When it comes to trail running, your legs are only as good as the fuel behind them. Whether you're grinding through a 100-miler or hammering a vertical kilometer, getting your nutrition strategy right is the difference between a PR and a DNF. On Rendezvu, a growing community of elite trail runners, coaches, and ultra-distance athletes have been sharing the exact products they rely on — and the patterns in their choices reveal a clear picture of what actually works on the trail.
We dug into the data across every active nutrition and fueling list on the platform to find the products that keep appearing again and again. Here's what the trail running community on Rendezvu is reaching for, and more importantly, why.
Precision Hydration: The Brand That Keeps Showing Up
If there's a single brand that dominates the trail running nutrition conversation on Rendezvu, it's Precision Hydration. Their products appear on more host lists than any other nutrition brand, recommended by everyone from national champions to physiology students.
PF 90 Gel — The Consensus Pick
The PF 90 Gel is the only nutrition product on Rendezvu recommended by multiple trail running hosts independently, appearing on the lists of both Meikael Beaudoin Rousseau and Jack Mislinski. That's notable because these two come from very different corners of the sport.
Jack, an ultra runner and applied physiology student based in Colorado Springs, calls it a strong high-carb gel alternative, noting its balanced glucose-to-fructose ratio and superior GI tolerance. He's studying the science of endurance performance at the graduate level, so when he puts something on his list, there's research backing it up. Jack is also the founder of Funspan, a program focused on optimizing joy and meaning through long mountain sufferfests, and is a 2025 PCT thru-hiker. You can browse his full fueling list at rendezvu.co/jack-mislinski/pf-90-gel.
Meikael — known on the platform simply as Meika — is a two-time Trail and Mountain Running National Champion with podium finishes at the Golden Trail World Series, WMRA World Cup, and a UTMB Major. A Stanford graduate in Human Biology, he's also an accomplished mountaineer who has set over a dozen FKTs in the Eastern Sierras on routes like the Palisade Traverse and the East Face of Mount Whitney. His gear philosophy is simple: safe, simple, light, and fast. When someone like that puts a gel on their list, it says something.
PH 1000 & Carb & Electrolyte Drink Mix
Meika also recommends the PH 1000 electrolyte supplement and the Carb & Electrolyte Drink Mix from Precision Hydration, rounding out a full-system fueling approach from a single trusted brand.
PH 1500 & PF 30 Chew
Over on the coaching side, Next Best Run — the coaching service run by two-time Olympian Kim Conley and coach Drew Wartenburg out of Flagstaff, Arizona — recommends the PH 1500 Low Calorie Electrolyte Supplement. In their notes, they explain it's ideal for salty sweaters, delivering 750mg of sodium without extra carbs. Kim herself adds these tablets to her high-carb Skratch bottles to boost sodium content — a pro-level stacking strategy worth noting.
Meanwhile, ultra runner Megan Eckert includes the PF 30 Chew on her nutrition list, noting its mild flavor and easy stomach tolerance. Megan's credentials speak for themselves: she recently ran 603 miles in just six days, a distance that is pending ratification as a record. Her Big Backyard personal best sits at 92 yards. When someone who runs that far and that long says a product is easy on the stomach, you listen.
Tailwind Nutrition: The Endurance Staple
Tailwind is another brand that surfaces repeatedly across Rendezvu's trail running community, and for good reason — it's built for exactly the kind of long, sustained efforts that trail and ultra runners demand.
High Carb Fuel
Jack Mislinski is an outspoken advocate for Tailwind's High Carb Fuel, writing passionately about how the high-carb revolution has changed his approach to training. In his words, high-carb fueling doesn't just make him faster — it makes him fitter and healthier by pushing adaptation over long time periods. He's been a Tailwind loyalist for the electrolytes, the science-backed fructose-to-glucose ratio, and the flavor, so their high-carb offering was a natural fit.
Endurance Fuel
Next Best Run recommends the classic Endurance Fuel, noting its dual delivery of carbs and sodium — 25g of carbohydrates and 310mg of sodium per serving. For a coaching service that has helped hundreds of runners from first-timers to Olympic Trials competitors, Tailwind is clearly a reliable go-to they feel comfortable recommending to athletes at every level.
Endurance Fuel: Strawberry Lemonade
Jackson, Wyoming's own Andie Cornish includes the limited-edition Endurance Fuel: Strawberry Lemonade on her nutrition list. Andie is a professional mountain athlete who splits her year between trail racing internationally in the summer and ski mountaineering in the Tetons during winter. A former NCAA D1 track and cross-country athlete at the University of Vermont, she's won the Wild 15K at Jackson Hole's Teton Mountain Runs and placed 8th at US Mountain Champs in 2024. Her notable ski descents include the East Face of Middle Teton Glacier Route and the Apocalypse Couloir — so when she picks a fuel for mountain efforts, it's been tested at altitude and on serious terrain.
Skratch Labs: Science Meets Flavor
Skratch Labs shows up across multiple hosts' lists, and each recommender highlights a different product suited to their specific needs.
Hydration Sport Drink Mix
Megan Eckert recommends the Hydration Sport Drink Mix and shares a practical tip: the seasonal Apple Cider flavor is best served hot, while lemon-lime and fruit punch are her everyday go-to flavors. Small details like this are what make athlete-curated lists so valuable — you don't get this from a product page.
Super High-Carb Sport Drink Mix
Next Best Run features the Super High-Carb Sport Drink Mix, which delivers 50g of carbohydrates per serving. This is Kim Conley's go-to for long runs and the marathon distance. She combines the lemon-lime flavor with Precision Hydration tablets to boost sodium — another example of that expert-level product stacking that separates elite fueling strategies from basic ones.
Energy Bar Sport Fuel
Megan also lists the Energy Bar Sport Fuel from Skratch, singling out the cinnamon oatmeal flavor as a delicious post-run commute snack. Sometimes the best nutrition isn't just about performance — it's about the small rewards that make the miles worthwhile.
UnTapped: The Natural Energy Choice
Andie Cornish is a clear champion of UnTapped products, featuring three of their items on her Rendezvu nutrition list. UnTapped's maple-syrup-based approach to sports nutrition resonates with athletes who want clean, natural ingredients without synthetic additives.
Her picks include the Maple UnTapped energy gel (a pure maple syrup gel designed for quick absorption), the Waffle Variety Pack (a box of 12 maple-based stroopwafels in six flavors), and the Lemon Tea Mapleaid electrolyte mix infused with organic black tea for a natural caffeine kick.
As someone who studied environmental science and uses her platform to promote sustainability in the outdoors, Andie's preference for a Vermont-based, all-natural brand like UnTapped aligns perfectly with her values both on and off the trail.
Electrolytes for the Long Haul
LMNT Recharge
Next Best Run recommends LMNT Recharge as their favorite way to pre-hydrate before long runs and races or rehydrate after hard summer sessions. Their tip for winter training is great: mix the chocolate salt flavor with hot water for a rehydration hot chocolate. That's the kind of practical wisdom that comes from years of coaching in Flagstaff's altitude and dry climate.
Liquid IV Hydration Multiplier
Andie Cornish includes the Liquid IV Hydration Multiplier in lemon-lime on her list, a popular electrolyte mix that delivers three times the electrolytes of standard sports drinks.
SaltStick FastChews
Both Megan Eckert and Meika recommend SaltStick FastChews — Megan's pick in coconut pineapple and Meika's in the standard formula. Chewable electrolyte tablets are a smart choice for mountain and trail running where fumbling with powder mixes mid-effort isn't practical.
The Everyday Essentials
A few more products round out the trail running nutrition landscape on Rendezvu:
Nate Ward, a Jackson, Wyoming-based trail running enthusiast who has skied lines on the Grand Teton and Mount Moran and races 100-mile ultras, keeps his training fuel list stocked with accessible staples: Honey Stinger Waffles, Clif Bloks Energy Chews, Huma Gel Chia Energy Gel, First Endurance Liquid Shot, and PROBAR Meal Bar in S'mores. As someone who describes himself as passionate about having the best gear possible, his list reflects a runner who has tested widely and keeps what works.
Jack Mislinski also features two gel options from The Feed on his fueling list — the Gel 100 (which he notes is the gel he most commonly sees littered on race courses, a testament to its popularity) and the Organic Gel from Honey Stinger. He also includes the BETA Fuel Gels from SiS, which he calls his go-to at 40g of carbs per gel, noting that two per hour hits his sweet spot.
Next Best Run rounds things out with the Maurten Gel 100 and the Victus 02 During Gel — the latter packing 45g of carbs and 343mg of sodium per serving, making it their pick for a high-carb, high-sodium option.
Hydration Hardware
Nutrition isn't just about what you consume — it's about how you carry and access water on the move. Andie Cornish includes the Katadyn BeFree Water Filter Bottle on her trail running list, a smart choice for long mountain efforts where refilling from natural sources is necessary. She also lists the Bivo Trio 21oz Insulated Bottle for keeping drinks cold during hot summer runs in the Tetons.
The Takeaway
A few clear themes emerge from the trail running nutrition recommendations on Rendezvu. First, high-carb fueling has become the standard — nearly every host is prioritizing products that deliver 30g+ of carbohydrates per serving, reflecting the broader shift in endurance sports nutrition. Second, Precision Hydration dominates the electrolyte conversation, with their products appearing across more hosts than any other single brand. Third, product stacking is common at the elite level — combining drink mixes with electrolyte tablets, or pairing gels with dedicated hydration solutions, is how the best runners dial in their intake.
Most importantly, every product on this list comes recommended by someone who has put serious miles into testing it — from Megan Eckert's 603-mile week to Kim Conley's two Olympic appearances to Meikael Beaudoin Rousseau's national championships. These aren't sponsored posts or affiliate links — they're the genuine choices of people who depend on their fuel to perform.
Explore all of these lists and more on Rendezvu.
