Running & recovery
How to build a long-run fuelling plan you can rehearse
Published by Benjamin Dickman, HydrateWise · Editorial approach and corrections
A useful long-run fuelling plan says what you will eat, when you can reach it, what you will drink and what you will do if the route or your stomach changes the plan. Start with a manageable training run and foods you know. Rehearse the method before relying on it for an event. A list of gels is not a complete plan if you cannot open them, have no suitable water access or leave the first food until you already feel worn out.
Define the job before choosing the fuel
Write the planned duration, likely effort and conditions at the top of your page. Use time as well as distance. The same distance can take much longer on hills, trails or a day with frequent stops. Include the purpose: an easy long run, a run with a faster finish or a race rehearsal. That purpose affects what you need to practise and how much complexity is worthwhile.
Separate three decisions: fuel, fluid and access. Fuel describes food or carbohydrate-containing drinks. Fluid describes what you can comfortably drink in the conditions. Access describes where supplies are carried or obtained. The decisions interact, but treating them separately prevents a common error: drinking more than needed solely to reach a carbohydrate target from a weak drink.
The AIS resources on sports gels and sports drinks describe these products as options for particular sporting situations. Their convenience can be useful, but a product category does not prescribe a personal intake. If you need a numerical carbohydrate target for demanding endurance training, develop it with a qualified sports dietitian and practise it rather than copying an elite athlete's schedule.
For your first plan, choose a route with an easy way home. A loop passing a safe supply point can help you learn what works without carrying everything. That is a rehearsal choice, not a claim that loops are always best. For a remote route, the reserve and exit plan deserve more attention because an upset stomach or a closed shop has larger consequences.
Build from food you already tolerate
List a few options you have used comfortably during activity. They might include a familiar gel, small pieces of a sandwich, a sports drink or other manageable food. Note the actual carbohydrate on the label where available, portion size, texture and whether the product calls for water. “One packet” is not a useful unit when packets differ substantially.
Keep the first trial narrow. Carrying six unfamiliar flavours makes it difficult to identify what suits you. Choose one main option and a simple alternative. The alternative may solve a practical issue such as getting tired of sweet flavours, but it should still be familiar enough to avoid making the whole session an experiment.
Think about the form as well as the food. Can you chew it while breathing comfortably? Does it fall apart in a pocket? Does the wrapper become slippery with wet hands? A food that is pleasant at a desk may be awkward on a climb. Slow down or stop somewhere safe when eating if that makes the task easier.
Check ingredients and allergens rather than assuming similar-looking products are interchangeable. Caffeine is particularly worth noticing when several items may be used over a long morning. A mix of coffee, caffeinated gels and an energy drink can be quite different from your usual routine. Put the information in the plan before leaving, when the label is easy to read.
Turn the plan into a sequence
Divide the run into useful segments, such as the route between safe stopping points or parts of similar terrain. Add a food opportunity to each relevant segment. The aim is to make eating possible before the plan is forgotten, not to force a mouthful at a precise second regardless of how you feel. A reminder can prompt a check rather than issue an order.
Use simple arithmetic when working from a chosen target. For illustration, a food portion containing 20 grams of carbohydrate and a drink portion containing 15 grams provide 35 grams together. This is an example of addition, not a recommended hourly intake. If the drink is only partly consumed, the actual total is lower. Record what you took, not only what you packed.
Avoid assuming that every segment needs identical food. A steep technical section may offer few safe chances to eat, while a flat path beforehand allows a calm pause. Plan around the route. Likewise, an aid point near the finish cannot solve a lack of access in the middle. Map the longest gap and make sure your carrying plan covers it.
Keep breakfast and the meal afterwards on the same page. Starting with little food and finishing far from lunch can make the outing much harder even if the middle is carefully planned. The morning-run breakfast guide gives practical ways to fit a meal around the available time without prescribing one breakfast to everyone.
Make the fluid plan fit the fuel
Look at weather, duration, pace and your own experience of sweating. Use the sweat-rate calculator when representative measurements would help, and read its limitations. One cool run does not define your needs for a hot event. A measured loss is not an instruction to replace every drop while moving.
If fuel instructions say to use water, identify where that water will come from. Do not assume an event cup contains the amount you imagined or that every aid point supplies plain water. Read the event information and rehearse the available format where possible. If using a drink mix, make it according to the directions rather than making it much stronger to save carrying space.
Avoid linking fluid volume rigidly to a food alarm. You may need a food opportunity at a time when you do not want a large drink, or a drink when you have already eaten. A plan can hold both needs without making them identical. Extra sodium does not make unlimited water safe; the overdrinking guide explains that boundary.
Write down a realistic access plan. “Refill at the village” is incomplete unless you know the source is suitable and available. Opening hours, queues and seasonal closures matter. Carry a sensible reserve for the route and conditions, or choose a route with more reliable access. A reserve is something available when needed, not a volume that must be consumed before getting home.
A worked rehearsal for a two-hour outing
Consider a fictional runner planning two hours on familiar paths. The route passes home after the first hour and stays within an easy walk of a safe exit. Breakfast is familiar. The runner has previously used one food option on shorter runs and wants to practise opening it, carrying wrappers and coordinating it with comfortable drinks. No race-day performance claim is attached to the experiment.
Before leaving, the runner notes the label values for each portion and puts the first portion where it can be reached without taking off the pack. A second option stays at the halfway supply point. The plan marks several chances to check appetite and comfort on easy sections. It also marks where eating would be awkward, such as a narrow road crossing or steep descent.
At halfway, the runner records what was actually consumed, refills only as appropriate and decides whether to continue. If the first hour felt unusually hard or the stomach is unsettled, shortening the run is an acceptable result. The purpose is to learn under manageable conditions. Continuing only to complete the worksheet would defeat that purpose.
Afterwards, the runner compares planned and actual intake, notes the weather and records how the next meal went. Perhaps the food worked but the pocket did not. Perhaps the drink tasted too strong after warming. Those are useful findings. The next trial changes the pocket or preparation method while keeping the rest of the plan similar, rather than replacing every element at once.
Carrying, packaging and practical checks
Pack supplies in the order you expect to use them. Keep a separate space for empty wrappers so you can see what remains without counting sticky packets. Check that the bag or vest stays comfortable when partly empty, because a good fit at the start does not guarantee a good fit later. Practise reaching the pocket while standing or walking before doing it at pace.
Check the weather's effect on the food. Some items become hard in the cold, soft in heat or unappealing when wet. Ordinary foods may also require temperature control. Avoid taking perishable fillings on a long warm run unless they can be kept safely. A compact packaged option can solve a storage problem, but it still needs to suit your diet and stomach.
If training with others, agree whether food stops are part of the outing. A plan that only works when the group pauses may fail if everyone expects continuous running. Carry what you need rather than assuming a friend has spare fuel. Sharing food also introduces allergy and preference issues that are easier to discuss before the run.
Budget for trials as well as the event. You do not need to buy a large box of a product before knowing whether it works. A small trial quantity and a written note about why you chose it can prevent waste. Compare cost per usable portion and the role it serves, rather than buying on the promise that a more expensive packet must be better.
When the plan stops working
If you start to feel sick, slow down and reassess rather than forcing the next scheduled portion. Heat, effort, illness, nerves and intake can overlap. A diary cannot diagnose the cause. Stop the session and seek appropriate help for severe or persistent symptoms. Confusion, collapse or other serious symptoms call for urgent assessment, not a new combination of gels and salt.
If you simply dislike the taste late in the run, use the familiar alternative if it fits the plan. Make a note for the next trial. Taste fatigue is a practical problem, not evidence that all sports foods are unsuitable. Smaller varied portions or a different format may help, but test the change in training.
If a shop is closed or a refill fails, use the exit plan early. Shortening the route while you still have supplies is better than using the final reserve and hoping. Tell someone if the planned return changes. A good long-run plan includes the decision to stop; it is not complete just because it describes how to continue.
Repeated problems deserve a wider review of training load, daily food, sleep and health. A sports dietitian can help when the demands are substantial or tolerance remains difficult. Do not use a long run to practise enduring avoidable hunger or ignore advice for diabetes, fluid restrictions or other conditions that require a personal plan.
The rehearsal log
- Before: record route, expected time, purpose, forecast, breakfast, chosen food, label values, drink preparation and confirmed access. Add the fallback route and a reason you would stop early.
- During: note approximate times and actual portions, plus comfort and any missed opportunities. Keep the record brief enough that it does not distract from safe movement or awareness of the route.
- After: record remaining supplies, any stomach symptoms, the next meal and whether the plan was easy to carry out. Separate a packaging problem from a food problem when deciding what to change.
- Next trial: choose one adjustment and write why it may help. Repeat in similar conditions before drawing a strong conclusion, then practise under the conditions expected at the event.
The best version of the plan is the one you can explain and use while tired. It should tell you where the next food and drink opportunity is, what remains in the pack and how to get home if the day changes. The numbers support those decisions; they do not replace them.
Rehearse the aid-station handover
If an event provides fuel, practise the handling task as well as the food itself. You may need to slow down, identify the correct drink, take a cup and move clear before consuming it. Ask the organiser what is actually provided and where, rather than assuming every station has the same supplies. Keep your own familiar backup when appropriate.
A safe rehearsal can be as simple as pausing at a table on a local loop and checking how you organise food, cup and waste. It does not require someone to hand items to you at speed. Notice whether you can tell plain water from a mixed drink and whether you know what remains in your pockets after the stop. These details make event information usable. They also reveal when carrying your own supplies would be less confusing than relying on a format you have never practised.
A worked plan that counts drink carbohydrate once
Here is a fictional arithmetic example, not an individual intake recommendation. A runner has selected a two-hour rehearsal and a target of 45 g carbohydrate per hour. That creates a whole-session planning total of 90 g. The drink and other food contribute before the gel count is calculated.
| Planned item | Calculation | Carbohydrate |
|---|---|---|
| Prepared drink | 500 ml at 6 g per 100 ml | 30 g |
| Other food | Labelled portion | 10 g |
| Two gels | Two packets at 25 g each | 50 g |
| Whole-session total | 30 + 10 + 50 | 90 g |
Entering those figures into the fuel and gel planner gives two gels. Adding a gel plan for all 90 g and then adding the drink would count part of the intended fuel twice. The tool displays any excess caused by rounding to whole packets so it remains visible.
The 500 ml figure exists only to explain the arithmetic; it is not a fluid prescription. Keep the drinking plan appropriate to the person and conditions. Likewise, any evenly spaced gel times produced by the tool are an optional packing reminder, not a biological requirement. Adjust the practical sequence around safe eating opportunities and product instructions.
Use the printable rehearsal sheet to record planned and actual amounts separately. An unopened spare belongs in the packing list rather than the consumed total. After the session, note the reason for any difference and one practical change to rehearse next.