by Nancy Clark, MS, RD

"I'm training for my first Ironman Triathlon and I'm afraid I'll run out of energy. Help!"

"I'm doing a 100 mile trail run. What should I eat during the event?"

"My teammate and I will be competing in a rowing race across the Atlantic. What should we do about food for 60 days...?!"

With the growth of extreme sports and ultra-endurance events, many athletes are pushing their bodies to the limits. They train for 3 to 5 hours a day to compete for hours on end. Their goals: to test their limits and try to finish an Ironman Triathlon (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run), double century bike ride (200 miles), 100-mile mountain run, English Channel swim (28+ hours), trans-Atlantic row (50-60 days), Appalachian Trail hike (2,160 miles) or any number of other ultra-distance events. Clearly, nutrition is a critical factor in being able to finish an event of this type. These athletes put sports nutrition principles to the test! The purpose of this article is to provide some nutrition pointers for not only ultra-endurance athletes but also "ordinary exercisers" who want ultra-energy and success with sports.

Tip #1. Practice your event-eating during training. Upon starting to train for an endurance event, you should also start to create your fueling strategy. While training, you need to determine what food and fluids you prefer for fuel during exercise That is, what settles best: lemon or grape sports drink? energy bars or "real foods" (bananas, dried figs, bagels)? solid foods or liquids? By developing a list of several tried-and-true foods, you need not worry about making the wrong food choice on race day.

Also think about the "taste bud burn out" factor. That is, how many gels per hour can you endure in a triathlon? When hiking, how many days in a row will you enjoy powdered eggs for breakfast? Will you get "sugared-out" on sports drink during the century bike ride? Think variety.

Tip #2. Optimize your daily training diet. All too often, in the midst of juggling work/school, family, friends, sleep and training, endurance athletes have little time left to plan, shop for and prepare well balanced sports meals, nor do they muster the energy to choose nutritious snacks. Hungry and tired athletes commonly grab cookies, chips and other high fat comfort foods that fill the stomach but leave the muscles unfueled. You must remember: you won't be able to compete at your best unless you can fuel well to train at your best.

Your goals are to constantly be fueling-up before workouts and then re-fueling afterwards by eating carbohydrate-based meals and snacks on a regular schedule. By feeding your body evenly throughout the day (as opposed to skimping on wholesome meals by day, then overindulging in treats at night), you'll have steady energy all day, without lags.

Clearly, you need to develop an eating strategy that fits your training schedule. For example, one triathlete devised this routine: he drank 16 oz. of juice (i.e., carbs) before his morning swim, refueled afterwards with breakfast in his car while commuting to work (big bagel with peanut butter, a banana, milk in a travel mug); ate a hot dinner-type meal at lunchtime (from the cafeteria at work). At lunchtime, he also bought his afternoon snack (muffin, juice) and his evening meal (turkey sub, yogurt) which he kept in the office refrigerator. This program prevented the evening "junk eating" that would otherwise happen if no healthful food was conveniently waiting for him when he arrived home from his second workout of the day.

Tip #3. Plan rest days. Rest is an essential part of a training program. Because ultra-distance athletes commonly feel overwhelmed by their impending task, they tend to fill every possible minute with exercise. Bad idea. Rest days are essential to not only reduce the risk of injury and provide muscles with time to refuel, but rest days also allow time for the athlete to food shop (and even cook a big pot of chili-for-the-week, if so inclined).

Take heed: performance improves more with quality exercise than excessive quantity of exercise. Performance improves when you push your muscles to work longer or harder. Knowing this, one triathlete successfully competed the Hawaii Ironman by training only once a day, either hard or long, and took one rest day per week. He finished mid-pack; his competitors were flabbergasted!

Tip #4. Drink enough fluids. During training, you can tell if you are consuming enough fluids by monitoring your urine. You should be urinating frequently (every two to four hours); the urine should be clear colored and of adequate quantity. Morning urine that is dark and smelly is a bad sign - dehydration. Drink more!

During training, you can estimate your race day fluid needs by weighing yourself naked before and after an hour of race-pace exercise. For each one pound of sweat loss, you should drink at least 16 ounces of fluid. For example, if you lose 2 lbs. (32 oz.) during an hour of training in weather similar to that anticipated for race day, your target race day fluid intake should be at least 8 oz. every 15 minutes.

Tip #5. Have a defined feeding plan for the event. Not only should you know your fluid targets, but also your calorie targets. By working with a sports nutritionist or exercise physiologist, you can calculate your calorie demands per hour. You should try to match those calorie needs during the ultra- distance event. For example, a cyclist may need to consume 450 calories/hour during an extended ride. This is the equivalent of 1 quart of sports drink + 5 fig newtons, or 16 oz. apple juice (plus another 16 oz. water to satisfy fluid needs) + a banana. The goals are to prevent dehydration and hypoglycemia (low blood sugar).

Tip #6. Be flexible and open-minded. Although you should have a well defined eating and drinking program that ensures adequate carbohydrate and fluid intake, you also need to be flexible. After all, your tastes may change during 18 hours of exercise! Your initial approach to consume wholesome fruits, juices and energy bars may deteriorate into M&Ms, malted milk balls, cookies and potato chips. Listen to your body's requests during the event; hopefully you'll have the desired fuel available. Likely that fuel will be sweets, but that's OK. Sugar during exercise does a fine job of delaying fatigue.

Nancy Clark, MS, RD offers personal consultations to endurance athletes at SportsMedicine Associates (617-739-2003). Her Sports Nutrition Guidebook is filled with great tips. It is available by sending $22 to Sports Nutrition Services, 830 Boylston #205, Brookline MA 02467 or www.nancyclark.com.