Nutrition/Hydration/Timing

Many of us have big “A” races approaching. Many of these races like Spartan Beast & Ultra Beast Vermont, Spartan World Championship Beast & Ultra Beast Squaw Valley, and World’s Toughest Mudder are races that take a significant period of time to complete. This week I’m going to be discussing race day nutrition, hydration, and timing. I’ll use last year’s Vermont Ultra Beast (start time of 6am) as an example.
4:00am alarm: dressed and having breakfast by 4:15am. Hydration pack contains 70oz bladder with 35oz of Carbo Rocket or similar and 35oz of water. Hydration pack also contains 7-8 AccelGel or similar (one for every 45min), and electrolyte replacement (I use Gatorlytes). Breakfast – 2 servings of oatmeal w/fruit, nuts and brown sugar. Sipping on Carbo Rocket or similar until 6:00am go time. 5:30am BeetElite packet mixed with 4oz of water and shoot it down. 5:50am AccelGel or similar chased with a little water.
6:00am race starts: Consistent small drinks throughout first Beast loop of the Ultra Beast and gel or similar every 45min. I keep track of the 45min on my watch to eliminate guess work. Every 90min I take an electrolyte replacement (timing on this is to take the same time I take every other gel). I fill my bladder one time on the first Beast loop of the Ultra Beast. *Don’t risk running out of fluids with 1-2 hours to go on the first lap.
At the turn: Fill bladder with Carbo Rocket or similar and make sure you have 7-8 gels or similar in pack. Pack your headlamp and two glow sticks. Mix and drink 2nd BeetElite. Eat a can of pop top Campbell’s chicken noodle soup or similar. *This is standard for me during long races. It’s high in sodium and potassium, the broth tastes awesome, and I love the salty noodles. I found this to be an awesome go to quick meal when I grew up hauling hay throughout 100+ degree summer days in Texas for 12+ hours. I also have a cold bottle of Lime/Cucumber Gatorade on ice waiting for me at the turn (freaking amazing) along with some awesome treat like cold watermelon chunks, and a cold snickers bar. *Have something in your bin that you know you’ll be looking forward to. If the first portion of the race wasn’t wet and muddy, I’ll quickly change shoes and socks and head out. If it was wet and muddy early on during the first lap, I don’t bother.
Out on 2nd lap: Make sure you follow the same nutrition and hydration timing we discussed for the first lap.
This nutrition/hydration plan or similar plan has worked for me during a 72 hour Death Race Finish, 3 Vermont Ultra Beast Finishes, two 12 hour Joe Decker “The Suck” victories, World’s Toughest Mudder, and various other crazy fun events. My wife is the Sports Performance Dietitian for the Texas Longhorn Athletic Department and she has helped provide fueling advice for 600+ collegiate athletes, ultra-distance running and cycling athletes and teams. She approves this message. *One other Item I like to put in my hydration pack is a lightweight windbreaker. If you get yourself in a situation where you’re cold and can’t get your body heat to rise, throw on the windbreaker and it’ll trap your body heat and quickly warm you up. If folded properly, it won’t take up much space.
The timing plan above can be used for the upcoming VT & Squaw Valley Beast, World’s Toughest Mudder, and any other long race. For me, if it’s going to take longer than one hour, I’m packing gels or similar for every 45min. If it’s going to be over appx 2.5 hours, I’m packing water. In the races under 2.5 hours I will rely on the water stations provided and time gels/electrolyte replacement around them. Long heavy uphill carries can take significant time to complete and also put you in a situation where you’re fluid loss through heavy sweating is cranked up. The course map could show two water stations 2 miles apart but in between there is a double 40lb sandbag carry like we had in VT last year. In a normal race, 2 miles fly by pretty fast but in this situation, this two mile section would take a long time. You don’t want to be caught in a situation like this without fluids. I hope this information is helpful and please feel free to message me with questions.