quote:<HR>Originally posted by lauraaura:
Hi,

I

Thanks for any advice anyone can give me. I want to train with the Gu on my long runs to get used to it.

TIA,
Laurie<HR>

You already have the most important part down. Whatever you want to do on race day, practice that in training. Everybody is different. I only plan to take 2 gels on race day. I will take water with my gels but Gatorade at the other aid stations. Anecdotally, I think most people take 3 or 4 gels, but I don't think I need that much.

Southern Man



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We're on a road to nowhere. Come on along.

How do you carry them?

Somebody sent me this energy gel calculator link a while ago:

http://www.carbboom.com/education/marathon_calc.php[/URL" target="_blank">

You enter your weight and your desired pace and then it calculates when you should take a gel. Note it's not an exact science, but at least it's a good first guess of what might work for you.

I just put in my numbers from the last marathon I ran, and it actually gave me the same gel schedule as what I used when I ran it. One thing you could try is if you have a half-marathon to 30k tune-up race, you could try the gels then. Sometimes your stomach's tolerance for gels goes down as your effort level goes up, so what worked for an easy long run might not go down as well during a race.

I disagree about caffeine being unethical. It is not a banned substance and is no longer against the rules as far as the USATF and IAAF are concerned, I think. Everybody can take it if they so wish. The only caveat is that once you start taking the gels with caffeine, your timing has to be right so you don't suffer a crash when the caffeine starts to wear off.

I have tried the safety pins but fumble around a bit when you're running hard trying to rip the things off. I have one pair of "raceready?" shorts that have the little mesh pockets in back prefer that solution.

I too have settled on miles 6, 12, 18, 22 as the perfect times for me, but as people have said, everyone is different.

Once you figure out they settle okay with you, running your long runs with water only will train your body to be more efficient utilizing fat and preserving glycogen. When you use the gels race day, they'll give you even more of a boost-- that's been my experience anyway.

My preference is to do gatorade at the water stops that are not gel ones, and water at 6, 12, 18, 22 with the gels. I've also found that if I jam it down in one big gulp right as I'm coming to the water station it doesn't work so well. Check your pace and about 30 sec to 1 min. before you expect to hit the stop open it up and take the gel in small squeezes, finishing hopefully just before the stop. Water to wash out the mouth and mix with it in your stomach and you're cruising out of there without the risk of not getting some down, leaving a bunch in mouth without water to wash it down, etc.

Again, these are preferences, try them on your runs and see what works for you.

I have struggled with safety pins too, as I carry 5 gu packs and my shorts aren't that big. Anyone tried duct tape?

One strategy that seemed to work for me was taking 6 cliff shots at my last marathon. I ate one before the start, which I had not planned on and one every 30 minutes until the 2:30 mark.

The race took me over 3:35, which was about 15 minutes above my goal.

I had practiced eating the cliff shots on at least three long runs and noticed no problems taking them. By the way, I ate the strwberry flavor which contains caffeine, which I'm comfortable with.

Race Ready shorts are able to hold 6 or 7 shots.

A company called RaceReady (www.raceready.com) makes a pair of shorts that have a series of mesh pockets across the back. Perfect for carrying Gu/Gels.