Let's Gu it Again?

To prevent the stomach issues with Gu, allow the gel to sit in your mouth at least a couple of minutes so your saliva can start breaking it down. Swallow it slowly over the course of a couple of minutes or as slowly as possible. Once it's all down, take a couple of swigs of water. This speeds up the absorption of it in your stomach and later on in your digestive tract. No discomfort.

Thanks, God of Gu's. I love the taste of the Gu's and treat them as somewhat of a reward throughout the run, so I will take a little extra time to savor them when I use them next!

I'm not having any discomfort at all from them. What I'm really curious about is if there are any negative effects from eating too much Gu even if they DON'T make your stomach sick.

For example, if someone took 12 Gu's during a Marathon, but had no gastrointestinal symptoms, would the excess Gu cause other problems, like a "sugar crash" or maybe some extra hyperness due to the caffeine, etc.

I've not noticed any negative effects, but after yesterday's Gu-free training run, I'm wondering how much they really help me and if maybe I ate more than I needed in my previous Marathon.

I suppose my "real" question is am I eating the right number of Gu's? Is there such a thing as "too much" even if you don't have stomach issues? Is 6 or 7 about par for the course?

If you think about your body using both fat and carbohydrate to fuel your marathon, there is a "sweet spot" of how much carbohydrate you want to take in during a marathon.

You've got plenty of fat to cover the marathon distance, the problem is that it takes more oxygen to burn and is "slower" - so if you were running slowly or walking, you wouldn't need any carbohydrate at all.

As you run faster, you'll burn a higher and higher % of carbohydrates - but you have limited stores of carbohydrates (glycogen mostly) - so by taking Gu, you're supplementing the glycogen stores.

I think the trick with the marathon is to burn as much fat and as little carbohydrate as possible so you don't run out - but doing so at a faster pace. The downside of taking too much Gu (aside from GI distress) would be if you took enough to cause a spike in insulin, which would increase your use of glucose and inhibit fat mobilization and oxidation.

Given that it is roughly 100 calories to run a mile, a marathon requires about 2600 calories - so if you're taking 4 Gus, that's only 400 calories. But it seems to be enough to allow most people to get through it. If you took 10 or so Gus, you'd probably inhibit fat oxidation more and so cut yourself off from the best fuel source. (That would be a hard experiment to do though, because most people would have GI distress, ending the experiment...)

One other point: there is some research that just the sweet taste of a Gu "fools" the brain to allow you to continue exercising at a high intensity - it believes that food/energy is plentiful so releases the inhibitory signals.

Thanks, Indie. It takes time to open the package and squeeze out the Gu, and it does interrupt the flow a bit, so I don't want to take any more than I need to. I think I'll follow package instructions of every 45 minutes and see what happens!

Just one more thing to think about (although it sounds like you're sticking with the every 45 minutes, which is a safe recommendation)...

I'm assuming that you will run your marathon faster than your training run where you felt fine. Just remember that in the marathon, you'll need to use more carbohydrate, which is why you'll still want the Gus.

I actually thought this was one of the better things I've read on the topic.

http://misszippy1.com/2011/10/marathon-advice-from-the-top-guest-post.html

Thanks for the link, Indie. "Miss Zippy" seems to advocate a PowerGel (Gu equivalent?) every 3-4 miles or 25 minutes. That's actually a little more than what I used last time...so many variables, but I need to make a decision. All right, I'm thinking 1 every half hour. I've never gotten sick off of Gu's and I like the taste, so why not keep that tank topped off as much as possible "just in case"? :) So, that would be 6 Gu's and 1 before the race for a total of 7. Is that so crazy?