What’s this? I’m running a marathon this weekend? Oh goodness.
So I guess now is a good time to talk about my {tentative} fueling plan and some other gems learned from Nancy Clark at last week’s sports nutrition workshop. During my last marathon (Philly 2012), I distinctly remember feeling like ass around mile 22 or so. I couldn’t stomach another Gu and my pace dropped dramatically the last four miles. I never stopped running, but it took every ounce of strength to keep going at a pretty slow pace – in other words, I bonked.
3:42:58 and some bonkage
My muscles and brain simply did not have enough fuel to keep going at the pace I wanted them to, and ever since then I’ve been strategizing my race-day fueling plan so that wouldn’t happen again. Here’s what I did for Philly:
Pre-race:
- 1 large banana with 1 packet Justin’s almond butter, 1 Honey Stinger waffle, a few Honey Stinger chews – ~470 kcals, 62g carb
During race:
- Water bottle full of Nuun – no kcals/carbohydrates, some electrolytes
- Mile 7-ish: 1 Gu – 100 kcals, 20g carb
- Mile 16-ish: 1 Gu – 100 kcals, 20g carb
- Mile 18-22-ish: a few gulps of Gatorade and water: ~100 kcals, ~20g carb
- Mile 21-ish: 1 tiny bit of Gu – negligible kcals/carbohydrates
Total taken in during race: ~300 kcals, ~60g carb
I think my pre-race meal was fine given the early start of the race and substantial pasta dinner I had the night before, but as you can see, I fell far short of the “golden rule” of fueling with 30-60 grams of carb for every 45-60 minutes of activity. Nancy Clark also had an interesting suggestion during the workshop, and said that in activities lasting more than 2.5 hours – most of us mortal marathoners – we may need as much as 60-90 grams of carb for every hour of activity. Granted, the higher end of this is more geared towards Ironman or Ultra-marathoners, but it’s good food for thought (heh).
As always, the exact number that will work for you is very individual. Judging from my past experiences, training runs and goals, I am going to shoot for at least 60 grams of carb for every 1.5 hours activity. I’m also going to use Honey Stingers Gels, which have 29g of carb per packet as compared to the 20g in a Gu. Here’s what I’m thinking:
Pre-race - same as above
During race:
- Water bottle full of Nuun - no kcals/carbohydrates, some electrolytes
- Mile 6 – 1 Honey Stinger Gel – 120 kcals, 29g carb
- Mile 12 – 1 Hammer Gel – 80 kcals, 21g carb
- Mile 18 – 1 Honey Stinger Gel – 120 kcals, 29g carb
- Mile 22-24 – Clif Shot Gel – 100 kcals, 24g carb
- Mile ~16-26 – water and sips of Gatorade when my Nuun runs out – ~100 kcals, 20-30g carb
Total planned taken in: ~480 kcals, 120g carb (50-60g carb/1.5 hours provided I stick to goal pace)
I may swap another Honey Stinger gel for the Hammer gel for a little bit more carbs, but also want to be prepared to get sick of flavors/feel nauseous and be able to mix it up. So that’s the plan, and hopefully I can stick to it.
As far as fueling this week, I’ll probably eat similar meals a per usual but starting maybe Wednesday-ish, focus a little bit more on carbs to make sure glycogen stores are close to topped off by race day.
sandwiches – one my favorite forms of carb (speaking of, have you seen this blog?)
Training last week
The taper has definitely set in, and I’ve been feeling a little sluggish and a lot crazy. Here’s the quick and dirty:
Monday – rest
Tuesday – 9.5 miles, 5 x 3:00 minutes at tempo with 3:00 rest, strength (abs, arms)
Bittersweet as this was Betsy and my last workout together before the big day. We banged it out and felt pretty decent, with some taper-induced creaks and pains here and there. A visit to Dr. Levine after work helped work out some kinks.
Wednesday – 7 miles easy, strength (abs, legs)
Thursday – 8 miles easy, strength (abs, arms)
Friday – 3 miles easy, 50 minutes yoga
Saturday – 12.25 miles with 5 miles @ MP
Still felt kind of tired overall when I woke up for this one, but got going and felt pretty good once the legs warmed up. Hit the MP miles right on, and the run was over in what felt like a blink of an eye. Oh, taper.
Sunday – 7 miles easy, strength (abs, legs)
Total: 46.75 miles
It was definitely more of a “ok just get through it” kind of week than anything else, and now we’re really coming into the home stretch. I feel ready but a little scared, and definitely think I need this week to rest up a little bit more, get excited and figure out final plans. Or rest up, stalk Weather.com, convince myself I’ve come down with the plague and/or a stress fracture and freak out when I get winded from walking up stairs. You know, all normal sorts of taper week things.
Tell me: your thoughts on race day fueling? How do you stay sane the last week of taper??