The 4th discipline… FUEL
Nutrition can be a hard thing to dial in but if you practice and track it, you will know how many calories, how much hydration and even how much salt you will need for all kinds of conditions. If you are exercising more that 60-90 mins at a time you need to be focused on fueling your body during your endurance training and or races. Our muscles have enough glycogen stores for about 90 mins max of exercise and if you don’t keep topping off the gas tank you will “Bonk”/“hit the wall”! Eat too much and you will simply barf. Our bodies can’t process calories the same way when it’s under stress (exercising). Throw in salt and electrolytes factors along with weather conditions and It’s a lot to balance for sure! Tips; track it all so you know how to adjust! If you don’t know how much you consume it’s hard to know what to change. Use EVERY training session as an opportunity to practice and learn. Time when you eat and drink so it’s always on a precise schedule to keep you on track!
What do I do?
Today’s workout was a 4:20 bike of hills followed by a 20 min run. I aim for 300-350 calories per hour of almost strictly carbs! Carbs=gas! During todays ride I had 4 servings of Tailwind (200 calories per serving of sugar and electrolytes), 2 oat bars (150 calories mostly carbs) and 2 Maurtan Gels (100 calories each) and one bottle of Body Armor sports drink I bought at the gas station lol (120 calories of carbs). I had an additional 5.5 bottles of 22 oz of water (121 ounces plain or mixed with the tailwind). If I was racing I would have had more concentrated tailwind and more gels instead of the oat bars but because I had a longer ride and lots of climbing I knew I’d need some solid today.
So if you are keeping track that is 800 (tailwind) + 300 (oat bars) + 200 (gels) + 120 (sports drink) for a total of 1,420 calories and about 28 ounces of water per hour. I felt fueled the whole day, never felt hungry. At one point I felt a little bit of an incurable thirst which I know is a sign for lack of salt but it wasn’t too bad. I consumed almost all of this on the bike. Just took a gel before I started the run considering it was only 20 mins and I fueled properly leading into it I knew I’d have enough gas in the tank to get through.
When you stop exercising your body doesn’t just suddenly stop burning calories. Being prepared for AFTER your workout can help aid your recovery! Today I had 40 ounces of water on the way home, a protein shake and an oat bar (my favorite is a banana but I didn’t have one). Hope this helps you!
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