Running during Ramadan

[Mudassir]

As you may all know muslims are observing holy month of Ramadan. Are there any muslims out there who are fasting and keeping up with the running regime?

[Hidden]

Cant see any reason why religion should interfere with running. Run when you feel like it. Good luck.

[Steve_L Graduate in reply to Hidden]

Trouble is, if you can't eat or drink between dawn and sunset, it could be really hard, perhaps dangerous to exercise hard.

[Hidden]

Of course you can eat between dawn and sunset, you can run when you want and eat when you want lol

[Madge50 Graduate]

I suppose there is a choice to be had here, in how you decide to demonstrate your faith and consideration of what Ramadan means to you personally, and maintain an exercise regime that definitely will require rehydration to keep you safe and well. I would have thought that putting yourself physically at risk would not be considered acceptable by any standards.

I certainly could not and would not run without regular hydration.

Mx

[Hidden]

I respects peoples rights to believe in whatever religion they wish, be it Jedi or Buddhist, but your own health and well being is more important than believing in something unproven, so I say enjoy yourself and keep fit and active first, otherwise you may be in no condition to observe any religion.

[dagshar Graduate]

My guess is that you will probably need to modify your usual pattern to make sure your body can cope with it at this time. Good luck!

[Hidden]

The super speedy C25Ker Aftab Sarwar, stops for Ramadan doesn't he ? I seem to remember he does Parkrun volunteering instead during Ramadan.

[Ullyrunner Graduate in reply to Hidden]

Ah yes - I was struggling to remember his name - super speedy Aftabs! He soon seemed to get back in his stride afterwards.

[runswithdogs Graduate in reply to Hidden]

Yes! I remember he had a post about it last year.

[TurboTortoise Graduate]

There are some useful insights from a post from last year here:

healthunlocked.com/couchto5....

[Jabbers]

I fast twice a week, 5:2 dieter rather than for religious reasons. I don't run on fast days but do run once a week on the day after a fast. I find that I have to go out of my way to over-hydrate to compensate for the previous day's restrictions.

Is it possible to break your fast at sundown, eat lightly and re-hydrate and then run after that?

J

[the_tea_fairy Graduate]

I'd avoid running if you're fasting, unless as Jabbers suggests you can find a way to run outside of fasting hours. The food may not be such an issue but water seems pretty essential, especially as it's been quite warm.

I wonder if it's worth searching the runners world forums as well? You cannot possibly be the only person with a Ramadan/running dilemma.

[Realfoodieclub Graduate]

We have had a couple of runners running during Ramadan and the general opinion was to take it a little easier and pull things back a bit while you are fasting. I know aftabs did that and if you look up some of his posts his running didn't suffer and after Eid he got right back into it. With anything like this we always reccomend you listen to your own body.

[Bazza1234 Graduate]

Where do these ideas come from?? - I am almost 70 years of age - and I have to shake my head in despair for mankind!

[the_tea_fairy Graduate in reply to Bazza1234]

Um, what? I'm confused.

[Bazza1234 Graduate in reply to the_tea_fairy]

I despair because humanity continues to hold these ideas -- whether they be the idea of the Australian Aborigine that the World was created by a giant snake - or other ideas no less plausible or believable. ( there are many of them). When will it end???

[the_tea_fairy Graduate in reply to Bazza1234]

I don't think it's worth despairing about people's ideas - we're credulous animals, hungry for meaning, which we tend to find by imposing narratives on what's around us. That's only really dangerous/despair inducing when people start identifying their own favourite narrative (snakes who make worlds, the bible, contemporary western science, whatever) as The Only Valid One and treating others accordingly. People's beliefs and intentions are so piddling as to be irrelevant compared to what people actually DO, I reckon.

*rant over*

[Hidden in reply to the_tea_fairy]

This is getting very deep lol. All I know is the world would be a better place with more runners and less or no religion.

[Bazza1234 Graduate in reply to the_tea_fairy]

In the meantime, I DO believe something - that we should all be well hydrated when we run. If we aren't hydrated - then we shouldn't run!! Food is of much lesser importance.

[Hidden in reply to Bazza1234]

And the best thing to hydrate us is..............MILK! of all things.

[Hidden in reply to Bazza1234]

me neither Bazza, I can't make a connection between religion and running.

[ActonHighStreet]

Hi Mudassir

I sympathise - it can't be easy for a runner when Ramadan falls during June and July. There's some advice here: healthunlocked.com/couchto5.... , here: runnersworld.co.uk/forum/he... and here, at the always-intersting Muslim Runner blog: muslimrunner.wordpress.com/...

I spoke to a fitness-mad Muslim colleague about the subject but I'm afraid his advice was to break fast on running days and make the days up later in the year, which may or may not work for you.

Best of luck and enjoy your running,

AHS

[Hidden in reply to ActonHighStreet]

That's really interesting.

[Mudassir Graduate]

Thank you all for your replies. I will try to have some easy runs just before the fast breaks and see how I get on.