And needless to say, thank fuck science is here to help us out.
Hansen and colleagues (2014) recruited runners competing in the 2013 Copenhagen marathon – Once they were on board, they were split into two group and given two different fueling strategies;

𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗽 𝗔) 𝗙𝘂𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗱 – ‘Freely chosen nutrition strategy’.

𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗽 𝗕) 𝗙𝘂𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝘀𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰 – They consumed a combination of energy gels and water throughout the event. In total, their intake per hour was; 750mL water, a 60 g maltodextrin/glucose mixture, 0.06 g sodium, and 0.09 g caffeine.

Following the backed by science strategy, Group B improved their Marathon performance time by 10:55 minutes on average, equating to a 4.7% faster time that the ‘do what you want’ group.

TEN MINUTES AND FIFTY FIVE SECONDS BETTER!

Interestingly, Group A consumed roughly the same amount of water, but half the amount of carbs. Refuting the fact that carbs are still king…

Since carbohydrate availability is crucial for longer events, this approach makes sense. Sustain a steady supply of carbohydrates throughout and you’ll maintain your running speed and work capacity.

As with many nutrition strategies, the dose is very important. However, more is not more as too many carbs per hour can send you straight to ‘poop town’ as you’ll begin to saturate the carb transporters in your gut….therefore have pretty horrible gut issues.

I appreciate that the GNR is half the distance, but you’ll still knock a decent chunk off your time by fueling correctly…and this is why science is so important for athletes, because we can drive performance very easily without having to do all the extra work in training.

Just think, how much harder and longer would training become to run a marathon 5-10 mins quicker? A long f#cking time my friend.

𝗽.𝘀. 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘇𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗹𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗹 𝗯𝗼𝘅 𝘁𝗼𝗼…