Gu - does it really help? (Read 295 times)

Just curious if Gu really helps in a marathon??

Never really take Gu unless they pass it out at a race somewhere but this weekend in a race I kind of started watching and so many of the runners have Gu all set.   One guy had 6  GU's neatly lined up under his compression shorts for quick access, and other people had quite a few stored in various locations so they could take it during the marathon.

I guess I don't really believe in all this stuff but never really though about it much but was curious about what some of you think and if there are really any benefits to taking Gu in longer races or training run (like marathons)...

It's just easy to digest calories. If you're trying to run fast enough over a long enough distance that glycogen depletion is a limiting factor, then they help. If not, they dont.

I take GUs in marathons, just in case, I don't really know if they helped me or not, I don't really feel any surge of energy, at least they don't hurt, but I hate having sticky fingers.

I take the Powerbar brand gels since I find I digest them better and I actually kind of like the taste. Although, I've been thinking of shopping around for something else.  I feel like it takes a while for me to feel any impact, so I always laugh when I see a gel stop at mile 21-26 of a marathon...at least w/r/t faster runners.  If you're doing well without them then you can experiment a bit in training and slowly introduce.  It makes sense that they would help and there's data that suggests they do on aggregate, but that's no replacement for your own personal experience with your own body.  They're not cheap, either!

 

I do firmly believe they are a small factor compared to pre-marathon nutrition.  Nutrition-wise, I feel like that's where I've either given myself an edge or fallen down for all my marathons.

Yeah, I don't get why they don't provide them much earlier.

So, what magic do you recommend for the pre-race nutrition?

I don't know if it really helps, but in my mind it does.  So I have Gus because i think they help.  I will have one before a long race (half marathon or longer) about ten minutes before the race starts.  In a marathon I will have one at about mile nine (about an hour into the race) and again at mile 14 and mile 19 (about every 35 or 40 minutes).  I will bring a fourth one with me to have at about mile 22 if I am feeling real bonked but I rarely will have one then.  There was a marathon when I forgot to have any (except before the start) and I didn't notice any difference in that race, so it may be mostly just in my head but I think they help.

 

I got serious about planning and tracking my carb intake down to gram (as best I could) for the 4-5 days before, using the general recommendations for my weight.  I referred to various coaches and training books I like for the guidance, although they generally fall in the same sort of range.  It was a bit of a pain in the butt - I'm not normally a calorie/carb counter, even when I'm being really serious about my training - but if nothing else it made me feel more in control.  I also tended to eat more and eat healthier when I tracked/planned things...meaning before I was probably eating too little and too junky.  I also track fiber to make sure I'm giving myself major...uh...GI issues.  Specifically, I'm pretty utilitarian and eat a lot of rice.  Easy to digest, high carb, and cheap.  And then enough fruits/veggies to feel good but not get too much fiber.

I don't think I could do that, even for just five days. I do try to eat sensibly for a few days prior to a marathon.

 

I've run about a dozen marathons/ultras and my prerace nutrition has went from the extremes of light healthy carbs to ribs and beer to a whole super yummy large pizza the night before a 50. Honestly, I can't say I've attributed anything good or bad to "day before" activities for fuel.

 

What has made the most impact is months of training or lack thereof and how well I've watched what I've ate the month before, not the day before.

 

Then again, you never know what actually worked. You just know what you did and did not do and all those micro factors somehow equaled your performance.

Me too!

Although I can't be bothered to dig out the references right now, there are plenty of studies which demonstrate that carbohydrate ingestion can improve performance during bouts of exercise to exhaustion. Similarly, in bouts of exercise of ~2h or more there has been notable performance improvement. The boost can be two-fold: when the sugar hits the tastebuds and your brain's like "oh fuck yeah, we've hit the jackpot" and then secondly when the sugars are digested and can get to the working muscles.

I'm running my first marathon in a couple weeks and my 'nutrition' plan involves eating as much low-fiber carbohydrate as I can in the 24h beforehand (think pasta, cakes and all that lovely shit), a caffeinated drink the morning of (~150-200mg caffeine) then some combination of Clif Shotz, isotonic sports drinks and gels based on how my stomach is doing through the race. I plan to start taking carbs on pretty early (~10k) as there's going to be a significant lag between ingestion and it making to the muscles. If I'm fucked by 20/21/22M then I've overreached and no gel is going to get me back on track.