Food. Get this one right.
There’s nothing worse than having to force down food you can’t stomach. There is absolutely no need to suffer. I strongly recommend testing every bit of food you are taking before you leave home.
The rules
Direct from the rulebook: Each entrant must provide his/her own food from April 12th evening to April 20th breakfast included. He/she must select the type of food best suited to his/her personal needs, health, weather conditions, weight and backpack conditions.
Between April 14th and 19th, during timed stages, each competitor must have 12 000 k/calories, that is to say a minimum of 2,000 k/calories per day, otherwise he/she will be penalised (see ART. 27 and 28). Any food out of its original packaging must be equipped, legibly, of the nutrition label shown on the product concerned. Any food out its original packaging must be equipped, legibly, of the nutrition label shown on the product concerned. The first 4 meals will not be subject to inspection.
In summary, from 2024 onwards, before the race starts you have to be self sufficient, but it’s up to you how much food you have. Seeing as you will have a large bag (that only gets taken away on the administration day), there’s no reason you can’t add in a few luxuries here. No need for hard routine. Once the race starts, it’s a minimum of 2000 k/calories a day. I probably averaged 2500 k/calories a day. It’s not an exact science, but generally the more calories, the more weight. It’s a trade off. What you take is entirely up to you.
Main meals
I went to town on testing. I went through every freeze dried brand I could find and bought every option I thought I might like. Most brands you can get from Base Camp Foods, but shop around. I tried one every day for the few months running up to the event, documenting my preferred options in a spread sheet. LYO and Tactical Foodpack were the winners. Expedition Foods is the most well known, but apart from the odd one wasn’t great.
During testing I struggled with the breakfast options. The porridge was massively high in calories but sat quite heavy. I instead opted for Fuel Granola and added some powdered milk to the bag ready to just add water.
Packing
My original plan was to leave the freeze dried food in its original foil wrappers for ease. This fell over when I realised I couldn’t fit it all in my bag. I went with the decanting option. Buy simple (but quality) freezer bags, and decant the food into them. Don’t forget to write on them what is in there as a lot of the freeze dried stuff looks the same. Top tip, write on the bags before you put the food in them or it’s a nightmare! You will also need a spread sheet that shows the name, weight and k/calories of the food in case you are spot checked as you will no longer have this on the packets. I cut these out by day and slipped them into each day’s bag (to be clear, not into each bag of food!). Some people vacuum packed their food to save a bit of weight/space. I didn’t bother. This is a purely personal choice. Just removing the foil wrappers saved about 500g of weight alone. I then bought a larger size of freezer bag and packaged up each stage’s food, snacks, wash kit etc together. I did it by stage rather than day. This was an administration godsend when in the field. I strongly recommend it.
Snacks
Snacks are a fundamental part of your food stash. You can’t rely on main meals alone. Easily half of all my calories each day were from snacks to eat on the go. Again, I tested these, but definitely not enough. I decided I was going to take a range of nut type bars to keep it interesting, and mix it up with some luxuries for the long day.
Bars:
Nature Valley Crunchy Bar Oats and Honey - On a rainy 50km race in the UK these were fine. In 50 degrees these were like eating sawdust. They felt like they were sucking every bit of moisture out of you. Avoid.
Kind Fruit and Nut Bar - Just about ok, but became so sticky in the heat that there were nigh on impossible to get out of the wrapper. Avoid.
Eat Natural - A decent range of bars. I’d take these again.
Clif Bars (range of flavours) - Grim. I gave all mine away after day 1.
Nakd Raw Fruit Bars - The stand out winner. I’d have taken a load more of these. Really easy to eat and digest in the heat.
Luxuries:
Hula Hoops - I was really looking forwards to these on the long day, but gave them away to a friend of mine who had the shits to try and get some food into him.
Soreen Malt Loaf - A fantastic treat to have. Not a great weight to calorie ratio, but worth it.
Tea bags - Not a luxury as such, but it was great to brew up a cup of tea each morning and during the night stops on the long stage. At only 1g each, definitely worth it.
Recovery
Recovery for me focused on two things, protein and electrolytes. While at the MDS Expo I was sweat tested by Precision Hydration and it showed I was quite a heavy sweater. I therefore needed to get a decent amount of electrolytes back into my body after each day. I went with the PH 1500. One at the start of the day and one as soon as I got back in. Some people had electrolytes on the way round, I couldn’t stomach this so was just on the water and salt tablets that you are issued.
The other recovery powder I took as soon as I got back in off the course was Tailwind Nutrition. I went with their Recovery Mix powder in a range of flavours. I honestly couldn’t tell you if either of these had an effect, but on the balance of probabilities i’m going with a yes.
Water
Water is allocated to you at various points, mainly the checkpoints and the finish line. It is down to you to manage your water supply as you see fit. You have to decide on your split between drinking, cooking and washing. I easily got through mine and had to take a penalty for extra water on one of the days. As soon as I got back into camp I made sure that both my water bottles were full and didn’t touch them until the start of the race the next day as you do not get your next allocation until CP 1.
From the rulebook: Water is typically distributed as follows.
Stages 1, 2 and 3:
1.5 or 3 liters at check points 1, 2 (and 3 if check point 3)
6.5 liters at arrival post.
Stage 4 (non-stop):
1.5 or 3 liters at check points 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7
5 liters at arrival post,
6.5 liters at the bivouac (Day 2).
Stage 5 (Marathon known as « Solidarity » stage):
1.5 or 3 liters at check points 1, 2 and 3
6.5 liters at arrival post.
At the end of the stage, each competitor is given 6.5 liters of water.
Be aware that the next water supply will be on the first CP of the next day's stage.
Cooking
I took a small lightweight cooker and bought Esbit blocks. I bought these from the MDS shop on their website and collected them out there as you are not allowed to take them on the plane. I did use my stove, especially for cups of tea, but in all honesty could have survived without it. You’ll soon notice the old hands collecting dried bushes and stones to make fires as soon as they get into camp to save themselves the weight of the stove and blocks. I’d not bother taking one if I did it again, but probably would still take a box of Esbits for ease. On some days it was hot enough to cook your food just by laying the bag out in the sun.
