Tip 4: Fuel

4) Fuel – see the first tip.  If you are doing a longer distance, ½ - full marathon and beyond, you should know what fuels your body.  When you were training and doing your 16-20 km or 28-34 km runs, what did you take to make sure you could make it through the run?  Find out what works for you and buy a lot of it.  Trying something new during a race (see Tip 1), with the anxiety associated of the race, can wreak havoc on your GI tract.  Having to stop at 3 or 4 or more port-a-potties on the course, does not help one feel better.  Know what you take, when you take it and how much your stomach can handle.

Used from: www.runandbecome.com

I love Gatorade and PowerGels.  Ok, I don’t really love them but I noticed that many races have Gatorade on the course.  So I practice drinking Gatorade on my long runs.  If a race had Powerade, I would switch to see how Powerade worked on my long runs.  If Powerade still worked for me, great!  I would switch.  PowerGels go down nice and smooth with a little water/Gatorade, I am good to go (along with my stomach).