LOLZLetter 260 | Fuel to Run: Secrets of Effective Nutrition During Your Long Runs
With Olympic Trials Qualifier Mary Denholm
Welcome back,
It was a quiet weekend for me, although some would say running 20 miles was not quiet. I didn't have a great first 20 miler a few weeks ago. While I finished, I did not feel strong, and my last few miles were fading, even though I've been working on fueling! It was likely just a "first 20 miler in a while" thing. But this weekend, I finished strong, and my last two miles were my fastest. I was able to intake over 800 calories of fuel: 4 scoops of GenUcan, 2X160 Maurten Gels, and 2X100 Maurten Gels. I would do all Maurten, except I've realized it's just too sweet, and there is only so much Maurten I can do. I really like UCAN and have done well with it so far.
This week's newsletter is talking to Olympic Trials Qualifier Mary. Mary is a personal friend and the one who inspired this mini newsletter series on nutrition. She has been open about taking 1000+ calories during the marathon and how that has really helped her from not bonking and PRing. I am grateful she had time to share her fueling the week before the Olympic Trials! Enjoy the last of this mini series about fueling!
If you missed the first week with Alissa P or last week with Stevie, check them both out. There is a lot of quality information about fueling.
How many marathons have you completed? 15
What is your PR? 2:36:28 from CIM 2023.
How did you decide you needed to take more fuel? What was your fueling like in the early marathoning days? I used to have a terrible stomach. Back in 2015-2017, when I started marathoning regularly, I would barely take in any fuel and hit the wall/crash, or I would throw up when I did try to take in gels. The reality is that it was my own fault because I never practiced during training and just expected it to come together on race day.
It also caused me to have anxiety about the marathon race for a few years because I felt like something would always go wrong out there. In 2019, I started taking in more gels and drink mixes during training. My training drastically improved (hitting splits & recovering faster & no GI issues during training), and so did my racing into 2020. At CIM 2019 and the Olympic Trials in 2020, I had out on course ~1,000 calories and just shy of 100g of carbs per hour for those races when I look back. Those were the first times I really did it right, but I was not paying attention to carbs per hour yet.
I started doing the research in 2022-2023 and discovered that endurance research was showing that more than 100g of carbs could be tolerated in cycling and ultramarathons, so I decided to train my stomach to do it for the road marathon. Every long run in 2023, I aimed to take in at least 100g of carbs per hour, often up to 120g.
What is your current marathon fueling plan? What about long training runs? Are you changing your fueling strategy for the Olympic Trials?
At CIM 2023, I was able to take in 114.8g per hour. That was really doable for my stomach, and I plan to aim for that range always going forward. Here is my post about that. For the Olympic Trials, it is a different climate, so I have been altering my sodium intake and total fluid intake since it has the potential to be a hot/humid day, but my carbs intake will remain in that 100-120g of carbs range.
How did you train your stomach to take more fuel? What is your advice to someone wanting to take more fuel?
You have to practice this ALL THE TIME. I do every single long run (no exceptions anymore), and I even fuel my mid-week speed workouts too. Two times per week, sometimes three, I am fueling like this during training. Start small and track your carbs per hour and gradually increase each long run you do.
The stomach is a muscle, and it can be trained to do this, but you must prioritize this.
Anything else you want to add? I recently fueled the Houston Half Marathon, fueling similarly but towards the lower end of what I have trained my stomach to do. I truly did not know if it could be done because the half marathon is a significantly harder effort on your system than the road marathon, but I practiced it in training as most of my workouts since CIM have been threshold to VO2 max workouts, so I was confident my stomach could handle it. I managed 100g per hour, slow feeding myself, and ran a 1:14. Here is my post about that.
Thank you, Mary, for your time. We are excited to see what you do this weekend in Orlando. You can follow Mary on Instagram.
What is Keeping Me Entertained?
Vooray Savanna Weekender Duffel Review
361 Degrees Furious Future Shoe Review: These are one of my favorite shoes in a long time. At just $180, this carbon plated shoe performs like many of the more expensive ones. Plus, it's the most similar shoe to the Nike Tempo Next I've found.
Rose Bowl Half Marathon 1:36.58
Exploring Morro Bay and Morro Rock
For Betsy Saina, the U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon Presents a Chance to Represent Her Son: We don't hear a lot about Betsy, but she's definitely in my top 3 pics to make the US Olympic team.
Podcast: Gabi Rooker on Ali on the Run. This was a good one! I've been so curious about Gabi and her gymnastics to 2:24 marathon professional runner story.
I Tried 4 Popular Meal Delivery Services—Which is Best? Most people know, I do love my meal delivery services LOL.