Spring marathon season is coming up fast and if you are running Boston, London, or any other marathon in the next couple of months, then hopefully you have all, or at least most, of your race day outfit and accessories planned out already.
That’s because you should ideally have tested your apparel, shoes, accessories and nutrition during your longest training runs, because using something new on race day is always a gamble.
I’ll be using tried-and-tested products across the board when I tackle the London Marathon in a couple of weeks, which doesn’t guarantee it will go well, but it does give me some added confidence for the race.
Here’s all the gear I plan to use at the London Marathon 2026.
My Marathon Shoes And Apparel
The most important decision to make with each marathon is which of the best carbon plate running shoes I wear. This time around, it’s the super soft and springy Asics Metaspeed Ray I’ve gone for, having recently set my half marathon PR in the shoe.
Another big piece of gear for me is my shorts, since they have to carry all my nutrition for the day, which includes gels and three 250 soft flasks. These Rabbit shorts have loads of pockets and hold things tightly so they don’t bounce.
I also wear my club singlet, which is a version of Soar’s excellent lightweight race vest, some unicorn socks my daughter got me and a headband to keep sweat out of my eyes.
After the race, I usually want to get out of my racing shoes as soon as possible, so I have some comfortable Oofos recovery sliders to pull on in my event bag.
My Marathon Nutrition
I aim to consume about 60g of carbs per hour during a marathon, having also had a big breakfast and a 500ml bottle of Maurten’s 320 Drink Mix before the race, which contains 80g of carbs.
During the event, I use a mix of Maurten gels and the drink mix to take 20-25g of carbs every three miles or so, and I also load up on electrolytes before the race starts by using a Precision Fueling & Hydration 1500 tablet in 500ml of water.
My Marathon Running Watches And Accessories
I always take the chance to test two watches during a marathon as part of my ongoing coverage, and my two favorite running watches right now are the Garmin Forerunner 970 and Coros Pace 4.
It will be interesting to see how the GPS accuracy copes with the part of the London Marathon route around Canary Wharf in particular, which contains several skyscrapers that can block GPS signals, and I’ll also look at the heart rate readings to see if they make sense.
Finally, if it’s sunny, I’ll wear sunglasses, and this year I’ll test out the new SunGod Ultras Air, which I’ve been wearing in the last week or two of training — they’re exceptionally lightweight, so you barely notice them on your face.
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