During my first 100 mile race in 2018, I ate nothing but Clif Bars and bananas. It was a race that had "aid stations" with water but no staff and no food and each runner had to provide their own drop bags. If I had done a little bit of research or maybe even a dash of critical thinking I might have realized that Clif Bars and bananas weren't going to cut it for the amount of time it was going to take me to finish. But I didn't, and this rookie-written-all-over-it strategy basically meant that I didn't eat anything for the last 30-40 miles. I still finished and learned a lot but I could have saved myself a lot of pain if I'd had some foods that were easier to digest.
The following year, I cleaned up my diet a bit and managed to fuel relatively successfully for a few 100 milers with more traditional foods, waffled, some gels, and some white rice on occasion. This continued for a couple more years until January 1st 2020 I decided I was going to go hard into a ketogenic diet. Changing to a low-carbohydrate approach was a long time in the making for me. I had been having issues with inflammation and I was beginning to realize that eating during races was my least favorite part of any kind of ultra marathon. I just hated (and still do) having to sit at an aid station or walk on a trail and try to swallow a gel, or mashed potatoes, or chew up a rice cake. These are all things I still incorporate to this day, but a big part of the appeal of a low-carb approach for me was that I wouldn't have to eat quite as often or as much as someone who may have a higher carbohydrate diet day-to-day.
For the most of 2020 I was incredibly strict, limiting carb intake to less than 20g a day and I did no diet periodization whatsoever (more on this topic later). Being the year of COVID, there weren't any races and I was also dealing with a nagging injury so I didn't enjoy much in the way of experimenting in fueling for big efforts. That being said, I was feeling really good with my change in diet, noticing the classic "energy all day" feeling that people in ketosis will often talk about.
Then come 2021, my first race of the year was the Ouray 100 and I entered that race planning to stay low-carb on race day. This didn't happen. With this first experiment, it became crystal clear that carbohydrates would still need to be consumed for big efforts. Cheesy mashed potatoes and a gel every now and then, paired with the ketogenic ability for fat burning metabolism, powered me to a decent race.
This is about when I started experimenting with some diet periodization, that is adding more carbohydrates around big efforts. I started practicing eating more during long runs and adding in some basic carbs, white rice and potatoes, around more intense efforts. This resulted in better recovery and noticeable improvements in my training. I've continued to refine the process of diet periodization for myself, adding in fruit before lifting sessions and some potatoes after, focusing on making sure my muscle glycogen is staying topped off whenever I can make that happen. I've also started eating more on my long runs and adding in liquid calories whenever possible.
2022 was a notable year for me from a fueling perspective because it is when I was introduced to what I think of as the key to my current fueling strategy: Skratch Superfuel. Well, it was called Superfuel then, but due to some sort of copy write infringement, the name has since been changed to Super High Carb. Importantly, the recipe remains the same. It's a powder that you can mix into liquids that has a minimal taste and barely changes the texture of water. Warning, it is incredibly sticky when mixed with water resulting in some hard to clean up accidents for me over the years. But the Skratch powder seems like magic to me. You can pack up to 400 calories and 100g of carbs into a half liter without changing the texture of the water and adding a minimal and pleasant flavor.
The Skratch mix has come close to solving my problem with eating during races and I've grown to rely more and more on it for my calories. For multi-day events like 200 milers, I still think it's important to eat some real food and I'll continue to reach for the easy to eat things like mashed potatoes or rice, but for anything shorter I'm sticking with Skratch all the way.
And this brings me to fueling for the Mogollon Monster 100 a couple weeks ago. It's the first 100 miler of my life where I ate essentially no real food (does a couple slices of watermelon count? Maybe.). In the 22 hours the race took me, I ate five Precision gels, three caffeinated and two non-caffeinated equating to 600 calories. But most of my calories came from the Skratch mixture. I ran with five scoops in each of my half liter soft flasks which equates to about 290 calories each and about 70g of carbs. I also would leave each crew location with another flask with no liquid but just the powder in it, so I could fill that up at a non-crewed aid station upon arrival. Additionally at each crew location I would drink a blender bottle with a further five scoops of Skratch. After starting with two full flasks and another with the powder waiting to be mixed, I saw crew four times during the race which accounts for 19 total servings of this magical mixture.
I want to note that Skratch Super High Carb doesn't have a lot of electrolytes, and so for every liter of liquid I (or my crew) would add a packet of LMNT electrolytes to supplement the calories. 19 servings of Skratch equates to 5,510 calories. Add that to the 600 from the gels and round up a bit for some watermelon slices and I'm willing to bet I ate right around 6,300 calories during Mogollon, roughly 290 per hour, and between 60-70g of carbs. This was more than I had ever consumed during a race and I didn't have stomach issues until I stupidly drank an energy drink at mile 85. The Skratch is so easy to eat because there's no chewing involved and it has never once upset my stomach. In a race that is hot like Mogollon, I think it's necessary to supplement with some electrolytes, and for me the LMNT was perfect because its salty flavor offset the sweetness of the Skratch and created something that was consistently appetizing.
It's interesting for me to do this breakdown, because even though this was a high(er) carb and higher calorie approach than I had ever used before, I'm still a ways off someone like David Roche who has talked about consuming 500 calories an hour with 120-140g of carbs for his record setting effort in Leadville. I have no desire to be eating that much and I don't think my stomach could handle it. The benefit for me of remaining low-carb and practicing diet periodization is that even when I am eating plenty of carbohydrates and calories, my body can still fall back on its natural fat burning capacity to fill the gaps between eating better than someone totally reliant on carbs. After all, on my recovery days with low mileage and low intensity, I'm still eating less than 20g of carbs a day and focusing more on fats and protein.
As with everything in ultra running, my approach to fueling is still evolving and I am sure that I will write another post in a year or two about something new that I am trying, but for now I am incredibly satisfied with how my last few races have gone from an energy standpoint. I've got a 50 miler and a 100k left for the year and I am planning on continuing the Mogollon strategy for those. But come 2025 I've got three (maybe four) 200s on the docket and there will be some modifications made for those longer races. But what I can say for certain, is that Skratch Super High Carb is going to be a mainstay of my strategy for the long haul. I'm not sponsored or partnered with them in any way, so this is just me being incredibly enthusiastic about a product that has changed the game for me. If you have ever hated eating during a race, I'd strongly suggest giving it a try, it really has improved my races immensely.
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