Half Marathon Fuel Plan: Founder's Guide | beForm Nutrition

From Five Months Off to 13.1 Miles: How Our Founder Is Fuelling a Comeback at the Yorkshire Weekend Saunter

Ten days to go. Here's the exact fuel plan, and the science behind every step utilising our products at beForm Nutrition.

The Problem: What Happens After 60 Minutes

Somewhere around the hour mark, running changes. Your muscles and liver store carbohydrate as glycogen, and at a steady endurance pace those stores start running low after roughly 60 to 90 minutes. When they do, pace drops, effort feels harder, and your brain starts negotiating with your legs.

Meanwhile, you're losing fluid and sodium through sweat. Even modest dehydration raises your heart rate for the same pace, and prolonged running creates muscle fibre damage that your body has to repair afterwards. Glycogen, fluid and muscle are three separate problems, and they all show up in the second half of a half-marathon.

Our founder Ben is about to find out how this feels. On 17th October, he lines up at the Yorkshire Weekend Saunter in Brighouse, a 13.1-mile run through West Yorkshire countryside. The catch is that he hasn't trained for or run an event since May. A five-month break means lost aerobic fitness, so he can't rely on fitness alone to carry him through. Fuelling has to do more of the work.

Founder's Lab Notes: The honest starting point
"I'm not going to pretend I'm in PB shape. I'm coming back from a long break, which makes it the perfect test. If a fuel plan works for a runner who isn't at peak fitness, it'll work for you."

The Solution: Ben's Fuel Plan, Step by Step

For his build-up, Ben is using our Runner's Training Bundle. It's a system built around three phases, each solving a different problem.

Pre-Run: The Foundation

The aim is to start with full glycogen stores and a hydrated body. That means a carbohydrate-rich meal two to three hours before, then a smaller top-up closer to the start.

Bundle product: beEnergy - caffeine and dietary nitrates

Founder's Lab Notes: "I take beEnergy about 30 minutes before a training run or the event itself. This gives your body time to digest ands process the nutrients to deliver improved blood flow and reduce the feeling of exertion."

Intra-Run: The Sustenance

This is where races are won and lost, and it's where beHydrate and beFuel come in.

Carbohydrate: beFuel sports sweets. Once your stores start to dwindle, taking in carbohydrate during the run helps maintain energy and delay that late-stage crash. For runs beyond about an hour, a common guideline is around 30 to 60g of carbohydrate per hour. Sweets are easy to carry, easy to portion, and easy to take little and often, which matters because your gut can only absorb so much at once. Taking a few every 15 to 20 minutes beats one big hit at mile 9.

Fluid and electrolytes: beHydrate. Sweat contains sodium, and how much you lose varies a lot from person to person. Electrolyte drinks help replace some of what you lose and support the body's ability to absorb fluid. The goal is to drink to thirst and replace salts, not to force down as much water as possible. Over-drinking plain water can dilute your blood sodium, which is its own problem.

Founder's Lab Notes: My race-day rhythm

"I have a great pair of running shorts that feature a mesh storage system to the front of the waist band that allows me to keep a packet of two of beFuel at easy reach. This way I can gradually consume them rather than face a large sachet of gloopy gels. Furthermore, each packet should sustain the average runner for 90 minutes. That means 2 packs are more than. enough for me.

I will also use a runners vest to store the pouches of beHydrate and drink about 2 per hour, therefore 4 will be sufficient."

A tip for any runner: practise this in training. Race day is the wrong time to find out how your stomach handles a new fuel.

Post-Run: The Repair

After a long run, your muscles are depleted and carrying micro-damage. The classic advice is to eat carbohydrates and protein soon afterwards. The "30-minute window" is a useful rule of thumb, though the real picture is more forgiving if you're eating again within a couple of hours. It matters most when you're training again within 24 hours. A common target is roughly 20 to 25g of protein alongside carbohydrate.

Product spotlight: beRecovery helps ease the DOMS and assists restful sleep

Founder's Lab Notes: Recovery
"A great immediate post run 'go-to' is chocolate milk, its simple, cheap and effective. However, to ensure you sleep well every night and maximise your body's recovery process, our beRecovery supplement is a must! I take 3 capsules daily."

The Proof: What the Logs Show

A note on honesty: one runner's logs aren't a clinical trial, and with a short build-up, fitness gains will be mixed in with fuelling effects. We'd rather say that than oversell it. What Ben's logs can show is how the plan feels in practice. *1 being the best, 10 being the worst.

The Maths: Why It's a Bundle

These products are bundled because they cover the full run, with each phase handling a different job:

• Pre-run: beEnergy, £29.50
• Intra-run: beFuel, £1.95 and beHydrate, £1.65
• Post-run: beRecovery, £29.50

Bought separately: £36.70. Runner's Training Bundle: £24.50. You save £12.20

Your Turn

Whether you're building up to a half-marathon or coming back after a break like Ben, your fuel plan deserves as much attention as your mileage. Here's what to do this week:

1. Work out your long-run fuel. Aim for a rough carbohydrate target per hour and test it - the research shows that 60-90g is required.
2. Practise your intra-run routine on your next long run, with timing and amounts.
3. Plan your recovery before you finish, so it's ready when you get back.

Ready to build your own plan? → Explore the Runner's Training Bundle

And if you're near Brighouse on the 17th, look out for Ben on the course. We'll share how it went afterwards.