Racing nutrition advice part 2

I just got back from racing 8 days out on the West Coast of BC. That’s my second year doing BCBR and it was epic. Approx 400kms of racing with over 25,000′ vert gain on 70% singletrack – that’s gnarly technical West Coast singletrack. I loved it. I highly recommend the event if you are seeking incredible singletrack.

Upon reflection post-event, I saw improvements this year as compared to racing the same event last year. I can account for this due to a tweak within my training calendar to more correctly address the demands of 3.5 – 4hr race days requiring redlined efforts every day. I managed the intense starts better and generally could stay on the rivet longer. I was pretty happy with my fitness and am looking forward to checking out how things are progressing towards the World 24hr Solo Championships in Oct with another race fitness test comprised of a 24hr solo race coming up in just over two weeks. Canmore is always a tough but fun course, I think it will be my 4th time racing there for a 24hr solo. I’m interested to see how things will pan out.

As promised, here’s part 2 of the racing nutrition advice for endurance racers, it went out in the WSC newsletter just over a week ago so I hope you weren’t holding your breath all that time. Hope you enjoy the advice, as always you can drop me a line with questions anytime.

“Hydration

Many individual and environmental factors affect the rate of sweat loss during exercise. It is therefore recommended that athletes monitor changes in body weight during training in order to estimate sweat losses (see table). Undertaking this exercise in a variety of conditions will enable you to develop a hydration plan for use during races.

Typical sweat rates may be around 500-1000ml per hour but can be higher in hot conditions and may be lower in cool conditions when exercise intensity is low. During a 24 hour mountain bike race, sweat losses will be at their lowest during the night as the pace slows and the temperature drops.

Athletes are advised to drink at a rate that is comfortable and practical to replace most of their losses. Remember that thirst is generally not a reliable indicator of hydration status.

How to estimate sweat losses during exercise…”

To read the rest of the article go to the archived newsletter and scroll down towards the bottom:

http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs005/1102936960953/archive/1103503869669.html