Why the Long Run Is Where Fuelling Gets Sorted

Most runners who hit trouble in a marathon do not hit it because they are unfit. They hit it because they have never properly practised eating and drinking while running. The long run is your rehearsal space, and in a place like Bungay, where a Sunday loop out past the common and along the Waveney can easily stretch to fifteen or eighteen miles, you have the ideal classroom right on your doorstep.

The goal is simple: train your gut the same way you train your legs. Your stomach can learn to tolerate carbohydrates on the move, but only if you give it repeated, gentle practice over several weeks. Left until race day, it will almost certainly rebel.

Start With Food That Digests Easily

During a long run your blood is being diverted to your working muscles, so digestion slows right down. That is why heavy, fatty, fibrous or very protein-rich foods tend to sit uncomfortably. What you want is simple carbohydrate that leaves the stomach quickly.

• Energy gels, chews and sports drinks – quick, portable, and easy to measure
• Jelly babies, wine gums or boiled sweets, which many runners find gentler than gels
• Bananas, soft white bread with jam, or malt loaf cut into small squares
• Dates, raisins or a handful of low-fibre cereal, if you prefer real food
• Boiled potatoes rolled in salt, a favourite on longer, cooler training runs

Whatever you choose, try it first on a run of sixty to ninety minutes before you trust it over twenty miles. And do read the labels: a gel might contain twenty to twenty-five grams of carbohydrate, so you can work out exactly what you are getting.

How Much, and How Often

A useful starting point is thirty to sixty grams of carbohydrate per hour for most club runners, rising towards ninety grams per hour for faster, heavier athletes who have trained their gut to cope. Beginners should begin at the lower end and build up slowly, adding perhaps ten grams per hour every couple of weeks.

The timing matters as much as the amount. Begin fuelling at around forty to forty-five minutes, before you feel empty, then take something small every twenty to thirty minutes after that. Little and often beats one big hit every hour, because a steady trickle is far easier on the stomach.

Take each gel or mouthful with a few sips of water, and resist the urge to swallow it in one gulp. Chewing thoroughly helps, and so does slowing to a walk for fifteen seconds if that is what it takes to get it down comfortably.

Water: Small Sips, Every Twenty Minutes

Drinking is where many runners go wrong in both directions. Too little and you dehydrate; too much and you slosh. The practical habit is a few small sips every twenty minutes, which usually adds up to somewhere between four hundred and eight hundred millilitres an hour, depending on your size, pace and how much you sweat.

On a cold, grey morning on the Suffolk border it is easy to forget to drink at all, because you do not feel thirsty. You still sweat under a jacket, and you still lose fluid with every breath. If you finish a long run with a headache, or with darker urine than usual, you have your answer.

A simple check is to weigh yourself before and after a long training run. Every kilogram lost is roughly a litre of fluid, and you can then replace most of it hour by hour on race day.

Putting It Into Practice Around Bungay

Use your local routes to build a routine. A ten-mile loop out towards Earsham and back gives you two or three chances to practise fuelling. A longer run through Ditchingham, over towards Halesworth or across to Beccles lets you rehearse carrying your own supplies, or timing a stop at a shop or a friend's gate.

• Set a gentle alarm on your watch for every twenty minutes
• Carry your own water in a belt or vest so you are not relying on chance
• Practise at the pace you intend to race, not slower
• Wear the same kit and use the same bottles you will use on the day
• Keep a short note after each run of what you took and how it felt

Running with others makes this easier. If you train with a club or a small group that meets near the common, agree that everyone carries their own fuel and takes it on schedule. Chatting through a gel at mile twelve is far better preparation than suffering it in silence at mile twenty-two.

If Your Stomach Complains

Some queasiness in the early weeks is normal. If a particular gel or drink turns your stomach, do not force it. Try a different texture, dilute your sports drink more, or switch to real food for a while. Take note of whether the problem came from too much at once, too little water, or a food that was simply too rich.

In the final three or four weeks before your marathon, change nothing. Settle on one plan, use it on every long run, and let your body learn it so well that race day feels like another Sunday in the Waveney Valley. Fuel early, sip often, and trust the practice you have put in.