Race Prep
Training your gut to handle carbs
Absorbing 90 g of carbohydrate an hour is a trainable skill, not a gift. A six-week protocol that starts long before race week.
The most common reason athletes under-fuel is not ignorance, it is history: they tried 80 g an hour once, felt awful, and concluded their stomach cannot handle it. What actually happened is that they asked an untrained gut to do a trained gut's job.
Why it works
Carbohydrate absorption is limited by transporters in the small intestine. Glucose and fructose use different pathways, which is why our gels combine maltodextrin and fructose — you can absorb more per hour than glucose alone allows. Those transporters up-regulate with repeated exposure, and gastric emptying speeds up with practice, so tolerance improves over weeks.
A six-week protocol
| Week | Long session target | What to practise |
|---|---|---|
| 1–2 | 45–55 g/h | Feed on a timer, not on feel. Every 25 minutes, no exceptions. |
| 3–4 | 60–70 g/h | Add a fuelled bottle or a second format alongside gels. |
| 5 | 75–85 g/h | Full race-day rehearsal at goal pace, with race flavours. |
| 6 | Race target | Repeat the rehearsal shorter, then taper the volume, not the fuelling. |
- Fuel every long session, even the easy ones — this is training, not indulgence.
- Take carbohydrate with water, not with a sports drink, unless the drink is your carbohydrate source.
- Track what you took and how you felt. Two words in your training log is enough.
- If you bloat, back off one step for a week rather than abandoning the plan.
Nobody expects to run a personal best off six weeks of untrained legs. Your gut deserves the same respect as your calves.
Distinguishing a gut problem from a pacing problem
Nausea that arrives with a spike in effort — a long climb, a surge, a hot stretch with no wind — is usually a blood-flow and pacing problem, not the gel you just took. Nausea that arrives after a large single feed, or after switching to an unfamiliar product, is a tolerance problem. Treat them differently.
