Gastrointestinal (GI) problems are very common in endurance athletes, and runners are particularly at risk.  Some athletes are more prone than others and symptoms range from mild to severe and effect performance on different levels. The main reasons are believed to be: reduced blood flow to the GI tract is during exercise,the jarring effect of running,certain foods aggravating the bowel,anxiety around training or racing. Reduced blood flow to the GI tract During exercise blood flow is diverted to the exercising muscles and the skin (to aid with temperature control) and therefore away from the GI tract.  During very intense exercise this can be as

Recovery takes advantage of the phase after exercise to promote adaptive responses to the stress of the workout to make the body FITTER, STRONGER, FASTER….. The goals are recovery are to: Restore muscle and liver glycogen levels.Promote muscle repair and building.Replace fluids and electrolytes.Promote responses of other systems such as immune, inflammatory and antioxidant systems. Not all training sessions are as demanding on the body and lighter training sessions may not require a specific recovery regime but rather use existing meals or snacks that are part of a suitable eating plan.  Other training sessions may deliberately avoid food or drinks in the recovery

Your body is well designed to supply fuel to your exercising muscles.  Fat is the preferred source of fuel for low to moderate intensity exercise.  Carbohydrate is the preferred source of fuel for moderate to high intensity exercise.  However, both fat and carbohydrate are used in any exercise session, it is the RATE at which it is used that will be different. The main focus on race day/ competition day is to: Reduce the onset of fatigue by providing an adequate fuel supplyManage hydration FUEL Even the leanest athletes fat stores provides up to 50 000-100 000Cal of energy which can supports exercise for over 5

The day before race day needs to be a day for relaxing and enjoying the fact that you can do no more training for your big race.  Use this day to fine tune your body’s fuel (glycogen) and fluid stores and to make sure you feel comfortable and confident for race day. It is important that you do not experiment with anything new. The main focus in this 24 hour period before the race is to: Maximise your glycogen (fuel) storesOptimise hydrationSettle your gastro-intestinal tract To carbo-load or not to carbo-load? The term ‘carbo-loading’ is generally misunderstood and many athletes see it is an

A muscle cramp is a painful, involuntary muscle contraction that occurs during or soon after exercise.  Muscle cramps are notoriously unpredictable which makes them difficult to study. The cause of cramps remains uncertain, although there is evidence that they may be associated with changes is hydration and sodium balance as well as being related to muscle fatigue.  These proposed causes are based on evidence that cramping is most likely to be experienced in the second half of exercise events, with high temperatures where large sweat losses are incurred and large volumes of plain water is consumed.  The uncertainty is because