‘A Big Engine Is Useless If The Fuel Tank Is Empty’
If you’re anything like me you need fuel to keep the engine running. I’ve done a lot of reading, listening and testing to try and figure out how I can best keep myself, hydrated and fed in a way that keeps my engine running and reduces the weight I need to carry to do so. Water is heavy, so are powders, gels, fruit, sandwiches and anything else that goes into your stomach so you can keep moving. Then you have to find out if what your taking sits well, through rial and error I certainly found out what my system doesnt like. A good case of gastro upset will ruin you day, not to mention those around you, so here’s a brain dump on what worked for me.
I remember hearing somewhere that running 100mile races is an eating competition. It sounds weird but when you get up to the longer distances it can be bloody hard to eat. When I run distances or races over 10 kilometers I fuel myself through carbohydrate supplements that are added to my water source. My theory is, if I need 4-500ml water an hour, while running longer distances, I can mix a blend of powders and customise my fueling strategy based on what I am trying to achieve.
From what I understand there is a lot of data on what works for races up to 3/4 hrs & marathon distances but there isn’t much for ultra running because it’s too hard to replicate the effects of long runs that are up to and over 24hrs, in a controlled environment. There isn’t a proven formula because conditions, similar to runners, vary so much.
Most gels, IMO, contain Maltodextrin which is available in powder form and potentially a lot cheaper and more palatable. I've been testing powders sourced from Bulk Nutrients who are a Tasmanian supplement company, the results have been fantastic and they are my main source of energy and protein supplementation.
To explain things a bit more I found these articles really helpful.
Here’s an excerpt from the website ‘I Run Far’ that explains fuel usage.
Here’s another from my sports science that explains uptake and carb types
An excerpt - ‘Let’s start with an overview of how your body utilizes both endogenous (internal, in this case glycogen and fat stores) and exogenous (external, in this case fuel eaten) energy sources.
Performing work or generating force–getting you down the trail or up the hill–requires energy, and when it comes to our muscles that energy is adenosine triphosphate (ATP, a molecule that captures chemical energy obtained from breaking down food) and very briefly creatine phosphate (a naturally occurring organic compound that facilitates muscle contractions). There are several different metabolic pathways your body uses to turn carbohydrates, fats, and proteins into ATP, largely dependent on the availability of oxygen (aerobically/with oxygen or anaerobically/without oxygen).
You may have heard the saying, “The mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell,” and there’s a lot of truth in that statement. Our bodies take the carbohydrates, fats, and proteins that we ingest and metabolize them into glucose, fatty acids, and amino acids, respectively. The metabolic pathways by which this happens are called glycolysis (breaking down carbohydrates), lipolysis (breaking down fats), and protein metabolism via digestive enzymes (breaking down proteins). These are further broken down into pyruvate and/or Acetyl-CoA. From there, generally, pyruvate and Acetyl-CoA are brought through the Krebs cycle (also known as the citric-acid cycle which continues to break down sugars) and then the oxidative-phosphorylation system (where adenosine diphosphate becomes ATP, releasing energy) in our mitochondria to produce ATP and a byproduct, carbon dioxide. I know that’s a lot, but what it basically means in our case is wooohooo, energy to run’
The research I have done came from listening to SOUP, online reading, blogs, podcasts and the most important part which is testing different things on myself to see what works. Everything I have learnt points towards a few crucial points that need to be considered before I decide what I am going to consume.
How long is the run?
What is the temperatures going to be?
How much will I sweat?
I found a lot of scientific research that points towards
Different timeframes require different fueling strategies
Some carbohydrates are used more rapidly than others, but no carbohydrates are used at rates higher than 60 g/h
The total amount of consumption can be increased through the use of different carb types
After 2 hrs you need to include proteins and electrolytes.
GD plays a big part and what your belly likes/dislikes can have a huge impact on your results and capability to run long distances
Studies have demonstrated that multiple transportable carbohydrates can result in improved performance over and above the use of one single carbohydrate commonly found in sports drinks and gels.
Carbohydrate & Fat as fuel sources
The body uses two main fuels: carbohydrate and fat. Fat is the primary fuel for less intense exercise (low to moderate intensity: often referred to as aerobic) while carbohydrates are the primary fuel for intense exercise moderate to high intensity). Someone who is well trained can burn fat at a higher rate. This will help them to be less dependent on carbohydrate, but when the intensity increases carbohydrate is still the preferred fuel. Carbohydrate can deliver energy much faster to the muscles than fats. Fat is like “diesel” and can support much longer efforts than carbohydrate. Carbohydrate, however can provide much more energy per unit of time.
The body has stores of both fuels, but unfortunately the stores for carbohydrate are much smaller than those of fat. Even the leanest athlete has sufficient fat to sustain the longest races at moderate intensity (thousands of grams of fat). In fact, there would be enough fat in any athlete to run many back-to-back marathons.
The typical athlete will also have 500-800g of carbohydrates stored as muscle glycogen and perhaps 80 grams or so as liver glycogen. These stores are relatively small and can only provide a fraction of the total energy from fat stores). These carbohydrate stores would be sufficient to fuel 2-3 hours of intense exercise.
Many attempts have been made to find the carbohydrate mix that would result in the highest oxidation rates. The studies confirmed that multiple transportable carbohydrates resulted in up to 75% greater oxidation rates. The following combinations seemed to produce the most favourable effects:
maltodextrin : fructose
glucose : fructose
glucose : sucrose : fructose
In all cases, the glucose transporter needs to be saturated and this will not happen if less than about 60 g/h is ingested. The additional second carbohydrate (fructose) will have to be ingested at sufficient rates to add to the carbohydrate delivery (30 g/h or more). If these amounts are ingested it gives you a ratio of 2:1 glucose:fructose and an intake of 90 g/h. This is often the recommended ratio. However, I want to make a point that this is NOT a magic ratio. If you can tolerate higher intakes, adding more fructose may actually help and you will move towards a 1:1 ratio, but still with ingesting 60 g/h of glucose or maltodextrin.
Liquid, gel or solids?
I believe that when the exercise is 2.5 - 4 hours carb mixes are most effective, if you plan on going longer then solids may be required. With activity at these levels, carbohydrate intakes of up to 90g/h are recommended for high performing athletes, but you need to get them from from multiple sources. Glucose or maltodextrin will have to provide around 60 g/h and the rest is needed from another source such as sucrose or fructose. I am not a high performing athlete and around 60/70g/h works for me, anything above that and my belly starts to sing a sad song.
You can get your carbs from a beverage, gel or a low fat, low protein, low fiber energy bar. By testing these during training it is possible to find what your body likes, or more importantly dislikes, and then tailor a plan on how to get the carbohydrate while making sure you don’t get an upset tummy. As I mentioned, the water and powder mix works well for me but on really long runs I need real food so I pack things like, peanut butter and honey sandwiches, CLIF bars, Clif Bloks, dehydrated potato and snickers bars.
Bulk Nutrients are a Tasmanian supplement company that offer all of these carbohydrate sources in a range of their powders. I looked into what is in their powders, how much you need and what the average cost is per serve. Here is what I found (these prices may have changed):
Electrolyte+ - 60g per serve - $19 per kg - $1.14 per serve - 51g carbs / 204 cals per serve
Carb+ - 40g per serve - $18 per kg - $0.72 per serve - 38g carbs / 152 cals per serve
Sports Fuel 1o1 - 40g per serve - $27 per kg - $1.08 per serve - 31g carbs / 124 cals per serve
Maltodextrin - 50g per serve - $10 per kg - $0.50 per serve - 28g carbs / 112 cals per serve
Here are the ingredients of each.
Electroyte+ - Dextrose Monohydrate, Maltodextrin, Flavouring, Citric Acid, Magnesium Aspartate, Potassium Gluconate, Sodium Chloride, Calcium Citrate, Sweetener (Sucralose).
Carb+ - Maltodextrin, Isomaltulose, Dextrose Monohydrate
Sports Fuel 1o1 - Maltodextrin, Dextrose Monohydrate, Hydrolysed Collagen Peptides, Branched Chain Amino Acids, Flavouring, Citrulline Malate, Glutamine, Magnesium Aspartate, Vitamin C, Sodium Chloride, Potassium Gluconate, Sweetener (Sucralose).
Maltodextrin - Maltodextrin ;)
The only thing SportsFuel 1o1 doesn’t contain compared to the others is Calcium Citrate. With 31g of carbs I need another scoop of Carb+ and I end up with 69g of carbs and this is enough to fuel me through hours of exercise. I end up with blend of carbohydrates, protein, free form amino acids and electrolytes to assist with energy, hydration, reducing muscle soreness and sustaining energy levels.
To minimise rapid sugar spikes and crashes, SportsFuel 1o1 also combines two readily absorbed carbohydrates to protein at a 6:1 ratio. With 30g of carbohydrates per serve, the blend of two carbohydrate sources increases absorption and carbohydrate oxidation in the body.
Comparing Gels and Bulk Nutrients:
Bulk Nutrients - each 69g or carbs costs $1.80, weighs 70ish g and is easily consumed in my water as I run.
Gels - can cost anywhere from $3 each and the ingredients are usually only maltodextrin. A popular brand I looked at had 27g of carb & weighed 34g - plus there is the annoying packet tp get rid of and the texture of gels that I just do not like.
It’s a personal thing but hopefuly you can see why I have chosen to support a Tasmanian owned company. Everyone is different though and this is just what works for me.
Solids
This one has been a challenge and I’ve tested a few things to get it right. Once I have been running for 4 hours MY gut gets a bit temperamental and will shut Mme down real quick if I don’t help it. Here is what worked for me:
Peanut Butter and Honey Sanga - My go to, I love it. It contains all the good things and tastes great.
Dehydrated Mashed Potato Chips - So easy and so effective. Mash some spuds, blend them to a puree, spread ‘thinly’ over baking paper in a dehydrator or oven and 8 hrs later your done. Add salt to taste and you have a great snack that will keep you going and weighs bugger all.
CLIF Bars - can be tough to eat while moving but they do the trick
CLIF Bloks - I always carry a few of these and they get used when things are tough.
Snickers, Mars & Cherry Ripe - So good when you need a tasty snack.
Blackcurrant Pastilles - Don’t knock it till you try it :)
Protein
There seems to be a lot of information and focus on carbs for endurance athletes but not a much for protein. I believe that failing to focus on protein is a big mistake. Endurance runners must have a need for proteins due to the amount of energy expenditure and muscle tissue damage we have.
Our skeletal muscle is remade constantly, broken down and built up. It renews at a rate of about 1-2% per day, which means that in 50-100 days you’ve made a completely new muscle. This suggests to me that for those of us who place higher demands on our muscles there may be a greater need for proteins. Don’t take this as meaning you need to smash a heap of protein shakes every day but timing your meals and adding a bit more to the diet could be a good thing to do.
I’ve been guilty of smashing protein powders in the hope they help me build muscle. This time I looked into what we actually need to perform well and help our body function at a high level. There’s a lot of information out there but I listened to one of the experts on a Science of Ultra podcast, Luc van Loon, PhD who is regarded by many as the world’s leading expert on human protein needs. What Luc said made sense and I try my best to implement his recommendations it into my eating habits.
4 meals per day that include 20-25g protein
Time meals so they occur post exercise for better synthesis of the protein
Have a protein snack before bed
Here is a link to the summary of the podcast, It’s definitely worth a read.
I believe that if you eat whole fresh foods then you should be getting the protein you need. A diet full of fresh fruit, vegetables and meat will provide you with almost everything you need. I eat meat a few times per week, usually chicken but sometimes I love a good steak, venison or lamb roast. The protein supplements I use comes from Bulk Nutrients - I add a scoop to my smoothie in the morning and I have a protein shake or snack before bed each night.
Caffeine
Here’s a decisive subject and something I couldn’t find much information/studies on. There are a lot of studies on the effects of caffeine and that can easily be translated into use for running long distances, all I know is that NoDoze is a great source of energy and really helps my focus and perception of effort. I carry a small bag of tablets in my pocket and use them at the end of a big effort, it took a bit of testing and luckily for me there is no gut distress when I use them.
When I say testing I should point out that I overdid the caffeine once and paid the price. A long story short is that I found myself struggling, took a few NoDoze which perked me up and so I kept taking more. Eventually the caffeine, being sick, tired and run down ended my race with my first DNF. However, the caffeine didn’t just stop there, it worked all night and kept me awake and feeling like shit for a long time. After a sleeples night, mild panic atack and a nasty headspace it faded but I certainly didnt feel like a coffee for a while.
I still use caffeine because at the right dosage and right time it can help. Be warned though, read the bottle and strategise how much you use and when. :