When competing in endurance events such as marathon running, bicycle races, snowshoe races, or cross country skiing, your glycogen stores can be depleted. Without consuming carbohydrates or other sources of glycogen during your long distance event, it is possible that you will hit the wall. Hitting the wall happens when your body experiences glycogen debt. It becomes more and more difficult to move your legs as the fatigue increases in intensity. The human body generally contains enough glycogen stores to last around 2 hours. In the marathon, many people experience hitting the wall somewhere around 18-20 miles into the race. Your body can be trained over long periods of endurance exercise to increase it’s storage capacity of glycogen. As your body adapts to the higher training load, it becomes more efficient in burning fat, therefore being able run farther without refueling.

Even with proper training, the human body is still not capable of holding enough glycogen reserves to finish an entire marathon at your optimal marathon pace. It therefore becomes necessary to consume some form of glycogen replacement during the competition. An easy way to replenish your stores of glycogen is to ingest a few marathon gels during the course of the race. Marathon gels are a very convenient means to boosting your energy before hitting the wall. They come in small, individual packets which are easy to carry until the point of the race in which you wish to consume them. We will talk more later regarding strategies about when and how many marathon gels to take during your race.