COACH’S CORNER – GET THE RIGHT NUTRITION FOR YOUR ULTRA

Kate Dzienis • January 28, 2019

Coach’s Corner is a new feature for our AURA members, where qualified trained professionals provide you with advice and tips on improving and enhancing your ultra running performance.

Contributed by Tony Smith, Run Coach at Tony Smith Run Coaching, WA

Tony Smith is a Level 2 Intermediate Recreational Running Coach, accredited with Athletics Australia, and has more than 30 years of experience. His running highlights including 1st Male placings at the Australia Day Ultra 50k (2019), Sandman 50k (2018), RunningWorks 50k (2018), Bunbury 50k (2018), Goldfields Marathon (2016), and Feral Pig 50k (2016). Tony has a long standing career in the armed forces, and uses his defence knowledge to run smarter.

Nutrition for ultra running

Ultra running is not only a test of physical fitness and mental strength; it also comes down to an eating contest.

Why is nutrition so important in ultra events?

The root cause for the majority of DNFs in ultra running is the dreaded gastro intestinal problems or as most of us know it, ‘GI issues’. Basically we are putting food in, but our digestive system is not able to process it. For shorter events our digestive system can cope with us surprising it with an energy gel here or an energy bar there. However, this approach in an ultra will ‘find you out’ every time and more often than not will lead to GI and performance issues.

During physical activity our body re-routes blood away from our digestive system to the muscular system, and in turn our digestive system moves into a sleep mode. Our body has limited glycogen stores (energy used for physical activity), which in most of us will only last only a couple of hours.

Therefore, nutrition becomes not only a necessity, but an aspect of training that we simply cannot ignore. Our digestive system is a little like us when we are unexpectedly woken – we are surprised, a little grumpy and then probably not very helpful.

Tips to help train and develop your nutrition strategy.

Practice makes permanent– just like our physical and mental training, we need to train our digestive system to wake up ‘happy and helpful’ to utilise and break down the food we are consuming. Testing and practicing different food strategies on our long runs will help you develop what works for you and your digestive system. It will also reduce the changes of GI issues during your goal event.
Stay hydrated – water is just as important as the food we add. Without this our digestive system is unable to transfer the fuel to our blood stream. I’m sure we have all experienced taking on food but it just sitting in our gut, causing bloating and nausea. Without the correct level of water, the food will just sit there all day long. Cramping is also associated with poor hydration as the body starts to redirect water from our muscles to prioritise in regulating our body temperature (sweat).
Develop different strategies– the majority of us set an A, B or C for our event goal. We should adopt a similar approach for our fuelling strategies to counter when things don’t go to plan, which is generally more often than not. Therefore, it’s important to be flexible with our fuelling to counter some of the uncontrollables such as weather, aid stations running out of supplies, etc. For me, flat ginger beer settles my gut and flat coke gives me a quick but limited boost from fatigue. The key is to practice in training and don’t be afraid to adapt on race day and ‘do something’, the problem is unlikely to just go away.
Little and often – don’t cram your digestive system with food, give it a chance to wake up happy with a manageable amount of work to do. Too much food at once will make it grumpy and unhelpful. Again, experiment and practice, practice, practice what types of food and quantity works for you on your long training runs.
Nothing new on race day– we have all read, heard and probably said this one before. Some of us have most likely winged it with a new pair of shorts or top, maybe got away with it or got chaffing from hell. Your fuelling on race day should be just like your training. You have practiced it so often, it’s now just business as usual (BAU). You’re not going to be tempted by the brightly colored jellies or muffins at an aid station.

Trust in your training and don’t be the person that winged it!

To get in touch with Tony, or for more advice, head to his website Tony Smith Run Coaching or search for Tony Smith Run Coaching on Facebook.

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2026 AGM Notice (15 April 2026)

By Dave Martin • March 14, 2026

AUTRA’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be held on Wednesday 15 April 2026

AUTRA statement regarding Snowies Trail Run Festival

March 12, 2026

AUTRA has been in direct contact with the organisers of the Snowies Trail Run Festival, In2Adventure, regarding a recent situation involving an athlete and the event’s in‑person safety briefing requirements. In2Adventure has confirmed that the situation was discussed directly with the athlete at the time. From In2Adventure’s account, and for the purpose of clarifying the public record, AUTRA notes the following points: At no stage was the athlete prevented from breastfeeding at the event. The organiser states that the following options were offered to enable the athlete to participate while still meeting safety requirements: a quiet and private space where she could breastfeed while still being present at the briefing; the option to receive the required briefing at the 30 km start line after the start; and the option to change her registration to the 21 km event, where the briefing is conducted on the start line. At no stage prior to event registration on Saturday night did the athlete contact the organiser to advise of her situation or request alternative arrangements, which limited what could be put in place at the time. Face‑to‑face safety briefings have always been a requirement for In2Adventure events due to the remote and higher‑risk nature of the trails. AUTRA was aware that in‑person briefings were used and had not raised concerns about that general approach. The organiser has indicated that this requirement is driven by safety, duty‑of‑care and insurance obligations, and follows previous experience where remote or online briefings resulted in athletes starting events without critical safety information. The organiser maintains that the event was not conducted in a manner that was intended to be non‑inclusive, inflexible or discriminatory, and that decisions made on the day were based solely on safety requirements that apply equally to all participants. AUTRA’s aim in issuing this statement is solely to clarify the context and ensure that the public record reflects the information provided to us by the organiser.