Here's a question, probably with no right answer. In running a

marathon, how much fuel (gels or otherwise) do you consume. How much

fluid? I realize that the latter is especially dependent on the heat

and humidity of the run, but I'm trying to guage how I fare compared to

other marathoners.

Personally, I follow this rough schedule: 1 gel (I use CarBoom) at the

first hour and every half hour after that. 1 Succeed capsule every hour

for electrolytes. At least 2-3 cups of water at every stop. The fuel

schedule is something I determined during training partly as a way to

not feel hungry, but more importantly to keep from going into Ketosis.

Now, I'm not medicine man, but there are times in training runs when

I've tasted something like amonia in my gut. I think

this means I'm consuming muscle and am out of glycogen. But maybe

that's wrong. I do notice that on the above fuel schedule, I don't

taste the amonia taste. But I do wonder if I should front load the fuel

more, building it up for the later stages of the run.

But as far as fluids go, especially in the Frederick Marathon last

weekend, I felt dehydrated all day, and especially in the last half of

the run. There were plenty of water stops, but the cups were very small

and often filled only 1/3 full. I'm guessing these were about 3 oz of

water per cup. So I would drink 2-3 at each stop. But I think maybe I

needed more.

I joined a group of friends to run the Tidal Basin 3K today. It's apparently something the DC Roadrunners put on once a month -- a 3K race around the tidal basin in DC. The weather was great, though perhaps a little warm and humid. It started raining harder later, but held off for this sprint. It was sort of like interval training without the intervals.

I had never done anything like this before. Short and sweet, full-on the whole way. I was dogging the heals of the fastest of our little group for most of the run, but as we came past the last bridge and into the final stretch, the wind hit hard and I started flagging. I managed to post a finish time of 14:51 -- about an 8/mile lung-clearing, muscle rending pace (not too shabby for a turtle).

But it was just plain fun. In the slog of distance training, with all the fluids and gels and gear, this was easy. I'll definately do this again.

Thanks to the DC Roadrunners for hosting it.