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RE: Marathon Post #12 #runforsteem
I feel I'm having an optimal preparation, but that's because I give myself time to get used to the distances. 4 hours should be a realistic target, but I'm not going to force anything upon myself especially since it's going to be the first run.
Keep an eye on the food during the run too. In my opinion, this is a very important aspect.
My experience is that you should not eat too late, because then you may already be exhausted and burden yourself additionally. But too early is not good either.
It is best to try it out in the training runs, even if you might not need it there.
This is the recommendation in general so that you can be sure that you can tolerate the things from the stomach.
If you don't want to take power-gel, then I can tell you some alternatives that worked quite well for me.
Thar's great advice thanks! At the moment I always run without eating, but I'll test that as well. I am currently testing power gels, but I'm open for other options. I like the fact that they're small to carry, especially if I should have about 5/6 with me on the day of the run. What can you recommend?
In fact, Power-Gel is the simplest option in terms of packaging, energy content and composition.
If you want to approach it a little less "industrially" you can also try natural energy sources:
We use e.g. honey sticks, 8 grams of honey in an aluminium package. Dried dates are also very energetic and have a good performance-enhancing effect. Bananas are often available at the food stalls, so you don't have to carry them with you.
Small portions of salt, which are then sprinkled into the drinks in the second half of the race, invigorate the body and help in the absorption of fluids. Salt is also available as tablets (Here they are called "Schwedentabletten").
As I said, the power gels contain a quite good mix (different kinds of sugar plus salt, some electrolytes).
However, we like it a bit more natural and have had good experience with it.
If you want to make your own power gel from natural ingredients, here are a few recipes (Sorry, only german language): https://www.bevegt.de/energiegel-selbstgemacht/
I must say that after my run from Sunday, PowerGel have convinced me for the time being. At the 10km mark I took one and maybe it was psychological, but I really felt that it was giving me an almost instantaneous boost.
German is not a problem for me, I live near Zürich and speak German with my wife, I'll have a look at your home-made option, but I must admit that I'm really liking the benefit of the PowerGels as they're small and easy to carry, however I still want to test them on a longer distance as so far I've only take 1 during a run, but I have no idea whether I'll feel the effects when I take a second. Maybe I'll have to consider using something else to interchange them. That way I might notice the effect better. All considerations I'll look into in my future/longer runs.