019: Comrades FOMO 2026: Using the Power Plant

Nutrition – the Supply Chain

In the Power Plant: As mentioned in the training section where we built our power plant, there are two main fuel types that our bodies use during training, Carbs and Fat.

The Carb Supply Chain

Carbs are fast-burning kindling of which there is a short supply and Fat is like big, slow-burning logs that are abundant.

We can think of our gut as the unloading dock that sources fuel from two different supply chains for the two different fuel sources.

Carbs can be sourced from a local fuel depot, just outside the plant. Deliveries are fast and direct, unloading is simple and the workers at the dock (bloodstream) are highly trained in the processing of the fuel. However, the depot is small and can only supply a limited amount of fuel per hour. Even if you send more trucks, the unloading docks can only handle so much. Put simply, carbs are fast, reliable and easy to use, but the supply and processing ability of the plant is small and the delivery rate is capped.

The Fat Supply Chain

Fat, however, is not sitting nearby. It’s stored across the entire country, requiring a full logistics operation to access. Fuel must be requested, transported via slower routes and processed before it can be used. In the plant there are fewer dedicated unloading docks and more steps are needed before the fuel becomes usable. It is ultimately limited by the fact that the entire supply chain for Fat cannot respond quickly to spikes in demand. The upside, and it’s a big one, is that the supply is effectively unlimited for endurance purposes.

To achieve endurance performance, the goal is not to replace the Carb fuel source with the Fat fuel source, but to rely on the Fat fuel source for long, sustained power production and use the Carb fuel source when electricity demand spikes (think hills, speeds, finish line sprint!)

Getting the right amount of fuel

I will focus on nutrition during training and not on nutrition in your everyday life. My philosophy there is very simple, “Everything in moderation. Even moderation.” And I have maintained the same weight for the last 10 years (85-89kg for my 191cm frame).

If the power plant doesn’t receive enough fuel then the plant won’t be able to power the city.

When you eat carbs during exercise, you’re sending additional trucks to the local depot to keep up with the increased demand for electricity that exercise induces.

The common measure of “enough fuel” is 1g of carb fuel per kilogram of bodyweight for every hour of running. So, for me who weighs 85kg on a light day, that means 85g of carbs per hour.

I can tell you that I’ve become immune to the taste of gels and carb mixes at that volume.

It is a fine balance, though. Fuel too little and you will suffer the dreaded runner’s bonk. Fuel too much and you will experience severe gastrointestinal (GI) distress – stomach cramps.

Recall that the unloading capacity for carbs is limited. Think of too much carbs as a row of trucks lining up outside the power plant waiting to be processed. I’ve had one ultra DNF in my time (so far) and it was due to this issue. I aimed to consume my 85g of carbs per hour. Due to a slight miscalculation, I consumed 120g of carbs per hour. My legs were still moving fine and my HR was decent, but my gut couldn’t process all the fuel. I had to lie down and wait for things to calm down as waves of cramps rocked my body.

Getting the right combination of fuel

Another issue occurs when one mixes too many fuel sources. In an illuminating nutrition talk, Mark Wolff, founder of 32Gi, likened this to “making veggie soup”. There are different types of carbs one can consume (gels, carb mixes, potatoes, fruit, energy bars etc.) during a race. They each contain different types of sugars that your gut needs to process slightly differently.

In the power plant, each different source of carbs needs to be processed slightly differently by the dock workers. They might seem similar, but the power plant uses them slightly differently. This increase in complexity, slows the whole plant down.

Fueling for different types of runs

We’ve discussed different types of runs at length, and it follows that fueling needs to be adapted depending on the type of run

Easy Runs - intentionally low demand

When you do Easy Runs, the plant’s output is steady and the fat supply chain is more than capable to handle most of the load.

This means that you can send the minimum amount of trucks to the carb fuel depot (depending on duration of course). This improves fat utilization, reduces dependence on the carb depot and trains metabolic flexibility.

Easy Runs are where you teach the plant to run on its deeper reserves.

Workouts - high-speed fueling

During workouts, the plant’s output is high and the fat supply chain is too slow to respond. This where the plant relies heavily on carbs

The strategy is to arrive well-fueled and to consume optional carbs during longer sessions. If fuel is lacking during workouts, output drops, the quality of the session suffers, recovery is slow and fitness adaptation is compromised.

This means that hard sessions are not the time to test the supply chain. They’re the time to use it.

Long Runs - sustained delivery to ensure plant stability

During long runs, your carb fueling demands are moderate, but long-lasting.

In the plant the fat supply chain is working, but it’s not enough on its own and you need to send regular fuel trucks (carbs) to support output.

The strategy is therefore to do a steady carb intake (~1g/kg/hr as a benchmark), to supply consistent hydration (more on that in a moment). And to avoid “making veggie soup” by using simple, repeatable fuel sources.

With long runs, you are teaching the power plant how to time the  supply chain. It trains the workers (bloodstream) at the dock (gut) to become tolerant of the increased processing demands. As with any type of training, this takes a lot of time to master. You can’t train with gels on one long run and say that you’ve “done gut training”.

This means that long runs are where you prove the supply chain can keep up with the plant.

Other sources of fuel:

Protein

So far we’ve talked about fuel for running the plant. Protein is different, since it isn’t fuel, but building material. Protein provides the raw materials for the maintenance crew to rebuild and reinforce the system during recovery.

This means that Protein consumption is not a primary concern during a running session (except for ultra-ultra endurance events – think, running through the night). You wouldn’t do maintenance on the plant when its running at full capacity. All systems are focused on energy production, which means your body will prioritise the use of fat and carbs.

Without enough materials, the maintenance crew can’t complete all repairs, upgrades are limited and the plant slowly degrades. “Enough” materials is roughly defined as ~1.6-2.2g of protein per kg of bodyweight per day. This ensures that the maintenance crew has a steady supply of materials to upgrade the plant.

The maintenance crew also has a limit on how much material they can use at once. It’s like providing a cartload of spanners for repairs, but the maintenance person can only use one at a time. If you deliver too much protein at a time, some material isn’t efficiently used.

The “throughput limit” for protein is roughly 0.3-0.4g/kg per meal.

Finally, the maintenance crew is primed and ready to work after a hard workout or long run, since the signals for repairs are high. Materials delivered at that time are used quickly and efficiently.

This means that protein within 1 to 2 hours of finishing a run, in combination with carbs, enables you to refuel and rebuild the plant at the same time.

Caffeine

Caffeine is a powerful, but often misunderstood source of fuel.

In the power plant, caffeine is like an emergency override switch for the control room’s warning signals. It’s function is to reduce perceived effort and increase alertness, which allows higher output.

It’s useful since it enables you to access performance that you already have and increases your tolerance for discomfort.

However, caffeine doesn’t supply more fuel (no carb or fat trucks), so you’re just running the plant harder on the same resources.

It can definitely mask underfueling, dehydration and excessive intensity. Some cyclists I know have literally gone blind (luckily only for a few hours) from excessive caffeine use.

Finally, it can destabilize the system with insane jitters and unsettling GI distress. I once took three caffeine gels by accident in a two hour period. Safe to say that I popped like a Christmas cracker… I’ve been wary of using the override switch ever since.

In summary, caffeine doesn’t upgrade the plant. It just pushes it harder, sometimes past what’s wise.

There’s a famous saying among ultrarunners:

What I hope that have illustrated with this section is that fueling isn’t just about eating for its own sake. It’s about running a supply chain that matches the plant’s demand, supports its repairs, and doesn’t trick the operator into making bad decisions. It’s a process that needs to be refined over multiple runs and kept as simple as necessary. Ultimately, a smooth supply chain beats an inefficient complex one.

Hydration – a pressurised cooling system

In the Power Plant: A power plant doesn’t just pour water over hot machinery. It runs a circulating cooling system under pressure.

It has three jobs in the power plant: remove heat, maintain pressure and keep fluid flowing where it’s needed.

Let’s discuss the job and the mechanism that delivers it:

Remove Heat – Water

During operation, machines generate heat. Coolant absorbs and removes it. In your body, sweating does the heat removal and blood plasma transports the coolant.

It’s not just about having water in the system, but having enough circulating throughout the system. When water levels drop too low, heat builds up in the power plant, the flow of coolant slows and this realises physiologically with rising heart rate, overheating and debilitating drops in performance.

So water keeps the plant from overheating, but only if there’s enough water to start with.

Keep the Pressure – Sodium

Electrolytes play an important role in the hydration equation. Your cells use electrolytes  to conduct electrical charges, which is how your muscles contract.

Electrolytes help retain water in the bloodstream, maintain your blood volume and support consistent circulation. The elements that make up electrolytes are Sodium, Magnesium, Potassium, Calcium, Chloride, Phosphate and Bicarbonate. For simplicity sake, we will only consider Sodium.

In the power plant, Sodium is like a cooling system that needs pressure to keep fluid moving and ensure delivery to all components. If you only use water to hydrate, the pressure drops, fluid leaks out of circulation and delivery becomes inefficient.

This means that electrolytes are diluted, performance is reduced and in extreme cases hyponatremia becomes a real risk.

Hyponatremia is the condition that occurs when there is too little sodium in your bloodstream and can manifest in symptoms like confusion, irritability, weakened reflexes, nausea and vomiting, seizures or even coma in severe cases.

So, in the power plant, water fills the pipes of the cooling system while sodium keeps it under pressure and moving where its needed.

Maintain the Stability – Flow Rate

A final component to hydration is flow rate.

Its not just about enough water and enough sodium, but rather how consistently the system is supplied of these resources.

If the coolant arrives too late or in large, irregular bursts, the plant experiences temperature spikes and unstable pressure. In a poorly regulated system, some parts of the plant can experience “runaway processes” and cause them to run outside safe operating limits. For the endurance athlete, this is exhibited in cramping.

This means that chugging occasionally does not make for an effective hydration strategy. Steady intake ensures a stable system.

Hydration is a very, very subjective thing since everyone sweats at different rates. Not only this, but our sweat is made up of a different combination of electrolytes. This means that the rate at which you need to replenish water and sodium differs greatly from person to person.

Not all power plants lose coolant at the same rate, some experience small leaks, other have more dramatic losses in pressure.

Getting the right amount of Sodium

There is a baseline Sodium intake recommended by many experts, which is roughly 500mg of Sodium per hour. This is usually taken through hydration tablets dissolved in water or in “salt pills”. In this podcast episode, endurance coach Andy Brodziak shares more about the ways that proper hydration can aid performance. Also, if you want to delve more into a personalised hydration plan, take a look at this planner by Precision Fuel & Hydration, who have some of the best endurance nutrition and hydration products available.

Ultimately, Hydration isn’t just about drinking water – it’s about running a pressurized cooling system. Water provides the fluid, sodium makes sure it gets to where it’s needed, and steady intake keeps the system stable.

Bringing Nutrition and Hydration together

I’ve earned all the endurance athlete Nutrition and Hydration stripes. I’ve bonked really hard from not fueling enough. I’ve suffered severe stomach cramps from fueling way too much. I’ve made veggie soup by eating everything I could lay my hands on. I’ve obliterated bushes from irresponsible caffeine use.

I’ve had the head splitting headaches from dehydration and I’ve flirted with overhydration (especially in cold weather).

I’ve definitely also taken on enough nutrition but experienced the mysterious crash and burn of insufficient Sodium.

Which is why my Nutrition and Hydration strategy has simplified dramatically over the years. I combine Nutrition and Hydration by using a carb drink mix as my main fuel source during long runs and marathons. I always carry my faithful Aonijie Windrunner hydration pack with at least 2 litres of drink mix. For training runs and any race shorter than a half marathon, I will usually have a collapsible water bottle with the carb drink mix.

This might seem weird to some, especially since I sometimes carry as much as 3kg extra fluid when I carry two additional 500ml flasks at the start of a long race.

This also hides a secret performance advantage: it slows me down just enough at the start of a race to ensure that I pace myself properly since the pack gets lighter as the race continues.

3 litres of the 32Gi Endure mix equates to 5 portions which is 220g of carbs, which is enough for almost 3 hours of running at a consumption rate of 80g of carbs per hour.

For a marathon, I’ll typically run around 4 hours, so I’ll augment this with two jelly bars from 32Gi (33g of carbs each) and 1 or 2 gels (21g of carbs each) depending on the performance goal for the day. If it’s meant to be an easier run, I’ll skip the gels.

I also fuel myself with the same breakfast for every marathon with a cup of black coffee, 125g of Futurelife mixed with water, a banana and a tablespoon of overnight-soaked chia seeds. The chia seeds are high in energy, but not so high in carbs. I got hooked on them after reading about it during Born 2 Run and the use of the Tarahumara people who could run on only chia seeds for hours on end. I never eat this breakfast on other days. It's simple and I've conditioned my gut to know that when this combination of fuel comes its way, my body is going to run for a long time.

These products all work really well together and also contributes to a really simple hydration protocol.

The 5 portions of Endure mix contribute 1160mg of Sodium, the Jelly bars contribute 260mg and the gels contribute 118mg of Sodium. This adds up to 384.5mg of Sodium per hour. To get to at least 500mg per hour, I’ll use a CrampEase tablet, that contains 90mg per tablet, every 30 minutes. This means my base Sodium intake for a 4 hour marathon is 564.5mg per hour. If it’s a really hot day, I’ll add a 32Gi Hydrate tablet to my empty water bottles for 300mg extra, or I’ll use a few 32Gi Cramp Assalt gel, which is an assault on the senses, for 180mg extra.

For Comrades 2025, in the week leading up to the race there was fear that we would be running the coldest Comrades ever with potential rainfall. This wasn't unfounded, since the rain hit a day late and we drove back to Gauteng in torrential rain.

The actual race weekend turned into one of classic humid KZN weather. In anticipation of a tough race day. I "pre-loaded" with two 1000mg Sodium supplements (here's 32Gi's version). On a day where many wilted in the heat and suffered severe cramps, I never had the slightest hint of cramp or dehydration.

I'll probably always experiment with different products, but I'll now happily die on my nutrition and hydration strategy hill.

Signing off on the Power Plant

Throughout this series of blog posts, I have taken you through the steps I took to improve from a 10:22 Comrades in 2024 to a 08:56 Comrades in 2025.

I am under no illusion that this makes me an "elite" athlete, but it will probably stand as my greatest athletic achievement for a while.

I've learned through bitter race experiences that preparation for endurance events like Comrades require a well-sorted Control Room that can accurately interpret internal signals. I've learned how to have my Maintenance Crew primed for installing training upgrades with enough sleep and mobility work. I now know how to Prepare my Power Plant.

I've learned how to recruit more workers and build more furnaces for my power plant with easy training. I've learned how to make those workers more efficient by doing hard training. I've also learned how to improve my plant's infrastructure with strength training. I now know how to Build my Power Plant.

I've learned how to supply my power plant with the right type of fuel at the right time in the right amounts. And I've learned how to keep my power plant cool with a steady and sufficient hydration strategy. I now know how to Use my Power Plant.

I will not be using the blueprint for 2026, but will exercise my FOMO by constantly refreshing the Comrades tracking app and following the journeys of my fellow power plant builders up to Pietermaritzburg. I know that their plants are up to the task.

All that remains now is to sign off on the design of this power plant and start building for Comrades 2027. It will be the 100th running of the race and I can't wait to turn my toenails the colour of Fanta Grape again with another trip down to Durban.