Do Ultra Runners Really Need Gels?

Ask a group of ultra runners how they fuel, and you'll get more answers than there are miles in the race.

Some live on gels. Others graze on potatoes, wraps, bananas, rice balls, and whatever looks appealing at aid stations. The question always comes back around:

Do you actually need gels to run an ultra?

The truth is: no, you don't. But they are still one of the most effective tools available — especially when used alongside real food. Most runners feel and perform at their best when they don't choose one or the other, but instead use both at the right times.

Fuelling long distances is mostly about consistency. Most runners consume somewhere between 40–90 grams of carbohydrate (CHO) per hour, depending on body size, intensity, duration, goals, and gut tolerance. Training runs are an opportunity to practise and refine the strategy you'll use on race day. Alongside carbohydrate comes the need for sodium and steady hydration so digestion keeps working.

You can hit those numbers with gels, potatoes, bananas, wraps, rice, fruit, or homemade pouches. What matters far more than the format is whether you can digest it, tolerate it, and keep eating.

Why Real Food Matters

Real food plays an important role in ultra running. During the early hours of a long race, real food often feels grounding. It's comforting, satisfying, and for many runners, gentler on the stomach than an endless stream of sugary gels.

Real food provides variety in texture and flavour, helping runners continue eating consistently over many hours and avoid the dreaded sweetness overload that often arrives late in an ultra. There's also a psychological benefit — it feels like being properly fed rather than simply fuelled. That feeling can be incredibly powerful.

But real food has its downsides. It's bulkier, messier, and harder to chew when fatigue catches up with you. Foods that taste wonderful in hour one can feel impossible in hour eight. Digestion slows down, and chewing becomes more of a task than you'd expect.

Why Gels Still Have Their Place

This is where gels continue to shine. They're quick, predictable, and require no chewing. They absorb rapidly, fit into any pocket, and work even when your appetite disappears. In the later stages of a race, when terrain becomes technical or your brain turns foggy, a gel is often the one thing you can still rely on.

They're not perfect. The sweetness can become overwhelming, and many runners need time to train their gut to tolerate them well. But when used strategically, they do their job exceptionally well.

When Gels Make the Most Sense

• On steep climbs when stopping to chew feels inconvenient.
• During technical descents where one-handed eating matters.
• In the final hours of a race when appetite disappears.
• In cold weather when opening wrappers becomes difficult.
• As emergency backup nutrition.
• During races where consistent carbohydrate intake is the priority.

Train Your Gut

Whatever foods you choose, remember this: the gut is trainable. Practising with gels, real food, or homemade pouches during training allows your digestive system to adapt and become more efficient. The more familiar your body is with your race-day nutrition, the more reliable it becomes when the miles begin to stack up. Nothing new on race day.

The Best Strategy? Use Everything

Most experienced ultra runners eventually settle into a rhythm that uses all available tools:

• Real food early — grounding, comfortable, satisfying.
• A mixture of real food and gels through the middle.
• Mostly gels and quick carbohydrates late — when chewing feels like hard work.

It's flexible, practical, and forgiving.

How My Children Changed the Way I Fuel

My own approach shifted dramatically thanks to something completely unrelated to running: feeding my children.

When my youngest was a baby, I made everything from scratch — purées, soups, mashed vegetables, and soft fruit blends — and stored them in reusable pouches. Years later, preparing for a long fell run, I spotted those empty pouches in a cupboard.

"Why wasn't I using these for my own fuel?"

So I tried it. One pouch contained mashed potato. Another held sweet potato. A third combined banana and honey. Out on the trails, they were perfect. Soft. Easy to swallow. Gentle on the stomach. Familiar and comforting. They didn't leave sticky hands, and I could control every ingredient — the carbohydrate content, the salt, the texture, and the flavour.

It felt like the perfect midpoint between real food and commercial gels. It also made me realise something important. The way my children ate — small portions, soft textures, frequent feeding, simple flavours — was exactly how my own body preferred to take on energy during long runs.

Perhaps we overcomplicate ultra fuelling. Sometimes simple, child-like nutrition works remarkably well.

Why I Don't Recommend Commercial Baby Food Pouches

Store-bought baby food pouches seem convenient, but they aren't designed for endurance athletes. They're intentionally low in sodium — exactly the opposite of what many ultra runners need. They're often relatively low in carbohydrate, with many containing only 8–12 grams per pouch. Many rely heavily on apple or pear purées, which some runners may find difficult to tolerate during prolonged exercise.

Homemade pouches give you complete control over ingredients, flavour, carbohydrate content, and sodium. For long mountain days, they're a far better option.

How to Make Your Own Fuel Pouches

Making homemade fuel pouches is wonderfully simple. Choose soft foods. Mash or blend them. Add a splash of water, broth, or electrolyte drink. Then spoon the mixture into reusable pouches.

Working out the carbohydrate content is straightforward: weigh the ingredients, use the carbohydrate-per-100g information from food labels, add everything together, and divide by the number of pouches. It doesn't need to be perfect. Close enough is good enough.

Real-Food Fuel Pouch Recipes

Don't Forget Sodium

Homemade foods often contain far less sodium than commercial sports products. Consider adding salt to savoury recipes, using salted broth, carrying electrolyte tablets, and monitoring your sodium intake separately. Carbohydrates matter. Hydration matters. But sodium matters too.

Other Real-Food Options That Work Brilliantly

Ultra runners have always been wonderfully creative with food. Some tried-and-tested favourites:

Lessons Learned on Long Runs

I still remember a winter long run where I'd packed only gels to be “disciplined.” By hour three, the sweetness was unbearable. I opened my vest. More gels. And more gels. At that moment, I would have traded the entire collection for one cold, salty potato.

The experience taught me an important lesson: training isn't just about logging miles. It's about learning what you genuinely want to eat when fatigue arrives.

Another mountain race reinforced that lesson. Late in the event, tired and struggling to face another sugary option, I was handed a small wrap filled with mashed potato and salt. It grounded me immediately. The simple comfort of real food made all the difference.

And once, during a long race, another runner smiled while eating rice pudding from a soft flask and said: “Gels are for survival. Rice pudding is for joy.”

He might have been onto something. Because sometimes joy is the most powerful fuel of all.

Final Thoughts

You don't need gels to run an ultra. But they're an incredibly useful safety net when chewing becomes difficult or when you need quick, reliable energy.

• Real food keeps you comfortable.
• Gels keep you consistent.
• Homemade pouches combine many of the strengths of both.

The best fuelling strategy will always be the one that uses all the tools available and trains your gut to handle them. Ultra running is as much an eating challenge as it is a running challenge. Feed yourself well, and the miles become far more enjoyable.