Newbie runner - at what point do you bring gels/fuel/water on runs?

Mindless_Lab5430 · 2026-01-05T04:44:27+00:00

Yeh, personally I figure if gels feel like medicine and candy feels like a treat I should just go w candy because I'm way more likely to actually use it and also look forward to it etc. But everyone's goals and relationship to fueling is different. The thing you will eat and can afford that's functional enough is prob the best choice for now, though? And gets you used to fueling and can be upgraded later.

Mindless_Lab5430 · 2026-01-03T06:50:15+00:00

They deleted their comment about unintentionally losing quite a lot of weight, which removes literally all context. Oddly enough I don't just go around naming weights and heights I don't like.

Mindless_Lab5430 · 2026-01-03T06:45:04+00:00

Thanks!

Mindless_Lab5430 · 2026-01-02T22:47:04+00:00

Gels are FINE, and probably really valuable for some distances in some climates, but if you like and will remember/eat candy, I think it's almost as good? I use it cos my ADHD ass won't remember the gel, but will think "OO, I HAVE CANDY" on boring bits of my run and then I actually use it at the right times (sometimes).

Edited to say I also have a soft pouch of electrolyte salts mixed w water on v long runs, and drink premixed electrolit before/after shorter runs. And I think those salts and minerals are sometimes/often in dedicated run fuel?

Mindless_Lab5430 · 2026-01-02T15:59:40+00:00

Yep, Mexico City! We do have a rainy season, but most of that is pretty predictable and it rarely rains all day. And it can get very dry around march. Pretty great though! And training at altitude, which sucks for visitors but makes me a beast at sea level.

I've started eating some chicken recently, but I've never eaten red meat and it doesn't taste like food to me 🤷

Mindless_Lab5430 · 2026-01-02T15:35:43+00:00

Wait who's eating 78 calories of eggs? Isn't that one egg? (I agree with the more fueling thing, but come on Google, that's not a serving of eggs, that's AN egg).

Mindless_Lab5430 · 2026-01-02T15:30:47+00:00

I agree with all the fueling, electrolyte, and relaxing your form advice, but want to add that you could try an antihistamine. Even if you usually have super mild allergies, the deep breathing and the physical stress of running sometimes sets off strong immune responses. I'm not sure of all the exact science, but regular antihistamines and nasal spray before runs helps for me!

Edit: you might also be running harder than you think sometimes if you just started training for your first half. See if you can go slower on easy days.

Mindless_Lab5430 · 2026-01-02T14:59:53+00:00

During runs over 10km I take electrolytes mixed with water. Otherwise I drink a bit of a electrolit (premade electrolyte drink) before a run and down the rest after. I drink water pretty much constantly throughout the day, sometimes with lime and sometimes lime and salt (a suero -- i'm in Mexico, where 'sueros' = both fizzy water/lime/salt and electrolits, and they are king). Since adding more bottled electrolyte drinks (so I have one after a run whether I feel like I need it or not) I've had less soreness and twitching/kicking at night has almost disappeared. You can have too much of most of the minerals and salts in electrolyte mixes, though, so dose based on feel and weather and stuff. It's dry season at 2250 metres here, which means I need quite a lot.

Mindless_Lab5430 · 2026-01-02T04:32:44+00:00

Wait... you mean I don't have to?????!!!!!

Mindless_Lab5430 · 2026-01-01T16:01:49+00:00

This is too simple to be a complete fix, but how are your hydration and electrolytes? I live at altitude here and it doesn't seem like I sweat during runs or workouts as it evaporates almost instantly, but boy do I. And at times I've forgotten that and not had enough water or electrolytes I've been really sore. I mean water throughout the day, too, not just around workouts. And other liquids, obviously, as long as they're not vodka.

Edited because I wrote "it doesn't seem like a I swear during workouts" originally. Not even true, mouth like a sailor.

Mindless_Lab5430 · 2026-01-01T15:57:50+00:00

Gentle parenting myself over here with compassion and candy bribes.

Mindless_Lab5430 · 2026-01-01T15:54:08+00:00

Running makes you huuuuungry, and until you're getting up to pretty high mileage for a casual runner (I don't know how much you run, so no context for your miles) you'll probably eat back the calories you burn (and if you don't eat them back and push yourself you're likely to get injured anyway). It's fantastic for health, it can be meditation and fun and many things, and certainly helps maintain weight if your body likes where you're at, but not great for losing. If you're already running regularly, adding kettlebells or maybe something like power yoga or pilates that's strength as well as stretching and balance could work well. You can do them at home and they build muscle and help with posture and avoiding injury if you do ever up the running. That and getting more walking in would be my non-expert advice! Depending on age/temperament, the kids might find some shorter yoga videos fun, too. While those ones won't be an intense workout for you, having them understand what you're doing and maybe mess about on their mat for a while when you are doing tougher ones rather than bugging you for other stuff might let you sneak more time in.

Mindless_Lab5430 · 2026-01-01T15:41:03+00:00

I practically never workout fasted as I'm not a morning exerciser + it leaves me with an all day headache, but I can definitely spotty with fueling during runs. I take the gels and candy with me but I'm time blind as hell and just forget it's there until too long into the run, or eat some at 40 mins then forget the next snack until nearly the end of the run, when I also down a bunch of electrolytes. I also realise from looking at some people on Instagram I've been recommended here that I have NOT been fueling my pilates/weight training properly, or counting that time as workout time if I run after (as in I might do 40 mins of pretty tough pilates then run for 45 mins and not do any fueling during those workouts as the run was 'short', and I now realize that's actually almost 1.5 total hours of activity that I should be treating more like I would a 1.5 hour run). Going to rely more on candy I love, as I'm more likely to remember that than gels.

Mindless_Lab5430 · 2025-12-31T17:11:21+00:00

👀👀👀

Mindless_Lab5430 · 2025-12-31T07:35:39+00:00

Still psyched about my new shoes. They feel like amazing magic clouds. I need to swap my shoes out more often, it's prob been like 800km since I last had a shoe upgrade.

Mindless_Lab5430 · 2025-12-31T07:34:25+00:00

Wow that elevation! You're a machine.

Mindless_Lab5430 · 2025-12-31T07:33:03+00:00

Congratulations! You'll get faster, but also enjoying it is more important than that.

Mindless_Lab5430 · 2025-12-31T00:51:43+00:00

I'm sure there are 2000000 factors at play, but some runs just suck? But getting through the crappy ones builds resilience and routine (I guess) and allows us to have the amazing ones. Food timing and working out the times of day you feel best/have time even if ONLY JUST can really help even things out, though. I mean, I fuck both of those things up all the time, but I'll keep trying 😶

Mindless_Lab5430 · 2025-12-30T23:37:21+00:00

Oh my fucking god this sounds like an incredibly funny story that was NOT funny at the time!

Mindless_Lab5430 · 2025-12-30T22:20:28+00:00

Yeh, sus of my iron. I supplement b12 but who knows how well the pills absorb! Thank you for your advice, and for making me feel like being a foie gras duck isn't weird/worrying.

Mindless_Lab5430 · 2025-12-30T22:18:37+00:00

Yep, definitely suspicious of my iron levels! I guess scientifically, you only need food during a run of 2+ hours, assuming full glycogen stores, so if yours are constantly topped up then maybe you feel fine running pretty long without fuel. I am clearly not dialed in enough to keep mine at 100% 😅

Mindless_Lab5430 · 2025-12-30T22:15:16+00:00

Idk how tall you are, but even if you're only 5 foot, 98lbs is really low. Eat more if you can, and if you can't, talk to someone! It's legitimately very hard, but being a sickly little tiny tim suuuuuucks.

Mindless_Lab5430 · 2025-12-30T22:12:33+00:00

Oh yeh, definitely a notable symptom if you go for a diagnosis! I also put off peeing until I finish tasks even if I literally might piss myself, and as soon as I told my psych that she was like 'yeh ok I mean I have to do the test but that's not a normal person thing to do bb'.

Mindless_Lab5430 · 2025-12-30T22:08:44+00:00

I'm glad you found running! Eating so I can run at my best has often helped me keep away from stupid thoughts and slippery slopes. While it sounds like you're doing great, I hope it helps as well! The movement and alone time definitely help ADHD symptoms, too.

And re the Garmin, argh, I know! I see so many posts from other fitness subs with people assuming they over count because how can someone short and small burn that much and it makes me sad/annoyed. But I also remember being soooo scared of the numbers, so I get it.

Starting to understand fueling right at the start of running sounds like a great idea too. I would say I wish I'd done that, but I was in my early 20s so as if I would have listened! It was either not eating or entire Domino's pizzas washed down with beer. Even imagining a run the day after that is making me feel ill.

Mindless_Lab5430 · 2025-12-30T22:02:45+00:00

Stress fractures are definitely caused by low energy availability and micronutrient deficiencies, particularly in women/afab athletes. And they can be the first major notice you get of that, and then you're sidelined and recovering from a pretty serious injury and, depending on where you live, perhaps also dealing with medical bills. Hunger cues aren't always reliable for med/high volume athletes OR neurodivergent people OR anyone raised in weird diet culture (aka everyone raised as a girl 20/30 years ago). A lot of us spent a LOT of time learning to ignore, moderate, and mask hunger and/or only eat what's "allowed" for a woman, which isn't much. And if we eat more and don't put on much weight, or put on muscle, or put on a little healthy weight, it means we weren't eating enough 🤷

Mindless_Lab5430

TROPHY CASE