Yesterday I ran my second marathon. I was lucky to have a friend find me and get me through miles 11-26.2 much speedier than I would have if I were by myself. I didn’t want to let him down, and he wanted me to set a PR (personal record)!! I finished the 26.2 miles in 4 hours and 26 minutes. Not bad! I completed my first marathon in January in 4:36 so I peeled 10 minutes off my time yesterday. Yay!
I was lucky twice yesterday. The blood sugar gods definitely smiled on me. I’m not sure why, but I went with it. I was fortunate to know in advance they would be passing out my gu of choice– Accel Gel. Accel Gel has 20 grams of carbohydrate and 5 grams of protein in each packet. (And there is a chocolate flavored one I can choke down with less difficulty than the other flavors.)
From my heart rate graph, it looks like I stopped running 14 times over the course of the event. I know I used one of my early stops to call my husband and complain that I was running too fast! I used that break to re-start my pace to a slower, “marathon pace” for myself. (I can run much faster in a 5k run than I can in a 10k run, and can run much faster in a half marathon than I can in a full marathon.)
I checked my blood sugar it looks like 5 times during the 4.5 hour run. I don’t have a plan for most of this; it’s how I’m feeling each run that will determine when I check and what I do. When I eat a gu, I take 0.1 or 0.2 units just to have a record of when I ate that I can see quickly with a look at my pump’s status screen. It helps me from overloading on gu and it helps me to remind myself I may be due for the next one. I’ve learned from experience that on a long run I do best with a gu after 3.5-4 miles for some reason, and that if I skip the gu due to a high blood sugar I will regret it and have a horrible run: I must stay fueled!
So here’s my rundown, in case you’re curious. Like I said, I’m absolutely amazed I wasn’t higher than this. I kept my basals between 33% and 67% of my normal rate beginning an hour before the start of the run.
| TIME (am) | BG | CARBS/FOOD | BOLUS | MILE | |
| 4:33 | 140 | 0.2 | |||
| 4:35 | 27 (oatmeal) | 1.3 | |||
| 6:06 | 242 | 0.2 | |||
| 7:00 | START MARATHON | Mile 0 | 0.5 active insulin units | ||
| 7:37 | — | accel gel | 0.1 | Mile 4 | |
| 8:06 | — | accel gel | 0.2 | Mile 6.5 | |
| 8:30 | 159 | Mile 8.3 | |||
| 8:52 | 191 | accel gel | 0.3 | Mile 10 | |
| 9:15 | 161 | Mile 13.3 | |||
| 10:15 | 159 | accel gel | Mile 18.3 | ||
| 10:45 | 131 | accel gel | Mile 21 | ||
| 11:25 | FINISH MARATHON | Mile 26.2 | |||
| 11:40 | 116 | (finish) | |||
| 12:25 | 92 | (finish) | |||
14 stops overall; stop = walking through water break
Most (all) of this comes from years and years of trying to figure out what works for me. I’m posting it FYI and not as a recommendation. My recommendation is to learn what works for you through trial, observation, and error.
Have fun!
(If you’re interested you can check out my complete marathon data here: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/55068794)
