There are 3 reasons you are going to get wet inside your rain jacket

1. Your rain jacket is letting water in. i.e. it’s water resistance capability isn’t suitable for your conditions or the water resistance technologies are damaged and failing.
2. There is perspiration inside the jacket.
3. There is condensation inside the jacket caused by a difference in temperature outside and inside it. As temperatures drop outside your jacket, the warm humid air you produce inside the jacket contacts the cooler surface of the jacket and changes from vapour to liquid causing beads of water to form on the inside of your jacket.

Keeping dry

1. If your jacket is failing you can give it wash using a rain jacket specific product like Nikwax tech wash and reinvigorate the water repellent coating by using a Nikwax waterproofing coating. Every time you wash your jacket, it gets dirty or your sweat in it can all effect its water resistant ability. Having the right jacket for the job is one of the first considerations we should make. To establish if your jacket is suitable for the conditions check this chart

This is the most common water resistance rating system used but not all brands use this. If you are having problems identifying the water resistance rating of a jacket try researching the fabric technology of the jacket e.g. Dryvent, Pertex, Gore-tex, H2No.

2. Perspiration. If you can run without perspiring problem solved, or you could just slow down. Both of these are inherent problems for runner so let’s just assume we are going to sweat. The aim of the game is to decrease the amount of perspiration under the rain jacket. Manage your layers, keep your perspiration down by only wearing what you need. Keep your emergency layers in your pack and ready to go rather than on you when not needed. This is particularly important in the event of emergency when loosing mobility may mean needing dry emergency gear to keep your core temperature up. Avoid wearing cotton clothes which absorb and retain liquid. Instead opt for dry wicking technical running gear. Have a look at a technical garments thickness (GSM) and its construction. Thinner, looser woven technical fabrics such as micro mesh will allow more air flow through them than a tighter, smoother tech fabric with a heap of printed transfers on it.

3. Condensation. The bad news for trail runners is condensation isn’t going anywhere. The science says when cold hits hot it’s going to happen and living in Victorian and Melbourne weather this happens a lot. The good news is it might involve buying some new gear to help manage it. Dealing with the condensation caused by increased body temperature and humidity of perspiration within the jacket can be done in a few ways. Wearing layers underneath the jacket will help put a cooler layer between the jacket and your warm skin. Most trail running specific jackets designs are not just about keeping water out, but include being breathable and letting air out. Think of how great a plastic garbage would be at keeping the rain off you. However if you start to warm up and sweat in it, you are going to be just as wet as if you weren’t wearing it because with that impressive waterproofing comes absolutely no ability for the warm vapour to escape. So check your jackets breathability rating. Breathability is normally measured in terms of how many grams (g) of water vapour can pass through a square meter (m²) of the fabric from the inside to the outside in a 24 hour period i.e. 20k or 20,000 g/m². The higher the number, the more breathable the jacket. To better understand these rating systems these articles do wonders at breaking it down https://www.evo.com/guides/outerwear-waterproof-ratings-and-breathability https://www.trekandtravel.com.au/blogs/trek-travel-events-and-blog/understanding-waterproof-breathable-membrane-ratings. The fabric technology is not the only way you can increase breathability, you can use other design features such as pit zips, opening the chest zip and sizing up to increase circulation and the ability for warm air to escape the jacket. Sizing up can allow you to wear your jacket over your pack, creating some airflow between your body and your jacket. All this will help reduce condensation. So when it comes time to buy a jacket don’t forget to take into account how hot you run and how much you sweat to help make sure you purchase the right breathable rain jacket for you.

Our tours provide lightweight, trail running specific rain jacket hire options, or speak to our friends at Bogong equipment, Backpacking Light, Paddy Pallin who have a great a range of jackets and some super helpful and wise staff who love gear talk.

If you’ve got any questions or comments about this article or topic drop a comment below or drop us a message on our contact form, info@trailbus.com.au, or on our socials. We hope to take you out, beyond and back on Victoria’s best trails soon. Safe and sweaty trails to you all.

Being prepared for the weather on Victorian trails is a must. Melbournes 4 seasons in 1 day moods are a true testament to the importance of carrying the right gear. A good trail running jacket can save your life in an emergency situation and make your trail adventures more comfortable and enjoyable. We had a look at our 4 most popular weather resistant jackets that frequent our tours and added a spreadsheet of the jacket requirements for Australia’s top endurance trail races.

Summary – Ultimate Direction Ultra 2.0 hands down value for money and features.

We love the Salomon Bonatti Pro jackets for our guides. We can purchase them oversize (XXL) with the expandable pack back hump, which goes over the top of our packs nicely and protects our electronics without stopping for too long. The Bright colour selection is another bonus knowing that it can help in finding us in emergency situations. If you are patient you can find good deals on line.

We love safe trail running in our stunning Victoria parks and forests. Prior to commencing any trail running tour we complete a series of safety checks to make sure we are best informed of the current and predicted conditions on the day. Sometimes we can makes changes to suit and sometimes we may need to reschedule a tour. Here are some simple trail check tips we do and you can too prior to hitting the trails…

1. Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) latest weather advice and forecast conditions. Temperature, wind direction, rain likelihood and weather warnings are all valuable information to help with planning. Find your closest weather station here: http://www.bom.gov.au/vic/forecasts/map7day.shtml

2. Parks Victoria website. Check the park closures page and individual park pages before heading out. Conditions can change in parks, so keep informed on the most current updates. Parks Vic have some great general safety information on their website. Check out their Safety in Nature pages https://www.parks.vic.gov.au/get-into-nature/safety-in-nature

3. For closures in state forests check: www.ffm.vic.gov.au/visiting-state-forests/forest-and-road-closures

4. Set watch zone vic emergency app for incident and emergency information including fire danger ratings in your area https://www.emergency.vic.gov.au/respond/

5. Forecasted fire ratings https://www.cfa.vic.gov.au/warnings-restrictions/total-fire-bans-and-ratings

6. Forest Fire Management planned burns for any controlled burns happening in your area. You can subscribe for sms and email updates on specific locations. https://plannedburns.ffm.vic.gov.au/

7. Victorian Mapshare database for finding closed tracks and land/park information https://mapshare.vic.gov.au/MapShareVic/index.html

8. Do I have phone coverage there? https://www.telstra.com.au/coverage-networks/our-coverage. Remember that mobile phones can make SOS only calls from any providers reception. However in the absence of any provider reception there is no ability to make an emergency call from your mobile phone.

9. (For tour operators only) Land managers stipulate different permit rules and conditions. We check each specific permit conditions for our planned tour location.

Plan for success and have the best day out in nature knowing you are prepared and informed. There are so many amazing trails out there. Go run them all.

We love crossing paths with other happy trail and track users on our trail runs. We do our best to ensure our trail interactions are always positive and safe. Keeping everyone safe and sharing the tracks and trails is what adds to the enjoyment of spending time in Victorias beautiful natural locations. 

Here’s what our risk and safety plans say about preparing for safe trail interactions:

-permitted locations

-do not interrupt the flow of traffic

-use radios to call through vehicle type and direction of travel

-give way to other users

-move to a position of safety off the track when encountering vehicles

-face towards vehicles as they pass

-signal to drivers/riders/operators that you have seen them

-if vehicles stop, inform the operator of the tour participants locations and numbers

-report to land managers unsafe vehicle use

-tour routes pre-inspected for trail users type and frequency

-lookout guide at front in higher risk vehicular locations

-guides positioned at front and rear of tour in higher risk vehicular locations

-hi vis vests for guides in higher risk vehicular locations

-contingency route planning for unsafe routes/alternative routes

These are our points of communication with customers and stakeholders so they know the risks.

Pre purchase- Website safety pages (risk register)

Post purchase – Tour info email (risk register attachment)

Tour safety brief – Verbal comms

In run comms – Radios verbal comms

Everyone has a duty of care to keep each other safe on the trails. @delwp_vic has some great information about activity specific safety controls on shared trails and tracks. For further reading check out our safety pages/risk register, or alternatively send us a message or get in contact with the area land manager. Have a read and happy trails. #trailrunning #mountainrunning #trailsafety #parksvictoria #exploreaustralia #visitvictoria @parksvic @delwp_vic 

Trail running in Victoria’s remote locations can add a heap of challenges to emergency services if you need rescuing. A method of communicating with emergency services is a great way to help ensure most timely rescue and that you make it home safely from your off grid trail runs. Here we talk through a few of the most common types of emergency services communication devices to help you find the best way to give you piece of mind and keep all your trail runs safe and enjoyable…

Satellite phones

The good

-operable by anyone in the group

-can replace batteries/charge

-immediate communication without lag (sms and calls)

-clear, concise and confirmed communication method

-ability to triage under emergency service direction

-can communicate changes of circumstances 

-can communicate with any other phone number

-can receive communications about changes that may influence you form your support persons

-satellite reception icon on phone shows the quality of connection

The bad

-ongoing subscription costs

-extra costs for calls and messages

-can be bulky

-is has no automated emergency function

-It is not locatable by your friends/family 

Advice: Good for frequent adventurers where there are groups of people. Not ideal for solo adventures where a risk of becoming unconscious exists.

Personal locator beacons (PLBs)

The good

-cheap

-small and lightweight

-easy to operate

-stand alone device (no phone integration)

-no ongoing subscription costs

The bad

-manually operated

-communicates only with emergency services 

-doesn’t provide situational emergency details to emergency services

-the operator is unable to identify if the emergency alert has been received by emergency services

Advice: Good for infrequent adventurers where there is a group. Not ideal for solo adventures where a risk of becoming unconscious exists or where a group may split or triage is required.

Satellite messengers 

The good

-small and lightweight

-can replace batteries/charge

-ability to communicate with select phone numbers

-can communicate your location to your specified contacts

-some devices are automated and notify your contacts of a missed check ins

The bad

-some features are reliant on integration with smart phones/apps

-lags in location updates

-lags in message fetching and sending 

-full premium functions can be expensive subscriptions 

Advice: Good for frequent solo adventurers.

Homing pigeons

The good

-It’s nice to have company on the trails

The bad

-Difficult to fit in pack

Summary

As a general rule all of these devices have general reliability challenges when being used in terrain that may block or obstruct the line of site between the satellites and the device. Understanding the limitations of all devices is an important part of ensuring effective emergency response. 

Consider if a combination of different devices is your best option for your adventure. Contingency plan around if your group will split can all parties communicate their location to emergency services. All emergency devices should be used on top of a basic welfare plan.

How to make a basic welfare plan

1. Tell someone where you are going. Give them your start point, finish point, planned route and your direction of travel.
2. Let them know your times. When you plan to start, when you may have reception and when you plan to finish.
3. Don’t deviate from the plan without communicating that to your contact.
4. Instruct your contact what to do if they don’t hear from you at the times you have given them. You may want them to set phone alarms so they don’t forget. 

Links

Satellite messengers store https://www.ja-gps.com.au/GPS-Units/Satellite-Communicator

Satellite phone store https://satstore.pivotel.com.au/

PLB store https://www.snowys.com.au/personal-locator-beacons

1. It is a code red fire danger day

Keep informed with parks closures at Parks Victoria website. CFA list the fire ratings for each Victorian municipality on their website. Where you have phone reception the VicEmergency app has the ability to set area watch zones and will keep you up to date with the fire ratings in your planned run areas. All the website links are listed below.

2. The weather is unsuitable for your location

Melbournes classic “4 seasons in 1 day” weather can provide trail runners with all types of challenges and risks. Knowing what the weather will be in your planned location will not only identify if it is safe and suitable trail running weather, but also help you identify what gear to take to suit the conditions, what contingency planning you may need if you take longer than thought or need to stay put in an emergency. The Bureau of Meteorology gives you the most trusted and reliable weather forecast data for your trip. Be mindful most forecasts are district forecasts which can be be large areas. For a deeper dive check out the BOMs town forecast options. You may be able to get a more specific forecast to your planned run location. The VicEmergency app also used BOM information and warnings to keep you informed about storms and weather risks for your watch zones.  

3. There is controlled burning taking place

Heading out to a trail and finding it inaccessible due to a burn can be a bummer. Part of DELWP’s ecological, conservation, public safety and cultural heritage works include holding cool season controlled burns. DELWP will generally notify 10 days prior to a burn with updates as it is ignited, patrolled and declared safe. Giving them the space to do their works is important for everyones safety. You can keep informed with planned burn activities prior to heading out to your trail run on the Forestry Fire Management Victoria Website. You can also subscribe for email and sms notifications for your planned run areas. The VicEmergency app will identify the fire locations once ignited. 

4. Track closures are in place

Ensuring public safety in parks and forests can mean closing access and infrastructure to the public. This might include roads, track, trails, bridges and walkways. Where it is identified that there is an unacceptable risk to public safety the land manager may close or restrict public access. Checking with park, reserve and forest land managers before heading out can give you the most up to date conditions and make sure your planned route is safe and accessible. Parks Victoria and DELWP list their changed conditions and closures on their website. The Victorian public access map database has an option to show closed roads and tracks in planned run locations. If you do get to a closure, for your own safety and the safety of your potential rescuers choose a new route and let your friends or family know you are changing plans. 

5. The technicality of the trail exceeds your groups experience and expectations.

If you’ve every done the Razorback track on the Cathedral Range you’ll know it isn’t for everyone. We are so lucky to have such a variety of trails and landscapes in Victoria. 

We literally have something for everyone. Do your research on your planned run location. Check the land managers website and recommendations, ask your friends if they’ve been there and hit up google. Using hiking and bushwalking forums and facebook groups may give you the information you need to understand the trail technicality and how long you may be out there. Once you are confident you’ve got a good understanding of the trails, share that information with all your crew so they can all understand and make an informed choice if it is suitable for them. 

Links

Park Victoria park closures on Code Red Days – https://www.parks.vic.gov.au/get-into-nature/safety-in-nature/changed-conditions-and-closures/code-red-park-closures

VicEmergency map website – https://www.emergency.vic.gov.au/respond/

Bureau of Meteorology district map forecasts – http://www.bom.gov.au/vic/forecasts/map.shtml

Bureau of Meteorology town map forecasts – http://www.bom.gov.au/vic/forecasts/map7day.shtml

Forestry Fire Management Victoria Website – https://plannedburns.ffm.vic.gov.au/search-results/

Parks Victoria changed conditions and closures website – https://www.parks.vic.gov.au/get-into-nature/safety-in-nature/changed-conditions-and-closures

DELWP forests, parks, roads, and trails closures website – https://www.ffm.vic.gov.au/permits-and-regulations/closures-of-parks-and-forests

Victorian Mapshare database – https://mapshare.vic.gov.au/mapsharevic/

A big shout-out to these trail running superstars for raising the questions on endurance trail running real foods on our socials Instagram & Facebook…

–shona_barrett Intel on ‘real food’ that survives being squished in a pack, is nutritious, to fuel a day on the trails without gels! Bonus for any ideas how to get a good caffeine hit 😁

–jay_l_baker I second Shona 👏 nutrition for long runs that does not include 10 gels! 😏

–Tony O’Connell Whole foods to eat while running, and foods to avoid on the trails

INTRO

Oh what a simple yet complicated subject. Urgh, ok we get it “Eat what works for you”. This is great when you know what that is. However, the journey to finding what works for you can be a long and eventful one, full of plenty of impromptu toilet breaks, bonked out legs, trauma and race day tears. Then once you think you’ve nailed it, the next exact same plan fails you. So we’ve gone on the hunt for information to help you find what works for you and options to change it up if things aren’t working for you. We’ve spoken to ultra trail endurance legends Lucy Bartholomew & Scotty Hawker, expert nutritionist Matthew Kadey and reviewed all the hardest hit google “real endurance food” pages. We’ve combined this with our knowledge of trail running and the specific challenges faced with carrying and consuming real food on the move to hopefully help you achieve endurance trail running real food fuelling success.

There’s plenty of professional recommendations around real food fuelling for endurance sports and there’s no shortage of information backed by science. We’ve mentioned some key takeaways from the front pages of Google search “real food endurance fuelling”. These sites most commonly recommended similar real food types which we have dropped into the comparison table food rating chart below.

What is real food?

DITCH THE GEL: 7 REAL FOOD ENDURANCE FUEL ALTERNATIVES “What is Real foods- EAT REAL FOOD WHILE RACING & TRAINING.“

“And by real, I don’t necessarily mean “whole” or unprocessed. Rather, traditional foods that are not marketed as an endurance specific fuel.  While many of these products may boast performance enhancing claims, they are certainly not necessary for success as a runner.  If the gels DO work for you, then by all means continue to use them. But…real foods can be equally as effective in fueling your long run.”

THE TRAIL RUNning REAL FOOD CHALLENGES

There’s standard real food for endurance sports and then we need to factor in the self supported nature of trail running, where we are limited in our real food options due to:

• size, shape and weight of contents in our packs
• food safety with heat, UV and sweat exposure
• mess, deformity and squashing of food in packs

You can extend your range of food options by using drop bags, aid stations, insulating food you carry (alfoil and insulated bags), using hard covers for your food, freezing and refrigeration. We’ve collated the table below rating what we think are the best to worst most recommended real foods for endurance sports. There is consideration to savoury and sweet options to provide taste variation and vegan options. We’ve rated the food types a total score out of 10 in categorical needs and wants for unsupported, endurance trail running. We hope you get a kick out of the very specific needs of our sport and keep in mind a few of these variables are just based on my personal preference. We’ve added Scotty Hawkers and Lucy Bartholomews go to foods even though they may only be practical using aid stations rather than carrying it on the move. We’ve included what typical foods we have at aid stations on our tours (jelly snakes, watermelon and packet chips).

THE TRAIL BUS REAL FOOD RATING CHART

The PROS

We asked the pros about their experience with real food fuelling both good and bad. Here’s what they had to say…

LUCY BARTHOLOMEW

Lucy Bartholomew. Athlete/Proudly Australian🐨 /Fresh air seeker🌬 /Adventure lover🏕 🏃‍♀️ /Sunrise chaser🌞 /Plant muncher🌱 . Team: @salomonrunning @suunto @spring_energy @lebent_ m.facebook.com/watch/?v=1253728488028601

Chris: Hi Lucy, we are doing a blog on real food fuelling. We will def be referencing your watermelon love as we also have watermelons as snacks at our tour aid stations. I was wondering if you would mind recalling a time where a particular food really didn’t work for you?

Lucy B: “Hey Chris! Sounds rad!

A good that didn’t work for me.. 🤔… i was told pickle juice would cure my tight calf muscle and i skulled a whole jar and after 200m leaving the aid station had it come out my nose and mouth . It was revolting 😂. Actual food wise i have been ok, i mean the aversion to actual gels is a real thing but everything stays down pretty well… unless it’s something I’ve made at home and thought would be wonderful in the pack out on a run and have had multiple oat based recipes get stuck half way down my throat due to lack of saliva and water haha 😆. Hope this helps!!”

SCOTTY HAWKER

ꜱᴄᴏᴛᴛʏ ʜᴀᴡᴋᴇʀ. Athlete🥈CCC 2021 🥉UTMB 2019 Trailrunner for @vibram @kailasgear @camelbak @bvsport @corosglobal @t8.run @leki.trailrunning @fractelrunning @rudyproject utmbmontblanc.com/en/live/ccc

Chris: Hi Scotty, congrats on such an amazing run at CCC. It was so enjoyable to watch you killing it. I wondered if you ate any real foods at CCC? If so did you have a favourite?

Scotty H: “Hi Chris, thanks. Yeah I had sushi rice balls and mashed potato too. My go to.”

Scotty wasn’t alone with his nutrition success as he is supported by his nutritionist girlfriend at Ibex Endurance Nutrition. If you would like to discuss Scotty’s run coaching services more info is available here: https://www.facebook.com/ScottyHawkerEnduranceTeam/

Matthew Kadey, MS, RD, http://www.matthewkadey.com, Registered Dietitian, Nutrition Consultant. Contributor to: Men’s Health, Women’s Health, Bodybuidling.com, Bicycling, Runner’s World, Vegetarian Times, Bicycling, Men’s Journal, Shape, Prevention, Gluten Free and More, Natural Health, Alive, Fit Pregnancy, Health, and Muscle and Fitness. Author of: Rocket Fuel: Power-Packed Food for Sports + Adventure (VeloPress 2016), Muffin Tin Chef (Ulysses 2012), The No-Cook, No-Bake Cookbook (Ulysses 2013) 

Chris: “Hi there Matthew, In your experience what was the worst choice you’ve made and learned from in your own sport fuelling?”

Matthew K: “Definitely, worst fueling mistake I made was to rely solely on bars, gels and chews for a very long event. Ended up with serious gut rot. Now I know to also fuel with “real” food to mix things up and help out my stomach.“

The Basics

common fuelling advice and further reading

When assessing your real foods options, sports drinks studies can help us understand the basic links between carb consumption, gastric distress and hydration needs for effective fuel absorption. This article has some great info about what to consider in your real food fuel and hydration needs based off what sports drinks can deliver. This can help you plan how much water/liquids to ingest with your planned real food carb intake to help in digestion. https://sportmedbc.com/article/sports-drinks-and-athletic-performance

“Summary

• Hydration is critical for optimal athletic performance.
• Solid research has made it evident that sports drinks enhance sports performance when used properly.
• Sports drinks comprised of a 4-8% carbohydrate concentration are most easily emptied by the stomach and absorbed in the small intestine.
• Sodium provided in sports drinks stimulates thirst and decreases urine losses.
• Sports drinks should be utilized during high intensity exercise and endurance sports.
• Tolerance and use of sports drinks will vary among individual athletes. A qualified sports dietitian can help athletes maximize the effectiveness of sports drinks.”

Give yourself options. Practice and train your body with all your real food and backup “wheels fall off” options in as many variable conditions as possible. There are so many variables to success in fuelling endurance sports, that the “do what works for you” theme, can make it hard to get a straight answer. If you just want a nutritionist to straight up tell you what to do blow for blow check out this article written for UTMB by Dietician Nutritionist Corinne Peirano. Take it with a grain of salt and an open mind that this may be written focussing on elite athletes. In particular the weight loss information may be best done through consultation with your GP taking into account your individual factors and motivators. https://utmbmontblanc.com/en/page/29/Ultra%20Trail%20du%20Mont-Blanc%20and%20Sports%20Nutrition.html

Sandwiches are a great real food option that is if you can keep them from turning into hot, moist, doughy brickettes in your pack. There are products that can help you with this such as a $8.95 K2 sandwich box. I’ve got 1 of these on order and I’m looking forward to locking and loading my promite and cheese single life changer in there and enjoying a civilized and historically rectangle shaped, structurally sound sandwich. They are also a more environmentally sustainable option than sandwich bags.

If you get sandwich protection dialled in, this article has some great suggestions for different sandwich types “15 other sandwiches that won’t get soggy when you’re out and about.”

For details on the basics around making your own real food test plan and real food nutrient content, this article has some great simple advice. https://www.nomeatathlete.com/whole-food-running-fuel/

Insulated food bags can also help prolong life of foods in packs. There are reusable options. If your food storage bag is air tight you may also be able to leave a little air in the bag to give your food some space and prevent it from being squished. You may be able to lower the temperature in your pack by freezing your bladder. This can help keep your body temp down, keep your adjacent foods cooler and provide some refreshing cooler liquid to drink. Some salomon vests come with an insulated sleeve designed for bladders. You can use these to hold and insulate your food similar to the bags below.

Foods to avoid

The articles citing the worst foods for endurance sports usually include soda/fizzy drinks. Now any trail runner who’s had a cold coke on course whilst they are deep in the pain cave knows that this can be quite the opposite. I liken it to the movie Mad Max Fury road where the War Boys have a chug of Valhalla spray during battle (be it a temporary fix). With that in mind, I’ve excluded a few popular websites for that reason and have instead linked a study done in Canada for the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition. Dietary restrictions in endurance runners to mitigate exercise-induced gastrointestinal symptoms.

Here’s the food types that were commonly avoided by the studies surveyed endurance runners pre-race. There’s plenty more information on the study accessible in the link above. This can give you insight into the most avoided foods and the types of gastric distress associated with them specific to your age, distance running and gender.

My 2 cents

chris wright

For me intense days have always been touch and go with fuelling. The biggest challenge has been running at an intensity where I have zero appetite, my stomach struggles to process and digest, I don’t give myself permission or the time to take a fuel break, I don’t like the taste and texture and I completely go rogue from the loose nutrition plan. All these resulted in the same, under performance and making the run considerably harder than it needed to be and some instances not finishing at all.

Running tours is a lot different. There’s time, there’s lower intensity, there’s others relying on you and you need to have something in the tank in preparation for emergency response. I like to think I’m wiser now, but put me in a race and I’ll probably bonk out with the best of them, cramping way back in time to 1999.

Here’s my 3 tips for a long day out on the trails real food success:

1. Have a decent sized enjoyable real food breakfast 1-2 hours before you run. Set yourself up well before you head out. It’s not rocket surgery Mum! If you are struggling to ingest later at least you’ve already got something in the tank.
2. Favourites trumps anything & anything trumps nothing. Set yourself up with the path of least resistance. The most calorie dense gel means nothing if you avoid and prolong eating them. The psychological boost I get from looking forward to eating something I enjoy has yet to come from a pack warmed Cola-Raspberry-Mocha gel. If the nutrition ingestion wheels fall off and there’s no aid stations with watermelon, I’m onto the emergency gels and sports drink for the tough crawl home.

3. Hydrate knowing you need it to efficiently digest your food.

So it looks like there is a lot more to trail running endurance than just gels and sports drink. Enjoyable real food can be a part of your trail running adventures and may only be a few test runs away. Just like we train our bodies to run trails, it seems that training our stomachs and digestive systems is just as important. A well trained system gives us more nutrition option range, resilience to stresses and contingency plans for change. Get out there and enjoy your training and research with a trail run real food degustation. Good luck on your journey and finding what works best for you. If all fails hit me up and I’ll prepare you one of the finest gourmet promite and cheese single sandwiches you’ll ever taste.

I hope you’ve found something here that might help in your real food trail running success. Thanks to all those who contributed to this blog. We’d love to hear about your own experiences and thoughts so please drop them below in the comments or send us a message. We look forward to taking you out, beyond and back on a Trail Bus Tour soon.

Safe and enjoyable trails

Chris Wright

Trail Bus Tour Operator