• Experienced runner, Martina, produced a fine performance at the Manchester Marathon to set a new personal best time of 3:08:52! As well as producing a new PB, she took the bragging rights home as she beat her partner Jake Lowe by a minute
• In the lead up to the race, Martina and Jake met with the Precision Fuel & Hydration Team to be Sweat Tested and to talk about their respective hydration and fueling strategy for the marathon
• Taking the advice on board, Martina built a well-structured plan which she applied on race day to support her performance

Hydration

• After learning about the benefits of preloading with a strong sodium concentration drink, Martina nailed her pre-race hydration by drinking 500ml/16oz of PH 1500 both the evening before and on the morning of the race
• Martina’s hydration strategy during the race was to pick up plain water at the aid stations. In total, Martina drank ~750ml/24oz by taking two sips of water at each of the first five aid stations, and then more (~150ml/5oz) at the last three stations. This meant Martina consumed an average of ~239ml/hr of fluid over the entire race
• Although we don’t have data on Martina’s sweat rate, she felt that the mild race conditions (9ºC/48ºF) meant that she could rely on drinking to thirst throughout the marathon. This was an appropriate strategy for a race of this length and in these environmental conditions. Martina was also happy with her strategy, rating it a 9 (out of 10)
• Reflecting on the race, the only hydration aspect she would approach differently, was to drink more water earlier on. This is to avoid the feeling of thirst she felt towards the end of the race where she ended up trying to catch up and drink extra at the last three aid stations. Martina mentioned, “had it been hotter, I would have carried Electrolyte Capsules”
• Indeed, Martina didn’t take any sodium with her fluids during the race as she felt that her moderate sweat sodium concentration (she loses 942mg of sodium per litre of sweat) and the mild conditions (therefore not eliciting a high sweat rate) meant that her net sweat sodium losses wouldn’t have been extensive on this occasion
• Whilst Martina did preload appropriately with PH 1500 on the morning of the race, we’d recommend taking on some sodium during an event of this length in future, especially in warmer conditions, to help replace a proportion of her losses, which may have helped her avoid those feelings of thirst she experienced later on

Fueling

Conclusions

• Martina used an effective fueling and hydration plan to help her achieve a PB at the Manchester Marathon, and therefore she rated her race satisfaction a 9 out of 10. With an excellent pre-race nutrition strategy, she started both well-fueled and hydrated
• Martina’s goal is to run a sub 3:05 marathon at the Valencia Marathon later this year. To help her achieve her goal, Martina may wish to increase her carbohydrate intake to push over 60g/hr and she will likely need to be more proactive with her hydration strategy, to including sodium, in the hotter race conditions
• To comfortably tolerate this higher volume of carbohydrate intake but avoid the GI issues she often experiences, Martina will need to train her gut in the lead up to her next race