Ask the experts

Stay fit and well with this top advice from the Women's Fitness experts

Q: ‘How can I avoid hitting the “wall” during my marathon – and what should I do if I do hit it?’

A: ‘When someone talks about hitting the wall during their marathon, they’re often referring to experiencing glycogen depletion. Glycogen is a stored form of fuel that can be broken down into glucose, and can then be further broken down to provide energy to your muscles in the form of ATP, to help you keep going. ‘The best way to avoid hitting the wall is to have a strategy for getting glucose into your body, so you can keep breaking it down during your marathon to provide energy. You can do this by having carb-rich beverages throughout the duration of your marathon. ‘Don’t wait until you’re close to hitting the wall to start trying to get more glucose into your body. It’s best to start taking in more pre-emptively, in order to maintain some amount of stored glycogen as long as possible. If you up your blood glucose by taking in a bunch of carbs from a beverage, your body will preferentially rely on breaking down that glucose into ATP, as opposed to breaking down your stored glycogen. This is a good thing, because you want to have some glycogen in reserve in case you need it at any point. It’s like your emergency reserves.

‘If you do end up hitting the wall, your best bet is to slow down as much as possible to minimise energy expenditure, and to consume a carb-rich beverage as soon as possible. It’s possible you’ll feel sick and won’t want to consume anything. Digestion of carbs starts in your mouth through the enzyme salivary amylase, so even just having something carbrich in your mouth can help.