I am getting excited and yes just a tad bit nervous. I know I can do the benchmark and the marathon; I am just worried about needing real food during that 5 1/2+ hours I am out there walking. I have never needed anything before, other than Gu, Cliff bars and Shot Blocks, but then I have not done more than 15.5 miles to date.

I usually eat oatmeal or a bagel for breakfast before the Saturday walks and eat Cliff Bars or Shot Blocks during the walks. They have always sat good on my stomach. What about eating a bagel about mile 15 for that extra nutrition and boost, or is that too heavy? I still plan to use Shot Blocks, Enduralytes, and Water/Gleukos.

Thanks for any advice you can give.

Kathi

Kathi,
On a long run, I find that sweet stuff loses its appeal about mile 18. So, I suggest that you bring some salted pretzels in a little ziploc. Or, there is one type of protein bar made of nuts and pretzels that works too. I buy them at New Seasons and there are several flavors. It's an orange colored wrapper. Good luck on Saturday.
ACPam

Kathi -

Don't worry about it. Gu, Cliff bars, and Shot Bloks are plenty (if not overkill) to get you through any 100-mile race you want to do... :-) Seriously.
As I've mentioned before, I've done a 100K on nothing more than sport drink(s) and water. The sport drinks had a small amount of sugars along with electrolyte replacement. Anybody can do this, it just depends on how you trained... more on that later.



You don't need to experiment with things you haven't tried before now. That bagel will need to be digested, and (as I hope you remember from JR's last seminar) that takes energy. Of course, the Clif bars need to be digested too, but since they agree with you there's no need to use anything else if you actually want to eat something (like I said, more on this later...)



That should be plenty. The simple sugars don't take as much energy to digest and can get into your system more quickly. Just (as I'm sure you know) take the sugars a little bit at a time, and remember that the Shot Bloks will need water to get the sugar emptying from the stomach in a timely fashion. Most sport drinks don't have too much sugar... but... only use something you've tried before, at the concentration which you've found works. E.g. I dilute Gatorade 1:1 with water, my ultramarathoner brother dilutes it 2:1, and I seem to need to dilute Gleukos 3:1 or more to make it palatable. Whatever you've found works for you, use it... now is not really the time to experiment with a lot of new stuff.

BTW, assuming I was in better shape and had put in the training miles, I would have no qualms about doing a 100-mile race using only Water/Gleukos, Endurolytes, and Shot Bloks... just what you're planning on using Saturday.

Now, if you'll allow me to, I'll get up on my soapbox for a minute and tell you (briefly?) what I think about this "fueling" thing and training vs racing:

First of all, training is not racing. Here by "race" I mean "performance event", i.e. something which is not just another training run. We do training runs/walks to train our bodies (and minds) for the performance events we want to do. We do things in training which we don't do in racing, e.g. speedwork, hill training, running with weights (oh, you've never trained carrying dumbells?) etc. One thing that many of us do in training is not take in a bunch of extra fuel. Remember, taking in the extra fuel can increase performance, but what we want is a training effect which increases the body’s ability to store glycogen – and that can only be achieved by stressing the body’s glycogen stores. You don’t stress those stores by taking on a bunch of fuel.

When doing that "performance" event, feel free to use the fuel supplements as needed and as you've found work for you in selected training runs. But, and this is a big BUT, as JR's seminars have told us (though you might have to glean out the details) these can/will be detrimental to the "training effect" you want to achieve for endurance events if you use them much in training. Remember the last seminar? The training we've been doing will increase the body's ability to store glycogen by up to 40%. But if you re-read the Physiology of Training seminar notes you'll find that we only get this kind of training effect if we periodically deplete the body's glycogen stores enough to cause our organism's "resistance" phase (ala Seyle's stress theory) to build up that storage capacity. Likewise, if we set too high a pace and are constantly replenishing the body's energy supply by taking in glucose/sugars (for example), we will not force the body to build up its fat-metabolism capability.

So - many of us believe that the best training to build up the body's ability to store more glycogen and to build up fat-metabolism capability is to do our long *training* runs at a moderate pace which will utilize both types of metabolism, and to do it with as little infusion of extra "fuel" (glucose, other sugars, food,...) as possible. Don't worry about "running out of gas" in your training runs. Just make sure the pace is reasonable, and you will find that each time you approach or reach your "collapse point" (ala Ken Young’s collapse-point theory) you will be extending your endurance capability and moving your collapse point further out. I could give lots more detail on all of this, but you get the point, I'm sure.
Oh, yeah, I never eat before long training runs either, remember JR’s last seminar.
Hey, we haven’t even talked about the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems yet… :-)
Ok, soapbox mode off...

Believe me, this really was a brief version of my thoughts on this...

Bottom line -
Don't try eating new things, you know enough that works for you already. Plenty enough. Water/Sports Drink, Endurolytes, and Shot Bloks are plenty. Just make sure that the electrolytes and sugars get into your system in the proper concentrations (not too high.)

For myself, I use Water+Endurolytes, or Water+Sports Drink. Maybe the next 50-miler I do I'll take along some of those Shot Bloks ...

As I've mentioned before, I've done 50-milers, a 100K in the hot sun, multiple 40+ mile training runs, and marathons, all on nothing but water and sports drinks. I am not a real athlete or anything like it, and I truly believe that if I can do it, anybody can.

Worrying about it can sap your strength, and you really don’t want that in the marathon. So… use Saturday as a “don’t worry” training day for the marathon…

Take it easy Saturday, don't worry about it, and stick with what you know works for you.



Ok, Good luck, and stay safe out there.

Gene

How is everyone carrying their stuff? My fuel belt has a very small pocket; do I need to find a bigger fanny pack? (which means I'm shopping today!)
For as long as I'll be out there, I might need a backpack!

If you carry quality fuel, you shouldn't need more than a small pocket.

And please remember, any trash goes right back in to the pocket it came out of, or the next proper receptacle.

Have a great run!!

Doug

Thank you everyone for your very helpful suggestions and Gene's very useful soap box lecture. This being my first year of walking and the longest benchmark (prelude to marathon) to date, I know that I am worrying way too much.

But I have this incredibly fast metabolism and I burn through food so fast, that if I don't eat 3 meals a day, I get a headache and actually get sick to my stomach . This is why I am worried about not having food on the walk. I feel like I use up all my food stores on these long walks. BTW - I have lost about 7 lbs since joining Portland Fit and I really didn't have that much to lose. Also, my food consumption on a daily basis has doubled.

I had trouble with Gleukos (watered down 1:1) and Shot Blocks (consumed 1 package) on the 15.5 mile benchmark in that I literally OD on electrolytes. What I needed during the walk was just plain old "Water". I am learning to balance the type of fuel I am injesting.

So now I think I have it figured out. I am a big pretzel fan, so am going to pack some of those up and eat a few every couple of miles. My husband is going to meet up with my walking partner Shelley and I to walk for a few miles and encourage us during this benchmark walk. Knowing him, he will likely bring a little nosh for the both of us to chew on.

Thanks once again for coming to my rescue with all your welcome advice. You've all been down that road and have the best advice ever. Who knows, maybe next year I will be the one encouraging a new walker or runner as they experience their first marathon.

Kathi (I will be the one with the food hanging from my hydration belt on Saturday)




Thank you Doug for that reminder. I saw way too many people at the Helvetia Half Marathon just dropping their litter on the side of the road...well beyond the aid stations. Heck I kept it in my hand and followed a volunteer for several yards while he was cleaning up the road. He was a bit surprised, but appreciated my saving it for the trash bag.

Kathi