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Scenario answer

What to eat during your first half marathon

Two hours or under. You need less than you think, and the thing that goes wrong is usually taking something new on race morning.

Carb target for this profile
≈ 50 g/hr
To hit ~50 g/hr carbs: about 1.7 C30 Fuel Drink Mix per hour (51 g/hr). For a cool road race your sodium need is small. Plain water plus your carb fuel covers it; add electrolytes to taste.

The three-product answer

#1 · 61% matchDrink Mixes · Drink

NEVERSECOND C30 Fuel Drink Mix

30 g carbs · 200 mg sodium · Science Score 100
  • Caffeine-free: good for the early miles, before you take caffeine.
#2 · 61% matchDrink Mixes · Drink

Precision Fuel & Hydration Carb & Electrolyte Drink Mix (PF 30/60)

30 g carbs · 500 mg sodium · Science Score 100
  • Caffeine-free: good for the early miles, before you take caffeine.
#3 · 61% matchDrink Mixes · Drink

Maurten Drink Mix 160

41 g carbs · 210 mg sodium · Science Score 100
  • Caffeine-free: good for the early miles, before you take caffeine.

Why

Most first-timers finish a half in 2:00–2:30, which puts the useful intake around 30–45 g of carbohydrate an hour: one or two gels, or a bottle of mix, spaced through the middle of the race. The first 20–30 minutes you are running on breakfast.

What matters more than the product is timing and practice: take the first gel around 40 minutes, the next at 75–80, with water. A single-source gel is fine at these rates; the 2:1 blends earn their keep when you push past 60 g/hr.

The trap is the expo. Do not race on the free sample you were handed the day before. Use the long-run testing plan to try two products on your last three long runs and race on the one that felt like nothing.

Also fits

Science in Sport Beta Fuel Gel · 61% match · 40 g→Precision Fuel & Hydration PF 30 Chew · 61% match · 30 g→Precision Fuel & Hydration PF 30 Gel · 61% match · 30 g→Science in Sport Beta Fuel Energy Chews · 61% match · 45 g→Science in Sport Beta Fuel 80 Energy Drink Mix · 61% match · 80 g→

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