Tim Doran
London Marathon
LondonOther, M40-44Tim's headline numbers
Tim's strategy
Fueling
T - 1-4hrs: Ate a carb rich meal (Low in fat & fibre)
T - 15mins: Took in a final dose of carb
"My energy levels felt perfect throughout the race, and I think the only reason I ran as well as I did was down to the gels."
Over the course of the race,Tim fueled consistently to reach the top end of the marathon carbohydrate recommendations, solely from the regiment strategy of taking a PF 30 Gel every 20 minutes and experienced no GI issues in doing so.. Being a shorter race with a higher relative intensity, Tim did well to implement a strategy that achieved over ~20g/h higher than his intake at Race to the Stones earlier in the year.
Hydration
Taking on board an appropriate amount of fluid and sodium is essential to maintaining blood volume and supporting the cardiovascular effort needed to perform on race day.
Whilst the absolute amount of sodium and fluid consumed per hour is important, it’s critical to consider these in relation to each other. This is known as 'relative sodium concentration' and it’s expressed in milligrams per litre (mg/L). How much sodium you’re taking in per litre of fluid is more important than the absolute amount taken in per hour.
T - 60mins: Drank ~500ml of strong electrolyte drink
"I think I drank enough because I didn't get thirsty and I know that if I pushed harder in the race I could have adjusted what I was drinking accordingly. "
Tim drank a sufficient amount of fluid to ensure he replaced a large proportion of his sweat losses, neither excessively under or overdoing his fluid intake, across the under three hour marathon, supported by the fact he peed once. Despite pre-loading before the race with PH 1500, Tim did not consume any sodium during the race and could benefit from introducing sodium into his strategy going forward, conditions where accumulating a deficit can be of greater detriment to performance, for example by carrying some Electrolyte Capsules a common strategy to get sodium on board in our marathon case studies.
Caffeine
Beyond the Three Levers of Performance (carb, sodium and fluid), caffeine is one of only a few substances that is proven to improve performance for most endurance athletes as it can help stave off mental and physical fatigue.
Consuming caffeine in the hours before the start may have increased perceived energy levels
Similarly to Race to the Stones, Tim didn’t consume any caffeine during the race. We would recommend him to trial using the stimulant during his training to work out if it works for him as indivdual athletes respond differently to it, he can use it in his strategy to compliment his fueling and lower his perception of effort and the effects of fatigue.
How Tim hit his numbers
Here's everything that Tim ate and drank on the day...
Final thoughts
“For once everything went to plan. I knew lots of runners yesterday and some I beat that I really shouldn’t have, given the little amount of training I had done.”
“Despite not having the lead up he would have wanted, Tim was able to put in a solid race and finish in a time of 2 hours 51 minutes with the support of his consistent fueling. He held back in the first half but picked the pace up in the second half (he ran a 5-minute negative split!) and stuck consistently to his fueling plan to finish strongly.”
PF&HTim's full stats
Data Confidence
We rate each of our case studies from 1-5 based on the level of accuracy, and our confidence in the data.
There is good confidence in the accuracy of the data reported. An athlete feels that the numbers closely reflect what they consumed despite a couple of estimations which may carry some degree of error. The majority of what was consumed is recorded to a high level of specificity (most volumes are known through the use of bottles brands quantities flavours). The numbers are very plausible and align with previous data recordings (if an athlete has collected data previously).