Thursday, June 6, 2013

24 Hour race fueling - The alternative view

   At FANS 24 I crewed Don, his brother Tom also ran.  They both hit 100 miles.  Tom is built like a linebacker, his idea of fueling is 3 square meals.  He eats 3 square meals every day, why should race day be different?

  I have thought about this for a few days.  Many runners have a big issue with their stomachs.  We pound highly engineered calories, along with some easier to digest normal food. 

  I am able to eat a pretty darn big meal and go home and do a long "Feeling Guilty" run.  It takes 3-4 hours for this big meal to empty out of my stomach.  If I run too fast, I will fight the food trying to come back up.  So a big meal pretty much forces me to take it easy.

  I am seriously considering experimenting with Tom's 3 square meal (Plus a late night snack) plan.  Eat a decent breakfast of eggs, bacon and waffles about 1 hour before the race.  Eating chicken or hamburger along with pasta around 6 hour into the race.  Having chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy 12 hours into the race and a 2am snack of 2-3 servings of Roman Noodles.  In between this bigger feedings, I anticipate drinking water for 3 hours and then taking some engineered stuff until the next big feeding.

It may be the worst idea / biggest blow up ever, but I think it is worth the experiment.

Now I just have to find the desire to run another one of these puppies.

Good running to all!



4 comments:

  1. Mike,

    You'll find that to be the philosophy behind those two books I recommended you to check out - Feed Zone and Feed Zone Portables.

    It was nice crewing next to you!

    Thomas

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  2. Thanks for the reads ~ Also thanks for the help / hanging out. It was great having you for a neighbor for FANS24 and good luck with the up coming races.

    Now, I just have to find the desire to lose weight, so I am willing to endure the pain of another 24.

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  3. Hey Mike,
    I saw you really eye Don's brother Tom and the way he always looked fresh out there and his fueling strategy.
    It was nice chatting with you, Jeff and Ally at the race.
    Good luck in your next marathon.

    Tim

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  4. I was jealous at how much fun he was having ...

    It was fun hanging out with you and the Scovils, but I have never had fun running a 24 hour race.

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