The Secret Marathon Nutrition Method That Changed Everything

[@myprocoach123]

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[@mickemcgferret]

My takeaway from this is the part about training the gut to tolerate high levels of carbs in training. Lot's of people, including myself, struggle with nutrition during an Ironman - I seem to never get enough calories in without stomach upsets

[@myprocoach123]

That's a very important part of the process. It's definitely worth building up to training at (or even above) the carb number you want to hit on race day and having the confidence to know that you're not going to have any issues on the event day. Let's hope this helps get rid of your stomach upsets at your next ironman 🤞🏻

[@AndySanderson]

Thank you Phil your marathon programme worked superbly for me. This is a very good video with no waffle from Matt, especially good how he trained for marathon and tri also dealing with injury. Nice and a clear description of his strategy. I’m surprised how little fluid he thrived on though. I’m looking forward to starting one of your triathlon programmes soon.

[@myprocoach123]

Thanks for letting us know Andy. And glad you liked the video. It's interesting he didn't take on much fluid. We can generally perform well with around 3-4% loss of weight (sweat) which is quite a lot. Considering his marathon was quite cool, he probably needed a bit more fluid, but it wouldn't have been dangerous. With events like this it's wise to drink water and electrolytes before the start to off set sweating during and of course make sure you get plenty of fluids at the finish line. I look forward to welcoming you to a triathlon programme soon - what even have you got coming up?

[@MrTubebox1]

Thanks for sharing that interesting topic but what is exactly the new secret that changed everything? No doubt his results are remarkable but some more background would be helpful to better understand: what is his lactate threshold pace for example? If he was able to run a full Marathon right at or even above his lactate threshold due to his nutrition this would be novel. Otherwise it is hard to decide what was coming from clever training, talent, nutrition etc.

[@myprocoach123]

Thanks for this thoughtful comment. 🙏🏻 There's always a number of aspects behind a great performance, as you mention, training, nutrition, mindset etc. The biggest change for Ant was his switch to more carbs and getting them in more efficiently which was his 'secret'. A lot of marathon runners will line up with a gel or two per hour so this approach of carrying a large amount of gel (3-4 per hour) all within one bottle is out of the ordinary. There's also the impact on his training (which we didn't manage to cover in this video), as consuming more carbohydrate will have aided his recovery from training. Let me know what you'd like more details on, and I'll happily share some more info and perhaps we'll look at doing a follow up video if you think that would be helpful.

[@k1ngbogi]

It sounds like he's also just gotten a lot fitter from incorporating swimming and cycling into his routine. Where's the novelty in the nutrition?

[@myprocoach123]

Thanks for your comment. 🙏🏻 Interestingly, Ant's been swimming and cycling as long as he's been running. Of course it's hard to pin point 'one thing' that would have made a change in his performance as there's a lot going on within endurance sports, but this trend towards more carbohydrates would likely have had a positive impact on his training and race day results too. For his nutrition, being fully self sufficient with 3-4 gels per hour in one bottle isn't something I've seen on the start line of a marathon. Some ultra runners might already be onto this 'secret' already though 😄 Let me know if there are any other insights you'd like to hear about and I'll see what I can do.