Beginner Tips From the Rest of the Pack - Nutrition

Beginners & Basic Tips
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Round #2 for beginner tips where we can provide our experiences as beginner athletes to help some of our less experienced community members. Whether you think of yourself as experienced or not, we’ve all been through a number of common mistakes, so chime in with your stories of success or School of Hard Knocks learning experiences!

Here’s one of many in nutrition for me:

  1. Mismatch between energy intake and expenditure: In my 20s I was weighing in at 155 lbs (at 6’3" and 4.5% body fat via dexa) and was participating in a lot of long/ultra-distance events such as trail marathons, high-altitude runs, and 24-48 hour adventure races. I never thought about gaining weight even though I would regularly come down with illnesses (colds, the occasional flu bug) and would end up in the medical tent with fluids more often than not in adventure races. I never put a priority on my nutrition and thought I was tough enough to just push through. It wasn’t until I got older and inadvertently gained weight after our first kiddo arrived (up to 160-165 lbs) that I realized I wasn’t eating enough to support my exercise habits. When I got sick much less frequently and generally felt better (with no decline in performance, if anything an increase), I realized I’ve been pursuing that “lightness” for way too long.

Since then I’ve allowed my weight to fluctuate between 165-180 lbs depending on the time of year and activities I’m involved in. Body fat increased to 9-13% as well depending on the time of year. It took a long time to recognize this, but realized how important the interplay is between nutrition and our exercise to support not only performance, but more importantly, health. Over the last 10 years, it was really a great opportunity to pursue that focus and help others do the same. Living and working in Boulder, I still find that this is an area that many people struggle with, so enjoy helping them find that balance.

  1. Walking into your event with NO nutritional plan: How many of us can relate to this one?? :smiley: Back when I was doing a lot more running I decided it was time to try the marathon distance. It was a local (but well-known) marathon that had a great turnout since it was a Boston qualifier, and I new every inch of the course since it was in my home town. Nutritionally, I didn’t feel the need to plan much, so just ate whatever I wanted the morning of, and jumped into the race - hubris at its best. Long story short, I made so many “pit stops” along the way that day that it took me well over 4 hours to make it across the line (well beyond what could have been accomplished with the physical preparedness I had) and that drove the point home to not only prepare better for next time, but test, test, test the plan in training first.

Ok, who’s up next? @trevor, @chris, @ThermalDoc, @bgkeen, @robertehall1, @slauson, and others. Let’s hear it!
Coach Ryan

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I learned the value of variety. During a winter ultra in northern MN food has to be edible frozen. For my first winter ultra years ago, my longest training ride was 9 hours. Peanut Butter M&M, Peanut Butter Tortillas, and Tailwind worked great! The solid food would need to be the bulk of my calories. These races are unsupported so water is limited to bare minimum (luckily you don’t sweat much).

Anyway, at hour 15 of the event my stomach realized it was done with peanut butter (for about 2 months it turned out). I still had 6 hours to go in temps below zero. Thankfully I ran into another competitor that had an abundance of Chex Mix. Her donation to my cause and the Tailwind saved me from bonking.

The lesson learned: what works for food at 4 hours may not work at 8, which may not work at 12, etc. Bring a variety of things to eat and your stomach will thank you!

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This is great. Trevor and I talk about this a few times in the Sports Nutrition Basics series where it is focused on helping to develop a race-day nutrition plan for yourself. This is a critical piece of the puzzle, so thank you for bringing that one up! The ultra-distance events are always good to drive that point home. If you didn’t know it before, you’ll learn it by the end. :grin:

Coach Ryan

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That is a great quote that I think can be applied to so many aspects of ultras. I learn something (about myself or my training or my gear, etc) every time. It also a good frame of mind for all we do…keep on learning!

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I would have the second the test, test, test and make sure your test/assumption makes sense for the event…

One example, I did a 4 1/2 hour 105 mile road event with perfect weather and did it only on a good breakfast about 2 hours before the event and 2 1/2 bottles of skratch and 4oz flask of honey with no problem. Btw, I felt OK but was probably dehydrated. So I was ABLE to do it but probably should have been better…

…fast forward to an event a year later. Estimated same time…BUT slightly shorted distance, more hilly, cold/rain , and 90% gravel/dirt. I figured my nutrition plan was basically the same (hey, estimate same time, right? Plus I do a lot of 4 hour rides…sometimes I can get one in before work in the morning) and I figured I’d hit the stops after the halfway point to replenish. The cold, hills, and condition of the gravel took a lot more out of me than I expected (my triceps were never so fatigued). Because the weather was cold, I was wearing gloves, I did not want to stop and took too long to start fueling and took too long between fuelings (TIP - get off the bike to eat or learn to eat with gloves on :slight_smile: ). I bonked about 2 hours in and my body started shaking and didn’t want to really take in anything. I pushed through following the wheel of a friend. I have never felt so bad as I did for that last 30 miles of that ride that probably took 60-90 minutes longer than it should. I did a 11 hour 185 mile ride over 11k feet of rolling hills across the state of Wisconsin and never once felt anywhere close to as bad I felt that day.

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