If you found this useful then you should subscribe to my weekly newsletter (it's free!) for helpful nutrition advice. You can sign up here: www.nutritiontriathlon.com/newsletter-sign-up

Thanks for this and your entire channel of amazing videos! I've just entered the wormhole of marathon nutrition and the thing that confuses me the most right now is how to efficiently use electrolyte drinks and energy gels. The DIY recipes seem to have basically the same ingredients (minus the liquid), so I'm not sure whether to even use electrolyte drinks or just gels and plain water. What is your take on that? Should one mix things, or better choose one form as your primary source-liquid or gels? Maybe it's purely individual but I wondered about your opinion. :)

@NutritionTriathlon

10 ай бұрын

Hey and thank you 😃 glad you've found the channel! Yeah so this is a great question. It definitely is down to personal preference and also weather conditions and how long you expect it to take. If you've hydrated well the day before the race as well as the morning of the race, most people won't truly need electrolytes (sodium being the key one) during a marathon. However, if they're expecting it to take about 5.5 and upwards then it does become more important. However, consuming a sodium based drink won't be bad any way, so if you decide to that's fine! So with that said, it's then about preference. Would you prefer to not have to focus on anything and just use gels and water? Would you prefer to have your own drink on you? There's no issue with mixing fuel sources per se, the main thing is how well you think you'll manage that on race day. Will it cause too much of a headache to try to keep a track of how much fluid you've drank, how many gels you've consumed? I tend to find it's better to stick to one fuel source because it keeps things simple. Race day is all about reducing stress and letting you focus on running, so decreasing nutritional problems makes sense 🙂 Hope that gives a bit of clarity, but anything else please ask!

Thanks for the video. Gels give me bad cramps, so I am always curious about substitutes. I currently use Gatorade Zero and gummy bears.

@NutritionTriathlon

11 ай бұрын

You're welcome 🙂 Sounds like you'll have to be eating a lot of gummy bears to get the carbs in!

Hey thank you for all the great information. I was wondering if you’ve tried “super high carb” from Scratch. It’s advertising up to 100G of carbs with 7 scoops of powder. I’ve just started trying it out and used it during IM Lake Placid last month. I only used 4 scoops per bottle, along with gels and bars, but really enjoy it so far. Almost no taste, so very easy to ingest and no GI issues for me. Also, thoughts on “cluster dextrin”they advertise ?

@NutritionTriathlon

11 ай бұрын

I haven't tried it no, but just had a look at it. The cluster dextrin sounds like a marketing thing really. From their suggestion it's a more complex structure than straightforward maltodextrin, and most studies suggest that the more complex the structure the more likely to cause GI issues. I doubt it will be any better than maltodextrin (and not tested in studies, either!). With that said, if it works for you then that's fine 🙂

@NutritionTriathlon

11 ай бұрын

Hi Paddy! Thanks for your comment and getting involved. So I would say a couple of things to you: Do you have any evidence from a sport specific context that maltodextrin causes GI issues and inflammation (or even regular daily life for that matter...). Because maltodextrin has been used within competitive sport and sport studies for years and it has been shown time and time again to be beneficial. And whilst I take your point about cluster dextrin not causing problems but maltodextrin does, you are 1 person. Nutrition is always individual and what works for 1 person might not work for another. But as a blanket statement, maltodextrin IS well tolerated and evidence based. As for my comment about more complex structures causing GI issues, again this has been shown in the literature in sports studies. More complex structures cause an increased frequency of GI upset compared to simpler structures. 'featured in at least one study' - as above, maltodextrin has been used in so many sports nutrition studies, so one study with cluster dextrin does not outweigh the data we have about maltodextrin. Would love to see about the study with cluster dextrin though so please do link me to it! Always happy to read new useful material 🙂

@NutritionTriathlon

11 ай бұрын

Hi Paddy Thanks for replying and what you've mentioned! I'll try to reply to things in turn. Firstly, the paper you mentioned to start with is simply a commentary. It's not research. The second is a mechanistic study on mouse models. The first commentary does raise important points about maltodextrin investigations and that we need to understand more, which I totally agree with. However, we are also talking about very different scenarios and this is where problems arise. What you've mentioned and what these studies are investigating is maltodextrin addition to everyday foods. That is VERY different to consumption during exercise. I'll refer to my previous comment that maltodextrin has been used successfully time and time again for sports nutrition studies and is well tolerated. I could find very limited evidence on cluster dextrin and sports performance. The most up to date review I could find was 2021 which essentially concluded there was limited evidence and more research was needed. It suggested that HBCD could be beneficial, but in diets already rich in carbs the effect may be negated. That's not particularly supportive for it, and so I would stick to my previous comment that as far as evidence goes, we have a whole load to support maltodextrin use in sports and very little to support HBCD. And in part you're right about delayed gastric emptying, but also this refers to larger chain structures which HBCD would fall under. There were various studies into UCANs product super starch. Very quick gastric emptying because low osmolarity, but still caused GI issue because of unabsorbed nutrition in the gut. I'm definitely up for seeing more HBCD research and the point of sports nutrition is to embrace new changes: currently I haven't seen anything that would convince me it's better for sports performance.

@NutritionTriathlon

10 ай бұрын

Yes, because we know very clearly that response to nutrition can be different during exercise. Take fructose for example. I've had many a comment on a videos where people warn about the dangers of fructose because it can increase VLDL. At rest there's a link (we still need more data and it's complicated) but the way your body handles it during exercise is very different. Whilst you also have an opinion which seems very much coloured by your diagnosis, you do not have any evidence to support your assumptions during exercise. I have a wealth of sports nutrition studies that clearly support maltodextrin use during exercise. It's fine if you don't want to use it, and it's fine if others don't want to because they don't get on with it. But in terms of general applicability, maltodextrin is a safe and beneficial fuel source for endurance athletes. Again, I'm not discounting your experience and if future research says we should avoid it that's fine, I'm happy to adapt my approach. But I use current evidence and nutrition guidelines - which currently supports maltodextrin use.

@NutritionTriathlon

10 ай бұрын

We do not have enough evidence to say maltodextrin is bad, full stop!! 🤦 What you've linked to are, at this point in time, theories. They're hypotheses and experiments either in vitro or on mouse/rat models. They are not human RCTs which are what we need to say that maltodextrin is bad, full stop. Again, at this point there is SO MUCH overwhelming evidence of positive use of maltodextrin in sport that you cannot deny it. Furthermore, you cannot simply transfer data from one scenario (normal daily life) to another (during exercise). Different populations, different mechanisms, everything is different. Sorry, but if you don't understand this then you don't really have any place with your comments. It's behaviour like that that drives erroneous beliefs and misinformation to spread. You are discussing things where you do not understand the context and the applicability to other populations. I don't want to be rude to you, but I've tried to support what I've said with data and explain the rationale as to why what you've said isn't as clear cut as you think it is. Wishing you all the best with your sporting and life goals Paddy!

Hi James. Could you make a video about fueling and its impact on health? I mean what to avoid; can consumption of gels lead to diabetes; impact on teeth, and so on. We're so focused on calories, and I'm afraid we may be harming ourselves in the areas we don't think about because (like in my case) we don't have sufficient knowledge. Take care! Seb

@NutritionTriathlon

10 ай бұрын

Hey Seb. This is a super important issue for sure. I did make a video more centred around pro triathletes diets and the sugar consumption, and you can watch that here kzread.info/dash/bejne/gZ98yK6eZNHWY7g.html It's absolutely applicable to your everyday athlete as well. I'm also already planning a similar video on this topic, so stay tuned 😃

I think it's closer to 1500kcal of stored glycogen unless you're a bodybuilder! You may only be able to run for 90 minutes until your stores are too low but that's very fast running, like 10k pace! Also 'low' is relative to how you've trained, if you're constantly using carbs, your 'low' will be mostly psychological! Also remember that your boby can make it's own glucose from fats and proteins, but again, only if you've trained it to do so efficiently. Work upto marathon distance fasted. Marathon distance/times are predominantly aerobic which means more fat is used for fuel than glycogen. You'll never have to carry food again and will hardly ever 'bonk'. This approach will not work if you're also on a high carb diet. My tips would be to try a high protein ketogenic style diet in the weeks leading upto a marathon with only slow fasted runs. Then 2 days before start adding in carbs to your meals and go a bit 'crazy' on the carbs the day before but around a faster 'opener' run so the body knows where to store the glycogen! This approach will also make you lighter, which is obviously very beneficial for running.

@NutritionTriathlon

4 ай бұрын

Hey, I really appreciate your comment but I have a lot of concerns with it. Re: Glycogen storage, ~2000 is the commonly accepted amount - roughly 400g storage in muscle and 100g store in the liver. You are correct that you can make glucose from fat and protein but it's a slow process and will not generate enough glucose to properly fuel something like a marathon. This misses huge context and could easily lead someone to underfuel a marathon (which does regularly happen). You are also correct that someone running a marathon will have more fat contributing to energy than something like a half marathon, but there will still be a significant proportion of energy generated from carbohydrates, and if you don't fuel it well you will bonk. Probably about 60-70% contribution from carbohydrates and 30% from fat. Your suggestion for the average person to try a ketogenic diet and also work up to marathon distance fasted is quite honestly a seriously bad idea, for multiple reasons. Again I appreciate you commenting but you seem to be missing a lot of knowledge and context about these diets, how they actually work and the risks associated with them.

People are going to judge me, but I swear by _skim_ condensed milk. Used them on a marathon and worked perfectly. Had similar levels of macros to GU gels and only 1/10th the cost.

@NutritionTriathlon

9 ай бұрын

Haha, it is a reasonable option actually - hadn't thought of it! It's got a relatively high amount of protein in which might cause trouble for some, but otherwise it's essentially just sugar so I could see it working. Nice one!

yes i foolishly signed to marathon hhhahhahahaha

@NutritionTriathlon

2 ай бұрын

😂 good luck!