BT Forum

I have a friend who is going to attempt his first 50 miler. He would like me to help him figure out his nutrition throughout the race. I'll give you a little bit of his backround: He has been runner for for 10 + years, for the last 5 or 6 years he has been running everyday. He is currently up to 12.5 miles daily. He races locally 5K's and wins nearly all of them. He never wanted to anything longer (races) because he was afraid of how he would perform during the races. After my Ironman last year, he decided he wanted to try a marathon. He has never carried any nutrition or water during his races, but I told him he needs to start. So he played around with some gels but never consistent. I think for his "Marathon training" he only did a few long runs 18-27 miles. (I'm not joking when I say only a few, like once or twice because he was still running everyday 10-12 miles.) So when his marathon came I kept pushing to at least DRINK WATER!

Well he qualified for Boston, doing the marathon in 2 hrs 48 minutes. He took in 4 gels and sips of water at some aid stations. Obviously he has a natural talent, but I fear that he will seriously hurt himself if he attempts longer runs without much nutrition.

So my question for you ultra marathoners is how many calories do you try to replace per hour? I know with Ironman it was a little different on the bike vs running. I used gels every 30 minutes plus some extra depending on how I was feeling. So ~ 200-250 calories/hr. I know that every one is different but I would like to get an idea what others are doing. What is your average fluid intake per hour during training races? What type of nutrition are you using? Infinit, Perpeteum, gels, or actual real food?

Thanks, looking forward to hearing others advice.