Until 2017, the fastest marathon run was languishing in the high 2:02s. Smaller servings take longer to get to the muscles, Mears says, but when compared to large drinks they are less likely to cause gastrointestinal issues. Mears says that during the Nike sub-two hour marathon Kipchoge experimented with small drinks (around 50ml) every few kilometres to keep a constant supply of fuel going into his body. It was a key reason why the attempt didn't count as a world record. He uses a powdered drink, called Maurten, that contains 80g of carbs per 500ml serving.ĭuring the run Kipchoge's team handed him drinks from bikes riding alongside him – they could be seen handing small bottles to the runner at regular intervals. The majority of the carbs Kipchoge consumed during the run was through drinks. The Kenyan runner was predicted to take on 60 to 100 grams of carbohydrates per hour. "Consuming carbohydrates during exercise will maintain performance or, at least, prevent a drop off," Mears says. He'll also had them while he was on the move.
It's not just before the run that Kipchoge will have been taking on extra carbs. If the body runs out of carbohydrates it will start burning fat to fuel an athlete – a process that's not as efficient and fat is often in short supply in the bodies of elite athletes.
Muscles rely on carbs, stored in the body as glycogen, to produce force and, thus, power running. "Because they've not had a specific day when they're going to run, they've had to delay the nutritional strategies they're going to implement before they race," Stephen Mears, a lecturer in sports and exercise nutrition at Loughborough University, said before the attempt.īefore he started at 8.15am on October 12, Kipchoge will have been increasing the amount of carbohydrates in his diet, Mears says. This uncertainty meant Kipchoge's food preparations couldn't begin early. In preparing for the attempt, the organisers created a window (October 12 to October 20) when the run could happen. The right foodĬarbohydrates are key to sustained performance in endurance sports – and marathon running is no different. A 1:59:59 marathon is the equivalent of running 100m sprints in just over 17 seconds – 422 times in a row. Equally, the 10,000m (10km) male world record sits at shade over 26:17 and Kipchoge had to repeatedly run 28:26.
0 kommentar(er)
