Do I Need a Sports Nutritionist for Ultra-Racing?

If you’re training for an ultra-endurance event, you’ve probably already figured out how to ride, run or adventure race for a very long time.

You know how to train, how to put the miles in – but do you know how to fuel them?

Ultra-racing asks a lot more of your nutrition than simply eating a healthy diet and taking a few gels along for the ride.

When you’re racing for 10, 20, 30 hours – or several days – nutrition has to become part of your overall performance strategy.

And that’s where an experienced sports nutritionist can help.

You’re already eating well. So why isn’t it working?

This is something I hear a lot from ultra-endurance athletes.

You’re eating good food, getting enough protein and making sensible choices.

Usually, you’re training consistently.

You likely have a coach.

And yet, somewhere during a long event or a big training block, things start to unravel.

Maybe you run out of energy after a certain number of hours.

Your stomach can stop cooperating, leaving you struggling to take on carbohydrate.

Maybe you’re drinking plenty but still feeling dreadful and recovering poorly between big training sessions.

Or perhaps you’re trying to lose a little body fat while also training for an event that demands a huge amount from your body.

These aren’t necessarily signs that your everyday diet is poor.

They may simply mean that your nutrition, fuel and hydration strategy hasn’t been aligned with the demands of ultra-racing yet.

Ultra-racing is different

The nutritional demands of an ultra are not the same as those of a normal training day.

You’re asking your body to produce energy for hours on end, often while dealing with heat, cold, altitude, sleep deprivation, changing terrain and the practical limitations of eating and drinking on the move.

You also have to ingest, digest and absorb food while exercising.

That matters – your gut is working too, and what looks perfectly manageable on paper can become very different several hours into an event.

The aim isn’t to match every calorie you burn with a calorie you eat.

That’s neither realistic nor necessary.

The aim is to develop a nutrition, fuelling and hydration strategy that supports performance, while being practical, tolerable and sustainable for the duration of your event.

And that takes some experimentation and planning.

So, when should an ultra-competitor see a sports nutritionist?

You don’t need to be struggling or just posted a ‘did not finish’ to benefit from sports nutrition support.

In fact, I’d much rather work with you well before the race than try to solve a problem when you’re already standing on the start line or on the side of a road doubled over with nausea.

But there are some pretty obvious signs that it might be time to get some help.

You fade badly during long training sessions

If you’re consistently strong for the first few hours and then fall off a cliff, nutrition may be part of the picture.

It could be that you’re simply not taking on enough carbohydrate.

Or you may be eating too much, too little, too late or in a form that doesn’t work well for you.

The answer isn’t always “eat more”.

It’s about understanding what you need and when you need it.

Your gut gives up before your legs do

Bloating.

Nausea.

Reflux.

Cramping.

An inability to eat.

Needing to stop because your stomach is telling you that enough is enough.

Gut problems are common in ultra-endurance events, but they shouldn’t simply be accepted as part of the sport.

Your race nutrition needs to work with your gut, not against it.

And sometimes your gut needs training too.

You’re worried about how much carbohydrate you should be taking on

There’s a lot of advice around carbohydrate intake, and the numbers can quickly become confusing.

How many grams per hour?

What should I take in before the start?

Should I use gels, drinks, real food or a combination?

What about a 12-hour race compared with a 48-hour event?

There isn’t one magic number that works for every ultra-athlete.

Your body, event, intensity, duration, experience and gut tolerance all matter.

You’re getting hydration wrong

Perhaps you only drink when you’re thirsty but you’re carrying huge amounts of fluid because you’re worried about dehydration.

Maybe you’re constantly worried about electrolytes.

Or perhaps you have no idea how much you actually need.

Hydration is another part of your race strategy that needs to be practical.

You need enough to support performance and health without turning your race into an exercise in drinking.

You’re struggling to recover from the training load

Ultra training can mean long sessions, back-to-back sessions and a lot of time spent exercising.

If you’re consistently tired, hungry, flat or sore, nutrition may be limiting your ability to recover and adapt to the training you’re doing.

Recovery nutrition isn’t just about what you eat immediately after a ride or run.

It’s about what you eat across the whole day and how that supports the next session.

You’re trying to change your body composition while training for an ultra

This one needs some careful thinking.

Wanting to lose body fat while preparing for an ultra is understandable.

But aggressive restriction while increasing training load can leave you under-fuelled, compromise recovery and make the training you’re doing less effective.

There is a time and a way to work on body composition.

It shouldn’t come at the expense of preparing your body for the event you’ve committed to.

What will a sports nutritionist actually do for you?

I’m not going to hand you a generic meal plan and tell you to eat chicken, rice and broccoli.

Your nutrition needs to fit you and the event you’re preparing for.

I want to understand your training, your event, and your performance goals.

We’ll talk about what you currently eat and drink, what you’ve tried before, and what your gut tolerates.

How you sleep and recover.

And, importantly, what happens when things don’t go according to plan.

From there, we can build the nutritional systems around your racing.

That might include your everyday nutrition, carbohydrate intake, pre-race fuelling, food and fluid during the event, hydration and electrolytes, recovery, and what to do when Plan A goes out the window.

Because in ultra-racing, it will.

You also need to practise your nutrition

One of the biggest mistakes I see is leaving race nutrition until race day.

Your nutrition strategy needs to be tested in training.

You need to know what you can eat at hour one, hour six and hour twelve.

You need to know what happens when it’s hot, when you’re tired and when you can’t face another gel, sip or bite.

Your nutrition, fuel and hydration strategy is part of your ultra kit.

You wouldn’t turn up to a multi-day race having never tested your bike, shoes, lights or clothing.

Your fuelling strategy deserves the same attention.

Do you need a sports nutritionist?

If you’re preparing for your first ultra, you may want help understanding what your nutrition strategy should look like.

If you’ve already raced ultras, you may have a very different question:

Why didn’t my nutrition work when I needed it to?

Both are good reasons to get some help.

You don’t need to be an elite athlete, and you certainly don’t need to have a bad diet.

You just need to recognise that nutrition for ultra-racing is another performance skill. 

It should be planned. It should be practised. And, like every other part of your preparation, it can be improved.

If you’re putting the hours into your training, your nutrition should be helping you get the most from them.

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