Fueling During Race
I completed my first marathon on Sunday in Denver. If I could have done anything different it would have been fueling earlier and more frequent along with carb loading starting 2 or 3 days before. My longest run during training was 18-mile. Did plenty of 13, 15, and 18 mile runs where fueling is important but not as critical. From what I read, at the 18 mile mark you've exhausted all local glycogen and will hit a wall if you haven't nailed down fueling.
There is a lot of discussion on reddit around fueling, gels, etc. However, during the race, I didn't really notice anyone using gels or stopping to fuel. Once, I saw a Maurten gel thrown on the ground near a water stations - that was it. outside of mile 6 and 20 aid stations. At mile 6 and 20 they were giving out Honey Stinger (which was popular) but think they ran out actually for mile 20 (or I just missed it). They had plenty of Gatorade Endurance but that seemed watered down and was maybe one or two ounces in a cup.
So even if you had 2 oz of Gatorade (at each stop) + 2 of the stingers that might be maybe 300 or 350 calories and way less than what is recommended.
During the first 6 miles or so of the Colfax Marathon everyone is on a narrow path along the Cherry Creek Trail. It would be very hard to stop and fuel on this section. If I had seen other runners all stop and fuel that would have been a great social cue. So reminder to know the course and plan ahead with where there is space/room to fuel.
I started fueling at mile 7 but that was really too late. Keep in mind this race started a 6:00 AM and so getting a big breakfast or carb in beforehand was also hard. Everyone rushing to the start line and dealing with parking.
Question - Are other racers fueling more? I was with the 9m/mile pace ... maybe with the faster crowd they know to fuel.
So anyways ... this is a reminder to fuel. Listen to the reddit community here and fuel! Don't look to the other amateur runners around you.