Freedom’s Run – The Art and Science of Preparing for an Endurance Event

Mark Cucuzzella MD,FAAFP

Fuel for Training and Race Day

Practice point 3 is learning your body’s nutrition and hydration needs for both healthy living and event specific. For general healthy nutrition principles no advice is better than Amanda Carlson’s of Athletes' Performance Institute. Amanda is a sports nutritionist and exercise physiologist working with recreational and elite athletes, and the US Navy. She has devised the “10 Rules to Live By”.

1. COME BACK TO EARTH: Try to choose the least processed forms of food. Fruits, veggies, whole grains, and high fiber carbohydrates.
2. EAT A RAINBOW OFTEN: Eat Fruits or Vegetables with each meal. Choose a wide variety of colors for the biggest benefit.
3. LESS LEGS THE BETTER: This means fish is better than chicken which is better than the cow. Include a LEAN protein source with each meal.
4. EAT FATS THAT GIVE SOMETHING BACK: Include healthy fats in your diet like olive oil, nuts, seeds, avocado, fish, and flaxseeds.
5. EatBREAKFAST every day!
6. THREE FOR THREE: Eat smaller portions more often, spread evenly across the day. No excuses - you should be eating 5-6 meals/day! Aim for all three nutrients (protein, carbs, good fats), every three hours.
7. STAY HYDRATED: (.5-1.0 x body weight = ounces of water per day) by drinking non-caloric beverages (water/green tea).
8. DON’T WASTE YOUR WORKOUT: Have a post-workout recovery shake or meal immediately after your training
9. ADD A MULTIVITAMIN: with anti-oxidant complex and a fish oil supplement into your daily routine.
10. SLEEP: Get some rest. The body recovers and repairs best when it is sleeping.

Now for the nutritional practice for the event. For races longer than 2 hours we mentioned earlier that you want to use body fat as your primary fuel source, but keeping the blood glucose topped off in longer events is a strategy to keeping that extreme sense of mental and physical fatigue away. Most of us have experiences even in our usual busy workday when a mid-morning severe drag is magically relieved by a piece of fruit. Many athletes interpret this easily preventable and reversible feeling as the big bonk. Often this is not the case. The best plan is prevention; back up plan is awareness and remedy. You must practice

Many proceed in their long training runs feeling the accomplishment is in the survival. They carry no fuel and take a little water and hope to find a fountain or gas station. Here are a few guidelines to start and adapt from. If you are running efficiently in the aerobic zone your gut can digest some calories. Run too fast and it cannot. If your event is greater than 1 to 1.5 hours, an equivalent of 2 Powergels an hour with water is good to keep the blood glucose tank topped off. The body can absorb about 240 calories an hour on the run. Fluid management is a bit more individual and complex. Recently we were told “Do not wait till you are thirsty…drink early and often”. Most did fine with this advice but an unfortunate few took it too the extreme and met grave results from hyponatremia (water intoxication). See recent revised fluid guideline for explanation of hyponatremia and how better to tailor your fluid needs (link). Proper electrolyte drinks, Powergels (fortified with electrolytes), or salt tablets can help you avoid this. Powergels have evolved in their formulation to include electrolytes and they also make a great endurance drink. See their website www.powerbar.com for some good nutrition tips. Familiar gels eliminate a lot of uncertainty for events as you can carry these and take them with readily available water instead of relying on unfamiliar drinks, or having to carry large volumes of your special drink. Michael Wardian and I both applied the gel strategy at the 2007 JFK 50 Mile (largest and oldest Ultra in the US). 2 gels an hour and water propelled Mike to the win in near course record time. I managed 16th and repeated the strategy for an 11th place finish in 2008, cutting 12 minutes of my time.

Now you’ve practiced and improved in your aerobic level training, your running form, and your nutritional strategy, but often all conditions cannot be anticipated. For example in 2005 it was 90 degrees at the start of the April Boston Marathon and most of us had come off a winter of layered running. In 2007 it was held in the middle of a Nor’easter and they considered canceling for the first time in 110 years. Does this mean your preparation is complete chance so why bother? Of course not. In ultras the uncertainties are magnified. Try to simulate various conditions and be prepared.