Fast D
FOO How to eat
FUELLING ULTRAS

your way round75 milesHoward Calvert discovers the perfect running
fuel recipe in the Pen Llyn ultramarathon

WHAT THEPROS EAT“The Hardrock 100 in Colorado
has food menus as you run
up to the aid stations. One
thing that stood out wasa burrito with avocado.”
Kilian Jornet,
record-breaking
mountain runnerappropriately stocked

Calories consumed
4,655
Calories burnt
11,141I’m at mile 66 of a 75-mile
ultramarathon in North Wales,
and I’ve just been handed one of
the greatest bowls of food I’ve eversmelt. I’ve been running for 15hours and my taste buds are rebellingagainst the idea of more gels or energy
drinks. The aroma of rich gravy, tendervegetables, braised beef and delicate
seasoning wafts into my nostrils, finallyprompting my saliva glands to do somework in my parched mouth. I’ve beenenvisioning this moment from mile one.
As someone fairly new to the worldof ultrarunning, I wanted to find the54 WWW.T R A I L R U N N I N G M AG .CO.U K

perfect nutritional recipe
for completing a race longer
than 100km, and the answer
lay in north Wales’ Pen Llyn Ultra.
I’d entered the 75-mile ‘Classic’ race,
largely because most of the route follows
the Wales Coast Path around the Llyn
Peninsula in the north-western tip of thecountry. But something else attracted
me – the food. The race’s Facebook
page extolled the variety of nutrition
on offer, so this seemed like the perfectcombination of trail and food.
As the day of the race approached andcarb-loading had crossed over into pure
gluttony, I began to plan out my race daynutrition. As well as the eight on-course
aid stations, I needed to work out theoptimal calorie intake to carry with me.
Gels? Energy bars? Energy drink? Sweet
potato? Wraps? I didn’t want to carryexcess weight with me, so decided to go
minimal and depend on the aid stations.
We set off at 5am as the sun began
its ascent over Aberbach beach, andat 6.30am we reached Checkpoint 1,

with one of the finest of all
foodstuffs: pancakes. Aftersnaffling a couple, I followed up with aslice of homemade fruit cake, rounding
off a breakfast of champions. Aware theclock was ticking and I didn’t want tomiss any checkpoint cut-offs/food, I set
off onwards, excitedly contemplating
what awaited me at the next aid station.
After covering nearly a marathon,I arrived at Checkpoint 2, where I madean immediate beeline to the baked
goods: iced sponge, brownies, malt
loaf. Sports dietician and ultrarunnerAlex Cook (www.thesportsdietitian.com)
had provided me with nutrition advice
pre-race, and one piece I committedto memory was: “When running, ourbodies want energy quickly. Cake is agood fuel as it contains high amountsof sugar, much like a gel or energy bar.”
I took that to mean: “Eat as much cakeas you can!” As well as cake, there were
sandwiches filled with Dragon Cheese,and ‘bechdan jam’ (jam butties, madeslow respiratory function,affect body temperatureand increase your risk ofdehydration.” I was still
tempted. One of the marshals
told me that last year a runnerdowned half a Guinness,
which destroyed the last
23 miles of his race. As mystomach wasn’t feeling greatat this point, despite thelure of a hop-fuelled hit,
I opted for more cheese
sandwiches and cracked
on. Something amazing
happened as I ran off
the beach – the entirebay, full of people, began
clapping and whooping
me as I ran. It was
surreal and uplifting.
By now, my left knee
was pulsing with pain
on every stride, so mypace slowed to walking
interspersed with a slow-motion
stumble-run. One thought kept
me going: the lobscouse at
Checkpoint 7. I’d heard about
the famous dish, lovingly slowcooked by Huw’s dad in hugebatches, and knowing that thestew would be waiting for me
was deeply encouraging.
It didn’t let me down.
Lobscouse means ‘everything-in
A hot cup of lobscousestew’, and it contained potatoes, leek,(above), full of potato,
carrot, swede, onion and tender, slowleek, carrot, swede,
onion and beef.
cooked beef. At that point, standing infront of a wood burner in Huw’s garden,
it was one of the best things I’ve everwith Welsh Lady Preserves jam). Clearly
eaten, the nourishing gravy-like sauce
this was going to be a dream odyssey
bringing me back to my senses and reinto the best of North Wales’ homeenergising me for the last nine miles.
baking. And sure enough, the third
But it couldn’t fix my knee, and evenfood station featured a huge tin of
stumble-running was becoming difficult.
freshly baked caramel cookies andRunners were occasionally passing me
ginger loaf. I could barely cram it into
now, and one kindly offered me a lemon
my mouth quick enough.
and lime Calippo. I’ve never enjoyed a
The checkpoint I had my eye on waschildren’s lolly more.
located outside Porthdinllaen’s scenic
The sight of the finish line on the dark
Ty Coch Inn. The pub had recently been
beach, just past midnight, was almost as
named one of the 10 best beach bars
good as the bowl of lobscouse. As I
in the world, and the Porthdinllaen
collapsed in the sand I could only think
Taste Of The Sea Food Festival was inof one thing: more lobscousefull swing as runners arrived.
please. And as if by magic, it
It was like an oasis of festivity
appeared in front of me
following 53 miles
bubbling away in a hazyof tranquility.
slow-cooker. Even
I’d been weighing
better, it turned out
up the pros andit wasn’t a delirious
cons of having a“I was rejuvenated by tomato soup onvision: it was theswift half at thethe Cotswold Way Century. About 65
miles in I was feeling rough and at thereal thing. Thepub. Even withaid station the soup just screamed:
perfect end to
Cook’s advice‘Drink me!’ So I downed it and felt
the perfect
ringing in mylike Popeye after a spinach hit.”ultramarathon. TR
ears: “Alcohol can

WHAT THEPROS EAT

Damian Hall, ultrarunnerand journalist

Ultra
diet forthe Ultra
athleteng
Fuelli ls pecia

Harriet Miles explains why
optimal nutrition is crucialO

ptimal nutrition is importantfor sustaining performance,increasing recovery between
stages and avoiding injury.
Research suggests that racenutrition goes further than thebasic knowledge of carb loading
and glucose gels. It’s a more
complex equation, determinedby factors unique to each event.

Carbohydrate or fat?
Fat is a more concentrated energy
source than carbohydrate withapproximately twice as many
calories per gram. During an
ultramarathon the proportion ofcarbohydrate to fat used by thebody for energy won’t be constant.
This is because of the variationin duration, terrain and gradient.
During periods of moderate
exercise, it has been found that fat
oxidation provides the greatest
percentage of energy used. Thisis commonly seen during uphillsections where athletes willoften walk to conserve energy,
suggesting it’s not as simple
as claiming that carbohydrate
supersedes fat or vice versa.

Hydration
Sodium supplements have been
explored as a way of increasinghydration and replacing sodium
loss due to sweat or over-hydration.
However, despite 96% of ultraendurance runners admitting tousing sodium supplements, recent
studies have shown no benefit.

Foot care matters
Blisters have been proved to makeit harder for athletes to achieveadequate energy intake duringmulti-stage ultramarathons, aswell as having a negative impact onpeak performance. Recovering fromthese skin injuries, self-management,
and awaiting and receiving medical
attention all detract time andenergy from in-race food intake.
Blisters have also been associatedwith slower race times, due to moreenergy used, a greater chance ofadditional injury, and a greaterneed for optimal nutritional intake.

COULD A VEGAN➜DIET MAKE YOU
A BETTER RUNNER?

T R A I L R U N N I N G 55