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To begin nailing your race fueling, it is important to understand the mechanisms behind it so that you can cover your bases. Many runners go directly to calories as being the cause for all of their issues, but unfortunately it is more complicated than that. Fueling properly requires a delicate balance of three keys: fluids, electrolytes, and calories. If one of these gets knocked out of balance by too little or too much intake (or the wrong source), disaster can ensue.
1. Get in those calories
Calories=energy. Your body has about 1,800-2,000 calories of carbohydrates stored as glycogen in the muscles and liver (think of this as your gas tank). Once this tank is emptied, if you aren’t taking in calories from outside sources, your body is solely relying on fat and muscle for energy production. These systems can and will be utilized for energy production, but the process will be slower, leaving you to bonk, and can lead to serious health risks, such as heartbeat irregularities and rhabdomyolysis (kidney damage).
When setting up a target calorie intake for yourself, 200-300 calories…
