Marathon fueling

Hi all,

Hoping someone can offer me some advice. I am running the manchester marathon (1st timer) at the end of April & am still trying to work out my fueling strategy for the day. I ran the Ashby 20 yesterday & the wheels came of at 17 miles  I had to walk jog the remaining 3 miles (still returned 3:23:03) I took gell at mile 6,10 & 14 but found it was making me feel sick. Then as I say at 17 miles the energy levels slumped.

I did all the right pre race things, carb loaded, good breakfast & long training runs in the weeks prior to this race. Admittedly it was a hilly 2 lap course but I'm still worried for the marathon.

Suspect te advice will be I took gell way too early? 

Thanks in advance !

Pete. 

I did Ashby too, and I had a gel at 5, 10 & 15 miles. You need to allow time for them to get into your system, so leaving them any later could be counter productive. Was this the first time you'd tried these gels? It might be that the brand just doesn't agree with you. Did you take water with them? Too much can be as uncomfortable as to little. The nerves associated with a race might well have an impact on how a gel settles.

What was breakfast and when? If you had breakfast early and then travelled, it might be you just need a food topup. I had my porridge at ~ 7:30, then a bananana 30-45 minutes before the start - it's a race day routine that seems to be working for me.

Rather than looking just at refueling, did you get the pace wrong? What did you aim to run at and how even are the splits? The pack moved away from the start at a phenomenal rate, and I'm sure a number of people got swept along by that. I was last for the first 2 miles, but passed over 30 people from half way (that felt good, I can tell you!)

I'm no expert, I'll be running my first marathon this year too, but I've managed to find what works for me.

Peter

hi mate, just to advice you -

dont go leaving things to late with this experimenting  

Peter

just to remind you

gels and energy drinks do not suit everyone

how new are you to running, and running distance - has your body adjusted to it all yet

fluid levels pre race are vital as is taking on fluid on route

Helen

how are u feeling after your crowd support thread

Hi Mick

Not looking forward to it, but it'll probably be better than the dread and anticipation is. Not worried about running the thing at all, it's everything else!

Helen

wishing you well always

peter

i am curios here and wondering

what is your longest training run ?

are u sure it is all down to fuelling ?

Thanks for all the reply's.

Longest training run I have done is 24 miles & that was only because I got lost!! (was meant to be 22 miles) Over the last 6 weeks or so I have been doing a progressivly longer run up to the 24. Some I have found easy - for example I did a 19 miler about a month ago & felt great at the end then last wkend struggled big time to complete an 18 miler. Must admit since the 24 miler my knees have been a bit tender ( new trainers on order to try & help )

I use the lucozade gels which I am used to, maybe I will try a gel at  5,10 & 15 as Helen suggests. Brekky was boiled eggs & crunchy cereal @ 08:00 & banana 45 mins before race. Pace wise I started steady (10 min mile pace) & speeded up to 9:30 min mile after 3 miles only to slow right down at mile 17 onwards.

Knee rehab in progress (squats) then next long run on Sunday so hopefully cope a bit better

pete...

i made the same mistake in the east hull harrierrs 20 a few weeks back...

flew through 10 miles in 72 minutes (7.10 minute miling)

got to 16 miles at 2 hours dead (meaning id done the last 6 miles at 8 minute miling)

those last 4 miles i was just gone and wobbling along at 9-9 1/2 miniutre miling...

When you say carb loaded - how much did you have? I know I used to think I was carb loading, then when I looked up how much it means - 10g of carbs per kg of body weight for 3 days - I tried that and although my little eyes were fair bulging by the end of that (that's a lot of rice cakes, juice, baked pots & so on) by gum it made a difference on race day.

And when I'm going flat out for a marathon I take a gel every 5k & wash it down with sport drink.

But everyone is different so YMMV.