Forums >Racing>Four steps to perfect marathon fueling
Go Pre!
For myself, I make sure that I have enough fuel to start the marathon, and take a gel packet every 30 or 40 minutes. I stop after about 2 hours and 20 minutes or so as I won't have enough time to process anything else anyway. I also take plenty of water as I go. Since I started doing this, I stopped hitting the wall.
https://twitter.com/BeachesRunner
Imminent Catastrophe
... How much you need to take in is highly dependant on your pace. If you're running at a relaxed and easy pace with a goal of simply finishing, you probably don't need to take on any calories--at those paces you're burning carbs to fat in about a 50/50 ratio and you have plenty of fuel stored to run well over 26 miles. The problem is that, for most of us, marathon race pace burns glycogen at a much faster clip than easy running so if we don't take in some sugar on the run, we'll bonk. This is exacerbated by the fact that going out just a tiny bit faster than race pace burns glycogen even faster and significantly reduces our fuel window. This is why aiming for a positive split and trying to "put some time in the bank" is usually a really bad idea.
"Able to function despite imminent catastrophe"
"To obtain the air that angels breathe you must come to Tahoe"--Mark Twain
"The most common question from potential entrants is 'I do not know if I can do this' to which I usually answer, 'that's the whole point'.--Paul Charteris, Tarawera Ultramarathon RD.
√ Javelina Jundred Jalloween 2015
Cruel Jewel 50 mile May 2016
Western States 100 June 2016