50 miles (80km). 3100m ascent. Lake District, UK

Several weeks ago I headed up to the Lake District solo to take on the Montane Lakeland 50, 50mile (80km) race. This was the longest single stage race for me, so heading into the unknown is always exciting but nerve-racking. However, the beauty of this race is the 24 hour cut off, meaning that I knew I could walk and complete it if needed to, so this helped to take the pressure off. 

 I thought it may be interesting to share some thoughts, a race review and my nutrition strategy for this race. Please remember that this is what works for me and all nutrition should be personalised but it is hopefully food for thought.

Pre Race - Carbohydrate Loading

For the first time I aimed to complete a full carbohydrate load. This was to ensure that my glycogen stores were totally topped up and to help with my energy levels and delaying fatigue in the race. 

I was initially aiming for 10g carbs per kg body weight for the 48 hours pre race. I only managed 8g/kg which is at the lower end of the recommendations (Research recommends aiming for 8-12g/kg body weight). I found this pretty difficult, and I am sure if any of you have tried before then you may agree with me. Spending 7 hours driving up to the Lake District (due to every traffic jam and issue possible) really added to the difficulty of choosing suitable options which I do not think helped me reach my targets. 

Some of my top and best tolerated options: 

• Rice cakes (8g carbs per rice cake, and a low calorie option)
• Fruit juice (17g carbs per 200ml juice)
• Rice pudding (over 60g per 400g tin)
• Lucozade sport (15g carbs per 250ml)
• Bagel + jam (at least 60g carbs)

I did feel quite full and think that overall I ended up eating more than I usually would, so I need to go back to the drawing board and for next race plan my meals and snacks in more specific detail. However, I did end up having great energy levels and never felt fatigued over the whole race, so perhaps it really did help. 

What Did I Eat and Drink During The Race

My aim was to hit 60g carbs per hour. This was to be a mix of checkpoint food and pre-prepared snacks in my bag. Hydration wise; aiming for 1l fluid between checkpoints. 

What was quite interesting was that I excelled myself with checkpoint food and ended up eating more at these than planned. Due to running a little faster than anticipted and really pushing myself it was interesting to see that my food preferences changed. I found gels, chews, and sweets easier and more palatable. I tended to stay clear of bars and more solid food, so one to consider in future races depending how fast/hard I intend to run. 

Hydration:

• Water in 2x 500ml soft flasks. To finish between checkpoints.
• Electrolytes at two of the checkpoints.
• Glasses of cola at checkpoints.
• An addition of a carb based sports drink, for example Tailwind, would have been a handy extra to help reach my carbohydrate needs and if it had been any hotter then I would have needed to take more consistent electrolytes across the race. 

What worked well and top tips: 

• Planning and preparation: I wrote down exactly what I wanted to eat, a full nutrition strategy. Made the decisions in advance so I had minimal decision making to do on the course.  
• Set my nutrition plan as my background on my phone – so I could easily check what I had planned to eat at each checkpoint. This meant I walked in, picked up what food I needed, then left quickly. As someone who is terrible at making decisions – this stopped me aimlessly wondering around the checkpoint looking at all the food options!
• Splitting food options into individual zip locked bags for each leg. This helped make it easier to keep on top of my food and make it more efficient at checkpoints as well. 
• Having some back up options as I ended up using these due to change in preference later on in the race.

Overall the race was a huge success, I finished faster than I expected and came 155^th overall out of 1373 finishers and 29^th female out of 576 finishers. I am super pleased and will take all my learnings and reflections on into my next challenge. I planned and prepared well for this race and really feel this made the difference, so if you have a race in the diary and need some support then get in touch to see how I can help you and ensure you have a nutrition strategy in place.