RunnerSam wrote:
rucker wrote:
That looks about like my plan - 60-65mpw for the next 3/4 weeks, and 2-3 more two hour runs.
Any advice on nutrition? My stomach isn’t iron, but I handle gels well. I was going to do 1 gel/hour and drink Nuun. PB & Honey sandwich or two later on (3 and 5 hours in??). Pedialyte later in the day. Hotshot in the race vest in case I hit cramp problems. Shooting to be off the course in less than 8h. I know nutrition is an individual game but any insight is helpful.
Race Website, likely not updated for Covid
"Provisions at these stations will include: colas, electrolyte replace drinks, water, sandwiches, salted items, sweet items, energy gels, energy bars and basic first aid supplies. Some later aid stations may have hot drinks. The tentative locations are at approximately the 4, 10, 16, 20, 22, 25, 27, 30, 34, 38, 42, 44, 46 and 48 mile points."
It looks like Nuun is for electrolytes and Hotshot is for muscle cramping. I'd say that a 100 calorie Gel per hour isnt enough. If you can stomach PB & Honey then go for it, but I'd suggest having smaller quantities more spread out since eating a whole sandwich at a time is tough and your body may not digest it quickly (or happily). But as you mentioned it is very person by person, although Ive never really done it they say that trying it in training is the best way to know what works. Unless it is a hot day I would worry less about electrolytes and more about calories.
I typically try to have a gel every 45min and a bottle of roctane every 75min (estimates), puts me around 200-250 cal/hr. Then at each (or maybe every other in JFK) aid station I grab something that has salt, either chips pretzels broth or potatoes. More generally I use gel/drink mix for calories and solid food for salt.
JFK isnt as easy on having a crew but it does have more aid stations, I will likely be more reliant on gels unless they have drink mixes (calorie not electrolyte). I've used salt tablets twice for cramping, they work really quick. I am guessing hotshot will do the same. We will have to see what is at the aid stations with the covid restrictions and adjust. If they have Gels I might only take roctane with me and rely on aid stations for gels. I can probably squeeze 4-5 servings of premeasured roctane baggies if I dont take gels. I only use a handheld with a little pocket, and my short shorts pocket.
I only used HEED, two gels, and one baggie of pretzels for my 50k and it was only about an hour less than Id like to run JFK, I felt fine. I even forgot my handheld and just carried a soft flask bottle we got in the race packet. Slight correction on my finishing time, it was 5:52:36, I think I put the winners time in my post on accident.
-RS
RS - huge thanks for this info, this is a ton of help. I've used Roctane before in cycling but hadn't thought to use it here, I might go with that. Pretzels also sound great. I paced a friend for a 50 miler a few years back and did 50k of it, and really just lived off the aid stations. With covid that'll be interesting.
I did pick up a race vest for this with 2 soft flasks (I have a handheld but prefer to have my hands free). I'm thinking I'll take enough Gu/Roctane to be able to fuel every 45min, and use pedialyte rather than Nuun since it's got some sugar and calories. I'll try the pretzels out before race day as well and hopefully use those too.
Again, thanks for taking the time to type all that out - super helpful!!
