Ultra Running Nutrition & Hydration Training Run

Carb-loading, race day fueling and sweat rate testing

We had a fun and successful Nutrition and Hydration Training Run at Belair National Park. Everyone had the opportunity to practise fueling and hydration for upcoming races.

Before the run, everyone carb-loaded as they would typically and recorded the details in the Easy Diet Diary app for me to analyse.

As well as nutrition, we analysed hydration by doing sweat rate testing. This involved being weighed before the run, recording the fluid drunk and then weighing participants afterwards. To get valuable data, we ensure that clothing that would hold sweat is considered (as well as any trips to the toilet).

A perfect morning at the Belair National Park for learning about how nutrition and hydration strategies can help us perform at our peak.

I use that information to figure out how much sweat participants lost per hour and calculate how much they need to drink during the run to replace it. It’s best to do sweat rate testing in many different weather conditions because that obviously impacts race day.

The information about what participants ate is put into a report and compared to sports nutrition guidelines so they can see how they went and get feedback on what they can do to improve.

Today we had four people, which was a good number because we got to have some good chats, take our time, and get to know each other, which was nice.

I would guess only 10% of people get their nutrition right, and less than 5% consider their sweat rate. Compared to the hundreds of hours we spend on the trails training for a race, spending a bit more time on what we eat and drink gives a considerable return on investment when you get to race day.

People often consider it as just relevant to elite athletes, but that’s not true. We had a diverse group today, and everyone will benefit from what they have learnt. Not just for their next race, but for future races. The sooner we learn about correct nutrition and hydration, the more races we can turn that knowledge into better performance.

If you’re interested in being part of future events like this please get in touch :)