Half Marathon Fueling - Is it necessary?

No. You can take a cup of water/gatorade at some aid station(s) if you feel compelled.

Assuming you are well stocked with muscle and liver glycogen for the race, the need for fuel is reduced. However, there is some evidence that taking in some carbs may be beneficial. An interesting study showed that cyclists who just rinsed with a sport drink were able to delay exhaustion. A thought is that the brain sensed the carbs and that helped keep them going. (Note it was but one study and on a small group of subjects.

It depends to some extent what you have done in training: if you have just used water, and have done your longer runs in an undepleted carb state, then you should be fine in your race on water, if you have already got plenty of carbs on board. If you have extensively used carbs in training, your body will expect them in racing too.

I find in a half marathon when I run a bit faster than my training runs(Around 6:30 pace) I need 1 GU packet around the 10k-7 mile mark. It's a good idea for the pace your running. Alot of these sub 120 half marathoners on here don't need anything but water but since were out there a little longer some fuel is good. That's my take!

Thanks for the input. I'll at least start incorporating some water into my runs. I've never really even drank water during runs!

Under 90 minutes? no.

Over 90 minutes? probably.

Alan

what he said...

if you are running much faster than 1:30 any gel you take won't have enough time to digest in your system and give you a boost anyway.

you need to take that gel early in the race or it won't hit your system until after you are done.