trainer and author of The Marathon and Half Marathon: A Training Guide, believes many athletes, especially beginners, make mistakes with race-day hydration. "Lots of athletes unwittingly drink too much water during a race. This flushes salt from the body

for instance). People sometimes think one bowl of pasta is the solution but in reality that can be boring and you may risk overeating.Q. In my last two marathons, I have hit the wall around Mile 22 - what can I do to avoid this? SandorA. We conducted a study

Q. I ran the Flora London Marathon last year and took gels every 45 minutes along with water and sports drinks when they were available. Is 45 minutes about right, or too frequent or infrequent? My feeling from last year was almost that I

Q. What is the best mix of protein, carbs and fats to eat the week before the marathon? Rob22A. The most important thing is to continue eating a well-balanced diet composed of carbohydrate (70%), protein (15%) and fat (15%). Aim to eat around 6

Nick Morgan is Lead Sport Scientist at Lucozade Sport.Read the whole forum debateQ. How early should I carbo-load? How much energy can the body actually store? hungryconsumerA. You can eat and store enough carbohydrate to fuel your marathon during

trained well and has a good nutrition strategy should be able to run even splits throughout a marathon and run the same time for the first half as the second."Fundamentally, your marathon nutrition strategy is to take carbohydrates on board every 40

that it's a good idea to limit dehydration as you run, in the real world many runners completing marathons between three and four hours do so with a level of dehydration between two and five per cent. So, if you've been following current guidelines