Currently, with 6 months until I start my solo ocean row, I am in the midst of training and am cycling and rowing daily, just to get the body used to activity every day, I’ll build on those volumes as we get closer to the event but for now I am absolutely on track, which feels great. On top of the cycling and rowing I’m weight training 3 x a week, I could do a whole post about weight training another time but suffice to say for now, it is the BEST thing to be doing. Part of this involves pulling a giant tractor tyre around my village and I get lots of interesting comments from my fellow villagers, I’ll get photos of that and share those next time.

But most importantly right now I’m having to submit my race food strategy to the event organisers. I have to take 60 calories per kilo of body weight, which I estimate will be around 4,500 calories for me and as a solo rower I have to take a mandatory 85 days worth of food with me. Will I need all that food, I hope not because I’d love to finish in under 60 days but equally, if the weather and winds are against me then I will be heartily grateful for the extra days food I have on board.

Food becomes so important on the ocean, not just for fuel but from a motivational point of view to. Having done 2 of my 3 Ironman races as a low carb athlete I am very clear here about what works for me and over the last few months I have honed my levels to work with my hormones, especially important as I am still in the midst of going through menopause. Suffice to say here, if I keep my carb levels below 60g per day any menopausal symptoms I have disappear, if I go over 100g of carbs per day they come back, hmmmm interesting isn’t it how the right food is so important to us!

For my ocean row I am focused on nutritionally strong foods, not doing what most athletes do and consume excess carbs and sugar in some misguided believe that their bodies need it. So, currently on my list for meals is Natural Ketosis Granola for breakfast, for milk I will use a protein shake which I will mix up fresh every morning from by water supplies, to add in some extra calories, I’ll add in a goodly dollop of peanut butter too, now the granola is delicious without the peanut butter but this takes it to a whole other level and will be a stunning start to my day on the ocean.

Lunch will invariably be a Natural Ketosis meal, one of my current favourites is the Swedish Meatballs, these are so delicious I can even eat them cold if I want to and in temperatures over 30 degrees sometimes that might be a very real choice. To add to this meal I will be adding some extras to this so maybe some pork scratchings, or even biltong or salami sausage, I may even add in another dollop of peanut butter. I’ll listen to my body and see what it needs.

Dinner might be a Thai Chicken Curry, again this is delicious cold but if I’m eating as the sun goes down I might prefer this one as a hot meal, again I’ll add extras to it, so maybe some dried cheese pieces which act a bit like cheesy croutons or even some cheesy kale crisps or dried seaweed.

Snacks wise I’ll be taking a mixture, Fatt do some amazing bars of which some of my favourites are the Almond cookie and the Raspberry muffin, but I’ll also add in some dark chocolate covered almonds, some plain dark chocolate and some peanut butter bites, so tasty and so delicious but most importantly, packed full of good nutrition and I’ve worked out my carb levels come to about 56g per day, perfect for my body.


Until next time,
Victoria