Is taking a gel during a 10 mile run going to help at all?

Carb Chugger wrote:

SDHJ wrote:

What's up with all you old heads being so anti-fueling? Runners are so afraid of new tech advancements and are stuck in the stone age. Amateur cyclists are fueling 60+ grams of carbs per hour on even on their easiest of rides. I have been doing 50g/hr for normal runs and 80-85 for long runs and workouts and it's been a gamechanger for not only performance but recovery. At this point with all the information that's out there, if you're not fueling during runs you're missing out on gains.

Also, before you guys say I am some hot shot knocking back multiple $4 maurten gels, I use either white sugar or country time lemonade. Anyone can do this

This is exactly right. Is your performance on a 50 min easy run going to be noticeably different with fueling vs without? Probably not, but your recovery afterward is going to be better. If you're not training specifically for glycogen depletion (why would you do that), there's no reason to get even close to the line of glycogen depletion in your muscles.

To anyone that's skeptical, just try it for a month. Fuel on every single run, even with just granulated sugar in water, as much as you can handle. You'll be amazed how much better you feel late in workouts and the hours after the run. You don't need Maurten's complicated expensive jello either, just find something that's cheap that you like.

S. Canaday wrote:

Pace and duration doesn't matter as much as total work output. So it really doesn't matter if you are running 7-min per mile or 10-min per mile pace. You are covering 10-miles and moving your body weight that distance. Basically the same work being done.

The faster runner usually requires more power (same work being done in less time).

But for all intensive purposes if one is running (or heck walking) 10-miles on a flat road at sea level they should have a plenty of glycogen stores to cover the distance without needing to intake any carbs/gels. The slower they are going the more that can utilize body fat as fuel actually as the relative intensity is less.

Now there could be an argument that if you were slowly walking 10-miles in like 3 hours that you might "get hungry" just because of the sheer duration of being on your feet between meal times. Others running fast might want a caffeinated gel or some sort of stimulus to "trick and stimulate the mind" so that the perception of fatigue is less. There could also be an argument that because you are dipping into at least some glycogen stores you don't want the brain to even think you are "getting low on. fuel" so topping off the carb stores can be good (for others it is more of a GI risk and hard to take in if breathing hard and running say 5:00min/mile pace or near Lactate Threshold).

Back in the day I ran a 1:04 half marathon on a couple sips of water. I don't think a gel was going to help improve my time ever, but i was also breathing so hard running 4:55 mile splits it was hard to even take in fluid. Faster runners would look for more liquid calories on the fly (i.e. grabbing a few sips of Gatorade at an aid station so they don't have to carry anything), but usually that doesn't come into play (taking in gels and more carbs) unless the race is over 15-16 miles +