The Tor des Geants Eating Contest
I consumed over 40,000 calories during the 98 hours of Tor des Geants. This included over 100 gels. One. Hundred.
Nutrition and fueling is key to success at Tor, but it is difficult to get right. I have spent years working to optimize nutrition and hoped I had the magic formula for this year’s Tor.
Eating food at Bosses in 2022 like it was my job
THE CHALLENGES
The sheer duration of Tor makes nutrition challenging. It is a long time to keep yourself well fueled.
You need to manage variable fueling needs with extreme changes in weather and conditions, from 90+ degree daytime heat to 20 degree nighttime freezing temperatures.
With the remoteness of the terrain, there are long gaps between crew stops, if you are lucky enough to have a crew. I had two 12-hour stretches between seeing my crew and multiple 6-8 hour stretches.
The beauty of a well organized crew resupply
While there are refugios and bivouacs between crew points, there is not a lot of food I can manage to eat. The options are generally the same throughout the race, so they become less and less appealing as the race goes on.
Both times, I have found myself to be constantly fighting hunger and low energy despite my best efforts to fuel. As I got tired of the chore of eating, I kept telling myself, “inputs and outputs.” If I wanted high output, I had to keep forcing in calories.
WHAT WENT WELL
VARIETY OF PROCESSED NUTRITION
I tested loads of gels leading into Tor, focusing on ones that were higher in calories and carbs.
I found 2 gels that were my go-to and 3 others that I could rotate through for variety. Changing it up was key to stomaching 100+ gels over the course of the race.
100 gels packed into a bunch of tiny bags
My primary drink mix was Hyle Hydration, which I’ve used for many years. I had two flavors in rotation, Blood Orange and Ginger Peach Tea. I also tested out and included a few other options. The variety helped me tolerate a drink mix into the later stages of the race.
SOME OF THE BACKPACKER MEALS
This time around I brought a camp stove and backpacker meals to get more real food, especially during night sections when stores / restaurants were closed.
Some of the meals were great and got me a much needed 500-1000 calorie boost. The peanut butter oatmeal was a particular highlight.
SOME OF THE REAL FOOD
Real food is key at Tor, and the goal was to have real food at every crew stop to supplement the processed food.
I had a good variety of food planned, and some of it went down well. I ate most of a pizza at Valgrisenche. The gnocci and polenta the crew brought me at Gressoney was heavenly.
The world’s greatest gnocci and polenta!
I had 5-6 avocados over throughout the race and wolfed down ice cream several times. This was supplemented with chips, cookies, Nutella, and a variety of other treats.
PROTEIN SHAKES
I did this last time at Tor as well, but I had a protein shake at most life bases. You get some calories, fluids, and electrolytes, and I think protein is key over something this long with so much muscle breakdown.
CARRYING MORE DURING LONG SECTIONS
I carried more calories and fluids during long sections between crew points. The trade-off of more nutrition but higher pack weight was worth it.
Last time at Tor, I went a bit lighter but would fade hard before I resupplied with crew. I stayed much stronger this time and was able to keep a steadier effort.
WHAT COULD BE IMPROVED
HYDRATING IN AID
Several times I became dehydrated and behind on electrolytes. Typically, this happened in the heat of the day and on longer stretches between crew stops.
Usually I hydrate on the trail, refilling bottles in aid stations. However, in a race this long I should have planned to hydrate more in aid. I did not feel good in Cogne and struggled to eat despite knowing I needed calories. Only after chugging fluids and taking 3-4 electrolyte caps did things come around. The same thing happened in Champoluc and Oyace.
Several times I left an aid station and realized down the trail I was dehydrated. This was especially the case when I ate a lot but didn’t drink enough fluids to process and digest the food. I get very dehydrated on the big climb coming out of Gressoney, where I also forgot to have my protein shake.
Next time, I would immediately hydrate upon reaching aid stations and crew points. With crew, I would also have something with electrolytes that was different from what I was drinking on the trail.
OPTIMIZING BACKPACKER MEALS
Some backpacker meals didn’t cut it this time. Next time I would double down on ones like Peanut Butter Oatmeal and experiment to find other ones that work well.
OPTIMIZING REAL FOOD
After the first life base where I had a pizza, I struggled with anything that was crunchy or required too much chewing. Pizza, fries, or chips weren’t cutting it this time.
Soft foods like gnocci and polenta went down much better. Next time I would add in things like pudding or scrambled eggs, especially after the first day.
MORE ELECTROLYTES & ELECTROLYTE VARIETY
It was often hard to keep up with electrolytes. I found myself falling behind in the heat of the day. To continue tolerating my drink mix, I also had to reduce the concentration, which didn’t help.
I would add in a higher sodium, lower calorie drink mix next time. I also need to be more diligent with electrolyte pills and experiment with higher sodium electrolyte pills.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Overall my nutrition was solid. I lost far less weight after the 2024 Tor than I did in 2022, which contributed to a much better recovery. Better nutrition also let me push harder on more segments of the race.
However, I still had nutrition challenges that I had to work through, both in aid stations and on the trail. This ended up costing me some time. There is no way to avoid having any nutrition challenges, but I’m optimistic I can continue to further optimize nutrition next time.