How to avoid hitting the wall

Hitting the wall – also known as ‘bonking’ or simply running out of energy – looms large in the mind of a runner, with many seeing it as an inevitable part of taking on a marathon. Around mile 18 your legs will turn to jelly, and you’ll feel like you’re running in treacle.

But, as our experts explain below, there are lots of things you can do both before and during your event to reduce your risk of hitting the wall and to turn things around if you do.

“Preparing well for your event is important,” says Martin Yelling the official TCS London Marathon coach. “Embrace a sustained training programme and put the miles in. Teaching your body what it feels like to spend that much time on your feet is crucial.”

“You want to start your event with a full tank of fuel,” says Anita Bean, a sports nutritionist and author of The Runner’s Cookbook. She advises eating lots of carbohydrates two to three days before your event, so Thursday evening or Friday morning if you’re running a marathon on Sunday. “This allows the body to store the carbs as glycogen to use as fuel for your event,” she says.

To achieve this, Anita suggests adding larger portions of carbs – such as pasta, rice, and potatoes – to your meals and reducing the amount of fat and protein you consume. But she warns: “Don’t overeat or try to get all your carbs in your final meal the night before.” Instead include carb-based snacks such as oats and bananas in your day and stick to simple meals that you know agree with you to avoid stomach discomfort. She also notes you shouldn’t eat too much fibre or fatty foods at this stage.

“So often people hit the wall because they're not disciplined on Event Day,” says Martin. “They start off too quickly and run out of energy.” Which, according to Anita, is because if we run too fast, or faster than we’re used to running, it leads us to burn through our carb stores quicker and so we run out of energy.

“Be disciplined and controlled, and take it steady,” says Martin. Using a watch to keep an eye on the pace you’re running at is a smart idea.

“Don’t wait until you’re halfway into the marathon before you start to take on energy,” says Anita. “You need to be taking on fuel from early in the event – roughly 45 mins from the start. A good general guide is to fuel every three to four miles.”

Good sources of fuel for during the event include sports drinks, energy gels, bananas and jelly sweets, though you’ll want to have tried each of these while training, so nothing comes as a shock to your body on Event Day.

“If you do hit the wall the only thing you can do is slow down – walk if you need to, focus on your breathing and do your best to consume more energy,” says Anita. She recommends gels, chews, jelly sweets, and sports drinks, but suggests consuming “whatever you can get your hands on” as something is better than nothing. Also take on more water, she says, as being dehydrated can make you feel worse. But don’t overdo it as this can lead to stomach problems.

Sometimes you’ve done everything right nutrition-wise but you’re just not feeling it mentally. Ruba Talukdar has run the London Marathon five times and has been a pacer for the last four editions, encouraging runners who are aiming to finish in 7:15. When you feel like you’ve hit a mental wall, she says you have to remember all the hard work and training you’ve put in. “You have to see it to the end. Otherwise, what have you worked so hard for? You have to get the bling – the medal!”

She also finds it helpful to remember what motivated you to enter the event in the first place. “I started running to deal with the grief of my mum’s passing,” says Ruba. “So, in my first marathon, when it got tough, I felt like my mum was pushing me on and telling me I could do it.”

Other people use affirmations and talk to themselves, she says, adding that she thinks it’s helpful for runners to think about their mental coping strategies before the event. “Sooner or later, you’re going to hit the wall, so you need to think about whatever will work for you to get through it,” she says.

Written by Sam Haddad. Sam is a freelance journalist based in Brighton, she's been writing about sport and the outdoors for over 20 years.