Ultramarathon fueling combines science with personal preference. While sports products offer convenience, everyday foods like honey, pretzels, and freezer items like burritos and waffles provide budget-friendly, customizable energy sources.
By Darcie Murphy, CTS Ultrarunning Pro Coach
The sports nutrition market is overflowing with options from liquid calories, semisolid foods to solid snacks. Engineered options have their place because they are usually packaged to specific serving sizes, convenient to carry and eat, not messy, and have known nutritional quantities. However, they are not the only choice for keeping athletes going strong for hours on the trails. Below are ideas for identifying and using foods most of us have in our cupboards to keep energy strong on the trail.
Let’s start with the sweeter options, which are often the first foods athletes reach for as a source of energy during exercise. Honey is a calorie dense option and can easily be poured into refillable gel flasks. Applesauce is another sweet, natural, semi-solid food that can be put into refillable flasks or zipped plastic bags. More solid options include gummy candies, fruit snacks, and dried fruit or candied ginger (which may calm an upset stomach). These more solid foods could also be combined into a homemade trail mix using some of the salty and savory ideas below.
To avoid palate fatigue during long training sessions and races, consider rotating savory foods to balance the sweet tastes. Some options include pretzels, crackers, potato chips/veggie chips and crunchy cold cereal. Many could be combined with some of the sweet options listed above to make your own made-to-taste trail mix. Adding nuts to a trail mix provides a source of protein and fat that can help runners feel more satiated late in an ultramarathon event.
When you have enough time to prepare, replicating foods you commonly find at aid stations is a good way to test whether they could be good options on race day. This goes beyond peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Consider cheese quesadillas, cooked rice seasoned to taste (form into rice balls or stuff into zippered plastic bags to make them snack size and portable), homemade cookies, crisped rice treats, and cooked potatoes. You can also try instant mashed potatoes, which fit well into reusable flasks (pro tip: add dry potato flakes to the flask first, then add water). Note that instant potatoes typically have a lot of sodium, so it’s wise to include the milligrams of sodium into your electrolyte calculations. Gnocchi, cooked first, is another savory option that is shelf stable until prepared.
Lastly, beyond your cupboard, there may be hidden gems in the freezer. Perogies are a savory option you can find in the frozen noodle section of your grocery store. Heat them quickly in the microwave and store in a resealable bag before heading out the door. Frozen pre-made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are a quick grab and go option. For especially long outings (and/or maybe in a drop bag on race day), a vegetarian burrito packs a big punch when it comes to calories. Because it is so calorie dense, a burrito may not be an eat-all-at-once snack. Frozen waffles, or homemade waffles individually frozen after cooking and cooling, are also a quick calorie source that can be packed right into a running vest straight out of the freezer.
It’s probably wise to incorporate just one or two of these ideas at a time rather than upend all that is familiar at once. Start with foods that are especially palatable outside of training. As you experiment more, you’ll find categories and specific foods you prefer vs those that disagree with you during runs. With an open mind and a little creativity you’ll probably find you already have a variety of simple, readily available favorites in your kitchen. Often, these ‘regular’ foods can also help stretch your sports nutrition budget, allowing you to spend more on engineered products for high volume training periods or races. With a little trial-and-error, measuring for serving sizes and calorie count and then self-packaging, everyday kitchen foods can be excellent options for trail and ultramarathoners.
Growing up in Wyoming’s Tetons sparked a lifelong love of endurance sports and the outdoors. Pursuing a Health Education degree at Utah State University, Darcie began competitive road and mountain bike racing, gaining invaluable experience on the national and international stage. In 2003, she joined CTS, combining her love for endurance sports and teaching. Over time, she expanded their expertise to include trail racing, alpine skiing, snowboarding, and personal training. Continually motivated to push both mental and physical limits, Darcie is dedicated to inspiring other athletes to do the same.
“Coaching is a team sport. When the athlete and I work in tandem to create and reach goals, we are most successful. Optimized performance comes through consistency and a balanced, strong body and mind. I place a strong emphasis on helping athletes balance life’s demands in order to achieve their greatest athletic potential.”
