The Best Mountain Endurance Nutrition Strategies for Peak Performance
One of the most important things to keep yourself stamina during a long day on the mountain is to keep your body fueled so you can perform well today and recover for another big day tomorrow. It turns out that coffee and donuts may not be the best way to start the day, even though many big climbs have been done on coffee and donuts, including the famous 1910 Soldeu expedition to Denali! Since we’re not as tough as the turn-of-the-century miners, we have to take advantage of every opportunity we can to get an advantage.
You’ll spend a lot of time training for your climb, practicing your gear and clothing choices, and adjusting everything to get it just right, but don’t forget to practice your food and fueling. Climbing a big mountain requires long periods of low to moderate aerobic activity – it’s not a short, high-intensity workout. You’ll often be moving for eight hours day after day, and reaching the summit of a big mountain can often take over 12 hours of work! How you fuel and hydrate on days like these will have a huge impact on your performance and how well you recover the next day. If you join one of our expeditions, we’ll do our best to provide healthy meals, but in this post I’m going to focus on snacks and drink mixes you can bring that will help you fuel during the day and recover at the end.
Fat Adaptation Endurance
No matter how lean you are, you have more than enough calories stored as fat to keep you going for days on the mountain. Improving your ability to burn fat during exercise is an important part of training for a long-distance expedition, giving your body access to a great source of energy. There is growing evidence that burning fat can benefit endurance athletes. You can improve your fat adaptations with just a few basic changes to your diet and by incorporating long endurance training into your training schedule to help your body learn to burn fat more efficiently for fuel. Anyone who has spent a long day in the mountains, needing to stop every 45 minutes for a GU or a gummy bear, knows what it’s like to be completely dependent on simple sugars for fuel. Our bodies can only continue to use glycogen as their primary fuel for a short time before we need to replenish, whereas fat supplies are virtually unlimited. There is a great article on this Training to burn fat I get a lot of my training and nutrition information from the Uphill Athlete website. I also use a lot of Hammer Nutrition products and have referenced some great articles on fueling and endurance training, including this one. The 10 most common mistakes endurance athletes make.
*2024 UPDATE* If you’ve been watching endurance athletes break previous records, including the 2024 Tour de France, you’ll realize that the science of fueling has evolved. Ten years ago, we recommended “fasting training” to improve our ability to burn fat. Now this is no longer recommended, but fueling during training and climbing is an important part of your training plan. Practice fueling the same way you layer your clothing and other systems in the mountains, and you’ll know how to manage the long days and keep going.
Bill’s Favorite Energy Drink Mix
I have two different drink mixes that I use for long days on the mountain. One provides longer lasting energy and promotes fat utilization, and the other provides really easy to digest complex carbohydrates and electrolytes. I believe in these drink mixes and use them regularly, but they may not be right for you. As with gear or anything else you use on an expedition, you should try these drink mixes on training days and know that you like them!
For any big day on the mountain (more than three hours), my most trusted blend is the latte flavored Perpetual Motion Hammer Mixed drinks. On summit day, I would fill a bottle with hot water and a few spoonfuls of Perpetuem and enjoy a hot drink at each stop! I made this drink really strong and put it in a 16 oz water bottle Keep the bottle warm during the day. I don’t expect this drink mix to provide a lot of hydration, meaning I don’t drink it when I’m thirsty, but it does provide some hydration and a lot of good energy. The Perpetuem drink mix provides a combination of protein, fat, and carbohydrates that I really feel provides good, steady energy and is easy to digest even at altitude.
Another blend I use is another blend from Hammer Nutrition called NoticeThis is a more easily digestible carbohydrate-based drink mix, but doesn’t rely on simple sugars that can cause a roller coaster. I feel like the HEED mix does a good job of providing steady energy throughout the day, and it tastes great so it’s easy to keep drinking. I mix the HEED drink mix in two servings One liter platypus bottleOn really cold mornings, I can stash it in the inside pocket of my down jacket or parka.
You should find what works best for you and use your training days to develop your fuel and nutrition strategy. I know everyone is different and you may not tolerate my favorite drink combo, but when you’re climbing a big hill you should know what works best for you.
Best Recovery Drinks
On long expeditions, we often have to climb for 3-4 days straight, with a lot of effort each day and the need to recover as much as possible each night. Having a recovery drink when you get back to camp at the end of the day is a great way to ensure your body gets the nutrients it needs for the recovery process immediately. Replenishing carbohydrates and protein immediately (within 30-45 minutes) is a great way to ensure your body absorbs the nutrients it needs to rebuild and recover. Another Hammer product I like to use is called recover I do this as soon as I get to camp or after a long day, and I think it helps me feel better day by day.
Through trial and error, research, and talking to people who know far more than I do, I have found what works for me. I try not to use expeditions as an excuse to eat sweets and junk food, but it is important to keep a good supply of carbs. I try to eat real food when I can, including nuts and dried fruit when I am in camp, less on the trail, and train my body to burn fat more efficiently. I have seen the power of a pack of GUs reinvigorate someone who was clearly exhausted. Keep in mind that foods like nuts, dried fruit, and meats can be difficult to digest at altitude, so you will need to get creative and prepare large quantities of easily digestible foods. Find what works for you and use the time you spend training to figure out what works best and what you enjoy eating regularly. Train your body to burn fat as part of your training plan, and you will see the benefits when you are not “in heat.”
I recommend several products in this post not because I am sponsored or receiving kickbacks from Hammer, but because I have found these products to be useful to me and I want to help give our climbers an edge on their expeditions. I almost feel guilty when I bring my “secret” drink mix and the climbers I’m with want to know what I’m drinking. Find something that works for you, think of your body as a machine that needs quality fuel, and I’m sure you will feel the difference during your climbs and recovery during the day. When you feel better and stronger, expeditions become more enjoyable!
