There’s an increasing focus on marginal gains in running. Be that in the invention of supershoes that weight less than 100g or hydrogels that enable people to consume more than 100g an hour.
How refreshing, then, to discover that the old-school methods can still be effective. Consider Jon Albon’s nutrition strategy en route to winning the competitive, high-profile Ultra-Trail Snowdonia 50K.
The ultramarathon packs in 3,400m of elevation over seriously technical trails. It takes a lot of people more than 10 hours to complete. Albon, a Brit who now lives in Norway, finished it in 5hrs 34mins 37secs.
While there’s nothing surprising about seeing the former winner of the prestigious CCC on top of another podium, the fuelling strategy he used to get there is.
Shying away from the more expensive carb mix drinks like Maurten, SiS and others, Albon filled his soft flasks with a much more budget-friendly cocktail of water, sugar and salt. His detail Instagram post below gets into more of the detail, and it’s worth noting that, alongside this sugary solution, he ate two gels an hour and pre-fuelled on two bagels with jam.
Albon’s post is a little unclear exactly how much of the sugary solution he drank per hour, but the recipe he posted a few weeks previous couldn’t be simpler. It’s water and sugar in a 1:1 ratio (i.e 250g sugar, water), with a sachet (or sprinkling) of salt. He seems to favour filling one bottle with this and the other with water, as the sugary solution might get sickly after a while. But even in just one bottle, that’s 250g of carbs – the equivalent of about 8-10 gels, depending on manufacturer.
In terms of cost-effectiveness, too, it’s unbeatable. A 1kg bag of sugar costs just over £1, water comes out the tap at a minimal cost and salt sachets are similarly inexpensive. Per 500ml bottle, you’re looking at an outgoing of less than 30p. For reference, that’s less than a tenth of the cost of a sachet of the Maurten 320 drink.
As some commentators have noted online, Albon’s fuelling strategy doesn’t tick all the boxes. To consume more carbs, he would theoretically be better adding other carb sources like maltodextrine to the mix. Others have suggested adding a squeeze of lemon or honey for taste. But the basics of the recipe remain: water, sugar, salt.
Runners curious to try this for themselves should, of course, do so in their training runs first. It would also seem wise to carry some traditional gels with you, as per Albon.
Still, the point remains. If you can get most of the benefits of Big Carb products via a cheap, DIY recipe, surely it’s worth a try.
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