Gatorade Testing

I am heading this weekend to Chicago to visit the Gatorade Sports Science Institute and get to work on my marathon nutrition. Luckily for me, it is also Chicago Marathon weekend and I will be at the Expo Saturday at the Gatorade booth, so swing by and say hello. I have been looking forward to this for some time; getting into the lab and seeing how my body responds against various tests. Looking back at my races, I would say that my biggest limiting factor thus far in the marathon has been nutrition. After running 60:00 in the half marathon and getting a bronze medal at the World half Marathon Championships, I just need to get the fuel aspect down to really have that big marathon.

I have run five marathons now and I am still trying to find a better nutrition plan. I have continually played with the fluids I use in the race, but I have never had any hard evidence to see exactly what is and is not working. This weekend I am hoping to see how my body uses carbohydrates, how efficentily it burns fat, how much fuel I burn, and what my sweat rate and concentration result. There are many other tests as well, but I think these will be key to know exactly how much to take in, and what kinds of fuel my body burns the best.

Hopefully another thing I can take away from this experience is how I can adapt my training to become better at the marathon. As I said before, everyone is different and so learning where to adapt my training and what will give me the most adaption in training will be key. With some of the injuries I have had getting in good training is key, but not just any training, it has to be quality and concise.  There is simple base training, which is important, but I have learned that the marathon is anything but simple. My old coach Mark Wetmore use to say, “when in doubt do a long hard run.” In general terms and for long term development I believe that is absolutely true, but having Gatorade as a sponsor gives me an opportunity to take that “doubt” away and hopefully refine it.

Of course relying on science alone, can make you forget to listen to your body.  Using it instead as a guide and being able to adapt is important. Fortuntately for me Alberto is the master of that. You need to have the science and use it to your best ability, but having the instinct is important too and bringing those two components together is what makes for a good build-up.

See you Chicago Marathoners Saturday at the Gatorade booth!