Do you think they're necessary? With my half marathon coming up is it true I should have a gel about an hour into it to keep my energy levels up? My longest run at the moment was 20km and I slowed down and felt my energy depleting majorly at about 90 minutes and the last 17 minutes were quite a struggle.
Give me the 411 on gels
- Thread starter everypennyspent
- Start date
Yeah, you need gels! Near the end of a 2 hour event, you will have burned nearly 2000 cals and there won't be much if anything left in the tank at that time.
As g8r says, what you describe is probably the phenomenon known as "The Wall". Pre-game carb loading and whatever appropriate energy source during are the traditional preventative/remedy.
hammer gels, powerbra gels, gu, and all those have different ingredients too.
If you are a high sweat rate look for the 2-4 times sodium, also make sure they have potassium.
If you like caffein, they have them with 1-3 times caffein (each X is worth 25 miligrams)
all gels are not created equal.
sometimes the best bet is to go with whatever the race povides. then you do not have to carry anything.
But- if you are finicky, and stuff can make you gasy and such, try what you want in training runs.
I would not wait until 90 minutes tho.. take the first one at 40 minutes, it will kick in at about 50 min and get you thru the 80 minutes masrke, then slurp down another for the kicker to the end.....
I take a gel on the 30 minute mark, but I am keeping ahead of nutrition, for the LOOOOOONG run.
for a half mary I would recomend a gel at the 40, and the 80, and it will help you feel good all the way thru 120 minutes.
Good luck!
a 1/2 mary is a great accomplishment.
FF
If you are a high sweat rate look for the 2-4 times sodium, also make sure they have potassium.
If you like caffein, they have them with 1-3 times caffein (each X is worth 25 miligrams)
all gels are not created equal.
sometimes the best bet is to go with whatever the race povides. then you do not have to carry anything.
But- if you are finicky, and stuff can make you gasy and such, try what you want in training runs.
I would not wait until 90 minutes tho.. take the first one at 40 minutes, it will kick in at about 50 min and get you thru the 80 minutes masrke, then slurp down another for the kicker to the end.....
I take a gel on the 30 minute mark, but I am keeping ahead of nutrition, for the LOOOOOONG run.
for a half mary I would recomend a gel at the 40, and the 80, and it will help you feel good all the way thru 120 minutes.
Good luck!
a 1/2 mary is a great accomplishment.
FF
:Thank you! There's a lot of info in that now I just need to start experimenting considering it's in about 7 weeks time 
now I just need to start experimenting considering it's in about 7 weeks time Your body can only process approximately 240-280 calories an hour. Gels typically have 100 (US) calories and are sugar or a sugar/protein combo. If you're planning on a two hour event, I would suggest consuming one gel every 30 minutes. Gels require 8 (US) ounces of water each in order to keep blood from moving to your stomach to aid in digestion.
So basically, three gels, eat a couple of cookies, drink some water and you're set.