How many gels do you take in a Marathon?
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Atropos posted 14 weeks ago.
Depends on your personal preferences and what your body can handle. I find I get stomach problems if I take in too many cheap sugars, so at a marathon I did earlier this year I think I had three altogether, and didn't take my first until 20km or so. It worked for me (no cramps or anything) but what works for you will take experimentation.
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jhudalla posted 14 weeks ago.
I take about a half of 1 packet every water stop. I use a little gel flask which holds about 6 gels, I have a friend switch out at or near the half way point. So, I'll use about 10-12. It's perfect, it keeps my electrolytes and sugar levels stable. I swear by this method.
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beads1985 posted 14 weeks ago.
I have a couple of gels, a couple of shot bloks, gatorade, and whatever food they offer on the course, bananas oranges, pretzels, whatever.. ;-)
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Anton posted 13 weeks ago.
I graze whatever looks good.
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dr_rios_ec posted 13 weeks ago.
I think there is no magic number of how many gels or equivalent is correct for a marathon distance event.
As the rest of the guys said, it will depend primary on how your stomach can handle the concentrated sugar and lytes that come on each gel.
Some people, lets say like, Lance Arstrong I read that will have one gel every 15 or 20 min, or even more, and nothing happens with his stomach.
Some other people instead might get huge cramps, diarrea, nausea and vomiting, by taking too many and too often.
So the best advice, experiment on your training runs; also very important, you might need to try diferent brands, until you find the one that your body can handle the best, with or without caffeine, and so on....
My personal number, 4 or 5 during a Marathon distance....plus Gatorade....
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Just wondering how many gels (or equivalents) other runners consume in the span of 42km. I read Lance Armstrong took in 15 gels during this run.