 Have you ever DNF'd a race because of gastric issues? Do you ever feel sick on your long runs or ultra races? Do you ever wonder how to fuel yourself properly for these long-distance races? Well, this is the episode for you. My name's Stephen, this is FMR, and this is episode four of the Lakeland 100 training series. So, in this episode, first off, we're going to look at last week's training. As we always do, this is my third week of training for the Lakeland 100, so we're going to look at exactly what I did. Next, we're going to look at hydration and nutrition for your long runs. What do I eat? What do you eat? What do most people do? Do we eat gels? Do we eat real food? Let me know in the comments down below what you eat, everything is chaptered down below if you want to skip through, and everything is subtitled as well in case you don't want to listen to my voice. Also, do stick around to the end because we'll be talking about how Victoria and I got on in our GU36 Guernsey Ultra last weekend, and also we'll be discussing what's coming up in episode five of the Lakeland 100 training series. While you're here, please do whack that like button, it really does help out the channel. So, I'm not going to delve too deeply into last week's training. Suffice to say, we did 104 kilometers, and it was approximately a 50-50 split between runs on Zwift on the treadmill and runs outdoors. Well, one run outdoors. So, Monday I did my community group run on Zwift 10K, and then Tuesday we did the 4.2 kilometer 12% climb on the treadmill. Then on Wednesday I did my hard effort, so Wednesday was an invitation 40-minute 10K. So, I managed 39 minutes and 50 seconds. I was pretty much in zone five all the way, but I tried really hard, and it was a hard effort because it was hot on the treadmill, really hot in that shed. So, that was my hard effort for the week. Then on Thursday I did my 4.2 kilometer 500-meter climb again in the morning, and in the evening we did an event called Bag That Bad, which helps new Zwift runners get some of their achievement badges. That was another 11 kilometers in the evening. Then on Friday I did a couple of easy Zwift runs, about 8K, and that less Saturday is a travelling day because Victoria and I were going to Guernsey to run the GU 36. Come on! And the GU 36 is a 36 mile run around the coast of Guernsey, it's 57 kilometers. So, once I'd done that I'd clocked up 104 kilometers for the week, and oh, a good 2,000 or so meters of elevation gain. So, let's start talking about nutrition and hydration. How do you fuel your long runs and races? How do we stop getting those stomach problems when we run long distances? The first thing to say is that everybody is different. What works for you may not work for me and vice versa. So, I can only tell you what I know and what works for me, albeit given a modicum of experience. Now, you and I both know that race nutrition starts way before race day. You should be practicing what you're going to eat weeks in advance of the start line. You also know, and I'm teaching you to suck eggs, I know it, you should be eating a balanced healthy diet anyway, 24-7. There's no point in trying to get nutrition locked down for race day when all you're doing in the morning is eating crunching up cornflakes, and then in the afternoon you're going to Starbucks and having cookies and caramel lattes. Large caramel latte please. So, you know what a balanced diet is, macronutrients, carbohydrates, proteins and fats. But if we're going to be specific, complex, slow-release carbohydrates, the kind with more than one type of sugar molecule and healthy fats, so things like avocado, not bacon. So, it is useful to know that your body can use all the macronutrients for energy if it needs to. But what's really important to understand is that it depends how fast you're running as to what fuel source your body uses. So, the faster you run, the more carbohydrate your body will use as energy, breaking it down into glycogen to use for energy to keep your muscles working, keep you running fast. But when you go slower, when you slow down, your body can convert to burning fat as its primary source of fuel, and you have endless amounts of fat to use as fuel. By the way, if you are finding this content useful, if you're enjoying it, please do smack that like button, you know what to do, and do subscribe. If you're not already subscribed, that would be much appreciated. Thank you very much. So, what happens when you're running fast and your body starts to run out of carbohydrate to burn its fuel? Well, it converts to fat. The problem is that burning fat, metabolising fat, takes a lot longer for the body to do, which is why you bonk in a marathon. We've all been there 20 miles, you run out of glycogen, you just slow down. It's horrible, I know. So, what do we do? Well, we either learn to fuel our marathon better so that we don't run out of carbohydrate at 20 miles, or we teach our body to burn fat more efficiently. But in a 100 mile race like the Lakeland 100, I'm likely going to be running in zones 2 and 3. You might have heard zone 2 called the fat burning zone. We're more likely to be burning fat as the main source of fuel than carbohydrates. Nevertheless, the more efficient that you can get at burning fat as fuel rather than high GI sugars, the better you will feel on your 100 mile race. The number one reason for DNFs in ultra races is gastric issues, stomach problems. And that's more than likely from consuming mounds and mounds of sugar over 24, 48 hours of running. That's not to say you shouldn't be taking on some high GI simple sugars, Coke, jelly babies, gels, whatever it is that you like. Your body still needs those things, but you just want to be able to take on less of them, or should that be fewer? Running an ultra marathon really is all about experience and learning to know what your body can handle and what it can't. There are plenty of ultra runners who can survive more than 24 hours with gels or tailwind or all sorts of horrendous rubbish that they can put in their bodies, and it works for them, and it might work for you. However, for me, it's going to be sandwiches, it's going to be pizza, it's going to be soup, it's going to be pasta. These kind of things are the things that sit well in my stomach. Now, if we look at five and 10ks, you're going to have fueled well before the race has started, aren't you? You are not going to need anything to eat or drink on a five or a 10k unless the 10k is in sweltering hot conditions. You should be able to run five and 10k with no food, no gels, no nothing, no water, nothing at all. Rehydrate when you've finished, make sure you're well fueled before you start. For a half marathon, whether it's on the trail or the road, ideally, just sip water when you're thirsty, and one or two gels, if gels is your thing, or if they do happen to have coke at the aid station, it's a quick sip of coke, but you shouldn't need an awful lot for a half marathon. For a road marathon, if gels are your thing, you do need to be practicing that beforehand, so you should know how many gels sit comfortably in your body, how many gels fuel you correctly for a road marathon. If it's a trail marathon, then there should be aid stations every five to six miles. Use those, use the food there, crisps, jelly babies, those kind of things will all be at those aid stations. But if you're running more than 50k, try and work out how you can eat some normal food on your way round. The aid stations should be well stocked. Maybe in your training runs, try doing a fasted run, so get up early in the morning, just have a cup of coffee or something, and then get yourself out without any food, and get yourself out for two or three hours, and try not to eat anything at all. I have to say it's pretty horrible at first. Your first few fasted runs are awful, but when you get used to it, for me, honestly, it's the best way to run. Now let's just touch a little bit on hydration. You might have heard me say earlier, drink when you're thirsty, and that is my general rule. I'm not a big fan of this idea of measuring your sweat loss and then working out how many millilitres of water you need to drink every hour in order to remain hydrated. Drink to first. Your body has had millions of years of evolution to work out when it's thirsty, when it needs a drink, and when it needs to rehydrate. It's not too late. A lot of people will say, oh, when you realise you need to drink, that's too late. Your body's already dehydrated. It's not true. Your body will recover perfectly well, and also it's far less dangerous to be a little bit dehydrated on your run than it is to over drink. Just make sure you are well hydrated before you start running and you hydrate very well afterwards, and also eating afterwards as well. Remember that little rule about eating some protein within 45 minutes of finishing your workout. Your body is using protein to build your muscles all the time, so when it's primed to do that, it's just after you've finished exercise. So enough of all this rubbish about hydration and nutrition. What you really want to know is how Victoria got on in the GU36, the Guernsey Ultra, last weekend. Well, I'm pleased to say we got round. We finished 57 kilometres, 36 miles, all around the coastline of Guernsey. She beat her previous time by 11 minutes, so last time she did it in seven hours 57, this time she did it in seven hours 46. She was 13th lady, and we came 48th and 49th overall out of about 107 finishes, I think, something like that, 107 or so. So there we are. That was our Guernsey Ultra. The next big race we've got coming up is the UTS 50K, the Ultras Trail Snowdonia 50K. That's in a few weeks time in July. Next week on episode five of the Lakeland 100 training series, we'll be talking about poles, hydration vests, bottles, soft flasks, and bladders. So we'll see you in the next one. Subscribe if you're not already subscribed. Thank you very much. Take care. See you later. Bye-bye.