How to fuel for a Marathon – with the 2025 Ballarat Marathon Women’s Champion

Good results don’t just happen. It takes years of hard work, sacrifices and dedication. What makes the marathon such a romantic endeavour is that success or failure (heartbreak or ecstasy) boils down to 1 day and whether or not you can deliver. No matter how much training you’ve done, that can all be undone on race day if you don’t get a few things right… such as your Marathon Fuelling Strategy.

Kate Mason (Instagram) managed to get all those little things right at the 2025 Ballarat Marathon, winning the whole event in a Personal Best time of 02:33:55. Mind blowing right.

We (RunDais) were lucky enough to not only cover some of her training in the lead up to the race, but also specifically cover her nutrition and hydration plan on race day.

15 days before the race

Before the carb load started, we had a pretty good feeling that Kate was on for something special at Ballarat Marathon. We went down early one morning to “Ninch Track Club HQ” and followed the workout of Kate and a few other of the Ninch Track Club athletes, including Dane Verwey (Run Culture) and Jake Stevens (Instagram).

You can watch the workout as we captured it in the Instagram post below!

Kates Workout – April 9th, 2025 – 4 x 4km reps

4km Warm Up
Drills & Strides

Workout – 4x 4km @ goal pace of 3:37/km (2h29m Marathon Pace)
Rep 1: 3:36/km
Rep 2: 3:35/km
Rep 3: 3:35/km
Rep 4: 3:30/km

4km Cool Down

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We asked Kate about practicing fuelling in training.

Kate – I practised taking gels every 45–50 minutes on my long runs, and sometimes pushed myself to take more just to train the gut. That made race day feel much smoother.

Kate’s Marathon Fuelling Strategy

Pre Race

Kate’s pre race dinner was a big bowl of white rice. While everyone else was enjoying their lavish means, Kate was all business… and guess who ended up with the Personal Best and event win?!

Kate – I kept it pretty simple. From Thursday onwards I just upped the carbs. Lots of rice, bread, fruit…and even Coco Pops, which were a new discovery. The main thing was topping up glycogen without feeling bloated.

Kate – Dinner was just plain white rice. It’s super easy on the stomach and works well for me.

I think there’s something important there.. the fact that Kate has confidence that it “works well for me”.

Morning of the Marathon

5:30 Wake Up so she could eat at 6am; 2 hours before the race start at 8am.

Kate –  On race morning I had a couple of crumpets with Vegemite and a black coffee. That’s something I’d practised, so it felt normal.

She also had a mouthful of white rice. Again, the familiarity with what works well for her.

About 15 minutes before the start of the race, Kate also had 1x Precision Hydration PF 30 Gel (30g of carbs).

Kate’s Marathon Fuelling Strategy

We documented Kate’s entire race fuelling plan the night before the race, which you can watch in full on our Instagram Reel below, but we’re going to break it down here for you too.

6 Bottles throughout the race. 1 at 6km, 12km, 18km 24km, 27km and 33km.

The reason for these placing is because that’s where the Ballarat Marathon drink tables are at. Each event will have them at slightly different points throughout their course.

Each bottle had 1x Precision Hydration PF 30 Gel taped to it (30g of carbs each).

Each bottle had 30g of Precision Hydration Carb & Electrolyte Drink Mix mixed into it (30g of carbs per serve).

At 33km she also picked up a plain bottle of water.

This means Kate had:

Distance	Product	Carbs
0km	1x Precision Hydration PF 30 Gel	30g
6km	1x Precision Hydration PF 30 Gel & 30g of Precision Hydration Carb & Electrolyte Drink Mix	60g
12km	1x Precision Hydration PF 30 Gel & 30g of Precision Hydration Carb & Electrolyte Drink Mix	60g
18km	1x Precision Hydration PF 30 Gel & 30g of Precision Hydration Carb & Electrolyte Drink Mix	60g
24km	1x Precision Hydration PF 30 Gel & 30g of Precision Hydration Carb & Electrolyte Drink Mix	60g
27km	1x Precision Hydration PF 30 Gel & 30g of Precision Hydration Carb & Electrolyte Drink Mix	60g
33km	1x Precision Hydrationa1x Precision Hydration PF 30 Gel & 30g of Precision Hydration Carb & Electrolyte Drink Mix PF 30 Gel	60g
Total		390g

Kate – This was the most fuel I’ve ever taken on in a marathon. In the past I’ve had the wobbles in the last 3–5km and always thought it might be fuel-related, so I made a real effort to up my carb intake this time. My last gel was at 36km, and it worked — no stumbles, no wobbles, just a strong finish.

What went well?

Kate – The first 30km felt great. Energy levels were steady, no stomach cramps, and I was right on pace. Mentally, I felt in control. The wind was tougher than I expected, and not having a group to work with made the second half harder. Running solo into that was definitely a challenge.

What did you do when things didn’t go well?

Kate – I didn’t panic. I just focused on form, breathing, and ticking off each kilometre, keeping an eye on the marshal bikes ahead. I like breaking the marathon down into chunks — 10km, halfway, 30km, 35km — and when it got tough, I’d just tell myself, “get to the next marker.” In the last 5km the crowd really carried me home.

You can watch the whole video of Kate talking about this fuelling strategy in our linked post here.

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Post Marathon Fuelling & Reflections

Kate – Straight after, my friends and I went to an Irish bar where we celebrated and enjoyed a pint of Guinness (and for all those wondering — no, I didn’t split the G). Later that night I smashed a kebab and a Coke. I don’t stress about recovery food right after a race — celebrating is part of it too.

Anything you’d do differently?

Kate – Honestly, nothing major. The fuelling change worked, so I’ll definitely stick with that.

What are you most proud of?

Kate – I’m proud of how I managed my effort. I didn’t go out too hard, I trusted the training, and I nailed the fuelling. That gave me the platform to finish strong.