Essential Marathon Accessories


by Steve Hocking - Date: 2010-09-25 - Word Count: 391 Share This!

Short distance runners have an idea of what their essential kit is - trainers, shorts and a vest. A woman will want a sports bra. As you get more involved in your sport, you may want to get a GPS to track your distanced accurately. If you start wanting to cover more distance though, you are going to need to extend your kit. If you are training for a marathon, you are going to want to consider the following essentials:

Vaseline - Sports kit that seems to be really comfortable over short distances, will start to rub over longer distances - jogger's nipple is a good example of this. Something like Vaseline is the best solution to this problem. It should be applied to all areas that are likely to rub.

Hydration belt - Ensuring that you are hydrated is less of a problem over short distances. If you are running a five kilometre race, you can take water on board before the race and after the race. A ten mile race is likely to provide you with water stops. However as you progress beyond ten kilometres on training runs, you are going to have to work out how to take you chosen liquids around with you. The main options are a hand held bottle, a camel pack or a hydration belt. They all have their pros and cons. A hand held bottle will become awkward over long distances, a camel pack will make your back sweaty and can be restrictive. A hydration belt seems a good option but check reviews to see how wobbly they are - 26 and bit miles is an awfully long way anyway - without a wobbly belt banging up and down.

Energy gels - Most gurus advise using energy gels on runs over two hours long. Energy gels typically provide around 100 calories and should be consumed every hour. If you are running with a hydration belt, they can usually be stored in a pouch within the belt.

Sports sunglasses - squinting into the sun might be acceptable over five or ten kilometers, but it does begin to get tedious as you lengthen the distances. You could consider acquiring sports sunglasses to assist you. Sports sunglasses can be brought with prescription inserts for runners who wear glasses.

First Aid - Consider having a first aid kit to hand - antiseptic cream and plasters for blisters and Ibuprofen for swollen joints.

Related Tags: sports sunglasses

Your Article Search Directory : Find in Articles

© The article above is copyrighted by it's author. You're allowed to distribute this work according to the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs license.
 

Recent articles in this category:



Most viewed articles in this category: