This was gleaned from the boisterous blasts of tweets at 12.00am, Tuesday, Singapore time. It was akin to seasickness with the avalanche of questions rolling in large discrete packets; Twitter chat has it limitations. Bart Yasso (@BartYasso) is Chief Running Officer of Runner’s World magazine, and he co-hosted an hour’s worth of Q&A. He wrote his biography ‘My Life On the Run’.
Here are the highlights of Bart’s wisdom (he has run over-1,000 marathons) during the hour-long ‘chat’:
1) There are fuel and food every 4 miles for most ultra-marathons. Carry water all the time and refuel at all stations.
2) Do speed-work if you are to reduce your half- or full-marathon times.
3) I would eat at any fuel zone, and only ate what looked good.
4) Time in the bank doesn’t work.
5) Longest training run for a half-marathon should be 10-12 miles.
6) You can only do 2 or 3 key workouts per week – long run, hills & Yasso 800s – something like Tuesday, Friday & Sunday.
7) Walk-runs work just as well. Do it on your long runs.
8) You need some morning runs to let your body get used to running at the race-start time. Just once a week.
9) Use the foam-roller and the stick to ease knots out of your calves.
10) Running is all about community.
11) Dress warmly when it rains.
12) Eat something light about two hours before the race. During the race,
13) Eat every 30 minutes – gel, blocks – test it in training.
