Getting your ultra fuelling strategy right is crucial to surviving in the race. I’ve see it all go horribly wrong, and I’ve eaten some different stuff whilst out on the trails myself. Making sure you eat properly for an Ultra just isn’t like you do it for a Marathon or shorter event. In fact, for many – and how often have I heard it described this way – an Ultra is like a mobile picnic.
Before a long race, in fact before pretty much any race, my day will start with one of two breakfasts. If available (and many places I stay just won’t get up at 5am to make me one) I’ll have a rather large Full English washed down with coffee and fruit juice. I guess I’m lucky, because as long as I have more than an hour between eating and running, I’m fine. If there’s no possibility for a good old fry-up then I always resort to a couple of instant pot porridges and a banana, and coffee if I can get it. This is my pre-race fuelling strategy, and it has stood me in good stead for well over 10 years now.
Yes, Ultra running is a great way to eat more!
I recall one day during a 20-mile weighted run, whilst training and not even in an event, that I was getting really hungry (hangry if truth be told) at about the 13 mile mark. Gels just weren’t doing it for me and I needed real food, not slime. My luck was in! I had a some cash on me. I always carry some just in case – in case of what I don’t know – but just in case!! And even better there was the most excellent cake shop just up the road. Hot, sweaty and out of breath, I inhaled a huge vanilla éclair in about 20 seconds and was on my way. Man that éclair was good and yes, I now visit that shop quite regularly for cakes when we have family round. I just couldn’t keep it a secret.
So, based on my diet of bacon, eggs and cakes, what on earth can I tell you about eating during an ultra? It sounds like my diet is screwed, but over the course of many, many miles a few truths have come to me, and they sound like this
- An Ultra IS like a moving picnic. Or maybe an all you can eat buffet. Not only do I take gels, nuts and protein bars with me, aid stations and checkpoints along the way have everything from Jelly babies to sausage rolls, and sandwiched to watermelon. All are fair game to me. Perhaps the best piece of advice I had before my very first ultra was as follows:
“DO NOT STOP at these stations, simply load up with food and walk until you’ve eaten it, then run again”
That way, when the food is gone, another mile will have been completed, AND you’ll not have to ask your legs to start working again after a rest. And no – do NOT sit down!! You may never get up again
- Hydration is key. Whenever I’m on a long run, I’ll take simple plain tap water in one bottle and an electrolyte solution in a second bottle. Too much water is simply “bleuygh” and too much electrolyte plays havoc with my guts. A mix works well. I’ll pour these away and replenish them at every checkpoint, and for very hot days I’ll also have a water bladder on my back.
- Take something for the other runners. There have been a couple of occasions when I have either run out of food/got really hungry whilst running OR seen someone else who is struggling. Being handed that life-saving tube of nuts or a quick gel really is the best feeling ever. Having a bit of spare food on you, juts in case someone else needs it, is a great idea. You really could be helping someone out more than you could imagine. Believe me, I’ve been both a receiver and a giver. It’s well worth that little effort.
- Don’t worry about having to run after eating. You see, given that an Ultra is, for the vast majority of us, really slow going when compared to other running events where it’s a full on effort all that way round, we can take it much easier and enjoy the ride quite a lot more. The problems of having food bouncing around in your stomach after eating are much reduced; there’s simply less bouncing around as we’ll be going slower. That means being able to eat more “normal” foods and not relying on gels and powders, which suits me down to the ground.
OK, so this may not have been what you were expecting, and I DO take the exact type of grub with me that you’d expect to see.
I’ll always take a few gels, some tubes of salt & vinegar peanuts (from ALDI – they are the best!), some electrolyte tablets to dissolve into one of my water bottles, and a couple of protein bars. That’s it – checkpoints and aid stations on the way round always provide decent nosh and there are many times that I’ve come back from a race having barely touched what I took, but never went hungry.
And now that I have my TrailKube, making sure I have these gels, nuts, tablets and bars ready to go is so easy – one quick glance and I know I’m good to go!
#sorted