Figuring out a racing nutritional plan. #1
There are generally two reasons that I can attribute my worst performances to:
1. poor pacing in the early stages
2. poor nutritional decisions during the race
Last week I decided to start being serious about figuring out my nutritional plan for my "A" race coming up in September. I am going to post some of the details of my trails and errors as I experiment during my key training sessions over these last few weeks.
One thing that I did to help me monitor my hydration is that I purchased 4 30oz bottles for my bike and used a permanent marker to put 8oz lines on them. This allows me to see how consistently I have been drinking my water, gatorade endurance, gatorade and/or eFuel.
Here is yesterday's experiment
ride details -
time: 4:47:11 (rode with Ron for about 1:30/1:40)
calories: 2048cal, 50% fat (according to Polar... so?)
ave hr: 130bpm (right at my aerobic level for a ride this long on the bike)
nutrition details - (total consumption)
2 - eFuel's : 420cals, 390mg sodium, 150mg potassium
4 - eGel's : 600cals, 920mg sodium, 340mg potassium
38 oz of h2o
24 oz of extra strength Gatorade (2 scoops of powder / 24oz h2o)
1 Little Debbie Oatmeal Cream Pie : 310cals, 350mg sodium
extra strength Gatorade = 450cals , 855mg sodium , 270mg potassium
Total Intake: 1780cals, 2515mg sodium, 1110mg potassium
Intake / Hour(4.8hrs): 370cals, 524mg sodium, 231mg potassium
Thoughts and Ideas
The caloric intake wasn't enough in my opinion, but when you look at the caloric intake vs. what the Polar says about caloric expenditure then it doesn't look too bad. I wish that I had a power meter of some type so that the caloric expenditure was more accurate, as I am not even sure what the formula is that Polar uses... maybe I'll take a look. I could also sit down and hammer out some estimations, but the terrain, etc. is so variable in KY that it would be no closer, I'm assuming. (A power tap could fix that!)
I also had to stop and pee 3 times! This isn't exciting (re: exclamation point). It is just that I never have to stop during my longer rides? I either started out with the nutrition products too late into the ride or I was riding too intensly, but we were not riding too hard at all and my heart rates were way down the first third of the ride? My total sodium intake seems ok?
If anyone has some thoughts, let me know. The eGel package does say not to use with a sports drink, but I didn't start using the extra strength Gatorade until late into the ride. I always used just water with the eGel's and then for 20 minutes after I took them.
Not only did I have to pee, but my stomach started to feel bloated. These both would be signs of electrolyte imbalance, but I'm not sure why they acted up yesterday as I haven't had any troubles this season? It may be that I didn't have my mountain dew or Ale 8 to supplement everything else? (Might be back to a bottle of ale 8 for me...)
More data to come. I welcome any suggestions or thoughts.
1. poor pacing in the early stages
2. poor nutritional decisions during the race
Last week I decided to start being serious about figuring out my nutritional plan for my "A" race coming up in September. I am going to post some of the details of my trails and errors as I experiment during my key training sessions over these last few weeks.
One thing that I did to help me monitor my hydration is that I purchased 4 30oz bottles for my bike and used a permanent marker to put 8oz lines on them. This allows me to see how consistently I have been drinking my water, gatorade endurance, gatorade and/or eFuel.
Here is yesterday's experiment
ride details -
time: 4:47:11 (rode with Ron for about 1:30/1:40)
calories: 2048cal, 50% fat (according to Polar... so?)
ave hr: 130bpm (right at my aerobic level for a ride this long on the bike)
nutrition details - (total consumption)
2 - eFuel's : 420cals, 390mg sodium, 150mg potassium
4 - eGel's : 600cals, 920mg sodium, 340mg potassium
38 oz of h2o
24 oz of extra strength Gatorade (2 scoops of powder / 24oz h2o)
1 Little Debbie Oatmeal Cream Pie : 310cals, 350mg sodium
extra strength Gatorade = 450cals , 855mg sodium , 270mg potassium
Total Intake: 1780cals, 2515mg sodium, 1110mg potassium
Intake / Hour(4.8hrs): 370cals, 524mg sodium, 231mg potassium
Thoughts and Ideas
The caloric intake wasn't enough in my opinion, but when you look at the caloric intake vs. what the Polar says about caloric expenditure then it doesn't look too bad. I wish that I had a power meter of some type so that the caloric expenditure was more accurate, as I am not even sure what the formula is that Polar uses... maybe I'll take a look. I could also sit down and hammer out some estimations, but the terrain, etc. is so variable in KY that it would be no closer, I'm assuming. (A power tap could fix that!)
I also had to stop and pee 3 times! This isn't exciting (re: exclamation point). It is just that I never have to stop during my longer rides? I either started out with the nutrition products too late into the ride or I was riding too intensly, but we were not riding too hard at all and my heart rates were way down the first third of the ride? My total sodium intake seems ok?
If anyone has some thoughts, let me know. The eGel package does say not to use with a sports drink, but I didn't start using the extra strength Gatorade until late into the ride. I always used just water with the eGel's and then for 20 minutes after I took them.
Not only did I have to pee, but my stomach started to feel bloated. These both would be signs of electrolyte imbalance, but I'm not sure why they acted up yesterday as I haven't had any troubles this season? It may be that I didn't have my mountain dew or Ale 8 to supplement everything else? (Might be back to a bottle of ale 8 for me...)
More data to come. I welcome any suggestions or thoughts.
posted by gary at 3:20 PM
7 Comments:
I'm interested in following your experiments...at this point, I have no thoughts regarding your post(I'll want to read it more in-depth first), except that I spent all day researching degrees in sports nutrition and exercise scient/physiology, wondering why in the world no one combines the two. I am interested in these topics as a career choice, mostly due to the fact that in endurance sports, your nutrition is **vital**. Yet all the sort of "sports science" or exercise study or training or coaching-type degree programs I could find focused solely on kinesthetics and body mechanics and biology, and I didn't find anything that seemed to marry the two.
Oookay, so that was a total ramble. Still not sure it makes sense. Anyway, like I said, I'll be taking a more in-depth look at your post. It's the kind of thing I want to understand better.
This article was posted today on Cycling News....I thought you might have some interest in it if you haven't already seen it:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/fitness.php?id=fitness/2006/sodium_intake
Incidentally, hyponatremia is something I have unfortunately experienced more than once. I have never had to use buffered Na tabs on a bike ride but I do use them during ultras.
so i have to say that it really seems you didn't drink that much for a ride that long. i rode for 4.5 hrs a week ago and went thru 9 21oz bottles--some water, some gatorade. i also find that gels are good but not for the long distances. during races and such bars and pbj are the way to go. i like the pbj cuz they kick in quickly and have some staying power too.
bloating can be a couple of things. I get bloated when i drink too much product and not enought h20--or too much gel. i think it is my stomach rebelling against all the sugars. a pretty good drink additive is called ELETE. they sponsor our team and i have found their tablytes to be a good product.
overall, it is my opinion that people rely too much on all these new products when really they need to use them to supplement the basics--water and food. good luck and happy anniversary!
and note that these comments are not scientific, rather my own experience.
hey thanks everyone for your comments.... I'm still searching for some answers. Slowtwitch.com has a couple threads on their forums today about people experiencing similar issues in races last weekend.
here is a link to articles that I have put in my delicious tags on the subject: hydration, etc..
angie - I'll post again (at your blog) about programs you might want to look at... as Nikki and I have done the ex phys route, I do know of programs that focus on both.
charlotte - thanks, post is in my links
jared - i agree that food is probably a decent approach, but i have not had issues in the past. i'm starting to think that it was an issue with the mixture of drinks and gels though.
thanks for the anniversary mention. which by the way, on the food subject, the top of our cake tasted like stale dog crap.
gary, i'm not sure what the heck all that giberish was that you are writing about here, but i do know that you have gone overboard in your obsessive analyzing of your running habit. you asked for others thoughts so let me tell you about my caloric expenditure of my electrolyte imbalanced power tap today. i was doing my "handy man" turned grunt job today. and i was scrubbing goose, duck, and seagull crap off a huge boat dock. my nutritional intake consisted of A. poptarts for breakfast with a glass of organic apple juice, cause we only use organic now that we are in montana. i started wondering as i was scrubbing the crap off the dock if my caloric expenditure was turning into a electrolyte imbalance, so i pissed off the dock into the lake. i also peed three times today, but after i came home for lunch and had a ham and cheese sandwich i crapped as well. am i going polar? or do i need a power tap. maybe i needed a sodium intake i thought, so i sipped the last of my powerade i found in the back of the frig that i had when we moved into our house a week ago. doesn't go bad i guess. i think tomorrow when i battle a bees nest and clean gutters at 25 feet in the air i will up my sodium, downsize my electrolyte imbalance with a power tap of a frappe from the cowgirl coffee drive through.
the real secret is flattened coke with 1/3 water. that will get you thru anything!
Dan--you are closer to understanding all this than you think!
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