Nick is shooting for a PB at the London Marathon this year, and will be using his tried-and-tested favourite kit and nutrition products on the day. Here’s his round-up of marathon essentials, from panda (or turtle) socks to a bright blue headband.
JUMP STRAIGHT IN:
00:00 – Intro
01:16 – Nutrition & Hydration
03:11 – Running Shoes
04:14 – Clothes
06:25 – Running Watch
08:26 – Post-Race
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Hello and welcome to the Run testers my Name's Nick and this video is all about The kit I'm intending to use for the London Marathon this [Music] Year so this is my seventh time running The London Marathon uh I've had a mixed Record at the marathon it's quite tricky One to Pace I find because of the Downhills in the first half and the General excitement that goes on in London uh all around the week leading up To the marathon it's quite a busy week Quite an exciting week it's a little bit Less relaxing than going to somewhere Like Berlin or Valencia but I have PB Twice at London around my first sub Three at London a few years back now I've blown up twice horribly once the Year it was very hot and then uh the Year after covid I think I blew up in The last 10k of the race and I've run it A couple of times with friends including Last year which was very nice indeed but Yeah love the course love the atmosphere On the course obviously loads of people There that I know from my club and just In general life throughout London it Makes it a very exciting event all Around this year I'm hoping to PB I'm Going to try and run my best London yet Never actually gone sub 230 at London my Sub 230s have been like Dy Berlin and Valencia so I'd like to go sub 230 and
PB run a 227 that's the plan a little Bit quicker if I can probably start out Fairly slow we usually go pretty slow in The first t a of a marathon try and Build throughout it and finish strong And yeah like I say hopefully run a PB That's the plan very simple plan run a [Music] PB so nutrition and hydration we'll Start with which is my tried and tested Method if anyone seen the videos around The Berlin of Valencia marathons over The past couple of years I use Morton's 320 drink I pull that into a bottle I Get 500 Ms with that and I break it up Into 250 mil soft flasks I carry three Of those soft flasks with me in the Marathon in some kiun shorts I'll talk About later but yeah some shorts from De Caton that basic have a lot of storage I Can carry three soft flasks and I also Take a couple of gels so this year I'm Going to have more caffeine in my gels I Might use the sisb to fuel New Tropics I've been using them for a lot of races Lately especially half marathons but Because it's 40 G of carbs that might be A little bit too much so I might use two Of the Morton calf 100 gels to break up A bit basically in a marathan every 5K I Have something so I usually have a gel At the first 5k then I have drinks 10K 15K 20K I have half of the 250 M bottle At each of those just just to bring the
Load down evenly around me then another Gel at around 25k a bit of caffeine in There to try and help with the second Half of the marathon and then yeah a Couple more drinks for the rest of the Race so yeah basically every 5K I'm Having something just sipping on those Drinks sipping on the gels and just Trying to maintain a nice steady stream Of carbs into the body in a way that I Can tolerate very well I found with the Morton drinks in the past I never get an Upset stomach I feel nice and full I Feel nice and fueled so hopefully That'll be the case at London as well I Also grab stuff on the course like the Water maybe one of those lucasa Electroly drinks they have at some Stations on London although they're Served in cups which is tricky to drink From I find in the morning my breakfast Is bagels with marmit or crumpets with Marmite not made that big decision yet But it'll be one of those two I also Have a Precision fueling and hydration 1500 electrolyte tab to get a load of Electrolytes in to hydrate early in the Morning and I have a full bottle of Morton 320 drink uh in the morning as Well well about a couple of hours before The race just to get that 80 g of carbs Into the body and settling nicely well Before the race actually starts I also Have coffee that's another thing I have
In the [Music] Morning all right shoes so I am going to Use the atic Met speed Sky Paris for London Marathon this is the first time I've really gone into an aace in a very Long time not using one of Nike shoes I've a lot of videos on the channel About how much I like the ASX sh lately Comparison to the alphafly 3 went up Recently as well so check that out as The why I've picked it but generally Always love the ride of it it's Incredibly lightweight it's still got Loads of Bounce loads of protection I've Gone over 20 mi in it during this Trading block and done like three quite Hard long progression runs in it that Have gone to about half marathon Distance I really trust it for both the Amount of protection and comfort it Offers for the marathon but also just The pace and the fact it is so Lightweight and I find it very easy to Engage the plate and get spring from the Shoe like even when I'm tiring in the Fast last 10k of the marathon feel like I'll be able to keep turning my legs Over and getting a nice amount of Pop From the shoe there's so much details Elsewhere about how much I like the shoe On the channel I'll probably just leave It there but yeah the aex metas speed Sky Paris is My Chosen RAC shoe for the
London marathon it's my favorite all Around carbon racing shoe available at The moment the Ally 3 is a close runner Up i' love testing that shoe as well but I do prefer the F6 metas speed Sky Paris And that's what I'll be using at [Music] London so turn my clothes for the race I'll be wearing my saw Orion harri's Club Fest pretty simple stuff the saw Race Fest is very good very lightweight No chafing no problems like that with it I found and yeah using that on the day And I'll be using these shorts from the Cast so these are women's half tights They're called kiun 900 now they're not In stock as far as I can see but talked About these a lot over the past couple Of years they are just half tights with Loads of storage and really Well-designed storage so I think on the Men's side of things they are loose Shorts so you can get the same storage In that kind of loose shorts design but I prefer half tights the women's ones Fit perfectly well I've not had any Problems being a man wearing these Shorts I'll say that and you get two Large Pockets at the back that each take One of my 250 mil soft flasks a zip Pocket at the front which can also take A 250 mil soft flask a couple of gel Pocket on the side there as well carries It very close and tight against the body
I've used these shorts for loads of Races including three marathons works Very well they're pretty soft and Accommodating I've not had any chafing Problems with them so not sure if They're available right now but Hopefully they will come back into stock At some point they cost like1 1820 and They are amazing like I've got so many Pairs of shorts all of many of which Cost like five times as much as these Shorts or more but they work really well For marathons just because of the great Storage they have underneath those Shorts I'll be wearing my bjorg pants The ican always delivers a little bit of Extra comfort and a little bit of extra Protection against Chase thing so I do Like to wear uh underwear even with half Tights I find and then socks are going To be sporks socks so again I've talked About these before they're very Lightweight thin socks just nice Comfortable socks I mean they are good For that but I don't tend to have any Problems with my feet and probably the Main reason I pick them is that I have a Panda pair which is my favorite and Probably the ones I'll use but I do have A turtle pair as well which I've liked a Lot recently so it's pandas or Turtles On the day with a small chance that a Unicorn s comes into play because my Daughter has seen them and she likes
Unicorns and then on my head I'm going To wear my buff headband my blue Headband I've worn this for many London Marathons I was going to use a cap this Year potentially just because I have Used a cap for all my races but my wife Informed me that the headband makes it a Lot easier to spot me on the course and It's much more important that she sees Me and I see her than I wear a cap or a Headband so yeah I'm going to wear my Blue headband for the London Marathon Again I do just hate having sweat on my Forehead in races so I would be Constantly clearing that off if I wasn't Wearing a hat or a headband and headband Does a very good job of soaking that all [Music] Up all right running watches this year I'm going to be wearing the epic Pro and The Apple watch Ultra 2 I've been Wearing both of these as much as I can Over the past several months for a Long-term test and long-term verses Long-term reviews of each watch and I've Used them for nearly the entirety of Marathon training occasionally having to Test another watch and take one of them Off I'm looking forward to just testing Them again at L marathon it's a good Chance to test GPS actually recently the Garmin has been more impressive on GPS Than the Apple even in City environments Where sometimes I found the Apple watch
Ultra had a little bit an edge but yeah Basically going to be testing the GPS on Them my plan is to set up different Modes on them so with the in I'm going To do manual splits because in the London Marathon you get pretty good GPS First half but around Canary wolf it all Goes scadaddle so I'm going to be taking Manual 2K splits overall I'm proba Aiming to average you just under 7 Minutes per 2K throughout the marathon So I'm going to take those manually just To make sure I'm actually keeping on Target Pace for the actual distance and Not just whatever the GPS distance is Saying on the Apple watch I might set up The Pacer mode though where I set my Target time and it gives you a little Indication of how far ahead or behind it You are this will go a bit sky whff Around Canary Warf I'm interested to see If it's it's still useful over the Course of a marathon even with patches Like that where you are among tall Buildings making the GPS a bit tricky I May or may not wear a heart rate monitor With at the polar h10 I mean I won't be Using heart rate in the race at all and I'm not too fast if the watches are Wrong cuz on race day I'm just going to Be running to you feel and performance Not too fast what my heart rate says I'll probably turn it off in case it Looks bad in some way um but yeah so
Those are the watches I'll be using Manual splits on the Garen just for that Really reliable accurate you know Measure of whether you are going through Those 2K splits on Pace I might have the Distance but I might whacking the Distance and Target in there's another Screen you know where it tells you what Time you're roughly going to finish your Marathon in which again you can work out And add seconds or take them away Depending on how the markers are coming Up so yeah both good watches very good On GPS it's hard at London Marathon but They will give you a good idea of how Fast you're running help you keep you on Pace certainly in the first half when You obviously are looking to try and Pace yourself second half I'm not too Fast I'll be running a bit more to feel But first half I just want to make sure I don't go too quick and those watches Both have good [Music] GPS Post race I don't have too many plans to What I'm going to put my kit bag apart From a load of layers get a load of Layers on quickly cuz I've turned blue a Couple of times off London Marathon cuz Even when it's hot I just you know your Body temperature plunges after a hard Marathon effort like that only I will Probably pop in actually is some kind of
Recovery Footwear I use OS shoes and Sliders quite a lot just my general Slippers them on right now these are the EOS mules I might pop these in my kit Bag for afterwards if it's not looking Like a very warm day and if it is going To be warm and I can wear sliders I Probably will wear the sliders but other Than that I don't really have anything To essentially my kit bag just want to Find my family and go to a restaurant Have a load of chips and a milkshake Yeah so that's it that's my plan for London Marathon if you any questions About the kit or the nutrition plan Chuck them in the comments below and I'll try and get to them as always Please do like and subscribe ring the Little bell and we'll see you next Time
