# Fueling Strategy for Best Marathon Results

**Channel:** Run Smarter with Brodie Sharpe | Physio
**Source:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xFJ0DlDVn8
**Transcript page:** https://www.withtranscript.ai/video/7xFJ0DlDVn8

## Chapters

- 0:00 — Why Marathon Fueling Went Wrong
- 0:41 — Training the Gut Before Race Day
- 2:41 — Practicing Carbs During Long Runs
- 5:11 — Building a Marathon Hydration Plan
- 9:34 — Preventing Race Day GI Issues

## Transcript

**[0:00]:** the unfortunate thing about a marathon is you can execute the perfect training plan and completely derail on race day with a bad fueling strategy this happened to me in 2015 during my first marathon my training was narrowly focused on the running side of things and not the fueling which resulted in me hitting the wall at 25 kilometers and adding over 20 minutes to my marathon time so join me as I go back in time to 2015 four months before my first marathon as I learned what I should have done leading up to the race not only to get back those 20 minutes but to eat away at a whole lot more see what I did

**[0:41]:** there you're probably wondering why we're traveling four months before race day if we're talking about a race day nutrition strategy well for step one 2015 Brody needs to train his gut to tolerate more food before running this is because like most Runners my running days would normally start early in the morning and I'd either run fastered or with a very light snack honestly I probably did this just to be on the safe side because I didn't want to run the risk of an upset stomach mid-run but my thinking should have been the complete opposite but this might surprise you but you can actually train your gut to run with more food in your stomach then come the morning of the marathon you're trained to start with a tank full of fuel which will give you the best setup when you hit the start line to achieve this I have the perfect plan for 2015 Brody

**[1:38]:** step one is to drink one glass of fruit juice 20 minutes before each run I got this idea from dietitian Stephanie nachek who I interviewed on the Run smarter podcast this step is for people who can't even tolerate any amount of food before running but is a step in the right direction once I could tolerate fruit juices for one week I would then step it up with Blended smoothies this is a little bit thicker and a little bit more nutrient dense again I would try this for one week and see what my tolerance is if I wasn't responding well I'd reduced the volume of the meal and spend a little bit more time at this stage here are my next stages which I would work on throughout the coming months I would go from a smoothie then I would add a piece of bread then reduce the Smoothie volume and add a piece of fruit

**[2:29]:** then add a spread to my bread and finally I would add a muesli bar of choice so now I'm preparing my fuel tank to be full at the start line the next task is to train my gut to

**[2:41]:** tolerate carbs mid-race this was one of my biggest mistakes in my first marathon I'd never tried a rice gel before and I decided to try my first one on race day and I found it in my race pack I decided to pull it out and give it a try and it backfired instantly I put in a mouthful of this gel and I was so sticky I couldn't breathe as I was trying to digest it and I just threw it out anyway so Not only was my fuel tank a bit empty at the start line but I couldn't get in any fuel throughout the race can you see why I hit the wall at 25 kilometers so 2015 Brody needs to add another task to his race preparation and that is to keep topping up his fuel tank mid race so months before the race during a weekend long run 2015 Brody needs to have a

**[3:30]:** quarter of a gel every 45 to 60 minutes and once he can tolerate this he would increase it to half a gel and progress in this manner until he could tolerate an entire carb gel pack so come Race Day 2015 Brody now has an iron stomach and it can keep his fuel tank topped up throughout the race this brings me to a really important point which involves the timing of your gels throughout the race often Runners decide to take their carb gels towards the back half of their race when they're experiencing a dip in energy levels this strategy doesn't work for two reasons firstly if you're already experiencing a crash in energy levels you're leaving your carb intake way too late second if you start experiencing fatigue more blood flow is directed towards your muscles and away from your internal organs in other words if you consume fuel at this stage not only is your

**[4:28]:** gut struggling to digest it to use it as a fuel source but it just sits in your gut and leads to a lot of gastrointestinal sickness also known as GI issues and this can completely derail your running plans so a good plan for most is to consume around about 30 to 60 grams of carbs every hour during the marathon despite your energy levels you might also want to try halving the amount of carbs and consuming it every 30 minutes rather than every 60 Minutes especially if the first approach causes that stomach distress okay by now 2015 Brody has trained his gut to consume more food before the Run tolerate more food during the run and

**[5:11]:** is now conscious to consume the energy regularly throughout the race the runners can actually do quite well building up this tolerance and building up a resilient gut during the training and still have GI issues on race day there's a specific reason for this which I'll get to at the end but before I get to that 2015 Brody needs to cover another important element and that is his hydration strategy up until this point we're focused on consuming food as a fuel source for energy and keeping that fuel tank full but as you know during the race you also need to replenish a lot of your lost fluids this will help regulate your body temperature keep your blood volumes high and help transport important nutrients throughout the body to do this correctly 2015 Brody needs to investigate how much sweat he loses per hour this is because everyone has a different sweat rate and in addition will

**[6:11]:** be influenced by factors such as Fitness levels you're running speed the race elevation temperature and humidity so the 2015 Brody his task is quite simple first weigh himself immediately before a run next go for a run and when he comes back remove all clothing dry himself off and calculate the difference in weight if he takes any fluids throughout the Run he'd factored this into the equation he would repeat this process several times over different runs of different intensities durations temperatures and after a while a pattern will start to emerge on his average weight loss and therefore his average sweat loss here are the sweat loss results and as you can see I have a fairly low sweat rate which is somewhere between 0.4 and 0.5 liters per hour we count this as low because moderate sweat rates can be anywhere between 0.7 and 1.8 liters per hour in an Ideal World I'd want to mimic

**[7:15]:** race day conditions such as the temperature the humidity the time of day of the race and the intensity but this is just a Rough Guide to get started if you want an extra level of accuracy you can also organize a sweat test which doesn't calculate your sweat loss but instead your concentration within your sweat seems strange but not only do people have different sweat rates but they also have different sweat concentration levels in other words some people lose more sodium within their sweat and they need to be more Vigilant when consuming electrolyte drinks and not just replacing their sweat loss with plain old water I actually had this sweat test done a few years ago and the sweat test just analyzes a small amount of sweat on your skin so you don't need to do any vigorous exercise testing and it turns out I actually am quite a salty sweater and lose 1269 grams of

**[8:10]:** sodium per liter of sweat so with this combined knowledge of my sweat rate and my sweat concentration 2015 Brody can now create a fluid replacement strategy for example if I'm losing 50 mL of sweat per hour this also means I'll be losing roughly 600 grams of sodium contained within my sweat so replacing this same concentration of fluid will keep my body's concentration levels in Balance lastly when it comes to a hydration strategy there's been some recent and exciting research coming out looking at better ways to stay hydrated products such as this rehydrate the body more effectively because it contains a Prebiotic called resistant starch essentially when taken 10 hours before competition this solution will help resist digestion and allows more efficient water absorption in the gut essentially you're holding onto more water for longer and research shows you stay hydrated and can increase your performance so take this prior to a race and you don't

**[9:19]:** need to do anything else to stick to your normal hydration strategy mid-race and just reap the rewards okay I'm about to get to my bonus tip on race day GI issues but let's recap right now 2015 Brody has

**[9:34]:** the right fueling strategy at the start line and throughout the race he also has the correct fluid replacement strategy to keep the body cool and Performing optimally but like I said earlier these preparation steps can be executed without an issue in training and GI issues can still manifest on race day and this is due to anxieties psychological stress and nerves this is because if you're nervous on race day your gut really struggles to digest food so if this is happening to you calming your nerves with some breathing exercises and meditation and other cognitive behavior strategies will ensure that all bases are covered good luck with your marathon and let me know if you found this video helpful