fuel/electrolytes for marathon training

Pinkranger626 · July 2015

Hi everyone!
So my official marathon training has begun (it's still relatively low mileage for at least another few weeks) and I have started looking into fueling and such for when I get into the higher mileage runs as well as trying to plan for race day and figure out what will work best for me.

I've run 5 half marathons and have only had to use minimal amounts of fueling for those, so I'm a bit overwhelmed with the amount of information and products out there. For my half marathons I've used shot blox and had enjoyed those. I was planning on continuing to use those for the marathon, although I have bought a couple Gu packs to test and see if I like those better.

My main concern is electrolyte replacement. I'm running the Disney marathon so I know humidity is usually an issue there. For the Disney princess half this past winter I had run with my fuel belt full of a homemade electrolyte drink that I had trained with and had gotten from a sports nutritionist. The drink had worked for the weather up north, but didn't hold up where I needed it to for Florida humidity. I very much dislike the lemon lime gatorade that they use at the races so i was thinking I would just carry my own supply through the race.

I've heard of salt pills, as I don't like salty things, I was thinking this may be a solution to get the salt that I need without the need to taste salty things while I'm running. So if anyone can let me know what their experience with salt pills was like that would be helpful.

I guess my last question would also be, how much should I carry with me? I know they will have water stations along the course. I currently have a fuel belt that holds 40 oz of water. I also have a geigrig that holds 2 L in the bladder. I would prefer not to run with the backpack. Real life suggestions and feedback would be helpful since just reading product labels makes everything sounds pretty awesome. Thanks in advance!

dougii · July 2015

Currently in the middle of a marathon training plan myself. I am a fan of Gu - particularly the Espresso which is high in caffeine (of course I am a coffee drinker so am used to caffeine) but most all of them work for me. I use one Gu about every 1.5 hours of running which is about double the time that they suggest but it works well for me. I carry either 16, 14, or 32 ozs of Power Aid Zero on my long runs depending on the amount of time I will be out and whether I will be swinging back past my house (in which case I leave fluid in the mailbox). I can get grape, mixed berry, and red berry flavors all of which I find to be okay and they replace some of what you are losing as you sweat. I would think that 40 oz in your fuel belt of some form of electrolyte drink should be plenty if you also drink water at the stations. Can't speak to the salt tablets as I have never tried them. Enjoy your training and marathon!

cheshirecatastrophe · July 2015

Run nutrition is a *really* personal thing, and the absolute best thing you can do for yourself is start experimenting as soon as possible so you can get something figured out that works for you. Online stuff is mostly in bulk; I'd check at your local running store (or sports store if that's the best you have) for individual gels/salt tabs or possibly even samples behind the counter.

What seems to work best for *me* is water and Hammer Gel (at least up to marathon distance--from what I understand, beyond that all bets are off). It's a smidge runnier than Gu, which my stomach seems to like better. I haven't noticed a difference in caffeine vs decaf flavors--I generally get a 20-30 sec/mi speed spike from either if I'm not careful to keep it in check. But again, that's *me*. I guess there is some potassium and sodium in the Hammer gel. Honestly I'm not too concerned about that.

I use a hydration pack (Camelbak Marathoner) on longer training runs, but would really really prefer not to have water weighing me down in a race if at all possible.

fishgutzy · July 2015

Good luck. I'll never be able to run a marathon but I have done the equivalent of the Olympic marathon swim in a pool. 10km.

blazincajun · July 2015

Hey workout girl, Congrats on your marathon training. I to started into my marathon training plan using Daniel's Running Formula. Start the first couple of miles as a warm up and ease into your marathon pace. I usually consume a Gu in the first 15 minutes then two more spaced according to time that I wish to finish. Continue to fuel and rotate water with gatorade or some other drink at the aid stations. Hopefully, if it is cool you won't have to hydrate so much.

SBRRepeat · July 2015

So much of this comes down to personal preference, so you're going to have to experiment quite a bit over the next couple of months.
As long as you drink plain water at the aid stations, you should be fine with the fuel belt. You could also nix the belt and carry solid fuel with electrolytes in combination with water. You may like the salted caramel Gu if worried about salt. It's the only one I can stomach. I personally use huma gels, bonk breaker and picky bars, and snickers and coke in long races/runs/rides.
If you have trouble with the gels and solid food (test them more than once!) and want to carry liquid you may like Tailwind. It's pretty well balanced and calorie dense so you can use it on its own. Plus, it dissolves quickly, so you could carry extra in case you need to mix it with aid station water. And it's not super sugary. Also, my brother swears by Infinit. I hate it, though, so, just give a few a try, you'll know pretty quickly if something isn't working.

Salt tabs are probably unnecessary, but if you're a heavy sweater or a really salty one (like, covered in salt crystals at the end of the run) you could try using them. Finding a good drink or gel will likely eliminate the need for them in a marathon, though.

SBRRepeat · July 2015

One more thing- don't try to over hydrate in the days before the race. A lot of people who develop hyponatremia in endurance races actually depleted their electrolytes in the days leading up to the race by trying to drink extra (too much) water. Stick with your normal hydration habits leading up to race day.

RCnFinntastic · July 2015

Very exciting! I ran the Dopey this year at Disney - if you're running in January it's the same weekend. So much fun! As other's have said, it's really about personal preference. use your training runs to figure out what works for you, what you can stomach etc.
Personally, I've done 4 marathons now, and I didn't run any with a water belt - just did a bit of research before and relied on the aid stations. At Disney - there were plenty and there is almost zero risk of them running out of water... it's Disney... they know how to do events. I tend to drink straight water until post 30km... then I seem to not taste as much and will knock back some medicinal Gatorade if it's hot and I'm sweating. I usually carry some Hammer gels (raspberry are the only ones I've found I can tolerate the taste of... they have raspberry puree in them so I find the texture is less offensive). If you're doing the gels - Gatorade or extra salt likely isn't required.
Since I've run a few marathons, and I was running Disney with a friend doing her first (who's a bit slower than me) I wasn't much of a stickler about nutrition - it's such a fun race, with lots of places to stop - awesome aid stations and medical stations with everything you could need and more. I think there are a few stops with bananas or oranges... maybe some pretzels... I certainly didn't feel deprived or hungry on course! It took us a while, but we had a lot fun. Wasn't too hot this year either.

lporter229 · July 2015

I agree that fueling is a highly personal preference. I generally just eat Welch's fruit chews because I have digestive issues, so I am no help in that regard. I do try to fuel every 5-6 miles though. As far as electrolyte replacement, have you tried the NUUN tablets? You can get them in the grocery store. I have not tried them for running, but I bought some to help with hydration at an all day music fest and they really weren't bad. Different, but not bad. They kind of taste like a mildly flavored, slightly salty water. Good luck with your training!!

jacksonpt · July 2015

My suggestion - keep using what you've been using, just use more of it.

I use the same product (drinks, gels, etc) regardless of the race distance, I just use more of it (and start eating/drinking sooner) during longer races.

IMO, no sense making it more complicated than it has to be.

jacksonpt · July 2015

SBRRepeat wrote: »

One more thing- don't try to over hydrate in the days before the race. A lot of people who develop hyponatremia in endurance races actually depleted their electrolytes in the days leading up to the race by trying to drink extra (too much) water. Stick with your normal hydration habits leading up to race day.

Been there. It's no bueno.

thepetiterunner · July 2015

As other people have stated, it's different for everyone and nothing will replace simple trial and error. I've run two marathons and I'm doing a third this December, and each race has been slightly different.

For me, I like to eat the Honey Stinger energy chews (pomegranate, cherry and fruit punch are SO tasty). These seem less chemical to me than some of the other and most importantly, they don't make me feel like I want to throw up (as was the case with most other energy chews I found at my local running store). I've also tried real food such as tortillas (worked great for my first marathon but you get tired of those damn things after 18 miles or so), pretzels, m&ms, gummies, etc. I just found the Honey Stingers to be tasty, give me no GI issues and are much easier to pack than a handful of tortillas.

As far as the salt caplets, I use S-Caps. I don't have any issues with these at all. The trick is to take them with plenty of water, or at least for me, that works. It helped enormously and I don't end my races covered in a thin film of white crystals anymore (gross).

I also like to drink Nuun electrolyte drink. It's my favorite electrolyte replacement drink because it's slightly fizzy and it's not too sweet (I tend to have issues with things being too sweet).

Anyway, that's my experience. Good luck with training and have a wonderful race!

Pinkranger626 · July 2015

Thanks for all the replies!

I've tried Nuun and it makes me feel like I'm going to throw up. Normally, I am not a salty sweater, but I do tend to sweat a lot. When i ran Disney Princess this year I was salty when I finished which made me worry about having to pay more attention to electrolytes than I usually do.

I also don't like the idea of eating anything when I'm working out... but that may just be in my head. I have a hard time with salty things, I don't cook with a lot of salt and if there's a lot of salt in something I tend to refuse to eat it which is why I was wondering if the salt pills would maybe be a better idea for me. From what I gather you just swallow them like any other pill, right?

I'm thinking for race day, maybe just packing the gels and gatorade in my fuel belt and relying on the water stations for water. If I were to do that, how would you suggest I train once I get up in miles? Can I buy additonal bottles for my fuel belt? I tend to do an out and back route

cheshirecatastrophe · July 2015

What fuel belt do you have / how many bottles does it have? The only one I'm personally familiar with that you can add components (including bottles) is the Amphipod one. But honestly, as long as your belt has two bottles, or you have a hydration pack with a reservoir in the back and room for a bottle in the front, you're good to go. You won't drink nearly as much in training as you will during the race. Just have one bottle for water, and one bottle for whatever sports drink you're going to race with.

That's the setup I used last summer, when I was using a 2-bottle hydration belt instead of the Camelbak. Worked great.

I don't like eating while I work out, either, but that goes...badly when pushing past 17 or so miles for me. It's actually gotten a little better now that I'm practicing it every week. One thing that helps me is to eat half a gel at a time instead of the whole gel. (I'll just hold it in my hand for five or so minutes in between.) That's a big improvement over the past, when even a single ShotBlox would totally brick my stomach!

UltraRunnerGale · July 2015

A lot of the ultra runners are switching to Tailwind. Supposedly you don't need extra electrolytes or even food, if you can consume 24 ounces per hour. I can't do that, even as slow as I go. Most of us use Endurolyte capsules by Hammer Nutrition. Two per hour and you're golden!

dawnna76 · July 2015

again, its all personal but what worked for me was not over hydrating the days before. breakfast of a banana and peanut butter toast the morning of. on course i used every water station available and alternated between water and gatoraid at each station. I used a gu every 45-60 minutes and had a cliff bar I brought with me at mile 21. I only ended up using a small amount of the gatoraid i carried with me in my fuel belt which worked out great cause i wanted it after i finished.

Pinkranger626 · July 2015

My fuel belt has four 10oz water bottles on it. It's from Nathan, I got it at Dick's. I wouldn't be opposed to buying a better one with less bottles and more liquid capability. The funny thing is I've done OCRs that took me 5-7 hours to complete and I just brought my geigrig and shot blox and granola bars etc. Didn't panic at all. I guess since this is a totally new challenge for me and there is so much information out there that I'm overthinking everything

gdyment · July 2015

Are you shooting to race it or just to complete it? Totally different plans. I seem to stick to 100 cal of gel every 45 min (with water) and then alternate gator/whatever they have between which is probably 50-75 cal. Heat doesn't change the plan much - just a bit more gator and a bit slower pace. You have no choice.

Pinkranger626 · July 2015

I don't ever set a time goal for races since it messes with me mentally. I guess my goal is to finish in an upright position and not be too miserable, although I would like to keep my pace around what i do for my half marathons (10:30-11:30 per mile)

jacksonpt · July 2015

Personally, I can't imagine carrying around 40oz of water/fluid with me when running.

You say you don't like the gatorade they'll have on course - is that because of the flavor or...? If it's flavor, maybe you can deal with it to make things easier? Besides, everything tastes better when you're running on fumes.

kristinegift · July 2015

Fueling is very personal, as others have said. The last 2 marathons I've run, I've carried a 20 oz bottle of water with me as well as 4-5 Power Bar Gels (strawberry banana w/ caffeine). My most recent marathon that I ran in May, my parents met me at mile 11 with a bottle filled with Osmo hydration mix, and I drank that as well as at plain water at water stops, and I had far less cramping than in my first marathon. Still fine tuning the mid-run fuel for my next marathon this November. It's a process

If you're a salty sweater, look into the salt pills. Those might be a great way to replenish sodium without dealing with sport drinks, salty snacks, etc. But carrying 40 oz seems like a lot of extra weight. Maybe take half that and then stop at water stops -- that's what part of your entry fee is paying for anyway!

My recommendation: use the summer and fall to try various gels, chews, etc. and water amounts, hydration mixes, etc. Use the time before January to figure out what works best for you.

fuel/electrolytes for marathon training

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