A couple of suggestions. Jelly babies and try some different sports drinks. I found a lot of the drinks too sweet. Normal Gatorade Lemon flavour is not so sweet and I used to dilute 50% sports drink and 50% water. This was more tolerable and managed to get me round the New York marathon plus a banana at 20 miles as I had run out of Jelly babies...  

Hi Lisa.
I'm with you all the way on this one....carbohydrate gels and drinks do zilch for me except make me need an urgent loo stop !!!
I once tried grapes during a 10 mile run but again played havoc with my digestive system.
I'm now using raisins...which are high in carbs, easily digested, and easy to carry around. I take a small handful in my shorts pocket and neck two or three every couple of miles.
I've also heard from other sources that as Chris Weera says....jelly babies work.

Best of luck with your marathon training and for the actual event.

I suffered a similar experience at last year's London marathon. I'm experimenting with various gels at the moment during my training runs. I remember last year I also tried some bean-type energy sweets - Shotz I think - which helped a bit. However, it's a fine line between getting a slight energy lift, and feeling vomitous.

One suggestion I was given was to swill a mouthful of energy drink, but not actually swallow, meaning you ingest the sugars quite slowly. Not sure if it works, mind.

Hi All,

On my long run today I took notice of what all you guys have been saying and took a half dozen jelly babies with me. The jury is out as i'm not sure if they helped or not but certianly did taste nice at mile 6/7/8/9 and 10 when i ran out 3 miles before i finished. They were a bit sticky on the fingers but no problem scoffing them down. I'll definately try them again.

Andy

I did London last year and would recommend you try Shot Blox.  I can't cope with gels as I don't like the taste or the fact that you have to take it all in one go or chuck the rest away.  The Blox were just like wine gums and you could eat them as and when.  I had a hilly belt that I used to store them in along with blister plasters and other essentials!

I'd definitely recommend trying to get used to Lucozade before the day as well as it helps to have as many sources of energy.  I'd heard the tip about taking a lid but thankfully last year they had the sports tops left on so I grabbed a bottle and sipped on it for the next few miles.

My other top tip that saved me on the day was that if it's hot to take a small section of sponge (I cut a baby sponge into 4) and either put it in a belt of stuff it down your shorts/tights!  It meant that at every water station I was able to wash my face off and then drink some of the water too.  It just helped me cool down on what was a very hot day.

I've not got a place this year and am jealous reading all the stories of long runs - strange!

My usual method during a long run is to stop at a newsagents around mile 10 and buy an energy drink, but obviously the stopping part is a bit of an inconvenience.

Today I tried a different approach on a long run and took some Powerbar gels with me instead so that I wouldn't need to stop. I took one at mile 5 and another at mile 10, and found them pretty easy to digest and I actually really liked the taste! (though my running pal described them as repulsive, so I guess it's subjective...) They did give a slow-release boost.

However, the big problem was that by the time I got to around mile 16, I could feel myself totally dehydrated and it wiped me out, so it's a lesson for me that hydration is probably much more important than an energy boost. I just find it quite awkward to carry a bottle for hours on end, though I suppose it's not a problem during races where drinks tend to be readily available.

Lisa, I almost inevitably end up being sick or retching immediately after a race. I guess because you push your body that bit harder during a race, it'll tend to be at its absolute limit when you cross the line. My personal feeling is that the less solids I have in my stomach, the less there is to bring back up, but other people have no problems chomping down a flapjack or bar mid-run.

Hi - I have been running half marathons for the last few years, and I started off running just with water, which was fine initially.  Then as my times improved I progressed to Lucozade sport (magic juice) and found that it helped to give me extra energy in my legs provided I start sipping at every mile right from the start of a run, rather than waiting until tired.  I'm now training up to 15 miles to improve my half marathon time and have started using Go energy gels having resisted for ages on the basis that I thought they would be too gloopy.  They actually slide down quite easily and definitely perk my legs up if I take them half hourly (it helps to stop the running through treacle feeling if you take them preventatively!).  I also take a bottle of magic juice on every run over 1 hour as well as the gels on the longest runs.  The only time I have had a crampy tummy during a run was when I tried to take some energy drink for the first time after 90 mins when I was already tired and dehydrated - I don't think my body could cope!  I don't think I could actually eat solids during a run though, however much I like jelly babies!  You can also get protein shakes to drink directly after a run which really seem to help with muscle recovery...

Good luck with the marathon!

I've just tried the Lucozade Sport runners pack for my marathon training.  Price tag was a bit painful at around £40 from the online shop, but it's cheaper than buying it from Boots.  The gels taste revolting, but I do think they kept me going on my 22 miler yesterday and didn't cause my stomach any major problems - I think that they may take a bit of getting used to.  Lucozade have cake bars for carbo-top-up before and flapjack for recovery after which actually taste quite nice.

Hi my partner & I are both training for the london Marathon and have been following this topic with interest as we both suffer from the upset tum. we have porridge & toast 1.5 hrs before a long run plus a smoothie. however Mike now thinks coffee has a detrimental effect on his insides so has stopped drinking it before a run. 

We have tried the magic juice at full strength but now prefer it 2/3 juice - 1/3 water and have discovered that glucose tablets( every 4/5 miles) are preferable to jelly babies as they are easier to digest and are almost 100% carbs.also they don't turn to mush in your pocket quite so much.

I did a 15 miler with not enough liquid and no top up nutrition for during the run,and felt terrible for the last 6 miles and awful for several hrs after- so have learnt my lesson there!

that all said I will always take immodium before a long run as i'd rather be safe than sorry,and I have heard that someone had to queue for an hour to use a loo on the london course- by which time it'd be too late!

Happy running!

Fi

This has been a really interesting topic.  I must admit that I've only started thinking about gels and whotnot during running over the last month.  Although I have always gone into a race with a bowl of porridge inside me about 2 hours before the gun is due to go off.  I also try to hydrate really well the day before.  Until this year I only used a sports drink during a half marathon. I am still experimenting with different gels but with only 3 weeks to go as of Sunday, I think I'm going to try using the Lucozade gels as they are going to be available on the day.

The thing I have always struggled with is a post race headache, which sometimes doesn't start for a good couple of hours after I've finished the race.  I'm guessing its due to a combination of not enough hydration and carbs.  I always have a soya (I can't drink much milk) chocolate milkshake, as soon as I can get my bag after a race and some kind of food, depending on what's in the goodie bag/available on the day.

However, on sunday, after my half-marathon where I pushed myself quite hard, I did the usual but also ate just about every half hour after that and drank about three and a half pints of water, then had my usual evening meal and I just about kept the headache at bay.

But, does anybody know why I get these headaches (never really get headaches at any other time) and what my strategy should be post race?  It does seem the harder I push myself the more likely/worse the headache, so I can have one after a 10K or a half marathon.

Thank you for your help and patiently reading my dribble.