What happens when an athlete whose longest race has been 42km decides to take on 120km – solo?
Sal a Valle is a 120km endurance race in Mexico, normally completed in relay teams. But for this athlete, the challenge was different: cover the entire distance alone, despite never having raced beyond a marathon.
From a nutrition perspective, that left us with a lot of what ifs.
What if he stopped tolerating sweet foods? What if GI symptoms became intolerable? What if the race took longer than expected? What if the foods we trained with suddenly became unappealing? What if the conditions changed? And perhaps most importantly: how do you prepare an athlete nutritionally for more than 78km of racing he has never experienced before?
Ultra endurance nutrition is rarely predictable. Research and sports nutrition guidelines can give us an evidence based starting point, but the enormous variability in race duration, terrain, environmental condition, gastrointestinal tolerance, appetite and individual responses means that strategy that looks perfect on paper may not survive 120km.
So instead of building one “perfect” nutrition plan, we prepared for possibilities.
This webinar follows the nutrition strategy behind this athlete’s first 120km ultra – an attempt that ultimately resulted in a third-place finish. We’ll explore how evidence-based recommendations were translated into a flexible, real-world fuelling strategy, why multiple scenarios were developed before race day, and how nutrition decisions evolved as the race unfolded.
This case also challenged a common idea in nutrition: that less processed foods are always better. During an ultra, the priorities can shift dramatically. Easily digested carbohydrates, sodium, palatability, convenience and simply finding foods an athlete is willing and able to eat for 12h can become far more important than whether a food fits our conventional definition of “healthy”.
120km of what ifs is ultimately about more than what one athlete ate during an ultramarathon. It explores what happens when evidence based meets the unpredictable reality of ultra endurance sports – and why sometimes the best nutrition strategy is not one perfect plan, but a plan designed to change.
About Marianela Hernández
Marianela Hernández is a nutritionist based in Mexico with a special interest in sports and endurance nutrition. She works with athletes across different sports and performance levels, helping them develop practical fuelling and hydration strategies for training and competition.
As a runner herself, Marianela is particularly interested in bridging the gap between sports nutrition research and the realities of endurance sports. Her approach focuses on translating evidence into practical individualised strategies that adapt to the athlete, the environment and the unpredictable demands of competition. She is currently furthering her education in sports nutrition through the Level 7 Diploma course.
Instagram: @lifeinmovement__