Fuel Your Long Run Without Gut Issues
Trail Notes | Fuelling & Race Strategy
Fuel Your Long Run
without the gut issues.
On long efforts, your stomach becomes one of the most important parts of your performance. You can have the fitness and the mindset, but if your gut goes, everything gets harder.
The fix is to practise, not to white-knuckle it on race day.
Train your gut
Your gut adapts like any other system. Use long runs and race-specific sessions to test how much fuel and fluid you can tolerate, which products sit well, whether you prefer sweet or savoury, and how you respond when you are tired and hours in.
How much per hour
For sessions over 60 minutes, start around 30 to 60 grams of carbohydrate per hour. For longer races, some runners build toward 90 grams an hour, but only with practice and usually with multiple carbohydrate sources.
Gels, chews, bars, banana, dates, rice cakes and small sandwiches all work.
The best option is the one you tolerate and will actually use, not the one that looks best on paper.
Do not overload at aid stations
Aid stations are where many runners come undone. A gel, then a plate of food, then a cup of Coke, all at once, can overwhelm a stomach that is already working hard. If you have missed fuel, ease back in. Small amounts often beat forcing a large amount into a stressed gut.
Troubleshooting mid-race
When problems show up several hours in, they are often not the last thing you ate, but the hours before: missed sodium, too much plain water, under-fuelling early, or too many sweet foods.
If your stomach turns, ask
- Have I had enough sodium?
- Have I had too much plain water?
- Have I missed calories?
- Do I need savoury food, or a short walk to let things settle?
Losing twenty minutes to reset can save the whole race.
Caffeine is a tool
Caffeine does not give you energy like calories do. It changes how you feel, lifting alertness and dulling perceived effort.
Her Trails coaching cue
Save caffeine for the back end when your mind tires, and always practise it before race day. Race day is not the day to test anything new.
practise the plan, trust the gut
Written by the Her Trails coaching team
Trail Notes are evidence-informed coaching journals written for women who train, race and run on trails. Made to be absorbed in ten minutes and remembered for a season.
Go deeper inside Her Trails
Inside Base Camp, Dial It In: Hydration and Fuelling for Endurance and Know Your Macros explore how to put these principles into practice.
