New York City Marathon Fueling Plan & Pace Chart

NYC Fueling Strategy

NYC is a course of bridges and boroughs. Each bridge changes your effort level, and the Queensboro Bridge at mile 15 is where races are made or broken. Your fueling strategy needs to account for these effort spikes.

The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge starts the race with a long climb. Don't fuel on the bridge itself. The incline plus race-start adrenaline makes your stomach the least receptive it will be all day. Wait until you're off the bridge and into Brooklyn (mile 2-3) to take your first gel.

Brooklyn (miles 3-13) is where you build your fueling foundation. The terrain is mostly flat with gentle rollers, the crowds are electric, and you'll feel great. This is dangerous. Runners in Brooklyn tend to run faster than goal pace and forget to fuel. Set a timer or use mile markers. Take a gel every 20-30 minutes regardless of how you feel.

The Queensboro Bridge at mile 15 is the crux of the race. It's a long, grinding climb with no crowd support (spectators aren't allowed on the bridge). The silence is jarring after Brooklyn's noise. Take a gel at mile 14 before you hit the bridge. Do NOT try to fuel on the bridge itself. The grade, the wind, and the mental shift make it a terrible place to eat.

Coming off the Queensboro onto First Avenue (mile 16) is one of the great moments in running. The crowd noise hits you like a wall. But this is also where many runners bonk. If you under-fueled in Brooklyn, the bridge effort just emptied your tank. The runners who fueled every 20-30 minutes through Brooklyn will feel the difference here.

Miles 16-20 on First Avenue and into the Bronx are deceptively hard. The road tilts slightly uphill, the wind can be brutal, and you're running north with less crowd density. Keep fueling on schedule. Take a gel at mile 17 and again at mile 20.

The Willis Avenue Bridge into the Bronx (mile 20) and the final push through Harlem back into Central Park (mile 22) are where your fueling discipline pays off. The last 4 miles in Central Park include the Cat Hill climb at mile 24.5. If you've maintained 75-90g carbs per hour, you'll have enough in the tank to push through.

Weather at NYC in November is usually runner-friendly (45-55°F). But wind on the bridges can be significant. On windy years, you'll burn more energy on the bridge climbs, which means fueling in the flat sections becomes even more critical.

Pro tip: NYC's aid stations alternate water and Gatorade. Know which one you're grabbing before you get there. Mixing up your fluid intake keeps your stomach happier than hitting the same thing every time.