Fuel on long runs/during marathon essential?

Watch breaking 2 documentary, Zersenay Tadese until breaking 2 never took any nutrition in during the marathon.

This is what I do before and during marathon races. It works for me almost to perfection.

Before the start:

2 hours: light breakfast, usually oatmeal with maple syrup, coffee

60 min.: GU Roctane gel, plus I start to "pre-hydrate" with Roctane powder/water mix. I drink about a liter (2 pints) between now and the start.

10-15 min.: Another gel, with caffeine

During the race:

I don't drink during the first hour of the race, unless super hot.

Gel with caffeine around miles 8-10, start hydrating regularly, too, from here on. Every 3-4 miles... Water only!!! Occasionally, I might flush my mouth with Gatorade but spit it out.

One more gel, again with caffeine, around miles 16-18.

That's all, just two gels that don't upset my stomach when running at race speed. I don't know what the WALL everybody keeps talking about is;) LOL

Btw, I tried, in my training, to run, at my race pace, without any gel intake during my runs, just to see how I feel. I don't bonk, if I eat a gel, or two, before, but I can't up my pace all the way 'til the end... I usually start slowing down anywhere from miles 16-22. Plus, the onset of leg pain starts a lot earlier, and recovery after the race lasts a lot longer, DOMS is more pronounced.

Hope it helps. Good luck;)

17 to 26 is not a 'few' extra miles. I, too, have done 16+ miles (16.2 to be exact) off a completely empty stomach (nothing since a snack at ~9pm the night before). But I can say that I definitely start to feel my energy levels dropping around the two hour mark. Luckily, those 16 miles only take a hair over 2 hours so I'm fine. Trying to go another 10 I would no doubt hit the proverbial wall. And I know this precisely because I've attempted it cycling and seen others, even highly trained, fail trying to go much longer than two hours without additional nutrition of some sort. An elite level marathoner finishing in 2:10-2:20 stands a much better chance of going sans fuel than a typical amateur running 3:00-4:00. That's a lot of extra time running and a lot more calories burnt as a result.

Actually, by linguistic convention those 9.2 miles are in fact “a few”, but thanks anyway.

I never took any fuel during any of my marathons (PR 2:43, female) and I never felt bonky near the end of a marathon. My stomach just can't handle any fuel shortly before or during a run. Everyone is different, and many people do far better by taking some carbo drinks or gels during the race. But if not fueling seems to work for you, don't worry about it.

I do echo the comment of a previous poster that it's a really long way from 17 to 26.2 miles. Most people can get to 17 OK without fuel but many can't get to 26.2 that way.

KawauchiFTW_ wrote:

Water only!!! Occasionally, I might flush my mouth with Gatorade but spit it out.

I’m curious as to why you spit the Gatorade out. I’m going to run my first full marathon later this month and like the OP I’m worried about fuel.

I’ve been running mountain HM’s for about 10 years. Gels really screw with my stomach, though I drink Gatorade. I’ve tried doing water only when training but my performance suffers. The race I’m doing this month is very similar to what I normally run in terms of start elevation (over 9K ft) and elevation gain and loss (3-4K ft). It’s not hot at that altitude in Sep, but it is dry and the sun is still brutal.

I ran a 22 miler 2 wks ago and I hit the wall at 18 miles, even with Gatorade.

You haven't done a long run long enough to know where you'll run out of fuel. You probably don't have time to do one now with your first marathon in a few weeks, so you'll go into the race not knowing if you need to fuel or not. If you need to, you'll need to take in carbs before you feel like you need to take in carbs. Once you blow up, it's too late. One way or another, you'll find out what you need to know for your second marathon.

I used a combination of long runs and MP runs to figure out that at pace I can only tolerate around 100 calories or 1 gel per hour, split up into two doses. I've done workouts up to 17 miles with a mix of MP and recovery paces with no fuel, no problem. But on 20-mile+ long runs and sustained MP runs, I'll crash if I don't take anything, or if I take too much at once.

You might want to find out what kind of sports drink or gel is provided on the course, if any, and make sure you can at least tolerate a little at MP. If you discover during the race that you do need some fuel, at least you'll know you can tolerate it. Whatever you choose, there's a good chance of blowing up at mile 20, upchucking at mile 26.2, or both.

It doesn't matter who you are, or what your PR is, if you're not fueling during the marathon you are leaving time on the table.

Gatorade upsets my stomach but according to the Alex Hutchinson book Endure there is something to it. Some research that the Gatorade sugars inside your mouth have a positive effect on your performance. Still playing with it... Btw, check out that book, pretty interesting:

Will do, thanks. I’ll play around with options, too. I was amazed what happened to my body around the 18th mile. I’m worried I’ll blow the race over lack of proper fuel.

Half of it is just training the stomach to take in fluid/gel/blocks whatever your preference is. I have knocked out 20 milers just fine with only a water bottle drop half way. With the marathon though you need to make sure your stomach can take everything down just fine, because nutrition is needed (for the most part). I have done all my marathons on just water and powerade available on the course.

I apologize for hijacking the thread but this is of huge interest to me.

I’ve always taken just water or Gatorade and knocked out both official HMs and my own regular 16-milers without an issue. Since I started training for the full marathon, I’ve experimented a bit with gels etc and they make me really sick. I’m thinking of going back to chocolate, which was my endurance mainstay way, way back when I skied competitively in college.

It may seem silly that I didn’t start addressing fuel needs till my first 22-mile run but I run in the wilderness where it is a really bad idea to have food with you.

For a reasonably quick HM (say, under 90 minutes), you'll still have plenty of stored glycogen left at the end. Maybe a gulp of sport drink around mile 8-11 will feel good, but your body won't have time to do anything useful with the carbs. The same person running a marathon, though, is almost certainly going to run out of glycogen even if tapered and carb-loaded. And the last 10K of a marathon is a really bad time to learn how one's body reacts to glycogen depletion.

I find that I can only tolerate 1 gel an hour, and then only if I break it up into half a gel every 30 minutes. If chocolate works for you, there's probably nothing wrong with it. The sugar is what you need, and the other ingredients might help, too. The one problem you might run into is finding a way to store the chocolate during a long run or marathon so it's still edible. Half a bar in a ziploc bag in your shorts pocket could turn into a gooey mess. The one nice thing about gels is that they're easy to carry and ingest, and even a half-consumed opened gel won't leak inside your pocket.

I typically eat grass/leaves that I find on the route and sometimes sip some pond water along the way.

Cheers!

The good news is that it’ll be cold. The race finishes at almost 10.5K ft high and it’ll be mid to high 40s toward the end of the race. Anything in my shorts pocket will be as good as refrigerated.... The other good news is that I live and train in almost identical conditions so the cold and the elevation are par for the course for me.

The bad news is that I will be starving half way through because I’m on track (I hope) to run it in 4:10. Sounds slow, I know, but it’d give me a BQ converted time of 3:23.

I’ll take your advice and start on the chocolate one hour in so I can extract the glycogen out of it in time.

fuel is required wrote:

It doesn't matter who you are, or what your PR is, if you're not fueling during the marathon you are leaving time on the table.

Agree

Andy Dufresne wrote:

fuel is required wrote:

It doesn't matter who you are, or what your PR is, if you're not fueling during the marathon you are leaving time on the table.

Agree

Yes, this thread isn't really a question and isn't really debatable. If you want to run as Fast as possible, you have to practice fueling, adapt to it, and then fuel on Race Day... If you try to fuel the Day of the race and haven't practiced it at all, you'll most likely run SLOWER than having no fuel at all. Just like anything, you have to adapt to fueling mid-run or you'll probably have some issues. It's pretty simple and well-studied... and if everyone is honest with themselves they know this is true...But planning out the logistics of fueling mid-run while training on your own can sometimes be annoying and the first few long-run sessions are usually uncomfortable for your gut. So people don't like it and convince themselves they really don't need to fuel.

With that said, you can obviously still have a solid marathon if you don't fuel, as long as you've trained that way. It's just up to you and what your goals are when deciding on whether or not the improvement in time is worth the effort of properly fueling.

1stmarathonsoon wrote:

Have my first marathon in a few weeks. So far I haven’t taken fuel during any of my long runs and have been totally fine not doing so. I’m curious if anyone has input on whether it’s absolutely essential to fuel. It’s worth noting that weather has been great on these long runs. I also understand that the extra few miles of the actual marathon as opposed to the long runs are a whole different animal. Most recent long run was 17 and right near my goal pace, and I didn’t feel like I really needed fuel. Thoughts? Thanks.

Yes it is essential.... The race starts at 20 miles.