Concept2 Forum

My son is aiming to double the challenge he completed with zoomerg last year where he rowed 6km every 4 hours for 24 hours and up it to 12km every 4 hours. He’s doing it for charity with a team from school but the other rowers are just rowing a single marathon.

He’s trying to work out what and when to eat. Any advice?!

When I did 100,000 out of the 300,000 in 24 hours the food of choice was Kellogg's Crunchy Nut Cornflakes. That was a treat at 03:00 in the wee small hours.

My go to food for such efforts are rice cakes - plain or with yoghurt topping - and Jaffa cakes. A couple of each every hour keeps me comfortable. Then add a banana every 3 or 4 hours.
LOTS of water. I’m not a big water drinker while exercising, for some reason I don’t feel thirsty, but I then suffer the effects of dehydration. In my last 24hr challenge I forced myself to drink 500ml every hour, did not urinate for over six hours and then it was dark orange (bad).

Lots of sweet easily digestible foods during rows. I find banana, jelly beans, jelly babies and marshmallows are great choices. I find chocolate dried out my mouth, but it might work for him.

Energy gels are also really useful but it's important to know which ones work for you, as some will give you stomach ache (SIS don't work for me, but High5 and Tailwind are great).

I swear by 50/50 diluted fruit juice with a big pinch of salt and spoonful of sugar. The sugar is helpful as glucose is absorbed quicker than fructose. For the fruit juice, it's whatever is preferred, Apple & Mango is my favourite. It's important to also have lots of plain water, and protein shakes too. Protein is an under estimated requirement especially for the longer rows.

Between rows he'll need to be gorging on pasta, bread, smoothies and anything else that is quickly digested. He might lose his appetite, so pick things like fruit, and nuts that can be more palatable. I ate quite a lot of cashews as they give you a lot of what is needed and they don't dry your mouth out.

Thank you, these replies are really helpful and make good sense.

I've never done big distances on the erg, but I do know from personal experience that after long hours on a bike (say, more than five) I have no interest in complicated or strong tastes. Something basic, bland-tasting, but energy dense (so I don't have to eat or drink a lot of it) is best. As was mentioned above, something that agrees with your stomach is important. Food (be it "industrial" stuff like energy bars, drinks or gel, or natural DIY stuff like PB&J sandwiches) that work fine for a 50 mile ride might not sit as well near the end of a century ride.

Best of luck to the OP's son.

Im up for a marathon soon(walking) and this is an interesting thread. i have the added side effect of irritable bowel so i have to be careful as to what i eat to avoid side effects and trust me the side effects of one of my episodes is not a site anyone wants to see. I had an unfortunate session where i just barely made it home in time while out walking and i say i made it home but didnt make it. so i really have to manage what i eat and drink during the day. so it will be pretty bland stuff for me and no excess of sugars in particular. in fact i will probably do it with no eating and drinking only water.