Page 2 of 3 FirstFirst 123 LastLast
Results 11 to 20 of 21

Thread: Eating on Ultras

  1. #11
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jun 2007
    Location
    between penrith and carlisle
    Posts
    205

    Re: Eating on Ultras

    My guess is that most people don't run very long distances (eg bob graham sort of distance) at marathon pace, which means that the 40 calorie rule goes out of the window. If your excercise intensity is lower then I imagine you can take on more food.

    In a race situation where you're running at the threshold of what you can sustain for eg 3 hours you'll probably only be capable of taking on board smaller amounts and then predominantly carbohydrates. On a long day out you can consume all sorts of goodies and will probably need to, as a monotonous diet of carbs from gels, bars and energy drinks is likely to upset your stomach. One of my favourites when I lived in Sheffield used to be to run to the Grindleford cafe and have one of their legendary chip butties with a pint of tea and then run back again - more like 1040 calories than 40 but as long as it was 'steady away' from the cafe I never had any stomach problems.

    I don't know what someone racing as hard as they could for much longer distances than the marathon would typicaly eat - interesting to hear from others.
    if I can't see blencathra it's raining
    if I can see blencathra it's going to rain

  2. #12
    Senior Member zephr's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    Glossop, Derbyshire
    Posts
    534

    Re: Eating on Ultras

    The original and general thinking was 40-60g an hour of carbs was all you could digest comfortably, start doing more than that on consecutive hours and you will begin to feel bloated and not particularly good at running.
    Apparently this is the case if you consume only glucose. - so if you are eating loads and loads of glucose, yes, after a few hours of 60g+ per hour, youre going to feel "pogged"

    it would appear from recent trials that you can consume up to 140g of carbs if you mix glucose with fructose- they pass into the gut in different ways.

    (its good to note that if you have fructose malabsorption, you'll get bloated from fructose, and so the 140g figure wont work for you, and you'll be back at the 40-60g per hour one)

  3. #13
    Member 10peaks's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Location
    Guernsey
    Posts
    42

    Re: Eating on Ultras

    Sugar probably helped a great deal getting round the 10 Peaks Challenge this year but what really helped was a caffeine shot at around 30 miles. I had one 'Activator Ampule' which certainly did the trick. http://www.teamnutrition.co.uk/energ...-caffeine.html. The effect was probably amplified by the fact that I have given up caffeine apart from in times of great need!

  4. #14
    Master plodding bear's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Location
    Sunny Silsden, West Yorks
    Posts
    1,207

    Re: Eating on Ultras

    When I've done long stuff, admittedly at a fairly sedentary pace, I've found that a lot depends on what you're asking your body to do at the time; for instance, I can't eat anything just before, or during, a climb unless I slow right down which isn't really feasible.
    For me, the best times to eat are just before descents, or long and steady flattish bits of a run.

  5. #15
    Master DrPatrickBarry's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Location
    Marple, Manchester
    Posts
    2,934
    Learn a valuable lesson last night on a four hour Kinder Dozen reccie between 6pm and 10pm. It is bloody difficult to eat!! It has been said numerous times that the ability to eat can be doing/undoing of a BG attempt and now I can see why. Just trying to eat a bread roll sandwich I made took ages and despite being hungry I had to fight the urge to throw it away! The chewy sweets were easier to eat but I was getting pretty sick of them as well.
    Last edited by DrPatrickBarry; 10-10-2014 at 03:44 PM.

  6. #16
    Master Alexandra's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Location
    Leeds
    Posts
    1,288
    IMO baby food pouches are the answer. Some Ella's Kitchen ones contain just fruit puree. They keep til opened and are easy to eat. They and other brands can be found in supermarkets & Boots, or bought in bulk online.
    Begin afresh, afresh, afresh.

  7. #17
    Senior Member Drunkeneuphoria's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Location
    Hull
    Posts
    232
    There's not much on me (sub 10st) and I find after a few years of running ultra's that 200cal per hour is a good target for me.

    On faster runs I've done like Woldsman 50 I found it tougher to get that much down and started to get sick of sugary things so had to vary the program a bit. Pasta at halfway was more than 200cals in one hit and good variation, but struggled to digest that for the next hour or so. Think I had a gel after awhile to get some quick carbs again and that had become more palatable for the pasta and a sit down and easier effort.

    I've found on the slower things I almost have no restriction, but tend to eat less regularly and more at a time anyway. I did 3 back to back 43-53m days recently and could get away with setting off straight after a decent breakfast at a slow pace, then took down chia charge drink and 200cals of food (often flapjack) with water interchangeably on the hour. Usually had some more substantial real food at lunch time - some days a split lunch - and a milk drink just as finished before a huge feed on the night.

    As I overheard a pretty good veteran ultrarunner say earlier this year, "if I stop burping and farting I'm probably in trouble"

  8. #18
    Senior Member sore legs's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    Hereford
    Posts
    875
    I always struggle to sort my eating out on long runs. I recently did a 40 miler with 40 lbs that went through 2 feeding checkpoints. My food was simple, bananas, apples, yoghurt cereal bars washed down with water and the occasional dioralyte. First time I never felt hungry on event like that and felt very strong at the end, I was well chuffed so plan to do something similar on long FRs.
    Paul C.

    ... continuous effort - not strength or intelligence - is the key to unlocking our potential.

  9. #19
    Senior Member barnyc's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    New Mills
    Posts
    380
    on a recent long run i found that a tortilla wrap with peanut butter worked well - but bread in general is a no-go for me, far too dry. sausage rolls are also good, and trail mix.

  10. #20
    Master Jez Hellewell's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Location
    Burley-In-Wharfedale, West Yorkshire.
    Posts
    2,216
    What's worked for me for my last few off road marathons & a 30 mile ultra were a bag of my favourite nuts, which I added some salt to. Then some cold potato wedges, again with a bit of added salt. To drink, just water. Works brilliantly for me. I never got on with processed, high sugar foods. Experimentation is the key. However, I have never done anything as extreme as a BG, so my technique probably wouldn't be calorific enough for that.

Similar Threads

  1. Today's eating
    By jodg in forum General chat!
    Replies: 735
    Last Post: 16-10-2023, 01:57 PM
  2. Words and the eating of.....
    By Rob Furness in forum Equipment
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: 19-03-2011, 01:49 PM
  3. Eating Out
    By Clarky in forum General chat!
    Replies: 13
    Last Post: 24-02-2010, 10:41 PM
  4. Eating before running.
    By Al Fowler in forum Training
    Replies: 6
    Last Post: 08-09-2008, 04:17 PM
  5. Your Pasta eating record?
    By molehill in forum General chat!
    Replies: 35
    Last Post: 14-02-2007, 11:04 AM

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •