Eating and Adventure Racing

Adventure Racing – what to eat?

Among the most common questions I am asked about multi-day adventure races is; “what do you eat?” Well if your field is nutrition, this might be a good time to stop reading, because my eating habits in long races are probably not going to win any prizes – but I have hit the medal stand enough times to know that they have not hurt me that much either. First – the staple calorie food, the gel. If you are racing longer than 10 hours you might as well forget the gel-packs – use a flask. You can hold more, you aren’t constantly opening little packages for the surge, and they are simply easier to carry and consume gel. My favorite gel – and I have tried every single one – is Hammer Gel. I am partial to the Apple Cinnamon and Orange flavors. I will normally carry at least flask for every 10 hours of racing and I do like to have different flavors in each flask. But that is my base food – from there I have to choose my solid foods to carry.

Rule #1 – Carry something you will eat. If you would not normally eat a food, you are going to want that food even less when you are out there on the course or trail.
Rule #2 – Carry something light. Remember you are carrying it, and you might have to carry it a long way.

In the last race I carried; 3 flasks of Hammer Gel (consumed), 1 Burger King Whopper with Cheese (consumed), Package of Publix Deli Ham (consumed), 3 Granola Bars (2 consumed), 1 package of cheese cubes (consumed), 4 Miscellaneous Energy bars (none consumed). In addition to what I carried I also helped finish ate a borrowed Pop Tart, a Cherry Pie, and a Package of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups (the last two we purchased at a convenience store along the route). Worth noting is what I did and did not eat.

Also as a rule – when one member of the team eats, we all eat. And we share what we eat. I munched sunflower seeds, raisins, and other assorted health foods from my partners. They massively helped me chow on the other non-health foods. I am not saying go out and eat junk as a habit – I eat pretty well most of the time. In a race you simply need calories and you have to force them into a stomach that does not want them.

In addition think of this. In a race you will probably burn 500-700 calories/hour. You can digest about 200-300 calories per hour, so you will always be running a calorie deficit. If you run a 350 calorie per hour deficit, which is quite normal – you will burn 1 pound of lean body mass every 10 hours (1 pound = 3500 calories). That is 3 solid pounds of body mass in a typical 30 hour race. Not including water weight, etc… In the last 3 day race I weighed in 11 pounds lighter at the end than at the beginning AFTER I had completely rehydrated and had a large meal.

So eat up – and I’ll see you out there !