any suggestions on marathon race nutrition. planning to go around 2:45. i don’t use gels or anything on long training runs though. will the extra effort and distance require me to? thanks
Whats your “long” run? If you are doing close to Marathon distance with no nutrition you will probably be all right. Best advice is to train like you race. If you think you will need gel for the race, start training with it. Don’t experiment on race day! I am currently training for a 50 miler and am using gel every 1/2 hour after the first hour. Make sure you read the gels websites on how much water you need with the gel. I had a friend who was using gel but very little water, he wondered why they didn’t “work” for him.
I am fine with alternating water and gatorade from the water stations plus a gel at mile 10 and another at about mile 19. But whatever you do practice it in training.
Wow, 2:45 is smoking. I can run 3:00 on a good day, and I have found over the years that gels really help. Every 25 minutes works for me. And yes, don’t forget to wash them down.
While I am not as fast as you, 3:08 at Boston, I find that I need some cals during long events. For Boston, I mixed up some Hammer Perpetuem in a flask, I think about 4 scoops. I took a hit of the flask with water at the aid stations. I think it’s important to get any calories in relatively early. If you wait until late in the race, you are going to have a hard time digesting, etc. If you’ve run 2+ hours without any nutrition, think about getting in some calories in the first hour, while you are running comfortably. Then they will be available during the latter parts of the race. My $.02.
i like the flask idea…although maybe with something different inside ; )…really though, thanks for the advice
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If you plan on using gels on race day you shold test them out on a hard training run. You don’t know how your system will respond to them when you are red lining it at mile 18.
I generally pop one at the start line, one at mile 10 and another at about mile 16-18. Take them right before a water stop and wash them down with lots of water…not Gatorade…they won’t dissolve in gatorade and will just sit like a blob in your stomach and make you sick.
I’ve read that they take about 30-40 minutes to actually get into your system and do any good so I don’t bother taking them late in a race.
A good tip is to hold them in your hand for 5 minutes before opening them…gets them really warm and runny and they are much easier to suck down.