Possibly the biggest challenge I've faced with my current training and slowcarb diet regime is fueling myself properly for long rides in hot weather. It caused me a big problem in the first week when I totally hit the wall on a relatively short (75km) ride and sent me into research mode ever since.
The typical endurance athlete routine is this: carbo load the night before with buckets of pasta or similar, jam some more carbs in pre-event, alternate between water and sugary "sports drinks" such as Gatorade, and then suck down energy gels or munch on Powerbars to get to the finish. Quite clearly its all about burning the recently injested carbs. Problem is we can only store so much of these carbs and they usually begin to run out after a few hours of exercise, hence the gels, bars and Gatordades for longer events.
Slowcarb is about accessing the much richer stores of energy know as fat, not the cheap sugars. Therefore I'm avoiding the traditional on-bike "nutrition" and looking at alternatives.
My first breakthrough was Vitargo S2. This is a powdered supplement derived from barley that can be added to water bottles as a sugarless carb. Vitargo is virtually bloat-proof, produces a 2x faster glycemic (blood sugar) rise, and promotes 1.7x faster muscle carbohydrate (glycogen) and performance recover. I have begun drinking Vitargo on long rides and immediately after hard workouts like sprints.
I recently did a 120km ride in 30+C heat using Vitargo as my only on bike food or supplement. That's almost 4 hours with no gels, bars or Gatorade without hitting the wall with any energy flats. I fueled up pre-ride with a slow carb breakfast. Admittedly I was bloody hungry by the time I finished, but still had energy.
The biggest concern on that ride, and probably for the rest of summer, is electrolyte replacement when I am sweating so much. I have lost 1.5 and 1.3 kg in weight on each of my last two long hot rides so I am clearly sweating a lot. By avoiding "sports drinks" I am also missing out on replacing the electrolytes. My next experiment is to add an electrolyte powder to my Vitargo bottles for the long rides. It might require a few tests to get the balance right.
Finally, the question of actual food during rides. Its hard to continue riding when the tummy feels totally empty and while the Vitargo appears to be successfully fueling me it'd be nice to mucnh on something more substantial. Unfortunately most slowcarb meals don't translate to great on-bike dishes. Tuna and beans anyone??
I've begun buying a range of different low carb protein bars and will test which ones are best to eat on a ride and don't melt into the back pocket. These bars are the sort of things body builders like to snack on. Protein for muscles, no carbs to keep the fat off.
I'm hoping all this, combined with my healthy slowcarb meals, will enable me to ride long distances without blowing up and resorting to gels and sugar drinks. Time will tell.
Update: so far I have been on the slowcarb diet and training regime outlined in previous posts for just over a month, I've lost 5kg in total weight and getting close to my targets. Training is going very well.
tratto da: http://craigwilson.posterous.com/rethinking-sports-nutrition-for-endurance-ath
The typical endurance athlete routine is this: carbo load the night before with buckets of pasta or similar, jam some more carbs in pre-event, alternate between water and sugary "sports drinks" such as Gatorade, and then suck down energy gels or munch on Powerbars to get to the finish. Quite clearly its all about burning the recently injested carbs. Problem is we can only store so much of these carbs and they usually begin to run out after a few hours of exercise, hence the gels, bars and Gatordades for longer events.
Slowcarb is about accessing the much richer stores of energy know as fat, not the cheap sugars. Therefore I'm avoiding the traditional on-bike "nutrition" and looking at alternatives.
My first breakthrough was Vitargo S2. This is a powdered supplement derived from barley that can be added to water bottles as a sugarless carb. Vitargo is virtually bloat-proof, produces a 2x faster glycemic (blood sugar) rise, and promotes 1.7x faster muscle carbohydrate (glycogen) and performance recover. I have begun drinking Vitargo on long rides and immediately after hard workouts like sprints.
I recently did a 120km ride in 30+C heat using Vitargo as my only on bike food or supplement. That's almost 4 hours with no gels, bars or Gatorade without hitting the wall with any energy flats. I fueled up pre-ride with a slow carb breakfast. Admittedly I was bloody hungry by the time I finished, but still had energy.
The biggest concern on that ride, and probably for the rest of summer, is electrolyte replacement when I am sweating so much. I have lost 1.5 and 1.3 kg in weight on each of my last two long hot rides so I am clearly sweating a lot. By avoiding "sports drinks" I am also missing out on replacing the electrolytes. My next experiment is to add an electrolyte powder to my Vitargo bottles for the long rides. It might require a few tests to get the balance right.
Finally, the question of actual food during rides. Its hard to continue riding when the tummy feels totally empty and while the Vitargo appears to be successfully fueling me it'd be nice to mucnh on something more substantial. Unfortunately most slowcarb meals don't translate to great on-bike dishes. Tuna and beans anyone??
I've begun buying a range of different low carb protein bars and will test which ones are best to eat on a ride and don't melt into the back pocket. These bars are the sort of things body builders like to snack on. Protein for muscles, no carbs to keep the fat off.
I'm hoping all this, combined with my healthy slowcarb meals, will enable me to ride long distances without blowing up and resorting to gels and sugar drinks. Time will tell.
Update: so far I have been on the slowcarb diet and training regime outlined in previous posts for just over a month, I've lost 5kg in total weight and getting close to my targets. Training is going very well.
tratto da: http://craigwilson.posterous.com/rethinking-sports-nutrition-for-endurance-ath
