Never mind the supplements, a Mars Bar is the best way to run a marathon

MARS Bar and Lucozade drink for breakfast before a run? The nutritionists would be spitting in horror on their cream cheese wholemeal bagels and liquidised fruit mush. But I was on the fly this morning before a sun-kissed 5km outing at the Eastbourne ParkRun.

Of course breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Pick up a copy of Runner’s World and every month there is the latest high-carb, high-protein, high nutritional value, hi-ho-silver lining recipe which all runners should adopt to improve their performance and shave minutes off their personal bests. But do we pay a blind bit of notice? Nah!

It’s ironic that a week ago I spent an hour or so chatting with runners who are training for April’s London Marathon and raising money for the Hampshire Autistic Society – and there we talked about diet and hydration.

I certainly didn’t let them into the secrets of my crazy pre-run breakfast habits, but advised them instead of the need to take on nutritional fuel for breakfast ahead of a run; whether that is porridge, cereal, toast and bagels, and certainly avoid the Little Chef Olympic Breakfast. I also spoke with a 9.45am London Marathon start in mind to have a pre-race ritual firmly instilled of taking food and drink if you can before a race – mine is a protein bar, banana and an isotonic drink.

It’s not text book, and there are far better minds with degrees and the title “Dr” before their name to advise on proper nutrition, but this works for me.

These annual January talks are something I enjoy giving. We always catch up over a curry following the race for tales and traumas over a nan bread and a hot Madras!

You can see the mixture of fear and excitement in the runners’ faces at these winter meetings. All of them were marathon virgins just setting out on this great adventure. All had a host of questions to ask about training plans, kit, where the drinks stations are and what actually happens at the start, where does your luggage go to and where can you meet friends and family at the end in Horse Guards Parade.

All I could say is that the months ahead would be hard, but the reward at the end of this journey would be enormous when completing your first marathon will be a life-defining moment.

The talk was pretty predictable – the sort of chat all marathons novices will receive, including paying close attention to the training schedule by ensuring their legs and bodies get miles in the bank. I always throw in a few unofficial extras; things like how to avoid runner’s nipple or using Vaseline to prevent sweat from dripping in your eyes and aid with wearing sunglasses, if you need them.

However as part of my pre-race marathon preparation, I always take a couple of Imodium tablets to prevent bowel embarrassment along the route, and I also carry an anti-inflammatory Voltarol tablet to take at around 15 or 16 miles when my body is really suffering. Maybe it acts as a placebo, but the painkiller really helps me to deal with the trauma of the last nine or ten miles.

Okay, that last part is not recommended. It’s what I do having been recommended by other runners and they work for me.

Yet that advice was put into context this week with the inquest into the death of Claire Squires. She was the 30-year-old London Marathon runner who suffered heart failure and collapsed a few hundred metres from the end of the race last April.

The inquest heard that Claire had taken an energy supplement called Jack 3D. This is a sports supplement containing the stimulant DMAA, known as dimethylamylamine, which had previously been linked to the deaths of two American soldiers. The drink is commonly used as a work-out aid or a weight-loss supplement.

At the time of her death, there was no ban on taking this supplement. But Claire had added a scoop of Jack 3D to her water bottle to give her an energy boost for when she hit the preverbial runner’s wall in the latter stages of the race. It was an innocent act from a woman who her boyfriend, Simon Van Herrewege, said was passionately against the use of drugs.

It is ironic that four months after Claire’s death, Jack 3D and other supplements containing DMAA were banned from being sold in this country on the grounds of the potential risks to public safety after it had been linked to heart attacks.

Walk into Boots, Holland & Barrett or any similar shop and you can see shelf after shelf of  supplements - tablets, bars, and drinks for a variety of uses from building muscle to helping with weight loss.

Apart from taking glucosamine to treat a tender iliotibial band, I’ve never been tempted to buy any of these supplements, legitimate as they are. You could clear the shelf of supplements believing they would transform your life, enhance your health, drop a couple of stone and rid you of those niggling ailments. I’ve never thought about the science that much – I just run and get on with it.

I agree with Simon Van Herrewege who said after the inquest how there needs to be far great supervision of the health foods and supplements industry. There also needs to be greater education about these supplements and their value. It is a minefield when you look at that shelf stacked with supplements. Where do you start?

A simple Imodium or Voltarol tablet does what it says on the packet. It is safe, it’s legal and it isn’t going to enhance performance - crikey, I need a V2 rocket shoved up my jacksey if I wanted to see any real improvement to my personal best and I think there may be a health and safety issues there!

At the Hampshire Autistic Society talk, I spoke about the need to hydrate well, taking the isotonic drinks every five miles and water too – sipping but not drinking hard. And if you need a boost, take a gel or a protein snack, or in my case a bag of Jelly Babies, a Mars Bar and a chunk of sugary Kendal Mint Cake.

And you know what, when you get that sugar rush from a handful of Jelly Babies, you can keep your expensive and convoluted supplements – they get me to the finish line.

Claire Squires