Eating Your Way to the Finish Line

John Appert takes a break from the Leadville Trail 100 Run to eat a turkey sandwich provided by his fiance Wendy.

Ditch the GU and bring on the turkey sandwich.

by: John Appert

My first race over 50 miles was not ending as expected.

Twelve hours before, I had started the “100Km del Passatore” in Florence, Italy, and I was now about halfway to the finish line. Unfortunately, instead of running, I was trying to explain to a Red Cross volunteer that I had been vomiting for the last six hours. After some really bad Italian on my part, and some really bad pantomime on their part, I was hooked up to an IV for about an hour before officially dropping from the race.

After the race, I took a long hard look at what went wrong. We had actually gone farther in training than I had been able to run on race day. For the next two years I continued to experiment with race nutrition as I ran more 50 milers.

In August 2008, three years after “DNFing” in Italy, I stood at the start line of my first 100 miler, the Leadville Trail 100 mile run.

I am not an elite runner. I work a 60 hour week and train when I can. Here is my take on eating your way to a hundred miles:

- Don’t rely on anything that looks like thick pond scum. GU and gels are great. I use them on long runs. However, at some point during an ultra, GU makes you want to hurl. Real food is necessary. My favorite substitute? Turkey and pepperjack cheese sandwiches with no mayo or other sauce. I usually have to slow down to a walk to eat it, but unless you are an elite runner, you probably should be walking more in the first 50 miles anyway. The bottom line is that you are probably going to be on the trail for a long time. Think more like a hiker or climber and less like a runner.

- Bring some variety. The sandwiches tasted great until about mile 30. By then, I couldn’t even look at them. At the next few aid stations, I alternated between chicken soup and potato soup, while carrying some crackers on the trail. By the end of the race I was eating pudding snack packs. To practice during training, stash your planned race day eats in the car, and snack every time you pass your vehicle.

- Sugary drinks cause problems. I find most sports drinks make me sick after several hours on the trail. Instead, I use a combo of a 12 ounce bottle of NUUN, a sports drink with only electrolytes and no sugar, a 12 ounce bottle of water, and an electrolyte tablet every few hours. This system is easy. I carry two water bottles in my waist belt and alternate from which one I drink. At the refill stations I’ll down an e-tablet.

- Be nice to your crew. Running an ultra gets pretty miserable from time to time. Make sure you don’t take it out on your support team. At Leadville, my crew stayed up for 34 hours, often shuttling stuff I needed to various stations, and then running all night long through the mountains with me. I wouldn’t have crossed the finish line without them. If all that isn’t enough to remember, they have your food and usually the car keys.

At 29 hours and 35 minutes, I crossed the finish line in Leadville with 25 minutes to spare before the cutoff for official finishers. The first thought through my mind? Let’s go get a burger!

Appert is an NF Endurance team member who enjoys ultra-running and backpack adventures. Check out his training blog, “Yetifunk,” which he named after how he smells at the end of the race. We’ll take his word for it.