What Should I Eat on My Long Run?

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What Should I Eat on My Long Run?

The short answer is 30-60g of carbs per hour.

When I was training for my first marathon I kept bonking on long runs.

I was frustrated as I thought I was training properly but I really struggled to keep running beyond 2 hours.

I was not fuelling my runs properly and I was depleting the glycogen in my muscles and the glucose in my blood.

This is the fuel that my muscles burned to keep me moving, but I wasn’t topping up the fuel tank.

We need to fuel any run longer than an hour with 30-60g of carbohydrates per hour. This is the equivalent of 2-3 gels per hour.

However, I found that gels made me nauseous and we too expensive for training. 

So I tried dried fruit like dates, but they were too bulky and sticky.

I tried gummies, but they were a pain to get out of the packet.

Eventually, I landed on a DIY gel that combined 4 parts maple syrup with 2 parts coffee.

Now I fuel all of my long runs. For shorter high-intensity workouts I just use Gatorade and that works fine. For the long run, I use my DIY gel and aim for 60g of carbs per hour.

So I don’t have any trouble with bonking on my long runs these days.

If you’re having trouble with bonking on your long runs, we can help you optimize your training, fuelling and hydration strategy. Just click the button below to book a free call.