500 Cal/hr and the Leadville 100 Record

[rmcpherson]

David Roche broke the 24 year Leadville 100 record held by Matt Carpenter since 2005 on August 17, but what is fascinating is how he broke it: by consuming massive amounts of liquid calories throughout the race at up to 500 calories/hr. This is a good interview with him about his strategy and approach to training.

It'll be interesting to see if this strategy becomes more common after his win and ultra athletes continue to borrow nutritional approaches from endurance cycling athletes.

[justiner]

It's an interesting detail. I also like the "1400mg of caffeine" detail. That's about 15 cups of coffee.

[Jorts]

Roche has been a big proponent of "food doping" for awhile now.

I'm not an exercise physiologist or nutritionists and this is paraphrasing my understanding of the idea behind consuming 90+ grams of carbs/hr (i.e. 400+ cal/hr):

In ultras a fit person's HR and perceived effort is around high zone 2 touching into zone 3 (5 zone model). At this level, your energy production comes from a mix of fat and carbs - carbs being the primary limiter there. Even for someone well fat adapted (burning a relatively higher proportion of fat for the same power output), your body's glycogen stores (basically your onboard carb fuel source) will be depleted after 2 to 3 hours when performing at high zone 2. To compensate for that depletion of onboard carbs, you can take in A LOT of carbs while racing, thereby reducing the rate of depletion. This allows you to maintain that high zone 2 power output. The bonk that occurs to a lot of endurance athletes is the depletion of the body's onboard glycogen (can also bonk due to dehydration and/or electrolyte imbalance but that's separate from this discussion), whereby the body has to adapt to burning more fat which cannot produce the same power output as the optimal mix of fat and carbs.

Even crossfit, which encourages a low carb lifestyle for fat burning optimization, has athletes at the crossfit games that rely on a higher carb intake for purposes of performance during competition.

[Skimo95]

Hey Brent,

Didn’t you just set some kind of record on the CT? Congrats and what worked for your diet?

[oldschool]

I ran ultra's back in the early 2000's for 6 years. I too used only liquid calories. I was doing the "normal" diet you might say and not feeling well at all. I chose to retool my calories and how I got them during 5+ hour events. I stil use the same liqid calories today when I go on 100+ mile bicycle rides, 13er and 14er hikes, long hikes in AZ or other areas. I feel way better. I get 250-300 cal/hr from maltodextrin, I add protein powder to it, and mix what I call 3 hr bottles. Sometimes, if water is not available, I make 6 hr bottles and carry multiple bottles. I use no GU or gels. I just hit the bottle to consume a 3 hr bottle in yes...3 hrs. Too easy really. It works very well for me.

I am a huge fan of this method. I don't dip and rush with sugar hits, I stay hydrated (20-24 oz / hr) and feel strong with zero stomach distress. The days of Snickers/Clif Bars and Gatorade are way done for me.

Mike

[Gulf_Coast_Hiker]

More on David's awesome accomplishment: Not sure if anyone mentioned, but he was in a horrible bike (car) accident earlier this year. Holy s**t, what a comeback!! Check out Allie's YT video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6k6XgHeSCI

[Ryan P]

I ran ultra's back in the early 2000's for 6 years. I too used only liquid calories. I was doing the "normal" diet you might say and not feeling well at all. I chose to retool my calories and how I got them during 5+ hour events. I stil use the same liqid calories today when I go on 100+ mile bicycle rides, 13er and 14er hikes, long hikes in AZ or other areas. I feel way better. I get 250-300 cal/hr from maltodextrin, I add protein powder to it, and mix what I call 3 hr bottles. Sometimes, if water is not available, I make 6 hr bottles and carry multiple bottles. I use no GU or gels. I just hit the bottle to consume a 3 hr bottle in yes...3 hrs. Too easy really. It works very well for me.

I am a huge fan of this method. I don't dip and rush with sugar hits, I stay hydrated (20-24 oz / hr) and feel strong with zero stomach distress. The days of Snickers/Clif Bars and Gatorade are way done for me.

Mike

Doesn't your stomach eventually get hungry for solid food after several hours of this?

[Jorts]

Hey Brent,

Didn’t you just set some kind of record on the CT? Congrats and what worked for your diet?

I did, thanks. Self-supported, east to west collegiate west.

I aimed for 7500-10000 calories per day. It was a mix of dehydrated meals, trail mix, gels, drink mix, protein bars, oatmeal w/ coconut powder, honey stinger waffles, gu blocks, Swedish fish, chocolate, coke (the drink not the drug). Ran low on calories on one occasion and relied on the kindness of strangers to get me through to my next cache of food.

I was primarily in zone 1 with a little zone 2. So more fat burning proportionately. I doubt my CT diet would be as optimal for a running race under 100mi.

[oldschool]

I ran ultra's back in the early 2000's for 6 years. I too used only liquid calories. I was doing the "normal" diet you might say and not feeling well at all. I chose to retool my calories and how I got them during 5+ hour events. I stil use the same liquid calories today when I go on 100+ mile bicycle rides, 13er and 14er hikes, long hikes in AZ or other areas. I feel way better. I get 250-300 cal/hr from maltodextrin, I add protein powder to it, and mix what I call 3 hr bottles. Sometimes, if water is not available, I make 6 hr bottles and carry multiple bottles. I use no GU or gels. I just hit the bottle to consume a 3 hr bottle in yes...3 hrs. Too easy really. It works very well for me.

I am a huge fan of this method. I don't dip and rush with sugar hits, I stay hydrated (20-24 oz / hr) and feel strong with zero stomach distress. The days of Snickers/Clif Bars and Gatorade are way done for me.

Mike

Doesn't your stomach eventually get hungry for solid food after several hours of this?

No, mine doesn't at all. The mental aspect of "being hungry" (or the feeling of being hungry) vs my calorie intake being what it needs leads me away from needing or wanting anything more than easily digestible calories I'm intaking. The "easily digestible" part is what makes the difference for me.

I know and knew lots of ppl that wanted solid food, wanted to feel "full", and what worked for them worked for them. I found a different way to get my electrolytes, calories, and hydration.

Mike

[Jorts]

I ran ultra's back in the early 2000's for 6 years. I too used only liquid calories. I was doing the "normal" diet you might say and not feeling well at all. I chose to retool my calories and how I got them during 5+ hour events. I stil use the same liquid calories today when I go on 100+ mile bicycle rides, 13er and 14er hikes, long hikes in AZ or other areas. I feel way better. I get 250-300 cal/hr from maltodextrin, I add protein powder to it, and mix what I call 3 hr bottles. Sometimes, if water is not available, I make 6 hr bottles and carry multiple bottles. I use no GU or gels. I just hit the bottle to consume a 3 hr bottle in yes...3 hrs. Too easy really. It works very well for me.

I am a huge fan of this method. I don't dip and rush with sugar hits, I stay hydrated (20-24 oz / hr) and feel strong with zero stomach distress. The days of Snickers/Clif Bars and Gatorade are way done for me.

Mike

Doesn't your stomach eventually get hungry for solid food after several hours of this?

No, mine doesn't at all. The mental aspect of "being hungry" (or the feeling of being hungry) vs my calorie intake being what it needs leads me away from needing or wanting anything more than easily digestible calories I'm intaking. The "easily digestible" part is what makes the difference for me.

I know and knew lots of ppl that wanted solid food, wanted to feel "full", and what worked for them worked for them. I found a different way to get my electrolytes, calories, and hydration.

Mike

Sounds more new school.

[Gulf_Coast_Hiker]

The longer you go the more likely the hunger thing kicks in, at least for me.

[oldschool]

Doesn't your stomach eventually get hungry for solid food after several hours of this?

No, mine doesn't at all. The mental aspect of "being hungry" (or the feeling of being hungry) vs my calorie intake being what it needs leads me away from needing or wanting anything more than easily digestible calories I'm intaking. The "easily digestible" part is what makes the difference for me.

I know and knew lots of ppl that wanted solid food, wanted to feel "full", and what worked for them worked for them. I found a different way to get my electrolytes, calories, and hydration.

Mike

Sounds more new school

Well played sir!

Mike