This is what ultra’s all come down to, Energy and Food. (plus our training)
We simply can’t run an ultra if we don’t have any energy.
And one of the best ways to get energy is via food (and drink.)
So that’s what we’re going to cover in this article.
- Our energy
- Always be eating
- The reality of energy products
- List of common foods and beverages for ultras
- Foods I eat before, during, and after an ultra
Our Energy
Energy is a supply of fuel.
Cars run on gas, lights work on electricity, we work off food – All different types of fuel sources.
The brain is heavily involved in ultrarunning and uses the most energy so take care of it. If we’re pickled out, simple sugars will give us that jolt we need to refocus and keep going…
but it starts to be a slippery slope because then we’ll have to keep on taking these simple sugars – a roller coaster that isn’t fun.
And that’s why we want to eat as clean and natural as possible: to put the best fuel in us so that we don’t need to go to these little “hacks” to keep going.
Another component is how we spend the energy that we have.
If we go all out, we run out of energy quickly.
But if we go too slow, we’ll be out on the course all day…
So the idea here is to plan how you spend your energy wisely. This mainly comes down to what we call an ultra strategy.
Ultra strategies can come in different forms: run/ walk strategy, nutrition strategy, sleep strategy, etc.
Ultras are a loong time on the feet and it’s highly advised to pace yourself for your first few ultras.
A rule of thumb is to do a ratio of 5:1 (5 minutes running to 1 minute walking) sometimes it’s 10:2 or 25:5 – do what works best for you.
Always be eating
Rule number 1: Always be eating
A steady calorie intake is very important in running ultras, even more so as events get longer (100 miles+).
Here’s a per hour intake that I sort of follow:
- 200 calories
- 750 mg of sodium
- 24 oz of fluids
A Lot of people under eat, even more overeat…
Part of the training is experimenting and figuring out what food and drinks work best for you…
Stuff that you will be using on race day, in specific ratios
Try to nibble, “graze”, say 50 or 100 calories about every 20 minutes vs pounding food all at once – this causes stomach problems for more than enough people.
There are lots of options for liquid and solid calories too. Here are some things to keep in mind:
- Shoot for mostly carbohydrates, some fats, and protein too. I like protein shakes every 5 hours or so.
- What foods do you handle well?
- Taste good or is it appealing?
- Are they easy to do on the go (during race/ packable)?
- Do they even need to be packable?
In the later stages of longer ultras (50 miles plus) you might get “tired” of the same old stuff so make sure you don’t just have one thing that works for you, have a few different options to choose from and take whatever looks the best at the moment – BUT TRY THIS IN TRAINING FIRST.
Worst case scenario: If you do encounter stomach troubles, check out this: 20 tips on what to do if you have stomach issues
The Reality of Energy Products
Nearly all of the energy products on the market are short-term fixes. (Exceed, PowerBar, GU, etc)
We have to eat real food for these longer races. These energy products simply weren’t designed to be the sole source of energy for these long events.
Do they give us a jolt? Of course, but what happens after that? We come crashing down.
And look, I think they work in a pinch, I always carry one with me just in case – I’ve had to use them too.
If you can get your nutrition dialed down, you’re already ahead of 80% of the runners.
Ain’t that something?
List of common foods and beverages people eat during ultras.
Remember: the cleaner the better, and salt can be added to most of these items (a great way to replace electrolytes)
Foods
Here of some of the foods I mess around with:
Any Fruit
Liquid calorie supplements like Tailwind
Potatoes
Syrup
Rice balls
Avocado wraps
PB and J
Bean burgers
Larabars or clif bars
And some other common ultra foods: (just because they’re common doesn’t make them right)
Pretzels
Rice Krispy Treats
Fig Newtons
Saltines
Soups
Pancakes
fruit snacks
Brownies
Omelets
Bagels
Raisins
Trail mix
Rice Pudding
Chips
Candy
Pudding
Pizza
ice cream
Beverages
Here are some things people drink too:
Water
Coconut water
LMNT
Sparkling water
Coffee / Tea
Protein shake
Smoothie
Gatorade
Sodas
Pedialyte
Beer
Fruit juice
Foods I Eat Before, During, and After an Ultra
Two days before the race I stop eating anything that makes me shit all crazy – who wants to be the one ass out on race day where everyone can see? For me, that’s cutting things like beans, apples, dates, and leafy greens. The diet is pretty bland but I’ll take that over the shit ass any day.
Early starts make pre-race eating tricky. Who wants their meal talking back? How early can you house a meal?
It’s a fact that carbs consumed before physical activity can improve our performance. But what do we eat?
Before an Ultra
For me, a salted smoothie is the secret – something simple like lemon, water, bananas, strawberries, and 1000 mg of salt.
Fruit till noon is a concept I’ve adopted (I only eat fruit till noon) and this early-time smoothie doesn’t cause me any hiccups, in fact, I can say it boosts my performance 1000%.
This works so well because when we have an empty stomach, fruit essentially passes the stomach – there is minimal digestion involved which means minimal energy wasted. The nutrients in the fruit then go throughout our bodies giving us more energy to keep it moving. Plus, we’re hydrating too.
During an ultra
This depends on what type of event I’m doing but here are some general guidelines I follow:
- The first hour or two I don’t eat much. I have the smoothie carry me over. I want my stomach and body to get settled into a rhythm first. Then I’ll start to have some fruit during this time, and eventually liquid calories like Tailwind
- At some point, I’ll have to start to have real food
- late evening and night roll around, I’ll go back to liquid calories via tailwind.
After an ultra
I’ll eat anything and everything I can get my hands on, whatever I’m craving. Sometimes after an event I don’t want to eat – no appetite. I focus on getting hydrated and salt back into me, and then go try and eat something small. This opens up the hatch.
And once the hatch opens up, there is no going back.
I appreciate your attention!
Get some miles, PEACE!!!
Joe DiAndrea 