Mike @FitFriend wrote:
I took 4 electrolyte capsules on the course too, roughly 45 minutes apart (one at the start).
*3 electrolyte capsules on the course (+ 1 at the start)
Mike @FitFriend wrote:
I took 4 electrolyte capsules on the course too, roughly 45 minutes apart (one at the start).
*3 electrolyte capsules on the course (+ 1 at the start)
Congratulations on a great race from the guy who advised you to not look at the thread!
Yep, you'll be fine. There should be Gatorade on the course, plus maybe some orange slices and stuff. You'll be alright.
So technically you took 3 gels plus electrolyte tablets, which is around the same amount of fuel as the 5 gels, just in a different form and taken at different times.
Smoove wrote:
Congratulations on a great race from the guy who advised you to not look at the thread!
Thanks Smoove. I don't think I actually believed it would work and I wouldn't fade until the final mile, it was a weird feeling.
txRUNNERgirl wrote:
So technically you took 3 gels plus electrolyte tablets, which is around the same amount of fuel as the 5 gels, just in a different form and taken at different times.
Sure let's round up. Or should we get technical? Which one is it? Well technically I took the same amount of electrolyte tablets for my May marathon, plus a gel before the start, so that was 6 in total back then.
But let's push technicalities aside and go back to rounding. Why not throw in the honey and mashed banana I had for breakfast? That's liquidy, it's kind of a gel. Where do we draw the line? So it's more equivalent to 15 gels I guess, damn.
Mike @FitFriend wrote:
I’m running a marathon this Sunday and I have confidence in my fitness. I’ve been putting in 80-90 mile weeks throughout most of the summer, and based on a recent 10k, that over-trusted but loved McMillan calculator estimates me at around a 2:48 marathon - nothing crazy fast of course but all I want is to run a marathon reflecting my fitness level, give or take 5 to 10 minutes. So I’m planning to aim slightly short of this to ensure I have a GOOD marathon, at around 2:55-3:00 hours.
This is only my 2nd marathon. The 1st one I felt great in the legs and cardio wise, but I was plagued with severe chest pains for the last 6-7 miles. I’ve seen a cardiologist since and have ruled out any heart issues. So the best guess my doctor and I have made is that it must have been some form of indigestion from all the gels (I had taken 5 gels up to the 20 mile mark).
Long story short, as a solution I’ve been focusing on running intermittently fasted for my runs this summer (including a stack of my long runs), to teach my body to tap into its fat reserve more. Maffetone has a bunch of content on the value of this. I still carb up pretty consistently in my overall diet, so it’s not like I intend to go into the marathon carb depleted and completely relying on fat burning - that’s the other extreme that I think is dangerous. But given that I feel my body’s now more efficient at running without any gels, is it actually wise to run a marathon on only the 1-2 gels that I’m planning on taking?
Obviously I feel as if it may be possible, as otherwise I wouldn’t be taking this risk. I just haven’t spoken to enough people who have done it. So who here has run a marathon in their 160-170 heart rate range (as in, run it as a race and not a long run) and has taken no/minimal gels? If this is totally against convention, it’s not too late for me to rethink my gel plan. Or are we seriously all being duped by marketing into thinking that we NEED gels to race to our abilities?
moran
Mike @FitFriend wrote:
txRUNNERgirl wrote:So technically you took 3 gels plus electrolyte tablets, which is around the same amount of fuel as the 5 gels, just in a different form and taken at different times.
Sure let's round up. Or should we get technical? Which one is it? Well technically I took the same amount of electrolyte tablets for my May marathon, plus a gel before the start, so that was 6 in total back then.
But let's push technicalities aside and go back to rounding. Why not throw in the honey and mashed banana I had for breakfast? That's liquidy, it's kind of a gel. Where do we draw the line? So it's more equivalent to 15 gels I guess, damn.
Idiot. You add up the total calories (hint:100/gel + breakfast and gatorade).
You can add... can't you?
Yeah so we look at calorie intake (mainly carb sources) during the actual race. [Breakfast and glycogen stores in the muscles/liver looked at as being a constant pre-loaded before the race].
He had a mix of gels and liquid calories that were very sugary. Worked well (as it does for most people).
My first two marathons I ran on Gatorade and Redbull mixed down with water...worked pretty well.
When I PRed in the marathon and raced at Boston last year I switched to just drinking water, but taking 3-4 gels.
It was about the same amount of carbs/calories. Roughly 200-250 kcal/hr. Think of it as a work output.
If you are running at a high intensity, you're probably going to need some carbs along the way or you will likely bonk at around 20-miles. Those that say they are "fat burning" and don't need any carb intake during the marathon likely aren't running to their full potential.