Racing nutrition advice part 3

July 28, 2010 by · Leave a Comment 

As promised, here’s part 3 of the racing nutrition advice for endurance racers, it went out in the WSC newsletter two weeks ago. Hope you enjoy the advice, as always you can drop me a line with questions anytime.

“Nutrition for recovery

During the recovery phase of a 24hr mountain bike race, key nutrition goals include fluid and electrolyte replacement and the restoration of muscle and liver glycogen stores. Consideration should also be given to the nutrients required to support the repair of damaged tissue and promote immune function following exercise.

Most athletes will finish a 24hr race with some degree of dehydration, even if they have stuck to a fluid intake plan during the event. One way to gauge fluid losses from exercise is monitor your change in weight immediately after exercise to determine your fluid deficit. Remember that 1kg of weight loss roughly equates to 1L of fluid. Fluid losses continue during the recovery period in the form of ongoing sweating and urination therefore athletes are advised to replace about 125-150% of their fluid losses over the 4-6 hours after exercise. For example, if you lost 1kg (1000ml) during exercise, you should aim to drink about 1250 – 1500ml of fluid after exercise.

In 24hr racing however, this method…”

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/1103566110802.html

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Racing nutrition advice part 2

July 8, 2010 by · Leave a Comment 

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

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Racing nutrition advice

June 6, 2010 by · Leave a Comment 

I finished editing issue #7 of the World Solo Championship newsletter a few days ago and it went out on time. In case you haven’t seen it yet there is some good basic racing nutritional advice for the endurance racer (or most racers) and if you keep your eye on the newsletter over the next few weeks you might learn a thing or two.

This is part one of a three part series and I’m including the relevant text from the newsletter as well as a link to read the rest of the article in the newsletter.

Enjoy!

“Carbohydrate Loading

Good preparation for a 24 hour mountain bike race should begin a few days out with attention to a high carbohydrate diet. Carbohydrate loading, if done correctly, maximizes muscle glycogen stores and improves endurance exercise performance. For effective carbohydrate loading, an exercise taper and a daily intake of 7-10g of carbohydrate per kilogram of body weight is required for the 2-3 days before the event. For a 70kg athlete, this means about 500-700g of carbohydrate per day. Achieving these targets requires planning and it is essential to practice this strategy during training and less important endurance events as it can represent a significant change to your normal eating plan. Commonly, athletes attempting to carbohydrate load fail to meet these targets and consume too many high fat foods along the way. Effective carbohydrate loading is associated with a body mass gain of about 2kg due to the increased stores of muscle glycogen and the water stored with it.

Race morning

A normal sized meal should be eaten 2-4 hours before the start of the race to allow sufficient time for digestion. Choose familiar foods that…”

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/1103188354292.html

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Calories in versus calories out.

December 6, 2009 by · 7 Comments 

We had some friends over for dinner this evening, always a good time. At some point just after dinner someone stated they had heard a statistic that went kind of like this – in the last three months of the year it’s estimated the N. American population sees an average weight gain of 11 pounds. Disturbing, as that is pretty much a extra 1lb of fat gain per week, or in caloric terms an additional 3500 calories per week. It doesn’t have to be that way.

Athletes at this time of year (non-racing time of year) don’t always keep a close track of what they are eating, or their portion sizes based on the various holiday gatherings that start to occur. And since some of their event goals are far off on the time horizon the nutrition discipline may not be in place as ‘the event is months away’. Personally I think a lot of nutritional mistakes occur because of the combined ‘off-season’ and ‘lot’s of time to get my act together’ mentality.

I know some athletes approach the nutrition side of the house as a simple calories in versus calories out. In other words, if your Basal Metabolic Rate is 1400 calories per day and you are expending 600 calories per day due to exercise then your total calories burned is 2000, if you eat 2400 calories that day you are showing a positive 400 calories and you are well on your way to an additional 1lb of fat for the week. Yes I know I simplified the entire caloric equation but it will suffice for my main point which is this, I don’t like to look at nutrition as simply as calories in versus calories out…

A calorie is a unit of measure but it isn’t a unit of quality. Case in point, McDonald’s versus a quality home-cooked meal. If you eat a greasy Big Mac hamburger from McDonald’s along with their even greasier fries and wash it down with a soda you are looking at approx 1350 calories and 1500mg of sodium. 1350 cals that’s the equivalent of 20 apples. If you are paying attention to your daily nutrition and you eat that meal at McDonald’s that leaves you with only 650 calories for the rest of the day (from the time you wake up until you go to bed) if you want to stay calorically neutral. If you decide to skip that days exercise (600 calories) you now have 50 calories left for the entire day, 50 calories. Your McDonald’s trip blew your entire day’s calorie budget.

But like I said calories only measure quantity they don’t measure quality and I am firm on my stance that a Big Mac, fries and soda are pretty much the opposite of what an athlete should be eating. I like to call it clean food versus dirty food. Clean food would be things like lean protein from farms that demonstrate a high level of quality through their feed source and animal husbandry, or quality fruit and vegetables from quality farms that show care in their fertilizer and pesticide protocols. Clean food is clean fuel and after several weeks of clean fuel you think faster, move better, recover quicker, and feel healthier. Dirty food brings with it all the sludge you get from overly processed poor quality ingredients, beef raised on corn feed, vegetables grown in dead soil with a lot of chemical fertilizer, etc; Big Mac, fries and soda make my dirty food list. Your entire day’s caloric consumption in one dirty meal at McDonald’s? Why do people eat McDonald’s? Really, I have no idea.

Is it the perceived time convenience of lining up in your car behind six other cars, waiting to get dirty food and then eating it on the drive home? The time would have been better spent cooking real food (quality food) in your own kitchen. Is it laziness because you don’t want to boil water on a stove? Then go home and don’t go near the stove just make an almond butter, banana and strawberry jam sandwich. And I hear from somewhere out in the crowd, “But that kind of sandwich isn’t a proper meal for supper” my only reply is “And McDonald’s is a proper meal?”.

Calories in versus calories out… it’s so simple but it’s incorrectly focused. Quality in versus calories out is just as simple but a far better way to look at things. Clean fuel is a healthy lifestyle choice that pays dividends for athletes and non-athletes alike, try it, shop and eat clean for the next 30 days and I’m sure you will notice a difference.

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