A marathon is won or lost in the back half. The first 30km is mostly your training — the last 12km is where your marathon fuel plan decides whether you hold pace or hit the wall.
This page gives you a complete fuelling strategy for race day: what to take before the start, what to take on-course, and how to recover — built around steady-release LIVSTEADY carbohydrate instead of the sugar that causes the spike-and-crash.
UCAN delivers a steady, sustained flow of energy across the full marathon distance — built to help you avoid the dreaded bonk in the final kilometres.
Skip the highs and lows of sugar-based gels and drinks. LIVSTEADY™ releases slowly, keeping your blood sugar stable from the start line to the finish.
Take UCAN 30–45 minutes before the start, then in defined servings on-course — no need to sip constantly like a traditional sports drink. Simple to plan, simple to execute.
If gels and sugary drinks leave your stomach heavy or unsettled mid-race, LIVSTEADY™ is different — it clears the stomach quickly and delivers steady energy without the bloated, sloshing feeling.
Most marathon fuel plans fall apart for one reason: sugar. Traditional gels and sports drinks spike your blood glucose quickly, then drop it just as fast — and that crash tends to land exactly when you need energy most, in the back half of the race.
The fix isn’t more sugar or more gels. It’s a steady-release carbohydrate that delivers energy gradually across the whole distance, so there’s no spike to crash from in the first place. That’s the principle the rest of this fuel plan is built on.
UCAN simplifies marathon fuelling into three phases — before, during, and after. You’ll fuel at less frequent intervals than with sugary gels, and you won’t be punished if your timing isn’t perfect. Whichever way you fuel, practise it on your long runs first. Nothing new on race day.
Meb Keflezighi — 4× U.S. Olympian, and Boston and New York City Marathon champion — is one of the most accomplished distance runners of the last two decades. He’s the only athlete in history to win the New York Marathon (2009), the Boston Marathon (2014), and an Olympic medal (Silver, 2004)
If I don't have time to eat breakfast before my run, I'll have a UCAN shake. UCAN gives me 2-3 hours of sustained energy without any stomach problems. You never feel the crash.
LIVSTEADY™ is UCAN’s signature slow-release carbohydrate. It starts with non-GMO corn, processed through a patented natural cooking method using carefully controlled heat and moisture over a long period. That process changes the way the starch is metabolised — so instead of a fast glucose spike, it releases energy gradually.
Originally researched in clinical nutrition contexts and later adapted for sport, LIVSTEADY™ is what makes it possible to fuel a full marathon without riding the sugar rollercoaster.
There’s a lot of noise in sports nutrition — there’s nothing else that works quite like it.
Simple carbohydrates cause a sharp rise in blood glucose and a short-lived boost — then leave you flatter than when you started. LIVSTEADY™ is built to avoid that spike-and-crash entirely.
Its slow, steady release of carbohydrate helps runners hold consistent energy across long efforts, which is exactly what a marathon demands from the start line to the finish.
Your race-day fuel plan starts before race morning. In the 2–3 days before the marathon, increase your carbohydrate intake to around 8–12 grams per kilogram of body weight per day.
For a 70kg runner, that’s roughly 560–840g of carbs daily — a real increase from normal training intake.
The practical version: bigger portions of rice, pasta, bread and oats; carb-focused snacks between meals; and slightly less fibre and fat to make room. One thing carb loading is not: a single enormous pasta dinner the night before.
Your body stores extra glycogen over days, not in one sitting. Spread the load across the final 2–3 days and you’ll get to the start line topped up rather than bloated.
Your fuel plan and your hydration plan work together. Alongside your UCAN servings, keep fluids and electrolytes topped up across the race — and pay extra attention on warm, humid Australian race days.
Sip water and a sugar-free electrolyte like UCAN Hydrate throughout; heavy sweaters and hot conditions, like a humid Gold Coast Marathon morning, will need more than a cooler race in Melbourne. Getting hydration right is what lets your fuel actually do its job.
Start fuelled with a serving of UCAN Energy Powder or an Edge Energy Gel about 30 minutes before the gun, then take one Edge gel every 45–60 minutes on-course. The goal is steady energy across the whole distance, not a series of sugar hits.
Most runners take 1–2 servings of UCAN on-course during a marathon, on top of 1–2 servings pre-race. The exact number depends on your size, pace and how long you’re out there — practise it on your long runs to find your number.
A familiar, carb-focused dinner — rice, pasta, potatoes — without heavy fat or excess fibre. Don’t try anything new. The real carb loading happens across the 2–3 days before the race, not in one big meal the night before.
Increase carbohydrate intake to roughly 8–12g per kilogram of body weight per day for the 2–3 days before the race, spread across normal meals and snacks. Reduce fibre and fat slightly to make room. Avoid the single-giant-dinner approach — glycogen stores fill over days.
A half marathon needs less on-course fuel — usually one pre-race serving plus one serving on-course at around 14–16km, rather than the multi-serving approach a full marathon requires.
Get your fuelling dialled in across your long runs, carb load properly in the final 2–3 days, and get to the start line confident. The training is done — your fuel plan is what carries it through the last 12 kilometres.
Running coach and exercise scientist Greg McMillan and Generation UCAN share their secrets to running your best marathon. Listen to the podcast below.
Olympian Alexi Pappas talks about the importance of pre-run fueling with UCAN. Join us as we tag along with her for a workout.
Coach Greg McMillan joins Generation UCAN for a webinar on the top 3 marathon fueling strategies!
As a professional runner and nurse anesthetist, Sarah Sellers relies on UCAN to energize smarter before her morning long runs.
