Forums >Racing>What to eat during a marathon?
No Talent Drips
Any suggestions would be great.
Good energy "food" here:
Dei Gratia
I did all my training without any gu or gatorade. During the marathon, I accepted one gu that was handed to me. I wasn't really able to eat it normally, but squeezed a teaspoon at a time into my mouth and let it dissolve. I don't really think it was necessary. I accepted orange slices gratefully, however.
That's how I always have to eat my gels - small amounts at a time, . I have a hard time getting them down if I don't take them a tiny bit at a time. I do pretty well doing this, then just drinking after I have finished it - in a race I know when the water stops are coming and plan accordingly.
I have done chews in the past, but find that the gels are just easier to carry with me, particularly for the actual race.
I haven't taken any gels during a HM in quite a while at this point, though I took probably a gel's worth of GU chomps on my first HM (for which I was very minimally trained). I will take cups of Gatorade here and there if they sound good when I am passing the water stop - I have started taking the approach that if Gatorade sounds better than water at that particular moment, it's not going to hurt and it could help, but if it doesn't sound good I know I don't need it so I don't stress.
I usually don't bother with anything for long runs unless I'm doing 18-20 miles, in which case I will bring a couple of gels with me. And I am not a speed demon - 20 mile long runs take me 3:20-3:25, so I basically would be ready for my next meal after that amount of time whether I'd been running or not - I just don't notice that I'm hungry when I'm running.
My wildly inconsistent PRs:
5k: 24:36 (10/20/12)
10k: 52:01 (4/28/12)
HM: 1:50:09 (10/27/12)
Marathon: 4:19:11 (10/2/2011)
Walk-Jogger
I don't use gu on training runs less than 16 miles, but I will take one or two during a half marathon. I tried different flavors and for some reason, I prefer the expresso or caramel. At least I can take swallow them. I've also used Cliff Shot Blocks. They can be easier to take because they aren't gooey, but they can be chewy; the cranberry/raspberry is kind of tasty. Try experimenting a bit, but make sure that you are comfortable with your selection before the race -- you don't want to use anything for your race that you haven't already used in training a few times. Now, if someone could come up with mini packets of nutella.....
I don't use gu on training runs less than 16 miles, but I will take one or two during a half marathon. I tried different flavors and for some reason, I prefer the expresso or caramel. At least I can take swallow them. I've also used Cliff Shot Blocks. They can be easier to take because they aren't gooey, but they can be chewy; the cranberry/raspberry is kind of tasty. Try experimenting a bit, but make sure that you are comfortable with your selection before the race -- you don't want to use anything for your race that you haven't already used in training a few times.
Now, if someone could come up with mini packets of nutella.....
Something like this?
Retired & Loving It
Half Fanatic 12680
Yeah, that looks great! I wonder if gu is really any better. Gu has no fat and more potassium and vitamins than Nutella but the sugar and protein levels are similar. Of course, there is no risk of me finishing off all my packets of gu before mile 10.