Summary

Are we really runners if we don't talk about either barf or poo? Join me as I apply my ultimate nerd hack to the wonderfully weird world of ultra-marathon fueling. As I train for my very first 50K, I share my sticky history with sports nutrition.

What starts as casual trial and error quickly spirals into full nerd mode, complete with a meticulously organized spreadsheet ranking gels by flavor, texture, and how likely they are to make my stomach file a formal complaint. Spoiler: the winners were not what I expected, and some fan favorites did not make the cut.

Along the way, I share hard-earned lessons about why “I’ll figure it out later” is not a valid fueling strategy when you’re hours into a run. With a few cautionary tales and plenty of laughs, this episode is a friendly nudge to fellow newbies to experiment, plan ahead, and find the fuel that actually works for them. Because when it comes to ultras, your legs may carry you forward, but your nutrition decides whether you finish smiling…or swearing.

Chapters

1. 00:16 - Embarking on a New Challenge
2. 02:10 - Exploring Sports Nutrition
3. 03:13 - Finding the Right Fuel: My Experience with Energy Gels
4. 05:12 - Hydration Strategies for Racing
5. 07:46 - Getting Into the Thick of Ultra Training

How I Procrastinate

1. Sleep with Rock Stars, the Gen X Sleep Podcast
2. Country Fried Rock, Podcast Archives from 2009-2020
3. Music Playlists
4. Support This Podcast
5. Dive Bar Music Club, the Low Key, High Taste Happy Hour for Music Nerds

Recommended If You Like

ultra running, endurance training, sports nutrition, race day tips, hydration strategies, energy gels for runners, best running gels, fueling for endurance events, running in your 50s, half marathon training, marathon running tips, gels vs. liquid nutrition, training for a 50k, running gear advice, hydration packs for running, ultra marathon preparation, nutrition for long runs, running fuel preferences, best flavors of energy gels, common running mistakes, Gu, Maurten, Honeystinger, honey stinger, maple syrup, SIS, science in sport

Automated Transcript

Speaker A

00:00:02.640 - 00:07:53.190

Hey, y', all, this is Mama Runs an Ultra.

I'm a runner on the downhill side of my 50s who decided that I would run my first 50ish K. Now, I've run a whole bunch of half marathons over the last several years, but I've never run more than 16 miles. And as I dive into training, I spend a lot of time asking myself, what the hell am I thinking?

So, a few episodes ago, I was telling y' all about my first half marathon, the one that I don't even remember running other than I burst into tears at the finish line and I had the police escort court because I was the last person. Yeah. Okay.

So in the years since then, I have started doing a little bit more study of the craft and learning what you ought to be doing before you get out there for endurance events. And especially in those early days, a lot of it was that I just plain didn't even know that I didn't know.

So now that I have a little bit of information, I kind of have to laugh at the route that I decided to take now. Disclaimer. I am not a medical professional in any way, and I am absolutely not a registered dietitian.

And if you have needs surrounding fueling and your sport, see a professional. This is a comedy podcast. Anyway, the first time I tried to take a gel was in the middle of a race, and that is not a good idea.

First of all, I was hot and sweaty and I couldn't get the package open properly. And by the time I did, I was like, what is this horrible thing? It was like caramel something.

And that's when I realized that if I was going to be using any kind of sports nutrition during races, I was going to have to practice with it so that I did not gag or vomit in the middle of the race due to it. So I did what any logical person with an $80 credit at one of those sports nutrition websites would do. I ordered one of every single thing. Yes.

About 50 different gels, different flavors, different brands, and then I made a spreadsheet. Because that's what you do, right? Yeah. Well, that's what I did.

So I made a whole spreadsheet of them by brand, by flavor, and I ranked them based on consistency and sweetness and aftertaste and how they sat in my stomach and all kinds of things. And. And frankly, I was completely surprised by what I ended up liking. But hold on, let's back up. I'll tell you where I started.

I like, in real life, I like, like, fruity, citrusy, Flavors I like like grapefruit and mandarin orange. And I'm a massive fan of like coffee and things like that.

So I at first thought that what I was going to like was going to be all the fruity flavors of the different gels. And that could not be farther from the truth. I quickly discovered that cannot handle anything. Strawberry, raspberry, banana. Not at all. Not happening.

If it says fruit punch, forget it. So that was totally unexpected. And then there's the whole consistency factor.

All right, now I know that people like to hate on certain brands and it's definitely one of those your mileage may vary sort of situations. But I tried some of the newer runny, they call them gels, but it's more like a liquid.

I tried some of those, I tried some of the chunky ones if you know, you know. And I tried some of the old school ones and I actually ended up on old school goo. Now here's my special magic trick.

I store it in my deep freeze so that it actually changes the consistency so that it's actually a little even thicker when you put it when you take it. But for me, that actually works great. I just stick that blob in the side of my mouth and it just sort of works for me. And it's not as gooey.

But I thought I was going to be like hug a tree natural. And I tried all the different maple syrup and honey ones.

And I live, as I've said, I live in the hot swampy south and those are too runny and too sticky and they were hard nose for me. Absolutely do not work. Just ended up with like bee catcher stickiness down the sides of my arms. I was like, this is not gonna work for me at all.

Plus they were too sweet. I know that sounds weird for something that is sweet anyway, but huh. Like I love honey, but the honey ones. Oh, absolutely not.

Felt the same way about the maple syrup ones. No, no, no, not for me. So anyway, I ended up on like the, I think it's espresso flavor of goo. Maybe it's just coffee anyway.

And the vanilla one, which those both are my favorites. That's what I like.

I also like their mandarin orange one, which is kind of funny because every other orange flavor of any kind of gel was a hard no for me. But all the rest of them like lemonade. Noop. Can't do it. Limes. Nope. Can't do it. Watermelon. Nope. Can't do it.

Which is weird because I love all of those things in real life, but not as Far as gels go. But the one gel that absolutely got me was that super expensive one that's on the market that's kind of chunky.

If you know, you know, it is the only gel that when I took it, I immediately vomited all over the side of the road from the texture. That is the biggest, hardest no ever. I don't care if it's magic and will take five minutes off of my half marathon time.

That is not gonna happen for me.

So if for some reason you end up with the $80 credit from the online source that sells a lot of nutritional fuel, you too could be a complete running dork like me and go ahead and make a spreadsheet. Honestly, I'm kind of proud of myself for it because after a while I forgot which ones I'd tried.

Especially when it came down to like six different brands that all have, you know, watermelon, lime or something similar. Ultimately, I also discovered liquid nutrition and I absolutely have a favorite one of those.

And that has been the game changer for me of taking little sips of it throughout the race rather than a big old chug of it. And it works. So even on races where they supposedly have water indoor hydration mix available along the way, I take mine with me just in case.

But also I ran a race down in Charleston many years ago where they ran out of water on the course after the second mile and we still had many, many miles to go. So I'm never having that happen to me again.

I will always have something with me and I always run with at least a few bucks nowadays because that was the one time I didn't take anything at with me and I was completely stuck.

So when it comes to an ultra like this, I'm definitely going to be relying on some aid stations and I don't know yet what the nature of them will be, but I do know that they're extremely well organized.

It's one of the reasons I chose the race that I did because everyone talks about how great the aid stations are, but part of that for me is how to deal with the hydration that I want to have that I know will sit with my stomach and planning for that sort of thing. So I kind of have an idea at this point, but I'll have to read more of the details as we get closer to the event.

I have until summertime, so we got a while.

If you are also a newbie like I am to all of this and you have not tried figuring out what sort of fuel works for you, feel free to do my whole spreadsheet thing. It really was helpful.

And when my husband finally got into running, it was kind of funny because his personal preferences as far as gels go are completely different than mine. And it's wonderful because he never steals my gels out of the freezer. It's great. And I am not touching any of his chocolate caramel. Whatever. Bleh.

Not happening. Marital bliss right there. Endurance Running Version.

Had a couple of fun conversations with some folks in the comment section talking about running shoes for long distances before and most of y' all sounds like have experience running on trails and what I'm doing is really more of like a paved ish rail trailer. So still trying to decide about the comfort in the shoes to wear.

But if you have any feedback about nutrition, fuel hydration, whatever, along a ultra course that does have a couple of aid stations, I'm definitely seeking that sort of advice. Think I'm gonna I have a vest but I'm a borrow a vest from a friend too so like maybe I can preload a second best to swap out. I don't know.

Still figuring all that out. But I would definitely love your advice. Feel free to leave it in the comment section. YouTube is the easiest place to do that.

You can leave general comments on Apple and most of the other podcast ones as well. If you answer a specific question, I will know exactly what you're talking about, even if other readers are like what the hell, it's fine.

Anyway, thanks so much for hanging out today as we start to get into the thick of it with the training plan here as Mama runs an ultra.

Mentioned in this episode:

Dive Bar Music Club, the Low Key, High Taste Music Podcast

A rotating cast of The Regulars gather to chat about the music they're currently listening to.

Hey, y', all, this is Mama Runs an Ultra.

I'm a runner on the downhill side of my 50s who decided that I would run my first 50ish K. Now, I've run a whole bunch of half marathons over the last several years, but I've never run more than 16 miles.

And as I dive into training, I spend a lot of time asking myself, what the hell am I thinking?

So, a few episodes ago, I was telling y' all about my first half marathon, the one that I don't even remember running other than I burst into tears at the finish line and I had the police escort court because I was the last person.

Yeah.

Okay.

So in the years since then, I have started doing a little bit more study of the craft and learning what you ought to be doing before you get out there for endurance events.

And especially in those early days, a lot of it was that I just plain didn't even know that I didn't know.

So now that I have a little bit of information, I kind of have to laugh at the route that I decided to take now.

Disclaimer.

I am not a medical professional in any way, and I am absolutely not a registered dietitian.

And if you have needs surrounding fueling and your sport, see a professional.

This is a comedy podcast.

Anyway, the first time I tried to take a gel was in the middle of a race, and that is not a good idea.

First of all, I was hot and sweaty and I couldn't get the package open properly.

And by the time I did, I was like, what is this horrible thing?

It was like caramel something.

And that's when I realized that if I was going to be using any kind of sports nutrition during races, I was going to have to practice with it so that I did not gag or vomit in the middle of the race due to it.

So I did what any logical person with an $80 credit at one of those sports nutrition websites would do.

I ordered one of every single thing.

Yes.

About 50 different gels, different flavors, different brands, and then I made a spreadsheet.

Because that's what you do, right?

Yeah.

Well, that's what I did.

So I made a whole spreadsheet of them by brand, by flavor, and I ranked them based on consistency and sweetness and aftertaste and how they sat in my stomach and all kinds of things.

And.

And frankly, I was completely surprised by what I ended up liking.

But hold on, let's back up.

I'll tell you where I started.

I like, in real life, I like, like, fruity, citrusy, Flavors I like like grapefruit and mandarin orange.

And I'm a massive fan of like coffee and things like that.

So I at first thought that what I was going to like was going to be all the fruity flavors of the different gels.

And that could not be farther from the truth.

I quickly discovered that cannot handle anything.

Strawberry, raspberry, banana.

Not at all.

Not happening.

If it says fruit punch, forget it.

So that was totally unexpected.

And then there's the whole consistency factor.

All right, now I know that people like to hate on certain brands and it's definitely one of those your mileage may vary sort of situations.

But I tried some of the newer runny, they call them gels, but it's more like a liquid.

I tried some of those, I tried some of the chunky ones if you know, you know.

And I tried some of the old school ones and I actually ended up on old school goo.

Now here's my special magic trick.

I store it in my deep freeze so that it actually changes the consistency so that it's actually a little even thicker when you put it when you take it.

But for me, that actually works great.

I just stick that blob in the side of my mouth and it just sort of works for me.

And it's not as gooey.

But I thought I was going to be like hug a tree natural.

And I tried all the different maple syrup and honey ones.

And I live, as I've said, I live in the hot swampy south and those are too runny and too sticky and they were hard nose for me.

Absolutely do not work.

Just ended up with like bee catcher stickiness down the sides of my arms.

I was like, this is not gonna work for me at all.

Plus they were too sweet.

I know that sounds weird for something that is sweet anyway, but huh.

Like I love honey, but the honey ones.

Oh, absolutely not.

Felt the same way about the maple syrup ones.

No, no, no, not for me.

So anyway, I ended up on like the, I think it's espresso flavor of goo.

Maybe it's just coffee anyway.

And the vanilla one, which those both are my favorites.

That's what I like.

I also like their mandarin orange one, which is kind of funny because every other orange flavor of any kind of gel was a hard no for me.

But all the rest of them like lemonade.

Noop.

Can't do it.

Limes.

Nope.

Can't do it.

Watermelon.

Nope.

Can't do it.

Which is weird because I love all of those things in real life, but not as Far as gels go.

But the one gel that absolutely got me was that super expensive one that's on the market that's kind of chunky.

If you know, you know, it is the only gel that when I took it, I immediately vomited all over the side of the road from the texture.

That is the biggest, hardest no ever.

I don't care if it's magic and will take five minutes off of my half marathon time.

That is not gonna happen for me.

So if for some reason you end up with the $80 credit from the online source that sells a lot of nutritional fuel, you too could be a complete running dork like me and go ahead and make a spreadsheet.

Honestly, I'm kind of proud of myself for it because after a while I forgot which ones I'd tried.

Especially when it came down to like six different brands that all have, you know, watermelon, lime or something similar.

Ultimately, I also discovered liquid nutrition and I absolutely have a favorite one of those.

And that has been the game changer for me of taking little sips of it throughout the race rather than a big old chug of it.

And it works.

So even on races where they supposedly have water indoor hydration mix available along the way, I take mine with me just in case.

But also I ran a race down in Charleston many years ago where they ran out of water on the course after the second mile and we still had many, many miles to go.

So I'm never having that happen to me again.

I will always have something with me and I always run with at least a few bucks nowadays because that was the one time I didn't take anything at with me and I was completely stuck.

So when it comes to an ultra like this, I'm definitely going to be relying on some aid stations and I don't know yet what the nature of them will be, but I do know that they're extremely well organized.

It's one of the reasons I chose the race that I did because everyone talks about how great the aid stations are, but part of that for me is how to deal with the hydration that I want to have that I know will sit with my stomach and planning for that sort of thing.

So I kind of have an idea at this point, but I'll have to read more of the details as we get closer to the event.

I have until summertime, so we got a while.

If you are also a newbie like I am to all of this and you have not tried figuring out what sort of fuel works for you, feel free to do my whole spreadsheet thing.

It really was helpful.

And when my husband finally got into running, it was kind of funny because his personal preferences as far as gels go are completely different than mine.

And it's wonderful because he never steals my gels out of the freezer.

It's great.

And I am not touching any of his chocolate caramel.

Whatever.

Bleh.

Not happening.

Marital bliss right there.

Endurance Running Version.

Had a couple of fun conversations with some folks in the comment section talking about running shoes for long distances before and most of y' all sounds like have experience running on trails and what I'm doing is really more of like a paved ish rail trailer.

So still trying to decide about the comfort in the shoes to wear.

But if you have any feedback about nutrition, fuel hydration, whatever, along a ultra course that does have a couple of aid stations, I'm definitely seeking that sort of advice.

Think I'm gonna I have a vest but I'm a borrow a vest from a friend too so like maybe I can preload a second best to swap out.

I don't know.

Still figuring all that out.

But I would definitely love your advice.

Feel free to leave it in the comment section.

YouTube is the easiest place to do that.

You can leave general comments on Apple and most of the other podcast ones as well.

If you answer a specific question, I will know exactly what you're talking about, even if other readers are like what the hell, it's fine.

Anyway, thanks so much for hanging out today as we start to get into the thick of it with the training plan here as Mama runs an ultra.