Your body uses two primary sources of fuel to feed the muscles when you’re running – fat and carbohydrates.įat is a largely abundant resource, but is broken down into usable energy slowly, making it an ineffective fuel source when running anything faster than about 60-70% of your VO2max (roughly equivalent to your a erobic threshold or marathon pace). Your body needs a lot of energy to run a marathon The problem these days is not in finding a glycogen delivery product, but rather in finding the best energy gel for you and then developing a strategic nutrition strategy to make sure you take in enough energy on race day.

Luckily, our understanding of sports nutrition (specifically how glycogen is used during the marathon) has improved to the point that we now have an unlimited number of products to choose from, each designed to speed glycogen to our working muscles. You probably know by now that we like to think of ourselves as Boston marathon central, so we loved that story. It wasn’t long ago that runners relied solely on water, sports drinks, and maybe some flat cola as their primary carbohydrate supplement during marathons and half marathons.ĭick Beardsley told us about how he would grab a cup from a spectator in a marathon, look to see if it “looked” clean, and if so, drink it…and this is someone who almost won the Boston Marathon and was the feature of Duel in the Sun, one of the greatest Boston marathon finishes of all time. Why is it Important to Take in Energy Gels During a Race? Today, we’re going to outline exactly how energy gels and other carbohydrate supplements work, which will help you understand exactly when and how often you should be taking them to help you find the best energy gel for you. The marathon brings many of those experiences to each and every one of us, but we are told that if we use energy gels, running will be much less miserable, and we will feel better in those final few miles of a race.

60 minutes sugar story