Just like with anything, you need to test gels while training. I wouldn't take anything someone just handed to me without knowing how it will affect me. I tend to take a sip of water before gel consumption then another sip after. Some gels go down better than others and I'd say that has the most to do with it.

I was reading an artcle on marathon training. The article took a letter from a marathon runner who described his training then explained that he was not happy with the results. Then the author went on to describe the mistakes the marathon runner made during his training. My question is from Mistake #5 on the use of gels. Anyone an expert or have knowledge on how much water to mix with a gel? Or is this a load of garbage?


http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/marathon-running-common-mistakes-to-avoid-in-your-marathon-training-plan-148


Mistake no. 5
Using gels during the marathon itself. This is very tricky business, since exactly the right amount of water must be taken in with each packet of gel. Take in too much water - and you end up with a hypotonic sports drink in your gullet which delivers too few carbs to your leg muscles. Take in too little water - and you concoct a syrupy goo within your intestines which actually drags in water from surrounding tissues and spurs diarrhoea. Pour sports drink down your throat along with the gel, and you might as well begin scouting around for a Portaloo.

Proper strategy: it is possible to use gels during the race, but you'd better have a sports-drink expert or exercise physiologist calculate your water intake for you. It's far easier to simply use sports drink throughout the race (remember never to mix sports drink with water), a practice which will increase your chances of avoiding GI upsets and delivering enough carbohydrate to your muscles.

I would disregard most of what's written in "Mistake no. 5".

There's no magic to taking gels. Gels are designed to make it easy to refuel.

Science tells us that we should ingest about 60 gm CHO per hour. Some runners take in more (Ritz apparently takes in 90 gm/hr) but, per Noakes, Fitzgerald, and Anderson, 60 is a good working number.

If you decide to create your own gel, things can get interesting because different types of carbs are digested at different rates so you'll see that gels have varying amounts of the different types of carbs (mono-, di-, oligo-, and polysaccharides). The tricky sugar is monosaccharides (glucose) which requires a fair amount of water to get into the bloodstream. It's the fastest to digest but you've got to take water on or the whole process slows down.

Researchers have found that a combination of sugars it the best approach because the body can ingest different sugars simultaneously.

There's zero reason to carry a "sports drink" - you can get the same amount of active ingredient in a gel and you can control your own dilution level.

The authors I've mentioned above have written books that touch on this subject but the best quick read I've seen about this is at energygelcentral.com. Spend a few minute reviewing the pages on the site and it should clear up most issues on the topic.

You could also roam around runnersconnect.net. They have put out a series of emails over the last few months that are superb.

BTW, I make my own gel using the mix available at energygelcentral.com.

@OP - I amost read that is the author is mixing gel and water in a bottle for use during the race. Don't do that.

@Doug - There are more gels out there than just GU and they are all different. I would recommend getting a couple of different types and trying them. There are also blocks, jelly beans, waffle....

I do gel with water in a gel flask a lot. Never had an issue with it; it lets me spread it out a little more, allows me to carry less stuff and grab sports drinks at aid stops instead of having to do water + sports drink at some to get the gel down.

What I did for my marathon was one gel every 40-45 minutes with water from my water belt. That way I didn't have to worry about timing them with water stations. As of how much water, I don't know really... One good sip! Then, I took one sip of water at every water station. It worked very well for me. No hitting the wall, no stomach ache, no GI issues.... In training long run I was taking gels every x miles and I had issues... They were all resolved when I switch to time vs distance.

Oh gosh! This is stressing me out! I've gotten into some bad habits with all my stroller running. Sometimes I do weird things like eat half a hamburger on my run home (my daughter eats the other half). What if no one hands me a hamburger during my marathon and all I get is a stupid gel? That's not even food, just chemicals!