The North Face - Endurance Challenge

NUTRITION

DIET, HYDRATION, & SUPPLEMENTS

ATHLETE TIPS

WHAT TO EAT
The North Face® Athlete Tip - Joe Kulak
"It goes without saying that we are what we eat. While the occasional Philly Cheesesteak, taco, and burger may warm the soul, they are the nutritional equivalent of driving a race car on cheap gas. Race engines need high octane fuel. I eat lots of fruits, veggies, pastas, and grains year-round. Get a blender and throw a bunch of good stuff into it … nuts, fruits, (ice cream on occasion!), and whip up your own power shake. Your engine will thank your healthy lifestyle choices."

GOOD FOODS vs. BAD FOODS
The North Face® Athlete Tip - Kami Semick
"Many books and articles have been written on this concept. But for me, I keep it simple. Good food to me comes as close as possible to the source. We have chickens that lay eggs, and an organic garden we eat out of nine months out of the year. If animal husbandry or gardening is not your thing (it’s not mine, but my husband’s) look for local relationships with farmers or seek out farmers’ markets for local fresh produce and protein sources. For grains, I seek as unrefined as possible, but allow for whole grain breads, cereals, pastas, and the occasional bran muffin to round out my diet. My fats come primarily from olive oil and occasional artisan cheese. Bad foods are things that have a long shelf life and are highly processed. Packing a lunch for a picky child can be a challenge, so I look for items that are whole grain, and don’t have trans fats or high fructose corn syrup."

HYDRATE RIGHT
The North Face® Athlete Tip - Joe Kulak
"With the wide array or specialty formulated sports drinks and gels on the market there is no excuse for dehydrating on the run. These products are designed to be easily absorbed into your system, replace electrolytes, and enhance fluid absorption. I personally do not favor any one product over the other. I do dilute most products down by 25% or so as I find them too strong if made according to the recommended directions. To help stave off the 'bonk', reach peak performance, and finish with enough wits to crack open a cold one, good rules of thumb are as follows:"
■  Cold weather (32F and below). Drink 12 to 16 ounces of fluid per hr. 1 to 2 gels per hr. Calorie goal = 400 to 600 calories per hr.
■  Normal running conditions (32F to 70F). Drink 20+ ounces of fluid per hr. Two gels per hr. Calorie goal = 600 calories per hr.
■  Hot weather (70F+ to 90+F). 30+ ounces of fluid per hr. 2 to 3 gels per hr. Calorie goal = 600 calories per hr. Electrolyte supplements needed.
■  Very hot weather (100+). Don’t run! Revert to carbohydrate replenishment and a rest program. My personal preference includes burgers on the grill (forget what I said about nutrition above … it’s 100F!) and a remote control in hand (keep physical activity to a minimum … again, it’s 100F!). Be careful not to drop your drink or remote while resting on big yellow ducky float in pool.

ELECTROLYTES & SUPPLEMENTS
The North Face® Athlete Tip - Tim Twietmeyer
"Most veteran endurance runners can write a small tome on the different strategies for managing the water and electrolyte balance during a long run. Needless to say, (but I will anyway), is that the longer and hotter the event is, the more difficult the problem. Thankfully, recent product developments have helped in solving the water and electrolyte problem by providing products that simplify the answer.

The biggest problem in the electrolyte story is making sure that you have enough water/electrolytes, but not too much of either. Too much water and you run the risk of hyponatremia (low sodium in the blood). This has been a popular topic of late due to several occurrences of this at running events in the last few years. Runners have been drilled with the mantra of drink, drink, drink. That’s good, but the water has to be partnered with electrolytes to have the desired result. The same is true for too little water. Any knowledgeable runner knows that failing to replace the water lost from sweating will soon have a very detrimental result in the body’s performance.

Judging how much to drink, what to drink, and how to handle electrolytes is a personal choice, but here’s I handle it. I’m always carrying water such that I can replace up to 16-ounces of sweat every 30-minutes. At a difficult, hot event like the Western States 100, I drink that much (about 16 ounces every 30-minutes) and am capable of keeping my weight steady throughout the event. To get the proper electrolytes, I alternate between water and an electrolyte drink (whatever is served at the aid stations). Knowing that most electrolyte drinks don’t have enough sodium to match what the body is putting out, I take electrolyte supplements (like Succeed Caps) during the event. I’ll take one an hour (around 350mg of sodium) when the temperatures are fairly mild (<75-degrees) or during the night, and two per hour (around 700mg of sodium) during the hottest part of the day. In cooler, shorter events I can trim the drinking and electrolyte intake, but in very hot events, it may require me to slow my pace to limit the heat build-up of my body so that I can adequately replace what’s being lost.

The best way to understand what will work for you; arrange for a scale to follow you along for your longer training runs (maybe by way of a crew vehicle). Weigh yourself at the start, monitor how much you drink during the run, then weigh yourself after the run. If you’re close to your starting weight, then you’ve done a good job of managing your sweat replacement. If you’re low, then you weren’t drinking enough and you might find that you had a difficult time keeping the same pace in the latter part of the run. If you’re overweight, then throttle-back on the amount of water. By doing this three or four times over a few weeks, you can get a better understanding of how much you sweat, what type of fluids your body tolerates well, and how your performance matches how well you’re solving the water/electrolyte challenge. Of all the things that are crucial to running a good 50- or 100-mile run, this is one that often gets overlooked. But it is often the difference between finishing strong and getting sick with another 10-20 miles to go."

CARBO CONSUMPTION
The North Face® Athlete Tip - Tim Twietmeyer
"The easiest way to get carbohydrates during the run is through liquids as you won’t run as big a risk of upsetting the digestive tract. Liquid carbs can come in the form of a sports drink with loads of calories (more like an endurance formula drink that might have 25-30 calories per ounce), from a more replacement-type drinks (with perhaps five calories per ounce), or basic foods like broth or soup.

If your system can handle the job of breaking down solids while you’re running, then the options get much more interesting. It’s always handy to consume carbs that have some sodium value. Pretzels are a good option and you often find boiled potatoes with a bowl of salt next to them at an aid station. Just dip the potato in the salt and chomp away. Sometimes it’s even nice to just stick the potato in your cheek and gnaw on it as you go down the trail.

Without replacing carbs during the run, your body will be subject to some highs and lows along the way. Most events are hard enough as it is without making it more difficult by either not eating enough, or not eating the right things. Keep the carbs dribbling into the system and you’ll have a much better chance to get through the event just monitoring your pace rather than trying to figure out why you have no energy."

COUNTING CALORIES
The North Face® Athlete Tip - Tim Twietmeyer
"The actual counting of calories during a long event might be difficult to do, particularly as the race gets into the very late stages. Heck, just remembering your name at mile 90 of a 100-miler can be tough, so I wouldn’t expect anyone to be able to count much past ten. That doesn’t mean that calorie intake isn’t important. It’s just that constant intake is a real plus and you’ll know when to stop as your body won’t be interested in digesting more than it can handle. My rule of thumb is to eat early in the event when your body can handle the task of constant digestion. Later in events, particularly very long events like 100-milers, you begin to dehydrate and fatigue, and your body will be as interested in churning through a Philly Cheesesteak. It has much more urgent things to worry about, like keeping your brain lucid enough to remind you that the blister under your big toenail is about ready to blow. The best advice for eating and replenishing calories on a long run is to eat a bit at every aid station. Even if you’re not using a fanny pack, it’s easy to carry a small amount of chow with you and then eat it on the next long uphill. You’ll need something to do to take your mind off how steep the trail is. As you get more tired and the vast array of goodies at the aid station begins to look revolting, then make the switch to all liquids. Work down some soup or broth, which has plenty of calories and salt, and doesn’t require much effort by your digestive system to turn it into energy. Even a standard soda can provide enough calories to keep going and is very easy on the stomach. One more thing to remember – the better you take care of yourself on the run by eating and drinking, the quicker you’ll recover and be able to train and start targeting your next big event. Oh, you’ll be plenty sore after an ultramarathon, but by taking good care of the engine, you’ll be able to get back to your daily runs in no time. "

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