How to Carry Nutrition & Hydration for your next Adventure

This article is for Adventure Racers, Runners, Cyclists, Kayakers, some triathletes, multi-sporters and for anyone else getting out there for an adventure for at least a couple hours needing a place to carry food.

Running/Trekking

Backpacks/ running vests

• If you are getting into adventure racing, multisport or trail running it is SUCH a useful investment to get a quality running vest. Also comfy for mountain biking. They fit snuggly on your body to limit chafe and come in a useful variety of sizes. If you are running anything up to 12hrs generally about an 8-12L is plenty big enough. The best part? Lots of pockets at the FRONT for food! Back pockets mean having to stop and get food out or asking your team mate to reach in all meaning slowing down. The other awesome thing is they come with soft flasks – lightweight 500mL bottles that are great for sports drink, water or electrolytes and easy to fill. Most have a spot for a water bladder in the back (very useful) for extra water – up to 3L depending on the bag and bladder you choose (Tip! Only use water in your bladder and dry it out after every use otherwise it will go mouldy quickly!) Salomon and Ultimate Direction have heaps of great options! If you are just starting out – Anaconda and Rebel have fantastic bags for a fraction of the cost.

Tights & Shorts Pockets

• Tights nowadays are fashionable with pockets – well why not? Super useful for a quick snack spot. However also think about these pockets usefulness for chucking the map and compass in your pocket for a quick shoelace tie – often it can be more comfortable to keep them free and empty. Have a try on your next training run!

Bum bags

• Personally, I don’t find them as comfortable as a good running vest however they are useful for shorter sprint events where a whole pack isn’t necessary or if water is supplied on the course and you just need a few bits of nutrition. Bottom line (mind the pun) get one that fits snuggly and is comfortable on your hips or waist. If it makes your tummy sore or flops around while running – try something else. You can also get pretty snug drink bottle holders for your waist too; I haven’t tried these so cannot comment! Just make sure to avoid the drink bottle hand holders if you want your hands free for navigation, grabbing trees, scrambling or if doing a multi discipline event.

Kayaking

Always remember to have a way to waterproof your food in the kayak – nothing worse than soggy race food!

Lifejacket

• If you are choosing to invest in a lifejacket go for one that has big pockets on the front and a pocket on the back for a water bladder. Some have drinking mechanisms you can set up to be “hands free” or you can rig these up yourself. If you are borrowing one – then you may not have time to pack it with food – so perhaps you just need to keep your new back pack handy to get food out! Often in an adventure race you’ll need to keep your mandatory gear on you anyway.

On the kayak and paddle itself!

• Depending on what you’ll be doing most of the time it is safe to carry a drink bottle in the front of the kayak near your feet. Just take care not to lose it if you need to get in and out for checkpoints on an adventure race!

• If you are using your own kayak you may already have a spot to store a picnic, stash a drink bottle or have a water bladder on the bottom of the boat under your legs.

• Some bars stick well to your paddle – so for a shorter multisport event consider sticking bite sized chunks to your paddle the night before and wrap it in glad wrap for the night. For adventure races there is just no time for this pre-race prep and often your paddle is thrown in a bag somewhere. Or if you are borrowing a paddle – don’t even bother considering this!

Cycling

There are three main places to carry food and hydration for cycling – on the bike, on yourself and in bike bags. Cycling is often a good leg (if you are doing other disciplines also) to catch up on any missed nutrition or hydration such as after a swim leg of a triathlon.

On the bike

• Check out how many bottle cages you can have on your bike and have as many as you can because you never know when you will step up the distance or rides in the heat and will want them all! Most road and gravel bikes can take two or three (one underneath) and it is the benefit of having a bigger frame if you are a tall person! Hard tail mountain bikes can take one or two and usually dual suspension can only hold one. Ask your local bike store if you are unsure!

• Check out the size of your cycling bottles – they go up to 1 Litre! Which will fit in most frames (I am a shorty and I fit them in all bottle cages). Cycling tends to have a trend for little bottles because they are light. If you are sacrificing your hydration, you may be “that person” who is always asking for a water fill stop, then adding 500g to your bike will not be slower in comparison.

• What can you tape to the frame? For a short distance triathlon, multisport or adventure race you might decide you don’t need a bag on your bike and you can get away with taping a gel, or bar to the top tube of your bike so it is staring you in the face as a reminder to “Eat Me”! Use electrical tape to not damage your beautiful carbon … or use it anyway as it is easy to get off!

Cycling clothing

• Cycling Jerseys are awesome if you are not planning on wearing a back pack. They generally have 2-3 pockets and sometimes a zip for the car key or credit card! Usually there is enough room for some repair kit, nutrition and sometimes an extra bottle in the heat. Just get used to pulling food out of your back pocket, have your place for nutrition in the side pockets for easy access and keep your repair kit in the middle as hopefully you won’t need this one! A perfect spot for bananas and lollies (Tip: keep lollies in a little snack sized snap lock bag!)

• Cycling knicks, bib shorts, tri shorts or tights some but not most have mesh pockets on the sides which are super handy for extra nutrition like bars and gels. Avoid storing things that are not going to fall out or get squished like lollies and bananas.

Cycling Bags & Backpacks

• Backpacks – see up in “Running/Trekking”

• Top tube bags (also known as the “Gas Tank”) a seemingly small bag that ties on to the front or back of your top tube but can carry oh so much food! In perfect position to nibble away at your hearts content. This would be the first bag I would go for on shorter events such as the Maximum Adventure Race! Generally, I get sideways looks if I use this on my road bike due to breaking road cyclists fashion code (but for ironman length or long road races they simply are perfect!). Mountain bikers are much more forgiving and Adventure Racers will actually come over and ask where you got it from. Here is a full review from Bikepacking.com for the gear junkies out there!

• Snack pouches. These can hang between the handlebars and front of top tube on your bike. You can carry just one or both. Awesome for a hungry rider to access a handful of goodies, stash a bunch of bars, snakes, a curled-up Sammie, potatoes or a banana. They also fit drink bottles but just check how well they handle the weight – maybe use your fashionable 500mL or 750mL bottles here! There are also some purpose built that attach to the outside of some gravel and mountain bike forks.

• Handlebar bags vary in size. Kmart actually has a great little one for small adventures which would work well off road with an extra zip tie. For long events or adventures that need something more robust – my personal favourite which I have truly tried and tested on my Gravel bikepacking trip to Tassie is the Ortileb Bikepacking Accessory bag (waterproof, 3.5L, easy to unclip while riding) which either goes directly on your handlebars or goes nicely over top of a front roll bag. Awesome for bike packing or storing mandatory gear to get it off your back. Fits filled rolls, freeze dried meals – the lot!

• “Not for race” food bags Saddle bags, panniers and lightweight bike racks are all possibilities for carrying stuff on your bike – but you don’t want your race / cycling food in them as they are not easily accessible! Unless of course you don’t need it until dinner.

Got an event coming up? Logistics driving you nuts? Book in an appointment and we can nut it out together. Or check out this webinar recording: Planning Nutrition and Logistics for your next Adventure Race.

If you need help with your Race Day Nutrition plan, Training Nutrition Essentials or have other dietary requirements. Nicole, your Sports Dietitian can help you out in Brisbane, Gold Coast or Online via Telehealth.

What makes a good competition day breakfast?

You have spent months training, early mornings, exhausted evenings, missing sleep in’s and the odd social occasion because you are focussed on your goal. Whether it be your first 10k, wanting to break 3hrs for a marathon, complete an ironman, your standard Saturday netball, the season AFL final or a day hike you have had planned for months – you have worked hard. But what are you going to have for breakfast on that important day?  

So often we plan and train for months for a sporting event whilst we plan nutrition the night before! Good nutrition won’t make a weekend warrior an elite athlete. However, it will quickly make an elite athlete mediocre if not done well! What nutrition will do is make YOU (weekend warrior, average athlete, elite athlete or whoever you are!) feel like an absolute superstar on the day and perform at the absolute best you can be. Great nutrition is like a secret weapon you have above all the others – you can always mask a certain amount of pain, fatigue, those few sleep in’s and missed trainings, or that slightly slower speed if you have the best fuel to keep you going. 

Where does good nutrition start? Well on race or competition day of course it starts with a good breakfast.

Key Ingredient #1 Carbohydrate

Eating carbohydrates at breakfast is like topping up the fuel tank. Carbohydrate is the primary source of fuel for our bodies during sport. When we work at a higher intensity (race day, competition day, finals in particular) we also burn through carbs a lot faster. In fact, our muscles can only store 60-90mins of carbohydrate therefore we have to maximise that by topping it right up for the meal before. It is also why we often need to think about nutrition DURING an event too!

Key Ingredient #2 Type of carbs

This mostly depends on how you tolerate food before training. Fibre is great for day to day health however on race day it can be a bit of a problem if you are feeling those butterfly tummy nerves or have difficulty with stomach discomfort during sport. Fibre isn’t crucial for performance so on event day we can leave it out. Go for things like white bread, cornflakes, bananas, juice, sports drink or smoothies in particular if you have stomach issues or want to keep the carbs simple and easy to digest. Liquids do not sit for a long time in your stomach making them more comfortable again if you have a few butterflies.

Key Ingredient #3 How many carbs

Generally, about 1g per kg body weight eg: a 60kg person needs about 60g carbohydrate for breakfast. What does this even look like? Check out the examples below based on a 60kg athlete. If you have a bigger engine then you need more fuel! Smaller engine? Less fuel required – on paper however you still might have a good appetite! If you can eat more – comfortably then go for it! Remember this is your time to maximise the fuel within your body and make the most of that precious 60-90mins worth!

Key Ingredient #4 Add a bit of protein

Day to day protein is essential at breakfast as it to keep us full throughout the morning. It also helps with recovery if brekkie is post exercise and helps with recovery anyway even if our training was at a different time in the day. On event day we still need to feel satisfied and not hungry, it is still beneficial to have amino acids around for recovery however if we are talking the main event of the season… the carbs trump in the priority list. Plan your brekkie based on Key Ingredients 1, 2 and 3 (the right amount and type of carbohydrates) first – then include some protein. Protein is better when it is low in fat where possible to reduce the risk of stomach upset during that high intensity activity coming up or to prevent irritating those butterflies in the stomach. Include things like; low fat milk, fruit flavoured yoghurt (as it has extra carbohydrates), peanut butter or eggs.

Key Ingredient #5 Timing

Breakfast timing is important – if you have problems with your tummy then having breakfast 3-4hrs before an event helps for your food to digest before you get started. It is then important to have a small top up snack within an hour of starting such as 250mL sports drink, a banana, some lollies or a gel. Breakfast within 2hrs of the event start is fine without a top up snack and good for those who tolerate food well before an event.

This is all well and good but sleep may also be compromised in the process if your marathon starts at 7am for example. It is always a balance to get both right, but make sure nutrition is just as much of a priority as sleep. Consider for you the impact of 30mins less sleep vs having a decent pre-race breakfast and what performance different that might make.

What are some ideas that have all the ingredients?

-        3 x weetbix with a Banana, skim milk and a fruit yoghurt

-        2 x white or wholemeal bread with honey or jam with a glass of juice

-        1 medium can of creamed rice

-        A smoothie made with a banana, 200mL skim milk, honey

-        Porridge with skim milk, dried fruit and some honey or maple syrup on top

-        A large (350mL) up and go and breakfast biscuit or muesli bar

-        Baked beans on 2 x toast

-        French toast with maple syrup

-        Weetbix Slice and a glass of juice

But where does good nutrition actually start?

With your breakfast every day to fuel your training too! Imagine if you could have a race day quality breakfast every day of your life to fuel your body and brain to be the absolute best it can be. Now this one is more individual and the above factors might vary day to day. For example; you are more likely to tolerate things like fibre, fruit, healthy fats and need things like a certain amount of protein to contribute to the day to keep you fuelled for more than just sport. There are also the longer-term considerations of having foods that include lots of vitamins and minerals to ensure you have enough of things like iron to keep up with a heavy training load.

Training for Breakfast

Yes, there are some trainings where it is beneficial not to eat beforehand – but these fasted sessions are best used strategically. Just remember when “Breakfast is best”, before high intensity, skill sessions or long trainings that mimic a race or competition. The other thing we often forget is that training is not only training muscles but also training our gut. If you are the person who struggles to eat before exercise or the above suggestions have made your stomach curl just at the thought of trying to eat all that prior to race day – your gut needs training too! Starting with just a small bite of something before training morning or afternoon can help to overcome this.

““Breakfast is best” before high intensity, skill sessions or long trainings that mimic a race or competition”

Where to next?

Breakfast is where good nutrition starts – however the pre-event meal, carb loading, race plan nutrition and recovery nutrition are all very important parts of your race or competition day nutrition plans too!

Get in touch!

If you need help with your Race Day Nutrition plan, Training Nutrition Essentials or have other dietary requirements Nicole can help you out. She is an Accredited Sports Dietitian with Sports Dietitians Australia and works with athletes from many sporting codes to be the best they can be with elite level sports nutrition. From ballet dancers, to boxers to ultra-endurance runners to rugby players Nicole loves personalising nutrition to your sporting logistics! She has worked with people with medical conditions such as Irritable Bowel syndrome, Diabetes, Coeliac disease and requiring weight loss and can work with you to alter metabolism and body composition.

Book an appointment with Nicole, your Sports Dietitian today! Now based on site with the team at Physiologic.

Pocket Rocket Tigers debut at Wildfire 6hr

This blog was originally published 1 August 2019

Brought to you by Pocket Rocket #2 Nicole Walker

I had such a ball bashing through the bush, hooning round MTB tracks and just general gas bagging with my new found adventure buddie Sara Barrett at GeoQuest in June that I didn’t hesitate to sign up when she asked if I wanted to join her racing at the 6hr Wildfire Raid at Mt Joyce and Wyaralong Dam last weekend.

Introducing the Pocket Rocket Tigers

This 6hr Rogaine had three legs – kayaking, mountain biking and running. For those readers unfamiliar with Rogaining… Definition from Google: a competitive event in which participants find their way with a map and compass. My definition: turn up to an event and having no idea where you are going, how long you’ll be doing each distance for or the terrain, only that you’ll be doing “it” for about 6hrs!

One hour before race start you are given a map with some circles on it and then 59 mins to go, have to figure out how to find them in the bush. Isn’t that like orienteering you say? Well the key difference that I understand between a rogaine and orienteering is that a rogaine you can collect checkpoints in any order, and orienteering you have to collect in the order the race directors set. Or to those that ask, why can’t you just use Google Maps? The IDEA is that part of the challenge of racing a rogaine is the tactical navigational component rather than just pure speed around a pre marked course.

Note to those who want to try rogaining… Things to pack: Fold out table, fold out chairs, highlighters in a few different bold colours (yellow is crap FYI), standard writing pen, black marker pen, ruler, scissors, clear contact. Oh and of course a compass! Be prepared food, drink and gear wise for what you expect (we expected kayaking on a lake, mountain biking on mostly trails and running through scrubby scratchy bush off trail for a total of 6 hrs). Once you get your map the time is ticking to figure out what you need to do and how to do it in the most savvy way to collect the most points. Each circle is a checkpoint and each checkpoint is assigned a number. The number refers to the amount of points you’ll get for “punching in” at that checkpoint. Eg: checkpoint 91 was worth a damn sight more points then checkpoint 14…. and they are rounded down to the nearest 10 - worth 90 and 10 points respectively. The big checkpoints are generally because they are harder and will take longer to reach. In this case checkpoint 91 was a top of Mt Joyce…400m higher than the Hash House (HH) or aka race HQ.

Checkpoint 91 Mt Joyce 469m above sea level, 406m above race HQ

So what I learned is there are a few things consider when planning a route: 1. Big points are good targets provided they are not going to be too time consuming to collect and to determine this we need to take into account distance – ruler handy here, elevation – looking at contour lines and terrain (this one is still yet to be revealed until you get out there!). 2. Look at what route makes sense to get lots of checkpoints eg: if there are a few in quick succession they may add up to more than the 90 pointer and be quicker to get! 3. Paddle points don’t have elevation so may be more predictable timing. 4. Whatever plan you make, also plan to change the plan…. several times! There’s probably many more tips and perhaps I got these ones wrong but I’ll be keeping these learnings in mind for next time!

We mapped out our route with highlighters, stuck the clues for each checkpoint somewhere handy to look at and decided what food/equipment/fluid we’ll need where, had a last minute toilet stop then lined up all within the precious 59 minutes.

We had a ball! Starting out on the trek choosing an ambitious, albeit beautiful route around the headlands of the lake, practising counting corners, walking up Spurs for stunning Wyaralong Dam views and getting thrashed by speargrass and thick Lantana. For those kiwi readers and Aussies who don’t go bush often I intended on finding a photo of this awful stuff but I couldn’t find anything that did it justice so stay tuned for my next blog during which I’m sure I’ll have another exfoliating session I can take a picture of. Try to imagine walking through a crowd of people where everyone has their fingernails out ready to scratch you as best they can and then the odd child has a stick in hand which they decide to prod you with unexpectedly wherever they like and that’s about Lantana! Why would you walk through that? Well to find a checkpoint off the track we need to follow “handrails” (thanks Rob Preston’s nav lessons!) which are features in the terrain that help you know you’re on track. Such as a fence line, ridge, spur or finding a “flat spot” in the hill. Now if you decide to avoid the scratch fest it’s very easy to lose these landmarks and therefore lose your position on the map, the checkpoint and waste time “beating round the bush”. So basically you can’t go under, over or around it you just have to go through it!

We took an anti clockwise route and decided that no matter the cost we wanted to get up Mt Joyce and would not miss out on the “scenic” route. It was a steep old track but pretty easy to follow so gave the brains a bit of a breather. The views gave us a boost (as well as the bananas consumed at the top) for a steep technical jog down to find CP 22. This one was a little sneaky out and back for us but we found with no dramas and no unnecessary elevation loss or gain. At this point in the race we’d had a feel for what the MTB would be like running on some of the trails and decided to flag most of these checkpoints. Steep fire trails, technical downhills sure looked fun…but time consuming and we were racing after all!

Spectacular views up Mt Joyce on this gorgeous Queensland “winter’s” day

We got a few mountain bike check points on the way into the run course and left our bikes with the friendly TA1 volunteers / go pro photography extraordinaires. It was nice to get back there, have a mid race Sambo (what Aussie’s call sandwiches FYI) and nail a few easy bike checkpoints on the way out. The one actual MTB trail we did get onto gave us a sweet little taster of what fun the park had to offer and Sara and I vowed to get back out there for a bike sesh another day!

I have to say cutting the mountain bike a little short was attractive to me as a paddler at this stage. Having looked out over the completely glassy dam running around in temps of the mid 20’s for a couple hours, getting in that gorgeous water was too good to wait! We got to the paddle leg with 2.5 hrs to go and decided to give it a shot to sweep the paddle course. Hilariously we were so keen to get paddling we forgot to get the easiest bike checkpoint on course a little 14 pointer basically in the carpark… whoops!

Wyaralong Dam flat as a pancake

The paddle was the other highlight for sure. Absolutely flat as a pancake it’s rare to paddle on water like that in the middle of the day, especially being used to NZ winds! We took an anti clockwise route deciding it would be an easier way to drop just one or two checkpoints and still getting the high pointers if we ran short of time. Paddling without any navigational mistakes, at a modest pace for these pocket rockets, enjoying a Sunday yarn it was a rather pleasent way to spend an afternoon actually. Seeing other teams pretty regularly meant for some good banter on course too. We got nearer to the end and realised we would sweep the kayak course and get all the checkpoints meant we had to knuckle down to ensure some safety time to get back to the finish. And of course time for a selfie to wrap up the arvo!

Stoked to sweep the kayak course!

Absolutely not forgetting checkpoint 14 on the way out after getting back our land legs we were off and away to the finish line! Finished in a time of 5 hrs 49 mins and 1060 points on our belts we managed second placed female team and 7th overall! With the calibre of athletes around us Sara and I were pretty stoked with that!

That’s a wrap!

The Wildfire Raid 6hr at Mt Joyce this year was well supported with some awesome volunteers spending their Sunday help make this fun event happen and certainly the organisers did a great job making it fun yet challenging, scenic yet shitty enough to keep us toughened up and for the top teams it seems to have the goal of clearing the course kept in sight without being easily achieved. Liam and Adam seem to be the main men behind the manpower – thank you gents!

After some post race yarns, a cold lemonade and fresh Subway Sambo that was a wrap. Watch out for next edition… Pocket Rockets 2.0. Looking forward to the next A1 series adventure race in our backyard Maroochydore on the Sunny Coast in two weeks time….the 24hr Hell’s Bells!

Post race Lantana scratches made for a few interesting conversations in my work skirt on Monday… Back to work reality after another stunning adventure weekend!

What put the “Sport” in Sports Dietitian

I grew up in a small town called Palmerston North in New Zealand with plenty of Swimming, Surf Lifesaving, Football, friends, family camping and fishing holidays to keep a kid out of trouble. Surf-lifesaving was where I found my first true love in the waves and I have been boldly calling myself a “surfer” ever since.

Competing at the New Zealand National Surf Lifesaving Championships for St Clair SLSC

“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you’ve imagined.”

Going to university in Dunedin, Otago (NZ) in 2008 was where my true adventurous spirit was born. Cultivated and nurtured well by friends around me and fuelled by wanting to get off my bum and have a break from study. I remember looking out the window on many cold and dreary winter Dunedin days, choosing a hill, putting on my shoes and running out the door for hours to see if I could get to the top of it.

Otago Peninsula - picking a hill and running to the top!

In second year (and also in winter) I took up kayaking in K1 boats for fitness for my surf lifesaving in the summer months and I remember wearing almost my entire wardrobe of warm clothes to ride to and from the kayak sheds to paddle in the pitch black wintery nights. I was also introduced to some (very!) muddy and slippery mountain biking and hilly road cycles through my different circles of adventurous friends. This is probably how I have become such a lover of the mountains and hills now - the bigger the better both on the bike and running. Naturally these interests (and lack of commitment to a single sport!) led to multi-sport racing in 2010.

Peak to Peak Multisport race involving skiing, mountain biking, kayaking and running from the top of the Remarkables skifield to the top of Coronet Peak Skifield in Queenstown, New Zealand

Side step - I wanted to be a Physio and went to university with this intention, however after taking up a couple of sports nutrition papers my interests shifted to the power of nutrition in fueling human performance and maximising potential in sport and health. Physiology and the human body in health and disease or injury has always fascinated me therefore naturally after staying on the nutrition path, I continued on to being a Sports and Clinical Dietitian. This I have always used as my secret weapon in sport. I have never been the fastest, fittest, nor had the lightest gear or the most dedicated training schedule however I have the power of nutrition up my sleeve to always perform and keep up much better than I should on paper!

2012 brought my first major event Coast to Coast where I scrimped, saved, fundraised, begged, borrowed (but stopped short of stealing as the saying goes) and trained my butt off to get a car, mountain bike, kayak and other gear, pay the race entry fee and complete the 2-day event. Coming in at 9th place as a 22 year old in the Open Women category I was stoked.

Since those days I have enjoyed many smaller events mountain biking, rogaining, multisports, trail runs, three half ironman distance events and a couple of marathons. Exciting travel also got in the way of any major events but in that time I enjoyed some overseas events and cycle touring as a means of travel through Cyprus, France, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg and now Australia. I also landed an amazing job with the British Army on their base in Cyprus for 2 years, where I was also exposed to living, training and competing in some pretty extreme heat! Travelling between NZ and Cyprus I realised the uniqueness of both hot and cold environments and despite moving to yet another hot location in Queensland, Australia I cannot say which environment I favour most for adventure!

Competing in Cyprus at “Olympus Man” the half ironman with a twist - from Sea to Summit (Mt Olympus at 2000m).

Reaching the top of Mt Ventoux, a famous road cycling climb in the middle of a 5 day cycle tour around the south of France with this awesome friend of mine

In 2018 I moved to the big brother country (to many kiwi’s like me) of Queensland, Australia. It was the surf and the weather that brought me here, especially after spending 4 months cycling and surfing around Europe earlier that year. But it has been the Hinterland and diversity of Australia that has kept me here, exploring every weekend and even some weekdays before or nights after work.

2019 brought with it new goals and challenges getting into Adventure Racing. It was also the year I established Ascent Sports Nutrition. These two ventures are where my need for a blog started. I hope to share with you a mash of my sport, local and overseas adventures and sports nutrition insights.

Enjoy!

Hiking Mt Barney - tallest South East Queensland peak