Eat Smart: Nutritional Considerations

Author: Nancy Fudacz-Burrows, November 27, 2006 Planning your nutrition for a RacingThePlanet race can be extremely confusing. You're trying to balance nutrients and weight, hoping to keep your energy high during the race without too much stuff in your pack. As a team, we've made our fair share of mistakes, bringing too much or not the right food. For our first race, we figured that to keep our energy up, we'd have to consume at least what we expended each day. Figuring that 150 lb. person burns about 100 calories/mile, we assumed that on most days, we'd need to intake 3,000-3,500 calories each day. We figured we'd easily eat the family sized freeze-dried meals. We also wanted to recover properly, so we brought protein powder with us, and figured that we'd be able to hold down whatever we brought. I carried those big meals and that vanilla protein powder for 3 days before I realized there was no way I could eat all that food. Together we must have dumped about 10 lbs. of food that other racers who hadn't carried as much enjoyed! We evolved quite a bit in the four races, and although everyone is different, there are a few things that we found really worked: Eat before the race! Part of your training should be eating healthy, balanced meals (and plenty of calories) before you race. Although you don't want to come into the race overweight, you do want to be plenty rested, and have your muscles and body fueled for the ordeal it is about to face. Carry extra food (that you will eat or leave at camp) with you for the bus ride to the first camp, and fuel as often as you can before the race. Joel brought a loaf of cinnamon bread with him to Gobi. We ate the entire loaf of bread by the end of Day 1, so he didn't have to carry it, but it was a great treat (and was calorie dense) before the race. By the way, this is also a great way to make new friends. I met our best RacingThePlanet friends because I offered potato chips to the folks around me on the bus ride to the first camp. Practice your meals. Be scientific by calculating your calories for each day. You are required to carry at least 2,000 calories each day, so plan accordingly. If, like most people, you are going to use freeze dried meals, test them out before you go. If you find that you hate the Pasta Primavera for dinner after a 5-mile training run, I can guarantee it's not going down very well after two back to back marathons. Plan your meals. Know what you're going to use each day for fuel during the race, and what you'll eat once you get into camp. You can change the plan if you need during the race, but having a plan will allow you to pack intelligently. Eat heavy early in the race. This probably goes without saying, but plan to eat your heaviest meals first. This may also mean eating more food and more calories early in the race. Look for calorie dense foods that are lightweight. My protein powder debacle could have been avoided had I really thought about how many calories I was going to get for weight. This applies also for bars and gels. Although they may give you a boost, most weigh quite a bit, and are not all that calorie dense. Eat as soon as you get to camp. You have a small window of opportunity to refuel your muscles while they are still warm and full of blood. No matter how much you want to rest when you arrive at camp, make your first priority refueling for the next day. Eat something (even something small if you can't stomach more) within 30 minutes of your arrival at camp. At some point, it is highly likely that you will lose your appetite. This isn't a great thing. Whether it's from the heat, dehydration, or over-exertion, you're just not that hungry. You may be one of those lucky people who can eat the whole race. I was never one of those people, and usually lost my appetite by day 3 or 4. Even though this isn't the best outcome, it's good to know that this can happen, and you can finish, even in massive caloric deficit. If you've come into the race healthy and have eaten for the first few days, you'll manage just fine. Plan for the long day! Stage 5 is traditionally 80 kilometers. Plan on most of your calories for that day being "on the go" calories that you'll eat while you're moving. Plan to eat something once you arrive at camp, but if you're like me, you'll want something light and salty like Ramen noodles. Save a bigger meal for your rest day. Think about your environment. Some foods taste great in hot weather, some don't. Hot soup was great in the cool Atacama, but sounded disgusting in the heat of the Sahara. Think about something to flavor your water. By day 4, water alone tastes terrible. Adding some powder (endurance or recovery) can make water much more palatable. We learned in Sahara that just putting a flavored tea bag in our water bottles made drinking more enjoyable. Any calorie is a good calorie. If we go back to the example of 100 calories/mile for a 150-lb. person, the entire race will cost you at least 15,000 calories. That's over 4 lbs. of energy! There is just no way you can eat enough, so you will be operating in caloric deficit. Find foods that taste good to you, even if you wouldn't necessarily eat them at home. For me, Cheetos (cheese curls) or potato chips were my power foods. No matter how sick I felt, I could always eat this "junk" food. Find foods you crave (that are lightweight) during your long training days. These foods will be your friends. If you're worried about the chips breaking up, don't. Smash up your chips for easy packing and eat them with a spoon if you have to. Remember that some foods can bring you comfort. 250 kilometers is a long, long way with many ups and downs. Some days will go your way, and some just won't. It is nice to have one or two small treats during the race. For us, it was Swedish Fish and peanut butter. The Swedish Fish were heavy, but were definitely a pick up when things weren't going so well. Peanut butter is a great way to add some calories and protein to your meals. Look for small, individually wrapped packets. So, what did we really eat? Here's a typical day: Pre-race: Soup, oatmeal packet (with peanut butter), or Ramen noodles Hot tea or coffee During race: Beef jerky or "slim jim" 2 Payday bars Chips, cookies or crackers Immediately after stage: Ramen noodle (with peanut butter if available) Chips (Cheetos, Pringles, Goldfish, etc.) Recovery drink (Power Bar recovery) I also used a spoonful of L-Glutamine powder in my water Dinner before bed: Freeze dried (Mountain House, Backpacker's Pantry, etc.) meal (I always tried to find a meal with at least 500 calories) Hot tea Vitamins (I did carry vitamins with me throughout the all races)