How to Survive a Ragnar or 24 hour Relay

How do you survive a 24 hour relay like Hood to Coast or 24 hour relay?  I mean, you're running your heart out and then 6 hours later you have to do it again.  And then just because you haven't had enough punishment, you run ONE MORE TIME.   How do you do your second run and  then your third run too?

Here are some ideas to help you survive your race.

1. Remember there is a lot of  excitement of the race and being with your friends gets you moving and you forget the discomfort.  The third leg is often the hardest because you are tired but everyone is in the same boat and is cheering you on.
2. Take your first run slower than you normally would. This will allow you to have more energy through the other runs.
3. Eat right. There is a lot of junk food around and you're eating at odd times.  Try and eat well, or as well as you can. If you haven't tried a food before, don't start now.  I always have pepto bismal tablets with me for when my stomach revolts to keep me out of the honey buckets.
4. Take ibuprofen 30 minutes before you run to help with the soreness
5. If you're used to taking GU's,  take a GU (Clif Blocks, etc)  15 minutes before you run and give you some extra energy. I always like the one's with caffeine.  Again don't try anything you haven't tried before.
6. I'd love to say stretch after your run but most of the times that's not realistic. You have to get moving to the next exchange so you jump in the van and off you go.
7. Relax and enjoy the discomfort. Everyone is in the same boat, tired, sore but you are a team and everyone is cheering you on.

What tips do you have for surviving a 24 hour relay?

Happy Running!

Methylprednisolone- AKA Miracle Drug to Get You to Starting Line

Methylprednisolone in my opinion is a miracle drug for runners.  Something hurts? Take this and the pain goes away; while the pain is gone, run your heart out.   The downfall is you didn't resolve the issue which caused the pain.  Let's back up and do some disclaimers.  


I'm not a medical professional by any means and I suggest you read my entire post before thinking you can break a leg and go out and run.  Methylprednisolone is an adrenocortical steroids. It is a heavy duty anti-inflammatory drug that unlike anabolic steroids, where your voice gets higher and your balls shrink, the inflammation shrinks instead.  The decrease in inflammation decreases the pain, which can help get you to a starting line or through a race.  The effects of the adrenocortical steroid is temporary and while the area of pain feels good for 2 weeks, the reason the pain occurred in the first place is probably still there.


Any drug is not without it's side effects. One side effect that isn't listed on the box, If you run on an injury, even though it's not hurting, you could be causing more damage to the tissue.  So although you run for a couple weeks, you may me taking a couple months off afterwards.  Other side effects if the drug is taken for a long time and/or depending on dosage include weight loss(like that's a bad thing?), glaucoma,osteoporosis and pshychosis (like I don't feel crazy enough already). 

The drug is taken in a decreasing dosage to avoid Addisonian crisis, which can be fatal.  When you start taking the medicine you take 6 at prescribed times throughout the day. 5 the next day, 4 the following, and so on. Just flat out stopping the drug in the middle could cause adrenal disfunctions which leads to nasty things like vomiting, direahea, convulsions and other things you want to avoid so take the medicine (as true with all medicines) as prescribed. 


I have taken this successfully in the past but don't call up my doctor and ask for a prescription anytime it hurts.  It takes a couple days before there is relief and the effects will last about a week after.  I have never taken a cortisone shot before but would probably opt for methylprednisolone before getting a cortisone shot, as I've heard those are also temporary. The use of methylprednisolone is an option to discuss with your doctor and may help you get to the start line.


Happy Running!

Quit Using GU

Why use GU when you can inhale gnats and bugs on the run? Protein delivered directly to you.

Nutrition and Hydration During my Marathon

Fortunately during the marathon, the wall and I never met.   Although I'm sure there are many factors (like actual training) I contribute it to two things, not going out too fast and nutrition/hydration. If you look at my pacing in my prior email, you'll see that I really tried keeping it slow in the beginning miles.  As I felt better, I was able to pick up the pace.  I would much rather finish a marathon with extra energy, sprinting towards the finish line rather than a wish of taking the first miles slower.

The second main factor was  nutrition and hydration. This isn't a slam dunk guarantee but it worked for me during this race.

The week before the race I started increasing my grains to about 10 a day.  I chose whole grains and whole wheat (don't confuse wheat with whole wheat or multi-grain with whole grain) over white breads and pasta when possible.  I try and select whole grains during the whole marathon training season and not just during taper.

3 days prior to the race I increased the grains again to about 12 servings per day and also tried to increase my milk, veggie and fruit intake.  I did much better on increasing grains when I added cream cheese (low fat when possible) and my chai tea with non-fat milk.  I wasn't worried about weight gain because I would run it off during the race and was avoiding the empty white sugar calories.

The morning of the race the first thing I did upon waking was drink a full cup of water. I actually do this every morning and drink a glass of water before each snack and meal.  I'm not a big breakfast eater before my long runs but knew before the race eating was important.  I ate one Fall Harvest Muffin (recipe here) shortly after getting up and a second one 2 hours before the race start.  I was still hungry and could have easily eaten another one but held off.  I didn't want to be running on a full stomach.

My plan was to eat a GU (orange burst with caffeine) at miles 5,10,15 and 20.  I didn't however, take into account the water stops were every two miles.  I revised my plan to take the GU starting at mile 6, 10, 16 and 22.  As it turned out I was able to take one at 15 and 20 anyway.  Rather than run the risk of taking in a GU and not having enough water to wash it down, I would start the GU about 1/8th of a mile before the water stop.

Each water stop I took water until mile 10 then upped it to two cups.  I needed to make sure that I was getting enough water and since I often wore half the water in the cup anyways, I needed to get two cups.  The poor volunteers handing me water frequently got splashed too.  Sorry! Water is always my beverage of choice but I changed it up and started taking Gatorade the last couple miles.  I did this for a couple reasons.  One, because I had the last GU at 20 and was still worried of hitting the wall and not having any GU left since I only brought 4 GU and ate 4 GU.  Second, at my first marathon I remember being so tired towards the end but not wanting to take any more water or any more GU.  I thought if I had Gatorade that it would help me.  The only problem with Gatorade is it is sticky and spilling on myself is easy to do.

I was able to finish, almost sprint in and had plenty of energy.  Next time I will repeat the same carb loading nutrition along with hydration that I did for this marathon.

Happy Running!