Edinburgh Marathon

Nathan had previously struggled to eat anything on the morning of races but recently found that he could tolerate plain porridge. So, he went into his first marathon well fueled following a big bowl of porridge and a top up of carbs from some Carb & Electrolyte Drink Mix and a PF 60 Chew Bar 30 minutes before crossing the start line. During the race, Nathan’s fueling strategy was simple and effective, he took three gels per hour to have a consistent intake throughout the race. This plan did mean that he took on more carbs than we would usually recommend for an event of this intensity and duration but having trained his gut ahead of past triathlons as well as for this race, Nathan knew he could comfortably tolerate this high carb intake.

Edinburgh was uncharacteristically hot on marathon day which increased the need for a well-thought through hydration plan. Preloading is especially important when sweat losses are expected to be high; this involves drinking 500ml of a very strong electrolyte drink such as PH 1500 the night before and morning of the race to increase water retention and boost blood plasma volume. Nathan had 750ml of Carb & Electrolyte Drink Mix (4 scoops) on the morning of the race to create a relative sodium concentration of 1250mg/L, just shy of the recommended 1500mg/L. Adding one Electrolyte Capsule alongside the drink mix in future will better improve his preloading protocol. During the marathon, Nathan avoided the excessive dehydration that affected many of the runners around him. He started with two 500ml soft flasks, one filled with PH 1000 and the other with plain water. He then filled these up at each water station and paired them with an Electrolyte Capsule every 30 minutes. Nathan hasn’t had a Sweat Test but the relative sodium concentration of his drinks was close to the average sweat sodium concentration we’ve seen across thousands of Sweat Tests (991mg/L) so he likely replaced a good proportion of his losses.

Nathan avoided caffeine in his strategy as he hadn’t trained with it. Even though caffeine can provide ergogenic effects, it is not well tolerated by everyone and the decision to use it should be individualised. If he wanted to incorporate it into his plan for a future marathon or endurance race, the recommendations would be to aim for 3-6mg caffeine per kg bodyweight and to practice in training.