picture it! Race day is here! You’ve done your training, watched your diet, and slept well. You get to the start line and everything is looking great. Cut to 20mins into the race and your stomach feels ready to explode. All you can think about is running to the next aid station and hoping that they have a Port-a-Potty.

Runner’s trot, bubble guts, indigestion, or upset stomach, whatever you call it, can ruin a race just as easily as wearing the wrong pair of shoes. While it might be impossible to eliminate it fully what if we could lower the chances of it happening again? Well, we interviewed Dr. Keith Anderson from Novant Health to get his thoughts on keeping your stomach in check for your upcoming training runs and races.

 These credentials are more than enough for use to take his word, but if you still needed some convincing Dr.Anderson has also trained for and completed an Ironman race. So when you get advice from Dr. Anderson you can trust that it is not just a theory. He has been exactly where you are.

 Without further adieu let’s talk Runner’s Trot with Dr. Keith Anderson.

What is Runner’s Trot?

This term can mean different things to different people.  Some runners refer to this as the urge to use the bathroom once they have started running. Others are referring to having diarrhea while running.

What is happening in our bodies when we start to feel the dreaded runner’s trot?

The urge to have a bowel movement is typically triggered because stool has moved through the intestines and is now in the rectum, the terminal part of the digestive tract.  This tells the body that it is time to go!

What Causes Runner’s Trot?

This is typically caused by ongoing or increased digestion while running.  Digestion can be increased through several different mechanisms, including cortisol release, bouncing of the organs while running, and change in blood flow to the digestive tract.

Other causes include:

• Dehydration and Overhydration
• Eating too close to the start of your run
• Anxiety and Stress
• Even tight clothing

 Are certain foods more likely to cause stomach issues?

Certain foods and drinks can also contribute. It might be best to avoid high-fiber, spicy, high-fat foods and caffeine before a race. Fructose has also been known to cause problems in some athletes.

What should we eat the day before? Not eat the day before?

Most importantly, try and find foods that work for you.  Practice with different foods the night before a long run and if they are successful eat those the night before a race.

We’ve also found that eating at least 2hrs before strenuous physical activity will reduce the likelihood of runner’s trot.

 

Does carb loading help or hurt?

It depends on the person. But you should absolutely avoid overdoing it the day before which can add to GI distress.

 Are certain sports drinks or nutrition more likely to cause us stomach issues?

Each person needs to find out what works for them. Some runners don’t do as well with fructose. When you train, ensure that you are testing things for yourself because your friends have the best intentions, but what works for them might send you sprinting for a bathroom.

What do we do if we start having stomach problems in the middle of a race, but still want to perform well?

Sip water. Slow down for a bit. Go poop. Plain and simple! You might think that stopping in a race will ruin your PR, but you may end up saving time overall.

Wrap-Up

We all know the feeling when the Runner’s Trot starts to sneak up on us. But now you also know how to take some control over it! As Dr. Anderson noted in his interview, there is never going to be a surefire way to prevent it but with a few simple tips, we can all have more races without the fear of Runner’s Trot.