"Might be an alternative for you and could help you complete the puzzle of food intake."

I would describe myself as a good eater. I'm a vegetarian and haven't eaten meat or fish for three years, but apart from that I eat everything. If you ask me about my eating habits, I say I'm uncomplicated. At least that's what I like to call myself. As an uncomplicated woman who eats what is served to her. No calorie counting, no worrying about possible weight gain, no wrinkled nose when broccoli or Brussels sprouts are served. Self-awareness and reality, you wish there was a 100% overlap. But that is not the case in most cases. So when I say I'm a good eater, I mean it while knowing that I give too much thought to my diet and that it may never be any different.

"I was looking for satisfaction, for perfection, for an ideal that I could not achieve."

When I was a teenager, I thought I was overweight. I was dissatisfied with myself and my body and was always looking for satisfaction, for perfection, for an ideal that I could not achieve. Again and again I compared myself to others and again and again my body lost in this game. I was unwell and had one foot in an eating disorder. My boyfriend at the time freed me (partially) from this haze. A person's love and the validation that comes with it does something to self-awareness. In addition, there was regular training. My body grew stronger, more toned, and more in line with my (and society's) definition of beauty. I had always played sports, now exercising became a kind of part-time job and everyday movement calmed my mind. A pizza or a larger portion of pasta was okay, but after training. I had to earn the meal, because only then would it turn into energy rather than fat. With this nonsense, I not only took away the joy of eating, I also shot my metabolism.

The long road to self-acceptance, the long road to the first gel

Why is this history important to the topic of “competition nutrition”? Because she explains why I struggled with myself for a very long time before I finally started eating during the competition. For me, the training has always been the necessary action in advance, the permission, so to speak, to be able to eat afterwards. For a long time, I wasn't motivated by running itself, but by the extra calories burned, and all of a sudden I was supposed to be eating while running and nipping the process of burning fat in the bud? That didn't want to get into my head and I didn't understand that I was fighting against myself. I trained like crazy, day after day, and it paid off at first. Naturally. At the beginning of a change, the performance increases quickly, the body reacts to the change, including weight loss. Then running becomes a habit and setting a stimulus becomes more difficult. It's about minimal increases, about discipline, about perseverance. Because competitive sport is work, because training can be dull and because it hurts.

But I pulled through. Because I wanted to get faster, because I wanted to get thinner. There were also sayings that triggered me: "You don't have that typical runner figure" or "You're too heavy for a track runner" or "With your training workload you definitely have a six-pack". I don't have a six pack, I never had one. What I do have, however, is a healthy body. It took me a hell of a long time to understand that as happiness and still there are days when I catch a dissatisfied look in my reflection and there are days when I don't use gel during my workout.

Avoid the hunger branch - a small excursion into the nutritional science

Trail running is a (strength) endurance exercise. You run for a longer period of time, and there is a certain intensity in competition. The more intense the load, the higher the energy consumption of the muscles. Glycogen stores are located in the muscles and are tapped into during physical activity. If these are exhausted, the lack of energy supply leads to physical fatigue and consequently to a decrease in performance. If that happens in competition, one speaks of the so-called "hunger rest", the lamp is off and possibly the podium is gone. Bitter. For years, my mistake in reasoning was that my body falls back on the fat stores under stress and that fat is burned automatically and always during training. True to the motto "running makes you thin". In the case of intense exertion, however, switching from fat burning to carbohydrates is essential.

Carbohydrates deliver energy faster, which the body needs for athletic performance. You can't demand top performance on the one hand and economize on energy on the other. Point. And the stubborn person can still argue and twist facts to their own advantage.

The icing on the cake for sporting success

This little digression into nutritional science is important and I have to remind myself of it again and again. That helps me every grip to gel or liquid food. It helps me through every run that would not end successfully without food. I always have the words mine Trainers in the ear: "Kimi, the more you eat in the competition, the faster you will.” A means to an end, the icing on the cake for success and a part of Competitive sport that needs to be trained just like running itself. But before that one at all the food intake during the training or even des can optimize competition, it is the search for the right products that becomes a challenge.

I've been looking for the right competition nutrition for a very long time wanted. First and foremost, it's not about a five-course menu, that is already clear. Nevertheless, the gels should not only be based on chemicals and sugar taste and a tolerable consistency is also important to me. One while I had Maurten as a partner. The gels and drink mixes carried me through the 4 trails, the UTLW and the MIUT, just to name a few races to name. All successful competitions, all runs ending on the podium. Nonetheless the gels were torture and it shakes me when just thinking about it. At some point I couldn't take them anymore. It was a mind thing Consistency, the taste, everything disgusted me. I saw the gels, i felt its content and everything in me resisted.

Skratch Labs and Spring Energy - my puzzle is complete

Since last year and thanks to the advice of the guys from Sporthunger, I have now found a combination in terms of competition catering that works for me. For one thing, I take the Spring Energy gels. My clear favorites here are "Awesome Sauce" and "Long Haul", but basically I like them all. First and foremost because they work, but also because they taste good. The Energy Gels are based on real food, eliminating the chemical taste mentioned. I like to compare the gels to fruit puree - both in terms of the natural ingredients and the consistency. But since these gels are also sweet and a bit sticky, I need liquid nutrition as well. For washing down, for energy supply and for hydration.

I've been relying on the Skratch Labs Super High Carb Mix since the summer. In this context, too, I was able to benefit from Jonas' expertise. With all the products that are now available on the sports nutrition market, I am happy to have a little support. Not just for lack of knowledge. I just don't have an overview anymore.

“[…] Do you know the Superfuel from Skratch Labs? Tastes very subtle and is not overly sweet. Maybe a good alternative for you.”

What really convinces me about Skratch Labs is the fresh taste. Maurten's drink mix was too chewy and way too sweet for me. Hardly refreshing, especially in the heat, and just stuffy. That cost me many minutes on the Zugspitz Ultratrail. I hadn't eaten anything and my body reacted accordingly with a drop in performance. If you're wondering why, read the above again.

The powders from Skratch Labs give me more energy (400 kcal, 100 g carbohydrates) per bottle (ie 0.5 L) and taste fruity and refreshing. A pleasant side effect with the OCC and a temperature of over 30 degrees Celsius. The fact that both the Spring Energy Gels and the Skratch Labs Fuels are stomach-friendly also speaks for these products, as I have a sensitive stomach and running, i.e. the shock with every step, amplifies this.

of your own happiness blacksmith

For me this combination works very well. Now it only lacks, if at all, the issues mentioned above. In November I ran the Ultratrail Cape Town. The competition distance was 55 kilometers and 2700 meters in altitude and the weather conditions were a mix of hot and windy. In other words, I demanded performance from my body under strenuous conditions. The starting signal was given, I had good legs, leading for a large part of the race. In the end I had to give up the lead anyway. Why? Because I screwed up my food. I hadn't eaten enough, the result was a drop in performance and a bruised Kimi at the finish line. Somewhere in the back of my head are those thoughts from back then. The fear of gaining weight when you're actually burning calories. The worst part is that I should know better by now. After all, for several pages I have been talking about nothing else, even giving advice about it.

I think it's a process that takes time. Despite all the insights, despite all the self-love that one has gained and despite all the knowledge about energy production, it will always take an effort to completely transform my self-critical thoughts about nutrition into satisfaction. But of course taking a step in the right direction is easier when you have the right products at hand.

 

By Kimi Schreiber ( adidas TERREX)