Still here? Ok, well, my racing nutrition has come a long ways since my Ironman days, where I ate all sorts of crappy food with the idea that I was training so hard it didn't matter. Obviously it did matter, because by the time I got to the marathon run at the end of the triathlon, my stomach was so unhappy with the gels, Coke and sugars, that I would usually have to walk rather than run my way to the finish. I believe I could go back to the sport of triathlon now, and carve some significant amounts of time off of my race times, just with better nutrition. I'm tempted, but....Nah. I still hate swimming.
Since my triathlon days, I've gone on to race more than 100 marathon and ultra marathons, finished a 100 mile run, completed several multi day expedition-length adventure races, and was one of the few women in a 12 day paragliding race across the Alps. Some days my nutrition worked great, sometimes it didn't. As I've gotten older, I've realized just how important nutrition is to not just speed in racing but to health and longevity. I want to be both fast and healthy for the long term, and I think it's possible.
I recently lined up at a half marathon as a test of my latest nutrition strategies and also as a long training run. So I was carrying a few hundred calories in my bottle and had eaten a minimal breakfast of some sushi and a hot drink. And I couldn't keep my eyes off this guy wearing a hip belt, the kind with those loops you can carry gels on. He had, I kid you not, 10 (TEN!) gels hooked through these loops, along water bottles and whatever else. For a HALF marathon. To properly hydrate the stomach enough to digest 10 gels over the 2-3 hours it takes to run a half, you would need to drink at least 4 liters of water!
I've always hated gels. I used to buy them and couldn't force myself to eat them, and they would live in my cupboard and get thrown out when they expired. I couldn't put it into words then, but the science now backs up my feeling, that these things just weren't good for me. In a nutshell, unless you drink a lot of water with a gel, they actually cause water to be diverted away from working muscles and back into the stomach and intestines, to help change the osmolality of the gut to something appropriate for digestion. So late in a race when you think you are short on energy and you down a gel, oftentimes you feel even worse afterward, and eat yet another gel to fix it. And the spiral continues. Really, what your body needed was water or electrolytes in water. You were dehydrated, plain and simple. Then, you gave it calories which required action, which dehydrated you further.
Why gels don't get digested well during exercise and cause gastric distress
https://bikerumor.com/2014/05/09/physiology-and-nutrition-why-not-gels/
Is there a better way?
Hundreds of hours of studying nutrition later, my whole perspective on food has changed. I've been eating low-carb (mostly keto) for about a year. I can no longer justify the idea that high carbohydrate foods and snacks all day long are in any way healthy. That kind of a lifestyle spikes insulin multiple times a day, reduces insulin sensitivity, and eventually leads to being overweight, diabetes, heart disease, cancer and other metabolic problems. Plus, getting blood sugar back under control can benefit mood, energy levels, weight stabilization, etc.
It takes time, but the insulin response to sugar will get more appropriate after some time of eating less carbs than a normal American. Which means, eventually, you could go to that occasional party, eat birthday cake, and then be back in Ketosis within a couple of days of eating low-carb again. I started out eating very few carbs, but now I can handle quite a few grams a day and still stay in fat-burning mode. I’ve been checking my ketones for a year, blood, urine and breath, and really surprised now how often I can stay in ketosis now while adding carbs back in. It means my body really rations the amount of insulin it produces, which is a good thing!
Type of fats still matter, though. You can’t chow down on fried foods, vegetable oils, salad dressing, fast food meats and think you are healthy. Olive oil, butter, lard, ghee, coconut oil, etc are all natural fats which are great for your body.
Racing while Low-Carb
I've done quite a few races in the last year, and I've found that I can race well while using many less calories than usual. I got through a 50k ultra marathon on about 600 calories, and I did a Spartan Beast while only eating a couple hundred calories during the race. The key for me is to make those calories count. I use some high quality fats, amino acids that digest almost immediately, superstarch that act as carbs without spiking blood sugar, and electrolytes to keep my fluids balanced. More info on all that below.
I realize that studies show Keto has somewhat of a dampening effect on athletic performance if you race low-carb. So I employ some strategic carbs before racing. Also known as carb-cycling, I guess. While I normally eat high fat, moderate protein, low carb, a couple of days before the race I'll add a little more carbs like sweet potato, white rice, etc. I also go out of my way to avoid gluten, grains, salad dressings, vegetable oils and fried foods the week before a race. Those type of foods can have a negative effect on speed and strength for some time (at least 24 hours) after they are eaten.
I highly recommend that you go and read Ben Greenfield's book The Low Carb Athlete as well as Volek and Phinney's book Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Performance. The VESPA website also has an amazing and detailed guide for how to use strategic carbs during races.
For further reading about the low-carb idea for health and longevity, check out The Obesity Code by Dr. Fung, Grain Brain by Dr. Pearlmutter, or the New Atkins Diet Revolution. The Atkins book, BTW, is a great place to start, because it lays out an easy way to start and continue on this kind of diet.
Electrolyte needs increase on a low-carb lifestyle, as not as many minerals are stored in the body. When I reduced carbs, my glycogen stores got low, which exposed some nutrient deficiencies. I.E. I got terrible leg cramps at night until I started taking magnesium threonate or malate every day. Since magnesium is essential for hundreds of functions in the body, it's probably helped with more than just leg cramps, too!
I've also added other supplements, both for aid in my training and racing, and for general health. These include a high-quality multivitamin, Iron, Vitamin C, Vitamin D, Vitamin K, Vitamin B Complex, Creatine, Iodine, Chlorella, and Spirulina. Some of these vitamins and minerals should be checked by a blood test before you supplement, I suggest seeing a Functional Medicine doctor who can point you in the right direction.
Here's some further reading if you want to delve into more details:
Why Vitamin C in large doses can cure shingles, the common cold, etc, and be used instead of antibiotics. Lifechanging information:
https://thatvitaminmovie.com/movie/freescreening18/
Why Chlorella and Spirulina are the only true "super foods" to deserve that title:
https://bengreenfieldfitness.com/article/supplements-articles/how-to-eat-algae/
Still think meat is bad? Read a brilliant analysis on why the "China Study" is based on faulty science:
https://deniseminger.com/2010/07/07/the-china-study-fact-or-fallac/
https://www.alexfergus.com/blog/8-proven-reasons-why-vegan-and-vegetarian-diets-easily-ruin-your-body
How to use Essential Amino Acids (and why they are so amazing)
https://bengreenfieldfitness.com/article/how-to-use-amino-acids-supplements/
Keep your gut happy with Colostrum.
https://bengreenfieldfitness.com/article/digestion-articles/colostrum/
Before a Race:
Ok, down to the nitty gritty. I feel somewhat like a mad scientist these days, mixing all this stuff together for races, but you know what? It works. I just raced a triple Spartan, called a Trifecta, in one weekend. That's a Beast, Super, and Sprint all in two days, it took me a total of 6 hours 40 minutes for about 28 miles and something like 80 obstacles. I finished 4th, 2nd, 3rd respectively in my Age Group, and I raced my little heart out. I was moving faster than I thought possible. Finally, my stomach wasn't bothering me, I had energy, I wasn't injured, and I felt great.
So the week before the race, I try to eat clean. Healthy meats, avocado, veggies, good fats, avoid processed stuff, vegetable oils, fried foods, grains. I do either steak and sweet potato, or sushi the night before the race. A few carbs. My normal supplements, plus digestive enzymes. I will also mix a packet of Emergen-C electrolyte drink into a bottle of water. Drinking lots of water without electrolytes could flush them out of your system. But you do want to be adequately hydrated.
The morning of the race, I wake up and eat something. I'm not a breakfast person so I hate eating at 5 in the morning but I try to choke something down. A UCAN bar, a few bites of sushi, and/ or either some bone broth with extra salt, or some cocoa powder with butter or heavy cream. At this point I also take some supplements, like 3 grams of Vitamin C, Colostrum, a couple Amino Acid tablets.
30 Minutes before a race:
About 30 minutes out from the start, that's the point where I take things like VESPA, HVMN Ketone Esters (make sure you've eaten some carbs before taking it, do your research!), caffeine Orbz, and maybe a bite of a bar. I've learned not to over drink at this point, because then my bladder invariably yells at me the whole race. This is my only caffeine of the day, too....if you've had a cup or two of coffee, you really won't benefit from taking any more now.
Does VESPA work? Is it worth the cost? I really don't know. I'll run out of it after my next race, try to keep everything else the same, and not use it, and see if anything changes.
Does the HVMN Ketone Ester work? Jeez, it's $30 a serving so it better! I've tried it once and can't say for sure. Supposedly it allows you to be both glucose and ketone fueled for an hour or so. It's a new product so the hard data isn't there yet. I've got two more servings for my next two big races (it's sold in a 3 pack), so I'll try it and then see later if not using it changes anything.
During a race:
For longer Spartan races, it's handy to have some food and drink with you, but not so handy to carry a pack. I get these Gypsy Runner shorts (the bright colors will make you very....memorable), with huge side pockets, and I put a drink bottle in one side and my gloves and some ziploc baggies of pills in the other side. It make me look like I have huge saddlebags (very sexy, lol) but I don't have the extra weight and annoyance of a pack.
So I carry this Salomon squishy water bottle, and I put all these powders in it, and just this last weekend I realized that I could start the race with it dry and empty, and just add water a mile or two into the race. It was like a revelation, not starting with a full water bottle. Why didn't I think of this earlier? So I almost never carry it full, I just put some water in it and drink it thick, with a water chaser at an aid station. So I really carry very little water, just for sips if my mouth gets dry. It doesn't taste that great so a water chaser might be handy. Experiment!
So in my squishy water bottle I put: A scoop of MCT oil powder. Then 5-10g grams of Essential Amino Acid powder. Ok, then some sort of electrolytes. OSMO or Skratch has a very low sugar option which they claim has great Osmolality. That's a good thing when you want your stomach to empty fast. And then some UCAN super starch powder. There are a lot of flavors of UCAN, I've tried Orange and Cocoa and both are tolerable. The electrolytes help keep the UCAN from clumping up, and running with it in your pocket also helps mix it up. The overall taste will be sweet and chalky but since it works, I like it.
In my other pocket are a couple of 3x4 inch ziploc bags. Heavy duty ones which won't break or leak when soaked in a dunk wall. Every hour or two, at a water station, I get one out and swallow the contents. In it I have a couple of Colostrum tabs (they do seem to help keep my stomach happier), some sort of chewable or pill electrolytes, a couple of Amino Acid tablets, and 10-20 EnergyBits, otherwise known as spirulina. It makes quite a handful of pills, so practice this in practice. I was amazed, after downing a handful of these last weekend, that I kept on running quite fast downhill and my stomach was very happy. The times it hasn't been so happy, was when I drank too much plain water and had bad osmolality, and the liquid stayed in my stomach instead of emptying.
So for a Beast (about 4 hours) I had 1 bottle of mix in my water, and 2 baggies of pills. For the Super, 1 bottle of mix, and 1 baggie of pills. For the Sprint, I carry nothing. For the UltraBeast in Tahoe next month (8-10 hours), I will probably have a preloaded mix in a spare bottle, a couple extra baggies and more EnergyBits, and a UCAN bar or two in my halfway bucket Maybe a Kion Bar. So I will still try to avoid carrying a pack at all cost. Unless the weather demands it. The slower I go, the more I eat, because then my digestive system can handle a bit more.
I'm always dehydrated, it's inevitable. There's a fine line between drinking too much and not enough while racing. Too little and I've found myself weaving down the trail with blurry vision and compromised strength. Too much, and my stomach sloshes like a swimming pool going down the freeway. Regardless, after a race, get some water and electrolytes back into the system fast. Especially because I usually have another race coming up the next day.
Post race meal looks a lot like a pre-race meal. Snacks. Steak and potato or sushi, and chocolate. I always have chocolate on hand. Even if I don't mention it. My favorite lately has been homemade macaroons. Coconut flakes, coconut oil, Udo's oil, MCT oil powder, collagen powder, gelatin to stick it together, some sort of mint or other flavoring, cooled then dunked in dark chocolate. My version of a fat bomb I guess. But that's another story.
Post-race supplements help me get over the soreness more quickly. More amino acids, some magnesium, glutathione, Kion Flex, more electrolytes. I figure I've stressed my body more than usual from travel and racing on these weekends, so I take more Vitamin C, too, 3-10 grams a day.
Once I'm showered, I rub Magnesium Lotion and Frankincense essential oil on the muscles that hurt. Recovery (aside from diet) can be greatly speeded up as well, by using cold showers, compression, cryotherapy, chiropractor visits, red light therapy, massage, ice bath, foam rolling, etc. Use what you have available, and it will hopefully get you back on your feet feeling energetic and ready to starting training again sooner!
Breakfast before race:
Bone Broth or hot chocolate
UCAN Bar
Sushi Avocado Roll
30 minutes before race:
During a race:
In my bottle:
Essential Amino Acid Powder
UCAN Superstarch Powder
Pills to swallow or chew:
Goat Colostrum (2 per hour)
SCaps Salt Tabs or Athlytes, (couple per hour)
or Salt Stick Fastchews (chew one of these if you get a cramp)
EnergyBits (20 every couple hours)
Amino Acids (5 g per hour)
After a race:
Amino Acids
Electrolytes
Glutathione
Magnesium Malate or Threonate
Before you decide to also become a mad scientist and add up the cost of all of this, I have to say that not everything is beneficial. Perhaps some of it does little to nothing all all. I started slowly and added more as I needed it and as I learned the possible benefits. I am an experiment of one, and what works for me may not work for you. I CAN say that I am running at my best right now, recovering really quickly, and feeling really good. So something I'm doing is working, and I will eventually narrow it down and stop using things that aren't helping. And probably, knowing myself, add more!
Trial and error. Keep as much as possible the same, and change one thing, see if it helps or hurts. Go after the low hanging fruit, the easier things. Stomach issues? Try Colostrum. Cramping? Try more magnesium leading up to and electrolytes during the race. Not recovering well or building muscle? Look into Essential Amino Acids.
My diet going forward (aside from races) will be some carb cycling but mainly low carb. Five days of low-carb, one day of fasting, and one day of carbs. I’ve read a lot of research and it all points that way. It gives me a day to go out to eat with friends and not stress, a day of no calories to heal myself, and 5 days of healthy clean eating.
My next race will be a Spartan Beast and Spartan Ultra Beast, back to back days in late September in Lake Tahoe. Unless I need to carry extra clothing for bad weather, I still think I will be able to racing without a pack using this system and carrying everything in my pockets. I'll be the one with the wild colored shorts and saddlebags for pockets :)
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| Trying out Normatec compression gear during a visit to the US Cryotherapy in Salt Lake City |
