Fellsman

Any advice about what to eat at the checkpoints would be very welcome BritNick, I don't have a clue and this is the longest thing I've ever done so any helpful hints would be very much appreciated.

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Originally Posted by BritNick

A word of warning based on experience of many Ultras over the years: beware of savoury pasta on its own. It will cause your blood sugar to plummet and you will drag your sorry donkey (sorry, ass) for the next few hours wondering how you can possibly continue while contemplating retirement at the next checkpoint. It happens to me every time after Stonehouse on the Fellsman, not to mention Courmayeur on UTMB. I remember sitting down as weak as a kitten on the top of Great Knoutberry to eat my own sugary fuel after the substantial feed at Stonehouse, just to get going again. I've grown wise to it. If you have savoury pasta, chase it down with something sweet and substantial like rice pudding and peaches. Oh bum, they don't serve that at Stonehouse.

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I ate what you wanted at the check points but kept eating cliff jelly shots on the way around + jelly babies. Plenty of orange pop on offer to put in the bottle. Got me around my first last year :thumbup:.

It maybe the pasta Is complex carbs and takes some breaking down or the qauntity . I find if I over eat at a cp I have a down time afterwards as the body pulls blood from other parts( the big muscles in the legs esp.) to digest it. Saying that it is important to eat and drink on long runs. A steady nibble with the small meal at cps works best for me. I find custard or rice pudding good. But need some savoury food as I get fed up of sweet stuff after a while. You'll eat more if its cold too. Happy experimenting he's :-)

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Originally Posted by old un

It maybe the pasta Is complex carbs and takes some breaking down or the qauntity . I find if I over eat at a cp I have a down time afterwards as the body pulls blood from other parts( the big muscles in the legs esp.) to digest it. Saying that it is important to eat and drink on long runs. A steady nibble with the small meal at cps works best for me. I find custard or rice pudding good. But need some savoury food as I get fed up of sweet stuff after a while. You'll eat more if its cold too. Happy experimenting he's :-)

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I remember gorging myself on hotdogs and doughnuts at the lunch checkpoint on the Hobble last year – I had to walk for the next two miles as every time I tried to run I felt sick! :o

I’ll be trying to exercise a little restraint on the Fellsman.

Britnick has totally ruined the best meal of the entire route for me :) - the pasta just goes down so well at Stonehouse, especially so if its cold.

In the 2009 Fellsman there was an absolute deluge of rain which caught me totally exposed while I was going over Blea Moor and I became completely drenched and absolutely frozen (and with uncontrollable shivering and frozen hands had to strip off my wet clothes and put on dry plus full body cover waterproofs in the fire break in the woods coming off Blea Moor). That pasta pretty much saved my life and for sure reinstalled my resolve to carry on. To be honest I don't recall having an energy loss after eating it both times I've done the fellsman but, at the same time, my legs definitely struggled up that frigging cart track going up to Great Knoutberry both times. it might have been the pasta but I think it was simply f**ked legs :D

Never had any problems with the pasta at Stonehouses. Always flown up Arten Gill and Great Knoutberry afterwards, nor had any issues later. Must be just Nick. Just make sure you eat often and what you crave, whether that's sweet or savory. It's got me through 17 Fellsmans so can't be all bad.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BritNick

A word of warning based on experience of many Ultras over the years: beware of savoury pasta on its own. It will cause your blood sugar to plummet and you will drag your sorry donkey (sorry, ass) for the next few hours wondering how you can possibly continue while contemplating retirement at the next checkpoint. It happens to me every time after Stonehouse on the Fellsman, not to mention Courmayeur on UTMB. I remember sitting down as weak as a kitten on the top of Great Knoutberry to eat my own sugary fuel after the substantial feed at Stonehouse, just to get going again. I've grown wise to it. If you have savoury pasta, chase it down with something sweet and substantial like rice pudding and peaches. Oh bum, they don't serve that at Stonehouse.

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I agree with Nick on this. I've always crashed badly after Stonehouse, and after the last time, I came to the conclusion that it must be the pasta. I'll definitely be skipping it this year.

Thanks for the input everyone. I guess we are all different and probably I should just listen to my body (but not too much or I'll never set off!;) ) and eat what I feel I need the most. Looks like a really well organised event and there is plenty of food on the list that I can eat and like (I'm veggie). I'm sort of looking forward to it now.:)

I did exactly the same on rotherham last year emma, i ran fast 1st half didn't eat and then crashed , gorged at drop bag cp and that was that for an hour until my body caught up again. It does us good to cock it up now again and learn a lesson or be reminded of one. I'd like to say I won't do it again but when u smell the hot food when ur hungry or cold and.............

Don't sit down for too long at checkpoints either Hes, it makes it very hard to get your stiff limbs moving again! A good strategy we found was to grab some food at the checkpoints and then slowly walk on, eating it on the move. Once it's gone down you can pick up the pace again if you want, but it did seem to keep us from stiffening up too much.
Oh, and bung a few custard creams or bit of fruit in your pockets, something to nibble on between check points if you need it.
Good luck with it.
I always like to have a bit of a look back on the night section, and see all the little groups of head torch lights strung around the course. I think the night time bit is my favourite, really.