Snowdonia Marathon

Daniel fueled his marathon well, and had no gastrointestinal (GI) discomfort despite taking in a relatively high amount of carbs. ‘Blood shunting’ is often the cause of GI discomfort – this is when blood supply for working muscles is prioritised but diverted away from ‘non-essential’ organs. The fact that Daniel felt fine during this race suggests his previous gut training has paid off. That said, as the current scientific literature and Daniel’s subjective feedback suggests, he does have some room to increase his intake (closer to the Fuel & Hydration Planner’s suggestion of 90g/h) which may help both his perceived energy levels and physical performance.

Daniel was only running for two and a half hours, and the temperature was fairly cool for this race, meaning his sweat rate was fairly low. Because of this, he was able to drink very little per hour and still cross the finish line before accumulating enough dehydration to negatively impact his performance. While this is a similar story for his electrolyte intake, we would still suggest taking some sodium alongside his fluid for events of this duration, due to sodium’s positive impact on fluid retention and to limit changes in fluid balance. This would be especially important to include if he takes part in races with warmer conditions in the future.

Daniel took four PF 30 Caffeine Gels during this race which resulted in a mid-race intake of ~400mg. Based on his bodyweight, this puts him at the upper end of the general scientific recommendations, meaning he’d have made the most out of the ergogenic effects associated with caffeine.