Learning to dine and dash

Gary is learning eat and run. That seems to be one thing all of his advisors/coaches agree on, that running for 50 miles requires you to eat during the race while moving.  So far Gary is running 15-minute miles, and the race itself only allows for a 12 hour window.  15  minutes X 50 miles  still puts Gary in the running, and of course he is hoping to get faster.  The eating seems to be an art.  It is amazing to hear everyone’s opinion.  There is Kevin, the Aussie coach, a long-distance coach in a very different definition of the word.  Kevin is a bicycler and very aware of nutrition.  ‘Take bananas” he says, so Gary tries that.  The problem is that while they probably work beautifully in the tropical climate where Kevin lives, they freeze before mile 5 in Wyoming winters.  However Gary is still eating them despite the brown skin and frozen texture.  Then there are the gels, these seem to be a big deal in the running world.  However again he is having into some issues.  The cold turns them into hard candy and squeezing them out of their colorful tubes is a Herculean effort.  So far his mainstays are Cliff Bars and Pinole bars.  The pinole bars are a work in progress; he found recipes online and has been tweaking them for taste.  Both Kaycee, the dog and myself agree that the coffee should be eliminated from the recipe and the almond butter should be increased.  I also vote for dried fruit, cherries in particular.  However Kaycee and I are not in training so Gary is taking our advice with a grain of salt.