Fueling strategies for ultramarathon runners are eligible for FREE SHIPPING! If I eat what I believe I should eat, Protein powders and shakes Fueling strategies for ultramarathon runners strategis problems. Protein intake for hair and nail health was presumably to stress the vital role that adequate fueling stratgeies hydration play in determining success in very long races… Whilst it Fyeling be wrong to pretend Fof fueling shorter duration activities less than 6 hours in this context is entirely straightforward, there are undoubtedly fewer variables to consider in, say, a marathon or Olympic Distance triathlon than there are in a mile run or IRONMAN. But take whatever info you get and do more research on it as needed to fill in any knowledge gaps. Where the Road Ends: A Guide to Trail Running. He was once the Team Sports Scientist for the Benetton and Renault Formula 1 teams and remains an adviser to the Porsche Human Performance Centre at Silverstone. Continue Shopping View Cart Checkout.

Fueling strategies for ultramarathon runners -

If you are asking yourself the right questions and have the basic principles of race nutrition down, you need to put it together with a race strategy. Do I really need a plan? If you are racing for a multi-day event, you may get overwhelmed by the amount of food you are trying to plan for.

Rather than thinking about caloric intake per hour, I like to think of daily caloric goals and go from there. Every runner has a different nutrition strategy, and you may find certain tips and tricks that work for you. If you can walk away from this with two things, they are:. There is no one-size-fits-all model.

Your training and race experience will help you shape your nutrition plan, so always be practicing! Awesome, glad this is helpful for you! Based on observation, it seems like folks with more a build need to pay extra attention to nutrition and hydration.

Get after it! Reading your article reminded me of what I need to think about in preparation for my upcoming miler.

Thanks for helping me brush off the cobwebs. They did extensive research on BMR, calories in and calories out. Interesting research, some of it is exactly inline with your article above. Great comments! Yes, I am a big fan of Burn and Hermann Pontzer. I think the most interesting component of this research is that there is a regression analysis of endurance events, and depending on the length of the event anywhere from ~x10 BMR to x2.

Very cool research! Skip to content. Even if your goal is to simply finish a race, a nutrition plan will increase the enjoyment you get out of the race by reducing your risk for stomach issues, upping your performance, and leaving you with a framework and information to consider in future races.

Final Thoughts Nutrition can be easily overlooked in the heat of the moment during a race. If you can walk away from this with two things, they are: Ask yourself the right questions about the race course. Develop a plan. To the audience: What nutrition tips have you found most helpful?

How do you approach nutrition in an ultra event? Looking for more? Sign up for Joe's bi-weekly newsletter for coaching tips and updates on his running career. Joe McConaughy. The Importance of a Running Buddy February 4, Miles Arizona Trail FKT Recap April 11, AZT FKT Sleep and Recovery Strategy July 13, Akeem Williams July 9, Reply.

Thank you for sharing this. Found this very helpful as a muscular endurance runner. Joe McConaughy August 16, Reply. Ellen Gould August 15, Reply. Best of luck!! My pace slowed dramatically and my usual running happy face turned into an "I hope I can finish," face.

I bonked hard. I did finish my first marathon, but more importantly, I learned a valuable lesson about the role of food in distance running. So what causes the Bonk? Simply put, your body has run out of carbohydrates.

Your body has essentially two fuel sources, carbohydrates and fat. Both carbohydrates and fat are utilized while running but at different percentages depending on the level of intensity.

Fat is a slow burning energy source, while carbohydrates are a faster-burning energy source. As exercise intensity increases your body will use more energy calories overall, and a higher percentage of those calories will come from carbohydrates.

When your body runs out of carbohydrates it must turn to rely on fat which does not provide energy at the same rate as carbohydrates. When this happens your effort level will increase, but your pace will decrease, a state fondly referred to as the BONK.

When you eat, you are taking in calories energy for your body. A portion of these calories will be transported to your bloodstream for immediate use. The remainder will be stored either as glycogen or as body fat for later use. Glycogen is essentially carbohydrates sugar stored in muscles as well as the liver until it is needed.

Though it varies from person to person and can increase with training, athletes can store approximately calories as glycogen.

I think we are all familiar with body fat. Any excess calories beyond what can be stored as glycogen are stored as body fat. Even the most slender of runners typically store more body fat than can be used in a 24 hour run, but remember that body fat is a slower burning fuel not to mention can only be used in combination with carbohydrates.

At a marathon effort, most athletes will deplete glycogen stores within about 2 hours if they do not refuel. When glycogen is depleted the body must turn to run on only body fat which will dramatically decrease performance at the same perceived effort.

This is why it is not important to eat during a 5k but it becomes increasingly important the for any athlete running beyond 2 hours, and the longer the event the more an athlete should be eating during the event.

The purpose of prerace fueling is to top off glycogen stores before your race begins. This is commonly referred to as "carb loading. Eat a few carbohydrate-rich meals for days before a big race. Ideally a couple hours before your race top off with a light carbohydrate breakfast.

My go to is a banana, granola bar, and a little sugar in my coffee. Yes to topping off your glycogen stores, but do not overstuff yourself or you may just end up bloated, not to mention, remember where all those extra calories are stored after you top off glycogen stores.

You have had breakfast and are starting your race fully fueled, but here is the thing, while running you are burning calories at a blistering pace, likely much faster than you can replace them, but still we want to replace as many calories as possible to prolong the bonk for as long as possible.

To do this athletes should be consuming calories per hour. This tiny number of calories is unlikely to fully replace the calories being burned, but this number is ideal as this is approximately the number of calories an athletes stomach can process.

More than about calories per hour can lead to GI distress. To best avoid GI distress try to evenly space your calories, so rather than gorging on calories once per hour, instead try to take in calories every minutes starting from the very beginning of your run.

remember, the limiting factor to how many calories you can ingest is how fast your body is able to process the calories, so best to start early rather than trying to catch up.

Carbohydrates, Carbohydrates, Carbohydrates! No need to overthink it too much. If it has carbohydrates and you can eat it on the run it will work, so find the foods you like and eat them.

There is no shortage of sports companies with gels, chews, bars, or other formulation of prepackaged carbohydrates that are great for carrying on your run.

Sports gels are great, but so are cookies, fruits, jelly beans, rice crispy treats, and baby food pouches. Aid stations are a wonderland of carbohydrates with fruits, sandwiches, candy, cookies, and soda.

I suggest eating a variety of foods with a variety of types of sugar glucose, sucrose, dextrose, fructose, maltodextrin. You may be one of those types of athletes that can get through a 50k just consuming gels or sports drinks, but the longer your race the more likely that your stomach will begin to revolt if you continue to give it straight shots of sugar.

For longer races, consuming a variety of carbohydrates complex and simple as well as small amounts of fiber, fat, and protein. this will will aid in digestion and help prevent GI distress. For longer distances you may find at some point that your body and appetite will begin to reject sweet, so make sure you also find some savory foods that you can eat on the run.

My go to savory foods for those long days is bean burritos, but ultimately follow the basic fueling guidelines then follow your heart. The best time to hydrate is the week leading up to your race. It is always best to start fully hydrated as once you fall behind on your fluid intake it is difficult to catch up.

In an ultramarathon race, fueling ultramarayhon critical strategiez success. These tips represent my thoughts and experiences. If you have tips you'd like to add, just let me know. Here are some personal observations on different foods for ultras. Your experience will differ! Like your Sports hydration during hot weather love, I believe everyone strategeis their first bonk. Fueling strategies for ultramarathon runners me it came shortly strategiew I had graduated Fueling strategies for ultramarathon runners college. I was in fantastic running shape runners just finished the track season where I specialized at the m distance. With the pressures of collegiate track behind me I thought I would try my hand at a marathon. Being a rather naive runner at any distance longer than an 10k I didn't understand yet why this race had food every few miles layed out like an all you can eat buffet.