Confluence Running · Nutrition education
Treat fueling as part of marathon training. Build a schedule you have already practiced at race effort.
Evidence → explanation → your plan
During prolonged exercise, carbohydrate intake helps maintain blood glucose and carbohydrate use. Gels, chews, maple syrup, and drink mixes are delivery formats. The serving and tolerated intake matter more than the format alone.
Read the evidence ↗Glucose-type carbohydrate and fructose use different intestinal transport pathways. Blends help support higher carbohydrate intakes in prolonged exercise. Higher numbers still need a trained, comfortable gut.
Read the evidence ↗Use a practiced carbohydrate-loading approach during your taper if appropriate. Eat your rehearsed breakfast, pack your fuel, and confirm course drinks, aid stations, and carrying rules.
Use the race-week and breakfast guide to rehearse your meal timing.
For a marathon lasting more than 2.5–3 hours, trained athletes often build toward 60–90 g carbohydrate per hour. If you currently tolerate less, begin from your training intake and build before race day. Choose mixed carbohydrate sources for higher rates. A high target has no value if you cannot tolerate it.
| Four-hour example | Schedule | Total carbohydrate | Average |
|---|---|---|---|
| A lower practiced amount | One 25 g gel at 15 minutes, then every 30 minutes through 225 minutes. Eight gels. | 200 g | 50 g per hour |
| A higher practiced amount | One 40 g gel on the same eight intake occasions. | 320 g | 80 g per hour |
These are alternative examples. Do not combine them. The 25 g example matches Maurten Gel 100 and the 40 g example matches Gel 160. Replace part of the gel intake with a labeled drink if you prefer. Count all sources together.
Eat and drink in stages as appetite returns. Keep meals available through the day rather than relying on one recovery drink. See recovery nutrition.
Use long runs and marathon-pace sessions to test intake. Rehearse at least one full carrying setup. Plan a missed-gel response using the next comfortable opportunity instead of swallowing multiple gels at once.
Maurten | Gel 100 | Sports NutritionCheck the selected flavor, serving size, caffeine, ingredients, and live availability.
Maurten | Gel 160 | Sports NutritionCheck the selected flavor, serving size, caffeine, ingredients, and live availability.
Tailwind Nutrition | Endurance Fuel | Single Serving PacketCheck the selected flavor, serving size, caffeine, ingredients, and live availability.
Research discusses intake above 90 g per hour in trained athletes. Greater carbohydrate oxidation does not automatically establish a better race result for every athlete. Keep intake above the established starter framework as an advanced, individually supervised experiment rather than a new minimum.
Build from repeated training evidence: the amount consumed, gut comfort, fluid intake, pace, and whether the plan remains practical late in the session.
Source: Morton and colleagues. From Metabolism to Medals. Journal of Nutrition, 2026. Open access, CC BY.
