Q:  Goat friend Desirae asks: Hey Liz!! I just started running and I am having a hard time getting re-energized afterwards. I eat a very strict diet because of my food allergies. After I run, I am very light headed and never know what in the heck to eat to “replenish”. I know you are vegan and was wondering if you could give me any advice on what you replenish with after a run. Hope you and Parag have a great Christmas! Thanks!

The Goat Says:

OK so that’s awesome you’re running! Hopefully you are enjoying it! You could be lightheaded because you aren’t hydrating enough before or after. About 2 hours before have a couple big glasses – about 16 oz of fluids. I like to split between water and electrolyte drinks. Then 30 min before have another 4 or 5 ounces. I like these tablets called Nuun. They are electrolyte tablets with no sugar or crap i them. Or I like pure unsweetened coconut water. Both are great. Better than Gatorade.

You may also want to try a small snack 30-45 min before running. A piece of fruit (banana, grapes, oranges) and a handful of nuts or some nut butter or sunflower butter or hummus with gluten free crackers.

After the run, first rehydrate. That will definitely help! Have at least 16 oz of fluids (again I split water/electrolyte drink – but I try to avoid Gatorade because of all the sugar and crap in it). One experiment you can do is weigh yourself before and after your run. For every pound you lose then next time you run drink 16 oz of fluid per pound lost.

As to food, try to have a small snack within 30 minutes after running and a full meal within 2 hours. Small snack (unless you did a long run, about 200 calories or so should be sufficient)- do something again like fruit (bananas, apples, oranges, grapes, etc.) with a handful of nuts, or nut butter or sunbutter or hummus with GF crackers… Also my go to is a scoop of Sunwarrior Warrior Blend protein powder (it’s vegan, gluten free, rice free, and soy free!) with unsweetened almond milk – or if I want something a little more substantial (like I usually run in the a.m. before breakfast then make a smoothie for breakfast) then I blend the scoop of powder with flax meal, spinach, unsweetened almond milk, frozen fruit, and stevia. Sunwarrior is great. Vanilla is good with everything…Chocolate is so good with PB2 Powder and bananas and cocoa powder too! Basically, you just want to make sure you get carbs, protein and some fat (for more efficient digestion) in your post run meal. That’s why the protein smoothie is great. The powder gives you protein and antioxidants, the flax and almond milk gives fat (you just need a little) and the fruit gives carbs, fiber and antioxidants! That’s my usual post-run refuel.

One other thing that sometimes help is to eat and drink during the run. If it is hot or if you lose a lot of weight through sweat during a run, then you need to drink during the run. If you’re doing a long run, like 10+ miles or you’re going to be out an hour or more, then you may want to eat during the run. I like Cliff Shot Bloks (I don’t know if they are gluten free, you would have to check…also watch out, some have caffeine.  Lots of people like caffeine while running, but I do not.).. They are good and have less crap than other brands. Other people use this stuff called Gu. I think its yucky. You could also use like fruit leather or jelly bellies (or they have sports jelly beans called sport beans…I don’t know if they are gluten free, you would have to check…also watch out, some have caffeine.  Lots of people like caffeine while running, but I do not). But honestly, if you aren’t going to be running over an hour, then you really don’t need to eat during the run.

When you drink before, during and after running, a mistake a lot of people make is to just drink water. If you are drinking too much water then you’re losing electrolytes…you’re basically flooding them out of your system…so that’s why I like to throw some nuun or coconut water in the mix to keep electrolytes high. Which will keep you feeling much better!

Hopefully this helps!!! If you have any other questions, please let me know! This is the only thing I like to talk about 

Tell everyone hi!!! Happy Running!

Q:  Goat Friend Katherine Asks: Hey lady, can I get some more shoe advice?? I’ve been running in the brooks pure flows but they just aren’t working on the trails in ice and snow. Looking for a more trail specific shoe. Either the Brooks Cascadia or the Saucony Peregrine. Thoughts? They both felt pretty good when I tried them on…

The Goat Says:

SO I have run in the old Cascadia and did not like them. They were clunky and did not bode well on the trail because they were too heavy and non-responsive. So, personally, although they are popular, I wouldn’t recommend them.

I haven’t run in the Saucony Peregrine, but I believe they are built on the same base as the Kinvara and then have trail lug bottoms. I would go with those, because I used to run on the road in Kinvaras when I was making my transition to more minimal shoes and I absolutely loved them. They seem like they would be more agile and responsive, while still giving you neutral support and cushion. Also they do have “trail” soles and have some lugs, which should help give you traction on snow, etc.

Couple other suggestions for snow and ice – check out Salomon’s shoes -they make some more industrial types with bigger lugs and such. I dont have snow and ice here, but I grew up running cross country in Southwest PA. We got TONS of snow and ice and ran through it all winter. Some things we would do –

1. DIY – put screws into your running shoes for traction. this video is a good example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCnAHkGIdyk

https://www.yaktrax.com/product/run

Hope this helps and hope you had a good holiday! Happy New Year and Happy Running!!! Let me know what you pick and how it works out!

Q:  Goat Friend Carrie says there are no good trails to run in Atlanta!  Where is a Goat to go run?

The Goat Says:  

Hey Katherine! Hope all is well! Carrie, there are SO many good trails in the Atlanta area… depending on where you live, you have to travel a bit…but there are lots of good ones.

A good place to start is to look up the Atlanta Trail Meetup Group on Facebook or Meetup. Fun people and they do group runs on trails every week and weekend. I haven’t had a chance to run with them yet, but I know some of them and the places they go.

Also look up Dirty Spokes – http://www.dirtyspokes.com – they are a company that puts on trail races in Georgia. it’s a good way to get introduced to new trails and have fun racing. I’m doing the Battle at Big Creek on 11/3/2012 its a 5.5 M and 10M. I’m also doing the Serenbe Hill Country race 11/10/12. Serenbe is about 45 min from the city and is amazing. Worth the drive. There are also Dirty Spokes races worth checking out on 11/17/2012 and at the beginning of December. They run through the year.

As to trails, the first area to try out is the Chattahoochee National River Area http://www.nps.gov/chat/index.htm. These are closest to the perimeter and many are well maintained. I love to go to the one off of Interstate North. It’s right at I-75 and I-285. There is a nice hard packed 3.1 M loop, but also there are places where you can cut into more technical fun shaded trails.

Another great spot that I love is Kennesaw Mountain. Go to the Visistor’s Center and grab a map. You can run from 1 mile to a whole 16 mile loop. If you start at the Visitor Center, you can also go straight up the Mountain about a mile and it will leave you breathless and reward you with an awesome view of the city at the top. Once there, there are lots of side trails you can veer off on. Also you can see fun civil war artifacts here and there!
http://www.nps.gov/kemo/index.htm

If you are looking for another different trail with great scenery, try Sweetwater. http://gastateparks.org/SweetwaterCreek-Hiking
There are different trails with different difficulty levels. There are a few that require mountain goat like scaling but many that are more tame. There is also really cool scenery…maybe the remains of an old mill or something. Anyways, miles of trails and awesome.

If you’re up for a longer drive and more of a challenge, try out Pine Mountain. These trails are tough and plentiful. I think there are like 40 miles of trails!!! The North Face holds its Endurance Challenge here yearly and it’s one of the toughest on the tour!
http://www.pinemountaintrail.org/?page=13

If you’re near Gwinnett County, the Environmental Heritage Center has some fun little trails and the place is beautiful!
http://1.gwinnettehc.net/discover-us/trail-map.html

Also Red Top Mountain near Lake Allatoona is a little further drive but very beautiful. Lots of fun trails there too.
http://www.redtopmountainstatepark.org/red-top-trails.html

If you tell me what part of ATL you’re in, and what type of trails you like, I can recommend more trails too. Also if you ever want to run together, let me know!  That goes for everyone!  Leave a message, shoot me an email or post to my Facebook!

Q: Swim Bike Mom Friend, Katherine, asked about taking her new Newton Terras out on the trail…

The Goat Says:  Hi Katherine! Swim Bike Mom says you could use some advice! Maybe I’ll be some help!!

In full disclosure, I do not run in Newtons and I don’t care for them. I do not like the idea of a shoe forcing you to run in a certain way. I know it is supposed to encourage a more natural stride – but there is nothing natural about their clunky soles forcing you to run a certain way. I do have lots of friends who swear by them though. But, none of those friends are trail runners…

I have tested a few pairs, including the Terra, at some in-store promotions. But haven’t used them extensively at all. It is my personal belief, as a regular trail runner (not any sort of professional), you should stick to fire roads/hard packed trails/etc in these shoes. It does not appear that these would perform very well on technical trails or mountain trails. 

The Terra rode fine on the road to me, although I don’t care for such padded shoes. That being said, it would seem that they would have difficulty handling technical terrain due to the thickness of the midsole. On technical trails you want a more responsive shoe so that you don’t roll your ankles or trip and fall. On traditional shoes – including ones like these Newtons – they insert a higher platform because they think it makes a more stable shoe. Of course, this doesn’t translate very well to trail shoes. You don’t get an agile feeling like you would from a lower profile shoe. Cushioning is nice – like the cushioning they put in the Activator lugs, but it pretty much just gets in the way when running over loose rocks, going up tough climbs, navigating roots etc and ascending mountains. 

So I think these are probably just going to be too clunky for technical or mountain trails because you’re not going to have a responsive feel. I’d stick to well groomed, hard packed smooth trails and fire roads. If you get super comfy in them on those types of trails, you could try to take them out for another spin on more technical trails, but I’d be very careful.

Hope this helps!!! Happy running!!!