10-day training cycle that Sabastian Sawe used to run a sub-2 marathon
runnersworld.com
runnersworld.com
In training, he took a Maurten gel before long sessions and sipped Maurten Drink Mix at the same intervals he would use on race day. The idea was to repeat the schedule often enough that his gut adapted, lowering the risk of distress while improving how much carbohydrate he could actually use as fuel. Maurten relies on a hydrogel formulation designed to carry carbs through the stomach with less GI disruption than traditional gels.
Sawe carb-loaded with Drink Mix 320 in the two days before the start. On race morning, he ate a light breakfast, then took the Maurten Bicarb System at 6:45 a.m. and sipped Drink Mix 320 on the bus to the start. Five minutes before the gun, he had a Gel 100.
During the race, the schedule was tightly mapped to the kilometer markers. Sawe drank 160 milliliters of Drink Mix 320 at 5 km, 10 km, and 15 km. At 20 km, he switched to a caffeinated gel, the Gel 100 Caf 100, paired with 130 ml of Drink Mix 160. From 25 km to 40 km, he drank 130 ml of Drink Mix 320 every five kilometers.
Across the full race, Sawe averaged 115 grams of carbohydrate per hour. “In the last six weeks he was averaging 200km (125 miles) and above a week, while the peak was 241km (150 miles),”