FUELLING FOR A MARATHON
Step-by-Step Fueling Protocol
By Steve Born
This step-by-step fueling protocol is super easy to put together, just as easy to follow, and it does not require you to carry loads of items on your body. It will save you time and, best of all, it is highly effective.
Before getting to the fueling protocol, here is some very important and useful information.
5 Simple Ways to Improve Athletic Performance Now
While there are many steps you can, and should, take to optimise athletic performance, here are a few very easy ones. Start with these straight away and you will notice rapid improvements in your endurance.
1) Stay properly hydrated all day long
As around 60% of your body is made up of water, it goes without saying that it is vital to maintain good hydration all day long. Unfortunately, a lot of people — perhaps you? — live in a constant state of dehydration, and that negatively affects athletic performance and overall health.
Starting now, gradually increase your fluid intake, mainly from pure, clean water, so that the total amount you drink each day is equal to roughly 33 to 40 ml per kg of body weight.
For example:
A 81.5 kg athlete should drink around 2.7 to 3.3 litres of fluid daily, in addition to what is consumed during exercise.
During exercise, drink around 475 to 770 ml per hour, and up to 830 ml per hour in hot weather.
2) Fuel lean
It is interesting to know how many calories you burn every hour during exercise. However, that is not really the deciding factor in how many calories your body can accept from fuel during exercise.
The goal of calorie intake is to consume the least amount necessary to maintain the energy levels you want and need, hour after hour.
For most athletes, this means 120–180 calories per hour. Larger athletes over 91 kg can consume 200 or slightly more calories per hour.
If you find that is not quite enough, that is an easy fix — simply consume a little more. Remember, it is always easier to fix a “not enough” problem than an “I overdid it and now my stomach is rebelling” problem.
3) Ditch the sugar
Some fuels are made from a mix of simple sugars — glucose, sucrose, fructose and so on — plus complex carbohydrates such as maltodextrin. These are often formulated on the idea that your body can produce more energy per minute from multiple carbohydrate sources than from a single one.
Remember, though, that the people in those “multi-carb” studies were exercising at such low intensities — recovery pace, at best — that they could probably consume almost anything without issue.
Instead, choose complex carbohydrates such as maltodextrin, as found in Hammer Nutrition’s Hammer Gel, HEED, Sustained Energy 2.0, or Perpetuem 2.0.
Unlike simple sugars, complex carbohydrates provide quick-acting, longer-lasting energy and do not cause stomach issues, even during high-intensity efforts.
4) Do not eat for 3 hours before your workouts and races
By avoiding calorie intake during the 3 hours before workouts and races, you put your body in the ideal physiological state to use its limited muscle glycogen stores efficiently, while also making better use of the large number of calories stored as body fat.
Use this practice in all your workouts — even early morning ones — and you will start seeing major improvements in endurance in a relatively short time.
Note: If you must have some calories before exercise, it is acceptable to consume something easy to digest, such as one serving of Hammer Gel, 5–10 minutes before the start, but not earlier.
5) “Refill the tank” as soon as possible after every workout
Your body wants to reward you for the training you have done by strengthening the immune system, rebuilding muscle tissue stronger, and storing more readily available fuel (glycogen) in the muscles.
To enjoy all these endurance-enhancing benefits, all you need to do is give your body what it needs as soon as possible — ideally within the first 30 minutes after exercise, and the sooner the better.
That means complex carbohydrates and high-quality protein, such as those found in Recoverite.
Fueling Recommendations
1) Success during exercise starts after exercise
It is absolutely vital that you “refill the tank” after every workout. This is a major key to noticeably improving athletic performance.
When you begin a workout, event, or race, the main fuel your body uses for roughly the first 60–90 minutes is called muscle glycogen.
The more consistent you are with immediate post-exercise fueling — ideally with Recoverite — the more benefits you will receive. One of those benefits is more glycogen stored in the muscles, up to somewhere between 60 and 90 minutes’ worth, ready for future workouts and races.
2) Finish all calorie intake 3 hours before the start
See point 4 in the earlier section for why this is so important.
3) Take a “pre-emptive strike” dose of Endurolytes or Endurolytes Extreme
Taking a dose of Endurolytes or Endurolytes Extreme 15–30 minutes before the start will cover your electrolyte needs during the first hour of the race. This allows you to focus on getting into a smooth rhythm instead of needing to take capsules during that time.
A dose of Endurolytes can be anywhere from 1 to 6 capsules, with most athletes using 2 to 4 capsules per hour, depending on body weight and temperature.
If you are competing in hot conditions — especially if you are not well acclimatised to them — a pre-race dose of 1–2 Endurolytes Extreme capsules is suggested.
4) Consume 1–2 servings of Hammer Gel 5–10 minutes before the race
Taking 1–2 servings of Hammer Gel at this time will provide calories to support muscle glycogen stores without interfering with how efficiently your body uses those limited glycogen stores as fuel.
5) Fuel selection during the race
If your race is in the 3 to 3.5 hour range
A carbohydrate-only fuel such as Hammer Gel or HEED will work perfectly.
- Each serving of Hammer Gel contains 90 calories
(Nocciola and Peanut Butter contain 100 calories)
Recommended intake: 1 serving every 30–45 minutes - Each scoop of HEED contains 110 calories
Steve Born personally uses 1.75 scoops of HEED per hour, giving 192.5 calories, which works well for a larger athlete like him at 90.7 kg.
Guidelines:
- Lightweight athletes: 1.0 scoop per hour = 110 calories
- Medium-weight athletes: 1.25 to 1.5 scoops per hour = 137.5 to 165 calories
If your race is closer to 3.5 hours or longer
You have several fueling options.
OPTION 1 – A multi-hour bottle of Perpetuem 2.0
Each scoop contains 90 calories.
Steve Born personally uses 2.25 scoops per hour, giving 202.5 calories, which works well for a larger athlete like him at 90.7 kg.
Guidelines:
- Lightweight athletes: 1.0 to 1.25 scoops per hour = 90 to 112.5 calories
- Medium-weight athletes: 1.5 to 2.0 scoops per hour = 135 to 180 calories
The advantages of a multi-hour fuel bottle
With Perpetuem 2.0 instead of making a one-hour bottle — which would mean drinking a full bottle of flavoured or semi-flavoured liquid hour after hour, which Steve would not like, while also having to stop and mix more, wasting valuable time — he makes one bottle containing several hours’ worth of fuel.
For example, to make a 4-hour bottle, he starts with the smallest water bottle he has, because that means less flavoured drink mix to consume. He fills the bottle about one-third full of water, adds a couple of scoops of Perpetuem 2.0 puts the lid on, and shakes it well. He repeats the process until the correct number of scoops is mixed into one bottle.
For him, that means:
- 9 scoops of Perpetuem 2.0 for 4 hours
Because that one bottle now contains 4 hours of fuel, he only has to drink one quarter of the bottle each hour, and then top up hydration needs with plain water from a hydration pack or aid stations.
Benefits of using a multi-hour bottle of fuel
- You can drink and enjoy plain water from another source to meet hydration needs and cleanse the palate.
- Although there is some liquid in the multi-hour bottle, over 3–4 hours it is minimal, so you can think of that bottle as a calories-only bottle.
- You do not have to stop and make more fuel along the way, which saves time.
- Keeping calories separate from fluids allows you to track both more precisely.
- In hot-weather races, your ability to process calories may decrease while your need for fluids and electrolytes may increase.
- Keeping the three parts of fueling — calories, fluids, and electrolytes — separate gives you greater flexibility and makes it easier to adjust any of them when needed.
If necessary, use a marker pen to divide the bottle into four equal sections. That gives you a visual guide for how much to drink each hour.
OPTION 2 – Protein-containing flavours of Hammer Gel
Use the protein-containing flavours of Hammer Gel:
- Peanut Butter
- Peanut Butter-Chocolate
- Nocciola
OPTION 3 – A combination of carbohydrate-only Hammer Gel or HEED, plus Endurance BCAA+
- Each serving of Hammer Gel contains 90 calories
(Nocciola and Peanut Butter contain 100 calories)
Recommended intake: 1 serving every 30–45 minutes - Each scoop of HEED contains 110 calories
Steve Born personally uses 1.75 scoops of HEED per hour, giving 192.5 calories, which works well for a larger athlete like him at 90.7 kg.
Guidelines:
- Lightweight athletes: 1.0 scoop per hour = 110 calories
- Medium-weight athletes: 1.25 to 1.5 scoops per hour = 137.5 to 165 calories
Endurance BCAA+ provides key amino acids similar to the protein found in Perpetuem 2.0 and the protein-containing flavours of Hammer Gel. It helps meet a small portion of your energy needs during prolonged exercise while also protecting against muscle tissue breakdown.
Recommended dose:
- 2–4 capsules taken 15–30 minutes before the start
- 1–2 capsules per hour during exercise
6) Electrolytes and fluids
Continue taking Endurolytes or Endurolytes Extreme every hour to meet your electrolyte needs.
Drink water only from your hydration pack or aid stations — no sugary sports drinks — to meet your hydration needs.
7) As soon as possible after the race
“Refill the tank” as soon as possible with Recoverite.
Refuelling with two scoops of Recoverite within the first 30 minutes after your race takes advantage of the glycogen synthase enzyme when it is most active.
This allows the body to replenish and increase its glycogen stores, while also providing the raw materials — amino acids from protein — to help rebuild muscle tissue and support the immune system.