Houston Marathon

Pre-race Fueling: Despite feeling well-energised on race day, Devon’s pre-race nutrition could be optimised. The day before, caught up in social activities, she didn’t begin eating until around 2pm - far from ideal for an effective carb-load strategy. After discussing with Sports Scientist Tash post-race, her plan for future events should be to spread her carbohydrate intake more evenly over the 1-2 days prior. This will ensure she is toeing the startline with maximised glycogen stores. The same principle applies to her race-morning intake. While most athletes benefit from a high-carb meal to maximise glycogen stores, Devon understands her unique digestive limits. For her, a small, targeted carb dose, such as a PF 30 Chew and a PF 30 Caffeine Gel was sufficient to get her to the start line feeling prepared and ready to fuel effectively during the race.

Race Fueling: Devon executed a simple fueling strategy to sustain her energy levels and performance. She remained entirely self-sufficient, carrying all of her own gels, and consistently taking ~30 grams of carb every 20 minutes - comfortably surpassing the recommended carbohydrate guidelines for a marathon. Looking ahead, her longer, race-specific training sessions should focus on refining her carb-loading and race-morning nutrition. This will not only optimise her energy availability but also build confidence in her ability to fuel effectively before races.

Given the intensity and duration of a marathon, hydration can be challenging and often, athletes can be more flexible with their intake. Without access to elite aid stations, amateur runners must rely on race-provided cups of water and sports drinks, alongside their own provisions which they have to carry from the start. In the cold conditions, Devon felt her sweat rate was low and drank a very small amount as a result. Given this, it’s likely she would have benefitted from a slightly lower relative sodium concentration by increasing her fluid intake with more cups of water, or reducing the number of electrolyte capsules she takes. This is because as Devon began sweating, the sodium concentration in her blood plasma will have actually increased as fluid is drawn out for sweating purposes. Taking a very high concentration during the marathon, therefore, can actually exacerbate her perception of thirst and requirement for fluids to balance things out. For future races, carrying a small soft flask of fluid, perhaps with some electrolytes in to sip on throughout could help reduce the risk of dehydration or over-salting, whilst preventing her surpassing the dehydration threshold of 2-4% body mass loss.

Devon’s caffeine intake aligned with the recommended guidelines to maximise its ergogenic benefits. Since she experienced no adverse effects, we wouldn’t recommend adjusting this aspect of her strategy.