anyone NOT hit the wall during marathon? (Read 7529 times)

AP, sounds like you are just experiencing the typical late marathon exhaustion that should be expected.  That is not a glycogen bonk.

And to spaniel's point, the amount of mileage your glycogen can fuel depends on how much glycogen you have stored and your running effort.  Run too hard or store too little in the days before the marathon and you may not have enough to get you halfway.  The key is to run the razor's edge of effort that you can sustain, maybe with some on-course calories to get you through.  But the gu won't help you one lick if you run too hard, are inadequately trained or have poor prerace nutrition.

Depends on the flavor.

Or flavour, if you are running in the old world.

 

Wow. I have taken one gu several times, and no gu several times. I think one time I had one and a half, as my high so far. I've never tried more. Might make the last miles more enjoyable -- but then again, it might just make them a bit faster and no more enjoyable. I've never come close to the bonking descriptions you guys give, as far as I can remember. But I get very fatigued in the last miles, and it feels plenty painful -- and I lose interest in messing with liquids. solids, or clothing at all. (I will say that the memory of the pain at the end fades quickly for me -- as spaniel once predicted to me.)

I typically carry 4 Gus pinned inside my shorts.  I take one at 5, 10, 15, and the last is saved for WTSHTF.  Sometimes this has been 17, sometimes 22.  Each time they're good to feel better for about a mile, and help get through some rough spots.

No matter what I do, even when I hold pace, the last 4-5 miles has ALWAYS been an exercise in using my mind and will to push past extreme fatigue and muscle pain.  The difference between fatigue and a bonk is that willpower can get you through fatigue; with a true bonk, it will simply put you on the ground to DNF.