Tag: ultra marathons

In response to some twitter posts recently,  let me start by saying I do what works for me and feels right.  You have to do what works for you as well.  I hope that the successes and failures I share will help you, but by no means do I think there is one way to do things that will work for everyone.  We all have to do our own thing.

People often ask about what is the big differentiation in terms of training for an ultra, rather than a marathon.  There are a few things I had to learn, to include bricking, pacing-down and ‘learning to walk’, but today I’ll start with nutrition.  If youre running for 8 or more hours, you’re going to have to consume more than just a sports drink or energy gel to keep going.

While you are doing your long training runs (and hopefully you’re doing back-to-back longs, but not more than 20 miles imo) – bring food.  Try one thing at a time, so you can test how you will react to it.  This doesn’t mean that you’ll react the exact same way every time, or that the same things will always appeal to you – every run can be different – but just try one thing at a time.

Aid stations are going to have things like fruit, cookies, crackers and chips etc.  Since I am gluten free, I can not always indulge in what is being provided.  So I have to bring my own stuff, by way of drop bags, backpack and/or crew.  Examples of things I have eaten are pretzels, nut butter sandwiches, doubleshots (this is probably not good advice because coffee is a dietetic but I crave it during runs), roasted salty potatoes (omg yes); and crispy turkey bacon (don’t judge me).

I also water down sports drinks – I don’t drink them straight – they irritate me.  I water them at least half and half or even one part electrolytes and two parts water.  Salt is important – it can take cramps away, as can bananas ie potassium.  Some people like fruit and candy etc, but I usually cant stomach anything sweet.

Anyways – when youre out training for 3 or 4 hours, bring a little food.  Youll be glad on race day when you have made a habit out of eating-on-the-run.

<3 K