Jump to content

What to eat for extreme endurance event


GoJo09

Recommended Posts

Hi everyone

I'm gearing up to start my Whole30 tomorrow, but have a bit of a dilemma in that, on Friday-Saturday I'll be doing a 100km non-stop hike (it's a charity thing. I think I was temporarily insane when I agreed to do it).

Anyway, my friend, who's a dietician, advised that for this kind of endurance event where the body is under constant stress, I need to be eating simple carbs and easily digestible foods ie. chocolate, and that protein would be too hard for my body to process and could give me grief (not something I want to deal with in the middle of the night, in the middle of the bush!).

So, I have my little bags of food ready to go, but they're really not appealing at all. Nuts, choc bars, muesli bars, pumpkin muffins. Not a Whole30 compliant food in there (well, the nuts are, but not in the quantities I need for 30hrs!).

Suggestions of what I could/should eat the night before, during and immediately after? Or should I just restart my Whole30 again after the event? I don't have to carry the food with me the whole time - we have support crew meeting us every 25km/7hrs, so I can have a little cooler bag with food in it. Just not sure what to do.

Thanks for any advice.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

After thinking about it further, I don't know why I've let my friend freak me out so much. I did a 50km training walk a few weeks ago and managed perfectly well with mini frittatas, nuts and other foods that would be Whole30 ok. So I'm going to ditch the food I've prepped and start again.

I'm thinking mini frittatas, sweet potato chunks, tinned tuna, carrot sticks, nuts, banana, apple ,fresh dates,. I'll Google and see what I can find in the way of DIY electrolyte drinks.

Any other suggestions let me know. I feel better now though!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

They are very common, all supermarkets here have them, though not all are compliant.

I am in Austria, but I would imagine that you can easily find them where you are.

(I lived in Australia for 18 years. My Woolworth there didn't carry any, but then again, I lived in the middle of nowhere, about as far away from Sydney as you can be without dropping off the edge of the continent :) )

PS.: When weight doesn't matter and it's warm (not minus 20 to 25 like where I currently do my hiking) I also love to take grapes. Pretty high calorie so good for energy but also lots of fluid and easier to digest than say apples.

And like everybody else I turn to hard boiled eggs for convenience protein+fat. The frittatas will be nicer, but the HB eggs can go without cooling, and if I don't need them they can go back in the fridge for another week without problems.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Falling off the continent? I'm guessing somewhere north of Broome?

I haven't seen them in any supermarkets, but admittedly haven't been looking. They do sound great though. Will call in to the deli on the way home and see if I can find sugar-free olives.

Will pack some HB eggs as well and grapes are a good idea too.

Thanks heaps!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Falling off the continent? I'm guessing somewhere north of Broome?

Good guess :-)

I exaggerated a bit. I was in Kununurra, so I guess there is still a bit of room to move away further, literally

Then again, Broome is MUCH better connected, so in a way it's closer to the real world than I was :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One home made electrolyte drink that I've made in the past was the juice of a 1 orange (fresh squeezed, unpasturized), water 500ml or so, a pinch of salt, and a scoop of glutamine. It's worked well for me during marathons and is super easy to make. I usually have 1/2 banana with the drink too.

Hope this helps and good luck!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I grabbed a 1L carton of coconut water on the weekend, so will give that a whirl. Might chuck some extra salt in there too. And I have bananas ready to pack too. Thanks for the idea (the BCAAs I have are full of artifical sweetener, so they're out).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And the importance of testing things in training has just been pointed out to me - my team mate said that too much coconut water gives her the runs! So I think I'll go with the watered down salty orange juice instead!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...