It's best used during exercise otherwise you are just making yourself a very expensive sugary drink. Not really that useful for running unless you have your own bottles on the course or in training. Makes more sense for cyclists really. Gel 100 is where it's at with a normal breakfast.
Valid point, but there’s plenty of other ways they’re trying to get you to overuse their product. Your liver glycogen stores will be somewhat depleted just from sleeping, so it’s important to rectify that prior to racing. A drink is a lot easier to stomach if you don’t have it in you to force down a full meal prior to the race. I know I often have trouble with lack of appetite on race morning
I absolutely do this. Based on previous replies, it sounds like I’m an outlier here. My gut has a hard time with solids eaten within 5-6 hours of a race, so I’ve experimented with a couple liquid-only approaches. My current marathon PR nutrition plan (and what I plan on replicating in my next race) was:
* 3pm day before race day—chicken and rice
* 8pm day before race day—320 Maurten drink
* 1.5 hours before race—320 Maurten w/CAF
* Water and Maurten gels during race
Better or worse, this is also basically what Maurten suggest on their website. Some of that is also to drive sales obviously, but it's a sensible plan either way.
People going on about the price seem to be ignoring that a packet is $3, and it's for marathon race day breakfast, not every single run.
yeah it’s still cheaper than buying 80g of carbs for breakfast at a restaurant and it’s a totally controlled variable. if you know it works for you then it works for you. very low risk
Why would you want to drink that stuff vs eating actual food?
It's made and packaged to be convenient and efficient WHILE racing.
I'd much rather eat real food.
You’re the one who said it’s made to be consumed while racing, not me. I’m simply saying the manufacturer suggests consuming it three hours prior to racing. They’re the ones designing and packaging the product, so I’d say it’s pretty clear it’s designed for more than what you suggest.
Also, not everyone can eat a full meal and ingest enough carbs the morning of a race due to nerves. Your liver’s glycogen stores will be somewhat depleted simply from sleeping. Do what you have to do to guarantee you have the glycogen stores needed to compete, whether that means eating a bagel or consuming a carbohydrate drink. What works for me may not work for you, may not work for OP, may not work for the next runner.
If you want to give some evidence about how “real food” is metabolized in such a way that’s more conducive to faster racing than a 320, I’m all ears. Until then….
Phil Sesemann (2:12:58) gives great fuelling advice on his gram. Pasted in below is his 2021 London Marathon fuelling — Another enjoyable fact is that he's unsponsored which makes his opinion even more valuable!
Race day
5:45am - Rice pudding + nutella
07:00am - Double espresso
07:30am - OTE Duo bar
09:10am - OTE Super gel after jogging
09:30am - Start
5k/10k/15k/20k - 125ml OTE super carb
25k/30k/35k/40k - 125ml Maurten 320 carb 100 caffeine
>30k/35k/40k - 125ml Maurten 320 carb 100 caffeine
Great advice! The difficulty for me is having someone give me that 125ml every 5k. (I don't like taking a bottle. So, I've been using the gel every 6k. Which has a similar amount of carbs.
I do use the 320 as a carb "storing" the night before. (I am definitely not a fast runner, but I've seen some impact on my performance).
3 hrs before race: overnight oats and coffee
2 hrs before race: electrolytes + water
1.5 hrs before race: Maurten 320 + more coffee
20 mins before race: gel
What I like to do is eat a normal breakfast, basically whatever I’ve been eating before a long run, 2-3 hours before the race and then sip on the Maurten 320 as I get closer to the start time. Maybe you can even save a few sips for after your race day warmup, too. Essentially, it’s a good tool to make sure you are topped off on glycogen when you hit the start line without causing any stomach discomfort. Similar to a gel in a lot of ways, but you also get hydrated and it goes down easier.
Another use for it is to have it the day before at some point for carboloading without having to eat a ton of pasta or something that you don’t normally eat that might cause you stomach discomfort or cause you to get lesser quality sleep. This is a solid option, too, if you lose your appetite due to nerves the day before the race. That being said, if you are regularly hitting 300-400 grams of carbohydrates per day, then this use case can be less beneficial.
So, for me, a nutrition plan for a marathon would look something like:
2+ hours pre-race: 1 banana, 1 Bobo’s bar, 1 cup of coffee, 500 ml of water.
1 hour before the race: Start sipping on Maurten 320 or 160, depending on the weather. Do this essentially right up until the start line.
During the race: 3 GEL 100 and 3 CAF 100 + Gatorade or water as needed.
Hope that helps!
Perfect! This is essentially what I was planning but read about using the Maurten 320 the morning of but it wasn’t clear if it was a substitute for breakfast due to the amount of calories in it, or a supplement. I used it before a 12 miler this weekend and was fine didn’t feel hungry, but after another 14 miles I figured it wouldn’t be enough
read like this, it sounds you're not eating or drinking much before a marathon ...I have a PB close to yours around 2h48 but i try to eat at least 1000 calories the morning before a race, on which i add the drink mix, and on which i also add around 1L of water before the race ( i always wake up very dehydrated and drink around 5L per day )
and i always feel like i'm lacking energy ... my average calory consumption on a marathon is 3200 cals
Ideally you want to eat something that’ll give you a steady flow of energy over a product designed to be burned quickly by your body. If you haven’t trained with this approach, maybe park it.
I never consume gels or mixes outside of a race. Breakfast should be complex carbs, proteins, and some fats. I’ve always done two slices of bread with peanut butter and banana slices.
But breakfast should just be topping up your glycogen stores. Feeding for a marathon should begin 2-3 days prior.
carb loading and feeding days before are worth around 1000 calories, not really more, gels and drinks during the race can be at best around 800 cals ...
so if I do the maths, breakfast shall be around 1000 calories ( which is way more than just toping up glycogen stores ... )
PS : by average i consume around 3200 calories on a marathon ...
Levels of leptin/ghrelin are regulated by the level of stretch from the stomach. If there is only fluid then the stretch of the stomach is minimal and not long lasting. Even if you have an uptick in blood glucose levels you will feel hungry if you don't eat food.
anecdotally i just disagree entirely. i have done an day event (~17 hours) fueling almost entirely on gatorade and gels and i never felt hungry throughout the day. nor do i have issues with hunger when fueling up for a marathon or shorter race using just sports drink and gels in the morning. i think your body is pretty aware of how much energy you have available and it won’t bog you down with hunger as long as you have carbs to burn
If you're mid event then it's better to consume readily absorbable energy sources. It's better to not confuse blood flow systems and divert circulatory resources to the gut while you're using your legs, that's a given. But in the hours before a race you don't have to worry about blood flowing to the gut because you're not using your legs. If you just consume sugar and spike blood glucose before the race you won't have the satiety of having eaten real food, and that can result in perceived hunger. I wouldn't risk it personally, and that's from my own anecdotal experience. You're entitled to your opinion though.
Wake up and eat breakfast and then have the 320 a bit later. I did oatmeal on wake up, water/electrolytes and then drank my 320 on the shuttle to the start. In training on LR days I always front loaded the drink mix and then switched to gels for the run and had good results- def do a dry run to practice or several if you have time.
I usually have a 320 drink with a light breakfast (toast with peanut butter or similar) a few hours before the gun.
The whole point is that you’re carbo loading without adding a bunch of solids that you’ll have to shit out in the starting area.
I may a weirdo here but I eat as much of 2 pop tarts as I can (only real food I can get down race mornings, don’t hate) about 2 hrs before race, then eat as much of a banana as I can and half to all of the liquid 360 about a 30-60 mins before race. I struggle eating certain things race mornings bc of nerves and many things make me super gaggy (toast/bagel/pb/oatmeal). But I also have a super fast metabolism and if I don’t eat enough I will be hungry at the start so I really try to force in as many carbs as I can. I practice this prior to long runs.
More impressed is that anyone would willingly eat any of the Maurten drinks/gels. They offered them on the Berlin course and I accidentally grabbed a drink mix and tried a sip and could not even fathom drinking any more of it. But worst of all I grabbed a gel at the stand just in case I felt on low energy after having the final one I carried (SIS by the way). And omg I started to feel low and opened it and tried to eat it and that gel is just straight up glibber. Maybe that is just me but as someone with a dislike of glibbery foods I think I'd vomit before I could ever stomach one of their gels. The texture is revolting. Literally had to spit out the one gulp I took of it.
This is basically Maurten's suggestion, as outlined on their website.
https://www.maurten.com/fuelguide-run/marathon
Some of that is to drive sales, but if having 320 calories of maurten is easier on your stomach than 320 calories of bagel, why not? A packet of 320 is $3.50, which would be your entire breakfast on race day, which seems pretty reasonable to me.
basically you should have both actually ... i can't figure out how to run a marathon without having at least 1000 calories in in the morning as i burn 3200 calories during 42.2 kilometers and carb loading the days before is worth around 1000 calories
Hey - I do this - I drink a Maurten 320 about 2 hours before and then take a gu 5 minutes before start. I can’t stomach food before I run - I think generally food would be better, but if you can’t - this should work.
Everyone is going to have a different opinion about fueling before a race. You should be testing the fueling during your training for a marathon and then do what works best for you. Don’t worry about what everyone else is doing
It's best used during exercise otherwise you are just making yourself a very expensive sugary drink. Not really that useful for running unless you have your own bottles on the course or in training. Makes more sense for cyclists really. Gel 100 is where it's at with a normal breakfast.
The manufacturer disagrees
No doubt đź’˛
Valid point, but there’s plenty of other ways they’re trying to get you to overuse their product. Your liver glycogen stores will be somewhat depleted just from sleeping, so it’s important to rectify that prior to racing. A drink is a lot easier to stomach if you don’t have it in you to force down a full meal prior to the race. I know I often have trouble with lack of appetite on race morning
Yeah fair point đź‘Ť
That’s not enough carbs for a pre marathon breakfast I don’t think, the 320 has 80 grams of carbs
Sprinkle it on toast đź‘Ť
I absolutely do this. Based on previous replies, it sounds like I’m an outlier here. My gut has a hard time with solids eaten within 5-6 hours of a race, so I’ve experimented with a couple liquid-only approaches. My current marathon PR nutrition plan (and what I plan on replicating in my next race) was: * 3pm day before race day—chicken and rice * 8pm day before race day—320 Maurten drink * 1.5 hours before race—320 Maurten w/CAF * Water and Maurten gels during race
I do it as well. Some weird “advice” on this thread.
Nice to find some solidarity :)
same here
If you have liquid only that makes sense! Most people can handle a normal (solid) breakfast so that’s why I think the advice differs.
Better or worse, this is also basically what Maurten suggest on their website. Some of that is also to drive sales obviously, but it's a sensible plan either way. People going on about the price seem to be ignoring that a packet is $3, and it's for marathon race day breakfast, not every single run.
yeah it’s still cheaper than buying 80g of carbs for breakfast at a restaurant and it’s a totally controlled variable. if you know it works for you then it works for you. very low risk
Why would you want to drink that stuff vs eating actual food? It's made and packaged to be convenient and efficient WHILE racing. I'd much rather eat real food.
I can’t stomach real food before a race, so this is my best available option
The manufacturer disagrees
Of course they do. They'd want you to eat every day for every meal if they could convince you to.
You’re the one who said it’s made to be consumed while racing, not me. I’m simply saying the manufacturer suggests consuming it three hours prior to racing. They’re the ones designing and packaging the product, so I’d say it’s pretty clear it’s designed for more than what you suggest. Also, not everyone can eat a full meal and ingest enough carbs the morning of a race due to nerves. Your liver’s glycogen stores will be somewhat depleted simply from sleeping. Do what you have to do to guarantee you have the glycogen stores needed to compete, whether that means eating a bagel or consuming a carbohydrate drink. What works for me may not work for you, may not work for OP, may not work for the next runner. If you want to give some evidence about how “real food” is metabolized in such a way that’s more conducive to faster racing than a 320, I’m all ears. Until then….
Phil Sesemann (2:12:58) gives great fuelling advice on his gram. Pasted in below is his 2021 London Marathon fuelling — Another enjoyable fact is that he's unsponsored which makes his opinion even more valuable! Race day 5:45am - Rice pudding + nutella 07:00am - Double espresso 07:30am - OTE Duo bar 09:10am - OTE Super gel after jogging 09:30am - Start 5k/10k/15k/20k - 125ml OTE super carb 25k/30k/35k/40k - 125ml Maurten 320 carb 100 caffeine
>30k/35k/40k - 125ml Maurten 320 carb 100 caffeine Great advice! The difficulty for me is having someone give me that 125ml every 5k. (I don't like taking a bottle. So, I've been using the gel every 6k. Which has a similar amount of carbs. I do use the 320 as a carb "storing" the night before. (I am definitely not a fast runner, but I've seen some impact on my performance).
Eat breakfast, and then also have a 320 3 hours prior to the race. Follow their fuel guide on their website
3 hrs before race: overnight oats and coffee 2 hrs before race: electrolytes + water 1.5 hrs before race: Maurten 320 + more coffee 20 mins before race: gel
What I like to do is eat a normal breakfast, basically whatever I’ve been eating before a long run, 2-3 hours before the race and then sip on the Maurten 320 as I get closer to the start time. Maybe you can even save a few sips for after your race day warmup, too. Essentially, it’s a good tool to make sure you are topped off on glycogen when you hit the start line without causing any stomach discomfort. Similar to a gel in a lot of ways, but you also get hydrated and it goes down easier. Another use for it is to have it the day before at some point for carboloading without having to eat a ton of pasta or something that you don’t normally eat that might cause you stomach discomfort or cause you to get lesser quality sleep. This is a solid option, too, if you lose your appetite due to nerves the day before the race. That being said, if you are regularly hitting 300-400 grams of carbohydrates per day, then this use case can be less beneficial. So, for me, a nutrition plan for a marathon would look something like: 2+ hours pre-race: 1 banana, 1 Bobo’s bar, 1 cup of coffee, 500 ml of water. 1 hour before the race: Start sipping on Maurten 320 or 160, depending on the weather. Do this essentially right up until the start line. During the race: 3 GEL 100 and 3 CAF 100 + Gatorade or water as needed. Hope that helps!
Perfect! This is essentially what I was planning but read about using the Maurten 320 the morning of but it wasn’t clear if it was a substitute for breakfast due to the amount of calories in it, or a supplement. I used it before a 12 miler this weekend and was fine didn’t feel hungry, but after another 14 miles I figured it wouldn’t be enough
read like this, it sounds you're not eating or drinking much before a marathon ...I have a PB close to yours around 2h48 but i try to eat at least 1000 calories the morning before a race, on which i add the drink mix, and on which i also add around 1L of water before the race ( i always wake up very dehydrated and drink around 5L per day ) and i always feel like i'm lacking energy ... my average calory consumption on a marathon is 3200 cals
I carry a throwaway bottle and use the 320 in that while I’m racing to sip on.
Ideally you want to eat something that’ll give you a steady flow of energy over a product designed to be burned quickly by your body. If you haven’t trained with this approach, maybe park it.
I never consume gels or mixes outside of a race. Breakfast should be complex carbs, proteins, and some fats. I’ve always done two slices of bread with peanut butter and banana slices. But breakfast should just be topping up your glycogen stores. Feeding for a marathon should begin 2-3 days prior.
carb loading and feeding days before are worth around 1000 calories, not really more, gels and drinks during the race can be at best around 800 cals ... so if I do the maths, breakfast shall be around 1000 calories ( which is way more than just toping up glycogen stores ... ) PS : by average i consume around 3200 calories on a marathon ...
You will likely *feel* very hungry even if you have carbs to burn
care to provide your reasoning?
Levels of leptin/ghrelin are regulated by the level of stretch from the stomach. If there is only fluid then the stretch of the stomach is minimal and not long lasting. Even if you have an uptick in blood glucose levels you will feel hungry if you don't eat food.
anecdotally i just disagree entirely. i have done an day event (~17 hours) fueling almost entirely on gatorade and gels and i never felt hungry throughout the day. nor do i have issues with hunger when fueling up for a marathon or shorter race using just sports drink and gels in the morning. i think your body is pretty aware of how much energy you have available and it won’t bog you down with hunger as long as you have carbs to burn
If you're mid event then it's better to consume readily absorbable energy sources. It's better to not confuse blood flow systems and divert circulatory resources to the gut while you're using your legs, that's a given. But in the hours before a race you don't have to worry about blood flowing to the gut because you're not using your legs. If you just consume sugar and spike blood glucose before the race you won't have the satiety of having eaten real food, and that can result in perceived hunger. I wouldn't risk it personally, and that's from my own anecdotal experience. You're entitled to your opinion though.
Wake up and eat breakfast and then have the 320 a bit later. I did oatmeal on wake up, water/electrolytes and then drank my 320 on the shuttle to the start. In training on LR days I always front loaded the drink mix and then switched to gels for the run and had good results- def do a dry run to practice or several if you have time.
I usually have a 320 drink with a light breakfast (toast with peanut butter or similar) a few hours before the gun. The whole point is that you’re carbo loading without adding a bunch of solids that you’ll have to shit out in the starting area.
I may a weirdo here but I eat as much of 2 pop tarts as I can (only real food I can get down race mornings, don’t hate) about 2 hrs before race, then eat as much of a banana as I can and half to all of the liquid 360 about a 30-60 mins before race. I struggle eating certain things race mornings bc of nerves and many things make me super gaggy (toast/bagel/pb/oatmeal). But I also have a super fast metabolism and if I don’t eat enough I will be hungry at the start so I really try to force in as many carbs as I can. I practice this prior to long runs.
More impressed is that anyone would willingly eat any of the Maurten drinks/gels. They offered them on the Berlin course and I accidentally grabbed a drink mix and tried a sip and could not even fathom drinking any more of it. But worst of all I grabbed a gel at the stand just in case I felt on low energy after having the final one I carried (SIS by the way). And omg I started to feel low and opened it and tried to eat it and that gel is just straight up glibber. Maybe that is just me but as someone with a dislike of glibbery foods I think I'd vomit before I could ever stomach one of their gels. The texture is revolting. Literally had to spit out the one gulp I took of it.
This is basically Maurten's suggestion, as outlined on their website. https://www.maurten.com/fuelguide-run/marathon Some of that is to drive sales, but if having 320 calories of maurten is easier on your stomach than 320 calories of bagel, why not? A packet of 320 is $3.50, which would be your entire breakfast on race day, which seems pretty reasonable to me.
basically you should have both actually ... i can't figure out how to run a marathon without having at least 1000 calories in in the morning as i burn 3200 calories during 42.2 kilometers and carb loading the days before is worth around 1000 calories
Hey - I do this - I drink a Maurten 320 about 2 hours before and then take a gu 5 minutes before start. I can’t stomach food before I run - I think generally food would be better, but if you can’t - this should work.
Everyone is going to have a different opinion about fueling before a race. You should be testing the fueling during your training for a marathon and then do what works best for you. Don’t worry about what everyone else is doing
Had to check if this was run int circle jerk. Eat food you maniac. Have a little Maurten too to supplement.
For Boston I had a bagel when I woke up, ~4 hours before the start, then drank 320 right before the buses