Newport Marathon 2026

Julie crossed the start line of her first marathon with sufficient glycogen stored in her muscles thanks to a structured carb-load the day prior, a carb-rich breakfast a few hours before the race, and a PF 30 Gel in the final 30 minutes. The body’s glycogen stores can only last for ~1.5 hours after starting moderate-hard exercise, so ensuring they are optimised is essential for events exceeding this duration. During the race, Julie maintained a consistent carb intake with a textbook strategy of alternating one PF 30 Gel and one PF 30 Chew every 30 minutes. Through this, she avoided flavour fatigue and although her energy levels dropped slightly towards the end, she was still able to soak in the atmosphere and enjoy the race from the start, right up to the finish.

Spring marathons tend to present the challenge of unpredictable race conditions, and Julie’s race was no exception: Newport in April ended up being warmer than anticipated! She optimised her pre-race hydration by preloading with PH 1500 the night before and morning of the race and then continued to stay on top of her fluid intake during. She averaged ~422ml/h by starting with a NaNml soft flask](https://www.precisionhydration.com/products/soft-collapsible-flask-bottle/) of PH 500 (Tablets) and then transitioning to plain water from aid stations. This intake will have likely replaced a good proportion of Julie’s sweat losses and prevented an excessive decrease in her bodyweight over the ~5 hours and 20 minutes of running. One area to work on for next time, especially if participating in a hotter race, would be her sodium intake. Julie’s Fuel & Hydration Planner results recommended a relative sodium concentration of 500mg/L which she could accomplish with an additional 1-2 Electrolyte Capsules (aiming for one 250mg capsule per 500ml of plain water).

Caffeine can provide performance benefits when dosed to 3-6mg/kg bodyweight, but isn’t necessarily right for every athlete. Beyond a black coffee with breakfast before the race, Julie did not utilise the stimulant in her plan, a wise decision for her as an individual who isn’t used to using caffeine during races. If she did want to experiment with caffeine in the future, she could substitute one or two of her hourly PF 30 Gels with a PF 30 Caffeine Gel to obtain a 100mg dose of caffeine per gel.