The reason why you could fail in your marathon... and what you can do about it!

Breaking into a marathon: The man with the hammer

Current research shows that the average finisher time in the biggest marathons is Slower and slower over the years. Many people fail in their marathon. They either fail to reach the finish line at all or not in the time set or expected. Around 40 percent of all marathon participants learn the so-called”Man with the hammer“Know. You barely feel it coming and suddenly nothing works anymore. The much-awaited experience of running a marathon becomes a tough, painful walk. This phenomenon describes a drastic drop in performance and is a result of complete energy depletion, i.e. an emptying of the body's carbohydrate stores.

Reason for the marathon failure: The tank is empty

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Depending on body weight, body composition (muscle mass) and training level, the human body can store approx. 400 — 800 grams of carbohydrates. The majority of this is stored in the form of glycogen in skeletal muscles directly (± 350 — 700 g) or in the liver (± 80 — 120 g). There is only a certain Amount of muscle used when running However, it is much more important to estimate the individual usable memory as a runner.

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Step 1 to the solution: Evaluate your own carbohydrate store

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To avoid breaking in during a marathon, you have to look at your “energy balance” while running. Your own carbohydrate stores can be roughly estimated based on body weight and fitness level (see figure below). By determining body composition and usable muscle mass (using body fat measurement), you can limit the size of your carbohydrate store relatively precisely. Now we can estimate how big our carbohydrate store is. In order to answer the question of whether this will be enough during the marathon, we must of course know how high our consumption of carbohydrates is when running.

Step 2 to the solution: Run at the right pace (and don't overpack!)

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Our muscles use fat and/or carbohydrates to produce energy during sports activities. If there are no more carbohydrates, there is a risk of a break-in during the marathon.

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When you start running, the body must meet the increased energy requirement by increasing carbohydrate and fat metabolism. The proportion of carbohydrates the body metabolizes varies greatly from person to person, but always depends on the intensity of exercise or running speed (1). The following applies: The higher the load intensity, the greater the proportion of carbohydrates in the total energy turnover (see figure below). So if you start your marathon a few percent too fast, that's no problem at first. However, with the slightly faster pace, you then consume a few percent more carbohydrates, which in total makes the difference in the end.

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Step 3 to the solution: Eat properly (and train!)

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You can imagine it like an internal combustion engine in a car, which suddenly stops with an empty tank. Just like when running, you don't even notice the impending consequence just before it arrives, let alone when you start driving off. But once the tank is emptied, all that remains is to push to the nearest gas station (refreshment station during a marathon run) and add fuel again there. In return for the car But can we “refuel” while running, but we always have to wait a bit until we can use the fuel in our engine (muscles). Leading sports scientists recommend min. 60 g carbohydrates, but better add up to 90 g carbohydrates per hour. This must and should be trained! At the same time, attention must be paid to the appropriate composition of carbohydrates.

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Simple calculation example

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We assume a 75kg man with a medium to good performance level (VO2 max: 50 ml/min/kg, 10k best time: 45 min). For him, we assume a usable, endogenous carbohydrate store of approx. 500 g. We calculate within the Twaiv app with our algorithms Dependent carbohydrate consumption:

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10 km/h: 90 g/h
11 km/h: 120 g/h
12 km/h: 150 g/h

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When we Extrapolate these figures to the total time for the marathon, the result is as follows:

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10 km/h: 90 g/h x 4:15 h = 380 g
11 km/h: 120 g/h x 3:50 h = 460 g
12 km/h: 150 g/h x 3:30 h = 525 g

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This calculation shows us clearly: 4:15 h will be no problem at all. 3:50 h will work very precisely (the memory will in fact never be completely empty!). 3:30 hours will most likely not be enough (but this is depending on carbohydrate intake during running). We can make a similar calculation in the Twaiv app in our competition forecasts Include!

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The relationship between carbohydrate consumption and VO2 max

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More fat metabolism means “saving” carbohydrates. In order to metabolize more fat, the body needs oxygen. Oxygen is absorbed through the lungs and transported to the muscles via the cardiovascular system. The determining factor for fat metabolism is the amount of oxygen that the muscle can absorb and convert. The more oxygen the muscle can utilize, the higher the percentage of fat in the energy supply (2).

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As part of our analytics within the Twaiv app We also determine the so-called maximum oxygen uptake (VO2 max). This parameter is highly correlated with the ability to metabolize fat and thus conserve important carbohydrate stores (see figure below).

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