Monica S.

PROGRAM
Performance

TESTIMONIAL
During RONR I consumed approximately 7,000 calories. I was hungry, therefore I ate. I wanted to perform, therefore I ate. I wanted to feel strong, therefore I ate. I wanted to finish the run feeling GOOD and actually RUNNING, therefore I ate.

Over the last 6 months I’ve been practicing eating for this kind of thing, because it takes just that - so much practice. You can’t just jump into this and expect your stomach and gut to handle it. With the help of Whitney at Black Iron Nutrition we have trialed, made errors, corrected, trialed again and again and again. We collect data on what I eat and what makes me feel good and what does and doesn’t work and then we correct again.

Sometimes things work out - and on Saturday a lot of good things were happening for me. Solid food (potatoes, pickles, watermelon, chips, warm perogies and broth in the colder later hours) we’re working (sometimes it doesn’t), so I went with it! But the majority of my calories for the day were Spring Energy and Tailwind Nutrition drinks. Find what works and stick with it and that’s what I did.

And you know what didn’t happen? I didn’t throw up (only almost 😉) I didn’t bonk. I was never grumpy. I didn’t get cold - even in so much snow and many freezing river crossings.

I feel so strongly about this that I wanted to make an entire permanent place for it on here. People (women, especially) don’t fuel enough for what we ask our bodies to do day in and day out, and then we expect to perform our best too? It doesn’t work that way. And (thankfully for me 🙃) ultra running isn’t a sport that praises aesthetics. But we are rewarded with strong legs 60 miles in because we shoved mashed potatoes down at mile 50.

Moral of the story: if you aren’t having fun, eat more carbs.