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# Courtney's Marathon Race Diary: Nutrition, Pacing & The Final Long Session
- URL: https://www.inthebeginningpodcast.com/gold-coast-marathon-series-courtney-s-race-diary-monologue/
- Published: 2026-06-23T06:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-08-21T00:32:02.000Z
- Description: Courtney Atkinson and Liam Flanagan on nutrition, heart rate training, Gold Coast Marathon — recorded on the Gold Coast.
- Author: Courtney Atkinson
- Tags: Episodes, Gold Coast Marathon, Sports Science, #Import 2026-07-28 20:58

*With Liam away, Courtney goes solo for a monologue update from deep in Gold Coast Marathon prep — recorded two weeks out. The centrepiece is an unplanned 30K session with training partner Tim Rigby and a group from Gold Coast Run Co: a 10K warm-up into three 5K reps at marathon effort, and the sobering reality that Tim is currently running four to six seconds a kilometre easier than he is.*

*Courtney works through his race-day nutrition plan in detail — why a can of Red Bull is basically an energy gel, his Maurten mix ratios and a target of 60-70 grams of carbs an hour, and the backup plan for when course nutrition runs short. He also revisits the three rules behind his "marathon experiment": running only every second day to protect his bones, resisting the urge to chase faster training partners early, and — his one admitted miss — staying consistent with gym strength work.*

*The episode closes with his approach to race-day pacing: trusting feel and heart rate over GPS and kilometre markers, and a reminder that the discipline of holding back in training, not the training volume itself, is what's kept him healthy through the build.*

## In this episode

- Why Courtney went solo this week, and what an unplanned 30K session with Tim Rigby and the Gold Coast Run Co group revealed about his current form
- Race-day nutrition breakdown: Red Bull vs. energy gels, Maurten mix ratios and a 60-70g/hour carb target
- The backup nutrition plan for when Gold Coast Marathon course supplies run short
- The three rules behind his "marathon experiment" — and the one he's struggled to keep
- Why he trusts feel and heart rate over GPS and kilometre markers on race day

## Timestamps

- **\[00:00\]** Going solo: why Liam's away, and what this week's session covered
- **\[01:02\]** The unplanned 30K session with Tim Rigby and the Gold Coast Run Co group
- **\[06:47\]** Why he can't run the whole race on Red Bull (but sort of can)
- **\[10:22\]** Caffeine timing: why it goes in earlier in the race, not late
- **\[12:57\]** The backup nutrition plan if course supplies run short
- **\[18:40\]** The three rules behind the marathon "experiment" — and the one he's missed
- **\[25:03\]** Trusting feel and heart rate over GPS and kilometre markers

## Listen

## Related In The Beginning episodes

- [Courtney's "Experiment" Hits Crunch Time](https://www.inthebeginningpodcast.com/gold-coast-marathon-series-courtney-s-experiment-hits-crunch-time/) — the marathon experiment continues
- [Truth About Heart Rate Training With Polar](https://www.inthebeginningpodcast.com/gold-coast-marathon-series-truth-about-heart-rate-training-with-polar/) — more on the heart-rate pacing approach referenced here
- [Andy Buchanan — The Aussie Marathon Record Holder](https://www.inthebeginningpodcast.com/andy-buchanan-the-aussie-marathon-record-holder-is-coming-back-to-defend-his-gol/) — Andy's race-day advice gets a mention in this episode
- [EP 92 — The Final Week Before Gold Coast Marathon](https://www.inthebeginningpodcast.com/ep-92-the-final-week-before-gold-coast-marathon/) — the next update in the lead-up

## Full transcript

Auto-generated transcript. Timestamps approximate. Hosts: Courtney Atkinson & Liam Flanagan.

**Read the full transcript** 

\[00:00\] In the beginning podcast — this is the Gold Coast Marathon series, and I've got a bit of a different one for you today. This is Courtney Atkinson — we're without Liam, because I've done a runner on him, he's decided to head away at the last minute on holiday, so we're not going to catch up this week. But so we don't miss out on this lead-up to the Gold Coast Marathon, I thought I'd do a bit of a monologue and wrap-up of my sessions as we head in, because we did do a marathon session today.

\[00:30\] I'm talking on Sunday morning, and I finally got together with all the boys — we got together and did a marathon session. It was unplanned. I'd thought I'd probably finish up the longer hard runs on Tuesday, to give myself a good two and a half weeks of nothing over the top before the marathon, but I pulled up really well from the Tuesday session, where I did nearly 21K worth of efforts. Pulled up really well, been running well all week, so—

\[01:02\] —we decided to do one last one together. Very controlled — the session was 30K total. What did we do? We went 10K warm-up into three times 5K at marathon effort, with a 2K float in between. The reason we structured the session like that is because we had a group of us all running slightly different paces—

\[01:33\] —and setting it up that way meant that when the fastest person in the group did the 1K-out float, they were able to turn around and come back to restart the 5K at the same point. It let everyone turn around and regroup at that stage. So some of us may have run maybe 200 metres less than that 2K float, but in the end it works out for a much better session when you're all doing it together. That was the session itself. The hard thing when you're doing a session like that with people—

\[02:04\] —is making sure you hit your paces and don't let ego get in the way. But the flip side is it gets you practising running someone else's pace, and being comfortable running around in a group. This is my favourite bit of running, not just marathons but running in general — getting together with all your mates, all the fellas and the girls, and jumping in together — because what was a 30K session—

\[02:34\] —this morning, we all agreed felt like 10K. That's one thing through this whole preparation I feel like I've been missing — I've been avoiding people, trying not to injure myself by going too fast. But by doing that, it makes everything so much harder when you're doing it all on your own. If you're in there with people, that's a big thing — having a group, or like-minded people to do it with. I really think that's the key, and it's the part of the process that's actually probably—

\[03:05\] —more enjoyable than actually getting out there and doing the race. So, jumping into the session a bit — my main nemesis, the guy I'm having a lot of fun with, that I'm going to race — Tim Rigby, he joined in on the session, plus a whole range of other guys of varying speeds around us. Jacko from Gold Coast Run Co was right at the front — sounds like he might have a crack at the half marathon at the Gold Coast race. We all jumped in.

\[03:37\] So for the first 5K we pretty much started and tapped along together. Tim — unfortunately for me, fortunately for him — is definitely moving a little easier than I am at the moment. And when I say a little bit, we're probably only talking four to six seconds a kilometre. But Tim is ahead of me at, let's call it, marathon or just-below-threshold pace.

\[04:09\] He's looking very comfortable and very easy. We were joking within the session that in one of the easy parts, realistically he said, 'I'm in the box seat, because I just get to sit back and clean up from behind if anything goes wrong.' And I said, no mate, you're actually in the box seat — I'd much rather be in the position of, one, having the best speed base, two, having the best threshold, three, leading in the race—

\[04:42\] —I'd much rather be at the front, in control, than relying on someone else to blow up — anyone who says they'd rather come from behind is kidding themselves. And that's the reality I've, to a degree, had to come to terms with after today — there's no magic pill I can swallow in two weeks that's going to let me suddenly pull six to ten seconds out of nowhere. It just can't happen, right?

\[05:13\] There's a reality to the pacing and a reality to what you're physiologically capable of, with the training you've done. The reality is I do have to hope he blows himself up a bit — I'm encouraging him to run out at 3:30 pace, not the 3:35 to 3:40 he's probably pretty capable of. That'll be interesting — never say never, racing's always different. It's been good—

\[05:45\] —fun watching his training, watching my training, and everyone working together to get there. There's so many people out there — I don't run at Tallebudgera much, but it's great to see everyone out running. This morning it was down along Palm Beach where we warmed up — run groups everywhere, everyone right in the thick of this Gold Coast Marathon preparation, just as much as if you went down to the Spit or along the Esplanade where I'd normally run.

\[06:17\] The great thing is, on a Sunday, or any day of the week, people are just out and about running at the moment. It doesn't matter what pace you're running, everyone feels part of it. You can go run a loop around Tallebudgera or up at the Spit, and even if you're not in a group yourself, you feel like you're running around in one. It's a great time to be involved in a sport that's booming this much, in public spaces, and for free — there's not too many—

\[06:47\] —sports where you can just jump out and feel part of something every day, and it costs you exactly a pair of shoes, a pair of shorts and a singlet. So I also wanted to cover — leading into this, Brett Carter and a few people reached out with advice on nutrition, so we tried some nutrition on the course today. I can't run the whole race on Red Bull, as some people pointed out, thank you—

\[07:18\] —but I did realise it's more of a convenience for me, having it in the back of the car for sessions — I've always got Red Bull back there, so it's easy to grab one. And by the way, a can of Red Bull is effectively an energy gel — it's got about 27 grams of sugar, and most energy gels are 25 to 30 grams of sugar. It's got 80 milligrams of caffeine — the Maurten gel I had this morning has 100 milligrams of caffeine, so you're comparing apples with apples on the type of energy and stimulant. And then the 250ml can also gives you—

\[07:49\] —that much liquid at the same time. So even though the purpose isn't hydration, you're getting 250ml, give or take, of fluid in as well. If you're using a sports-drink mix, which is formulated to digest a bit easier at the start of a race for a certain purpose — everyone's laughing at me and giving me grief about the Red Bull cans, but it's effectively doing the same thing, and I'm used to stomaching them.

\[08:19\] And at the back end of the course, we've talked a lot about switching to Coke, for a couple of reasons — one, a taste change, to get something different in your mouth, because sugar tastes so good in that form at that point in the race. Andy Buchanan actually said he looks for Coke at the end of a race too. For me it could be Coke or Red Bull — they both serve exactly the same purpose, that simple form of sugar, just changing it up a—

\[08:49\] —little from the gels and sports drinks. So I looked into the Gold Coast Marathon course handbook, and so far there's no suggestion of Coke or Red Bull anywhere on the back end of the course, which is a bit of a shame, honestly, because I know how many runners appreciate that. I did note the fixed nutrition on course, at the 30K mark, may have energy gels — but there's a big asterisk next to that saying supplies are limited—

\[09:19\] —so don't rely on them all being there by the time you get there. That sends a few alarm bells for me too — there's no guarantee of what you can rely on out there. So the strategy the boys and I agreed on this morning is that we need to be self-sufficient on course, a hundred percent, and treat the water or sports drink out there as an emergency backup. So what I tried this morning — Brett, you'll be glad to know I—

\[09:51\] —didn't mix it quite as concentrated as you suggested, I still think we should mix those sports drinks up for digestion the way they're meant to be. I had one of the 320 Maurten mixes and tried the caffeine version this morning — I didn't know how it would sit on my stomach, and the caffeine mix is mainly something I want to be getting in the earliest stages of the race. I do see a lot of the suggestions out there about—

\[10:22\] —making sure you have your caffeinated gels or sports drink towards the end of the race, and I'm not a scientist, but I can't fully understand the purpose of that. My understanding is you'd want to be getting caffeine in earlier in the race — at least 30 to 45 minutes before you want it to have full effect. So having the caffeinated gel in the last half hour or twenty—

\[10:52\] —minutes of the race, you'd want to be topping up well before that. I'm happy to be challenged on that, and I could be completely wrong, but that's how I'll approach it. I was fine drinking the caffeine mix this morning in that session at marathon pace, and that'll be my strategy.

\[11:23\] I got through two 250ml flasks of liquid with the Maurten caffeine mix in it, so about 45 grams give or take per flask. My goal would be one of those flasks per hour, plus a gel as a top-up, which gets me around 65 to 70 grams per hour. I know there's some literature out there suggesting higher than that for endurance sport, but for the intensity I'll be racing the marathon at, I'm happy—

\[11:53\] —sitting around that 60 to 70 gram per hour mark, and I can top it up with on-course nutrition if I feel I need to. For me that's an easy carry, I know I can digest it, it's at the right recommended mix, so we're not going too concentrated. What I've done is take the 320 mix of that powder, split it into the recommended 500ml, half a litre of water—

\[12:26\] —and split that into two separate flasks. We might even look at something like Andy Buchanan mentioned — a tomato sauce bottle, which is a bit easier to digest, and you can just throw it away at the rubbish bins on course. I don't need to be losing my proper flasks — I'm assuming they're not cheap — so I don't want to be throwing those out. So that's pretty much the plan.

\[12:57\] We'll go without on-course support and, ideally, from about 32K onwards, I'd love to find a spot with some flat Coke or Red Bull to mix it up. But I'm not going to get hung up on that — if I can't find that, or we don't have people out there at certain points to support it, then so be it—

\[13:27\] —you deal with it. I think a big part of this is having a plan, but also having a backup plan — if all of that doesn't happen, do you still have enough gels and the ability to use on-course nutrition to get through comfortably? For me, yeah, I stomach things pretty well, so I'm happy to switch to whatever the standard—

\[13:58\] —electrolyte or drink mix is on course, and ideally I'd take a couple of spare gels with me just in case. That all worked really easily for me this morning, and that's what I'll go with on race day. The Nike Alpha Flys are working fine for me — still haven't got a race kit, and I've seen people asking what we'll be wearing. Nike are telling me we probably won't have the new Air—

\[14:29\] —range ready in time for the marathon, so I'll probably just be in a normal singlet and shorts — nothing fancy. I'm more concerned about what pace we're running than what I'm wearing, honestly, that's the main thing. But to wrap up — we'll talk through the last-minute stuff as we go into race week, and might even get a guest on, have a chat with someone on the Gold Coast. But some of the real key learnings, two weeks out, that—

\[15:01\] —I think I can pass on from doing the preparation the way I have: this week was the first week I've tapped over 90 kilometres — as of this Sunday, when you're listening to this — which is probably more than I'd intended to do in any week of this build. It's just that we managed to fit the double session in this week.

\[15:34\] And the main thing is, before that 90K week, I had a great rest week — dropped back to 40 kilometres. If you go into my Strava, which you're welcome to do, I've put everything up this time — all my heart rates, the shoes I've worn, everything, completely open and transparent.

\[16:04\] So you can go check it out. What you'll see on the mileage graph is, forget a big steady build — it's consistent for four or five weeks around that 60 to 70 kilometre mark, and I was only ever doing three to four runs a week to make that mileage. Some of those sessions are big. If you just looked at that mileage graph with no context on my background or what I've done up to it, you—

\[16:34\] —could look at it and think, there's just no way someone gets through a marathon at the paces we're targeting on that little mileage. But what you're missing is the consistency of every other day — one of them on the stationary bike, getting active recovery but also turnover. If you've ridden a stationary bike consistently for an hour, you never take a break on your legs — there's constant pressure—

\[17:07\] —especially on your upper quads, your hip flexors, continually lifting your legs over that hour. I think that transfers really nicely to aerobic running — I don't think the bike always transfers great to faster running, but for the physiology of mechanically keeping your legs in rhythm and continually lifting aerobically, it's like the old Lydiard sessions — how he said, in the end, over the longer running—

\[17:37\] —it's who can lift their legs most efficiently for longest who ends up running the best. The bike can, I believe, especially if you've got a background in bike riding — from my days in triathlon, I get a lot of rhythm from that, and I believe a good training benefit from the stationary bike. I don't think you'd get the same effect riding on the road — you break your cadence too often, your—

\[18:08\] —power oscillates up and down too much, you've got lights, traffic, all those outside things that don't give you the same stimulus as a stationary bike, sitting in a garage where you can control everything you need to. So looking back at those distances — no, they're not the biggest, and a 90K week isn't textbook marathon—

\[18:40\] —prep, I fully acknowledge that. But if you look at the premise of what we were trying to do with the experiment, and those three rules — one, only running every second day, to keep the bone load down, because I'd had stress-fracture issues and calf issues last year and a few other things — a hundred percent, I've been able to manage that throughout this. But I also haven't felt bulletproof. I do believe if I'd—

\[19:11\] —upped that mileage too early, or done double-day runs and everything else, I'd have run into trouble in this prep, no doubt about that. So, tick that box. Two — not running with guys too fast for me, overdoing it early with too much speed — because with my speed base from years of racing at a relatively high level, I pick up my speed and threshold very quickly. But the marathon is all about how aerobic you can be, how—

\[19:42\] —efficient you can be, how you can hold a pace — everything speed and keeping up with other people is actually the opposite of. That was a really big thing for me — I hadn't done a session with anyone else, except some slow jogs, in this whole build-up, until the Sunday session we've just completed. And even then, I think my ego's learnt enough that even running within two to three seconds a kilometre off the guys leading that—

\[20:13\] —session, I was more than comfortable dropping two to three seconds back, twenty to thirty metres off them, to make sure my heart rate stayed in the zone I wanted, to make sure I was comfortably and conservatively within that pace, and getting the most benefit out of that marathon session. That's something that, even in all my years racing at Olympic level, doing long trail races, winning—

\[20:46\] —some of the biggest trail races in the country, I've never really had the discipline to hold myself back like this. And it's still not perfect, don't get me wrong — I looked at the last section today and I floated down to 3:36s in that session, which wasn't in the plan, and the heart rate was one or two beats higher than ideal, and I fully acknowledge that. But sometimes you just run on — you try to—

\[21:17\] —do things that give the best outcome. I think the second part of that rule — the experiment — I've kept to really well, and I think that's what's kept me, touch wood, uninjured between now and the race. The third one has been the gym. This is where I've had a bit of a miss — making sure I keep up the calf strength work, some strength work through the abs.

\[21:48\] I've been doing some pull-ups and a range of things to overall strengthen the body. That hasn't been as consistent as I'd like — I haven't missed everything, this week and last week I've been back in the gym twice, doing calf exercises, a full range of leg exercises, single-leg exercises. But what I haven't been doing is loading it — it's been pure maintenance, and maybe that's fine too. But I'd have liked to be a bit more—

\[22:18\] —consistent in that third area, and I wonder if that would have given me a bit more resilience going out and doing those long sessions, especially in the super shoes, where there's a lot more torsion loading up your foot muscles, your calf muscles, and to a degree your quads and glutes, especially on the longer sessions.

\[22:49\] So, all in all, like I said, it's been an interesting experiment. Now's the time to rest, to fuel up and get out there and race.

\[23:24\] And that's the great thing about racing — it's been a long time since I've raced, probably haven't raced at any elite level in four to five years. But it's definitely been a couple of years since I've even properly toed a start line. So I'm really looking forward to it — no pressure, that's for sure. We've talked about this a lot — the times that actually sound like great—

\[24:00\] —times to me, or what I'd ever have imagined a marathon time being, I'm a long way from. And that actually takes a lot of the pressure off, right, because we're not talking about being a minute this side or that, a minute or two here or there. It's still a bit of an unknown as we go into the race. I take into account things like what Andy Buchanan said to me, and everyone listening should probably be thinking the same way — Andy said from where he trains to where he actually races on the day can sometimes be up to—

\[24:30\] —ten seconds a kilometre difference, once you're fresh and fuelled and have the shoes and race conditions and everything like that. I don't think I can afford to go ten seconds quicker than what I've been running in training — that would be too risky for me. But you never know till you're out there on course, right? You want to be — and I think this is the final bit of advice I'm giving myself, but you can take from it what you want — the great thing about racing is it's not about your training. You have the process of—

\[25:03\] —training to get you to the race, you make all the calculations, and it's all the fun of working out times and paces and heart rates and feel and everything else. But when you get into the race, you need to be able to use all of that stimulus and make decisions as you go. So yes, you want to be understanding your heart rate to a degree, yes, you want to look at your GPS, but please don't rely on it. Of course there's going to—

\[25:33\] —be errors in your GPS. It's a great guide, but it isn't going to be perfect. So you want to also be watching the time splits from the kilometre markers — but then again, never fully trust the kilometre markers on a course either. The biggest thing you should always trust is your own perception of pacing, to a degree. Use the data to second-guess yourself, use the data to check—

\[26:03\] —yourself. But in the end, it's your body, and what it's telling you, that you can really go off. If you're feeling and breathing and you can tell you're going too hard, you are going too hard, and it's going to be a long way — regardless of the distance you're racing. That's what I'll be listening for, and that's what I was doing in the session today too — just going, okay, we're only talking a few seconds a kilometre difference here, but knowing that if I slip down—

\[26:35\] —for me today, that might have been just down around that 336, 338 kilometre pace. When I slip down to there, instead of my heart rate fluctuating one or two beats around the low 150s, it suddenly might jump to 155, 156\. That's alarm bells for me — I've just seen a shift in my heart rate, and that shift means I'm at a pace I just can't maintain aerobically over that distance. And that, in the end, I can feel in my body and in my—

\[27:10\] —breathing, in my legs. But then you'll also see it in the heart rate. And when you put those two together, you can actually make some really crucial decisions on your pacing while you're out on course. And that's how — someone said to me, how do you approach the race, what goal pace, what's your goal time, how are you approaching the race — that's the exact answer I'll give them. How I approach the race is part intuitive, part feeling, but it's backed up by the data I'm seeing while I'm out—

\[27:41\] —there on the road. So with that — I'm sure listening to one person doing a monologue isn't the most fun of podcasts, but like I said, we wanted to make sure we got you something this week. And I know a fair few people have been enjoying the more in-depth detail of some of the sessions we've been getting up to in this lead-up to the marathon, and the nutrition prep, and a range of things. And look, no one ever gets it perfect—

\[28:11\] —and we're learning along the way as well. So I love that so many people are contributing and jumping in and helping out — thank you very much, I love that. Me and Liam will be back together on Saturday, with a normal Saturday, a bit of fun, a bit of running and a bit of sport thrown in. So thanks for listening — good luck to everyone running the marathon, the half marathon, the 10K and the 5K. All the best. Keep your bodies fresh over—

\[28:43\] —these last — it'll be about a week and a half by the time you're listening to this — and we'll see it all out there on the start line.