I’m doing Leadville this year and based on a recent podcast, will use a century plan. I typically use sports drinks over solid food. I’m reading and hearing that because Leadville is such a long day, I should include solid food in my fueling plan. This isn’t something I’ve ever really done before and will require experimentation and practice on my end. How do I adjust my plan for the weeks when I add long days in the saddle to figure out what works for me? What should I consider modifying if I’m putting in some 6 hour + days?
You could continue to use sports drinks - if your body tolerates them for the duration of a race like Leadville.
One thing I’ve found is that it’s actually quite difficult to practice fueling for a race like Leadville - other than doing long races that are similar. Reason is that at a pace that’s less than race pace, it’s easier to stomach your nutrition.
I’ve never had any nutrition problems during training. But on pretty much every long race I’ve done, my stomach starts to pack it in at about the 5 hour point.
This year, I’m planning to mix solid food with gels, and just water in my bottle + camelback. And have prep 2 races where I’ll test this approach.
For you, might make sense to keep with your sports drink approach, and augment that with some solid food you like. Then test out that strategy in a few races before if possible.
Long days on the bike balancing between complex and simple fuel intake. I’ve done 4-5 hour marathon XC races off just Carborocket’s 333 half evil with no issues whatsoever. 2-3 hour road races I’ll start off with some honey stinger waffles and finish with carborocket.
Everyone is different though. Start experimenting.
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