Exactly What I Ate During a 14-Hour Run

Last week I took on a big day in the mountains. It covered about 26 miles with over 11,800 feet of elevation gain, climbing New Hampshire’s highest mountains, Mount Washington, Jefferson, Adams and Madison, over some of the most rugged and wild trails around. It was awesome, and what I’ve been training up for this summer. While there were others out there on the course, this was a self-support effort. Here’s exactly what I ate (and carried with me) during this 14 hour endeavor.

• Cinnamon raisin bagel (before starting) [270 cal, 3g fat, 51g carb, 12g protein]

• 1 Clif Builder protein bar [290 cal, 11g fat, 29g carb, 20g protein]

• 3 packs of Clif blocks - salted watermelon flavor [3x 90 180 cal, 48g carb]

• 1 Clif chocolate peanut butter bar [230 cals, 11g fat, 26g carb, 7g protein]

• 1 honey stinger waffle [150 cal, 7g fat, 19g carb, 1g protein]

• 2 awesome sauce gels [2x 180 cal, 45g carb]

• 1 snickers [250 cal, 12g fat, 32g carb, 4g protein]

• 1 20oz coke (summit of Mount Washington, drank 80% of it) [240 cal, 65g carbs]

• 2 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (the GOAT trail snack) [2x 407 cal, 19g fat, 51g carb, 13g protein]

• 1 Clif Bar - white chocolate macadamia nut [260 cal, 7g fat, 42g carb, 9g protein]

• 1 bag of dried mango [316 cal, 80g carb, 6g protein]

• 16oz of lemonade (from Madison Spring Hut, best money ever spent 11:30 hours into the day) [140 cal, 36g carb]

I’m not sure how much water. Most of the day it was readily available for filtering, so I crushed a lot of it when I could. I carried 1-1.5 liters most of the time.

I tried to map this out on a timeline, but honestly, I have no clue when I ate most of this. The only plan I had was to eat the protein bar before/during summiting the first mountain. A strategy I successfully used one time on my Hut Traverse and have stuck with it on big days ever since. Other than that, I just take what sounds appealing, or as the hours tick by, the least offensive choice in the moment.

Here are the totals, and I know what you’re thinking. Did you run the entire time? No. Not at all. The trails of this route didn’t allow for much running. I was scrambling with my hands, balancing on rickety boulders and every single rock was completely greased up and slippery. I ran when I hd the opportunity, but most of it was the last few miles of the day. The rest of the time was spent hiking at a deliberate pace.

Total calories: 3590

Total Fat: 89g

Total Carb: 717g

Total Protein: 72g

Justin Miner

@justinminergain