This past weekend I learned a hard lesson: Running is not just about running. I suppose I made a smart decision to try out some new nutrition before a race in a month’s time. The run ended pretty badly. But, it resulted in a snazzy nutrition spreadsheet which is linked at the end of the blog.

The Back Story

Look, I’m no pro, but my one strength definitely lies in eating. And, when it comes to running, I’m normally quite good at eating every 45mins. It’s definitely a case of… “Oooh, what do I get to eat now?!” Well, on most days….

My Garmin watch is broken again. It seems that it gets the exact same problem every two years, like clock work. I’m starting to think it’s planned obsolescence. So, I’ve been running with out a watch for quite a while, timing my runs on Strava. My previous long run, I accidentally logged a 5-hour long gym session on Strava, and not a run. Argh. It was also such a good run, and route. Anyways :)

So, I embarked on my 40km long run, watch-less. The plan was to do the first 40km of the UTCT course. We started in Tamboerskloof to cut the road bit out, and onto Signal Hill we went. Because we were basically running back and forth on Signal Hill and chatting, I just lost track of time.

The first time I asked Armand how long we’ve been running, it was 90mins into the run. Dammit.

I hastily, gulped a new Maurten gel, and was waiting to feel like Eliud Kipchoge or Killian. At this point, I had finished my flask of Game, and I excitedly switched to my flask filled with Maurten 320 mix. But, with the first sip of the Maurten, my tummy did a turn. Urgh.

I never felt like Kipchoge. Not once.

In fact, I once again lost track of time and only had the second gel (or food) 2h30 into the run, at 19km. Flip!! At this point, I kind of knew how this day was going to play out, I just didn’t quite now how badly.

Without poles I would not have made it up Kloof Corner. Ha! By this point I had nearly finished my Maurten flask and I felt nauseous and just so, so bad. The thought drinking or eating anything was incomprehensible. The intensely sweet taste of Maurten did help either. To me, it tasted like sugar and syrup that’s dissolved in water.

As I started going up Platteklip, things really fell apart. I was one of those people who are strewn on the side of the trail with a look of utter despair and hopelessness. I laid there, draped over the rocks, for 40 min, trying to figure out how I’m going to make it up the mountain. Tummy cramping, feeling so sick.

Long story short, with a flask of Rehidrate, I managed to run/shuffle/walk my way to Constantia Nek. By far, one of the toughest days out. So very grateful that this did not happen on race day.

What I’ve learned since.

In the last 24hours a whole new world of running nutrition opened up. I’ve had numerous conversations with people who are interested in endurance sports and nutrition. It’s kind of a miracle that I haven’t bonked more in my life.

LESSON ONE

I learned that there are two parts to nutrition.

• The scientific part (what your body requires to function) and,

• The personal part (what you like or dislike, your taste preference etc)

Erin from Flat Rock Endurance reached out to me and explained that:

• Most people's stomachs can only handle 200 calories/ 60g of simple carbs per hour.

• You would need to train the gut to handle more.

• The 320 Maurten Mix is the 320 calories or 100g of carbohydrate, which is basically equivalent to 3 gels. Yikes!

• The goal to aim for is 200cal/hour goal.

• “But split it between gels/bars and liquids. And then add in some solids every few hours”
  

Thanks for sharing, Erin!

This article is really great and elaborates on the concept a bit more:
https://ultrarunning.com/features/nutrition-for-your-long-training-runs/.

LESSON TWO

I’m no Killian or Eliud. My body will go into a deficit. It’s okay if you can kind of maintain some calorie intake for some hours, and you might get away with it on a 3-hour, or 5-hour training run. But, since I’m planning to run for longer than 16-hours (please pray for me!) I really can’t wing it.

So, I did what any person would do, and try solve the problem using a spreadsheet!

I compared numerous drinks and foods by their calorie, salt, carbohydrate and caffeine content. It’s really interesting to see! I used to run with Tailwind, but we finished our last bag before lockdown, we just haven’t bothered to order more.


LESSON THREE

Nutrition is really expensive and I’ve been avoiding buying Tailwind, because, urgh. It just adds up, you know. But, this weekend I realised that the price you pay for bonking in a race which you have prepared for, for months… is way more than the price of buying and testing nutrition. So, there’s that.

Re Maurten, I still don’t like the taste of Maurten. It’s way way too sweet for me. Maybe the 160 Maurten mix will be better, but that ship has now sailed. Also, Maurten is exceptionally expensive.

If you’d like me to add anything, please email me: hello@heleenmills.com or send me a DM on Instagram.