OS Nutrition Public Service Announcement
Every year about 3 to 4 weeks into the OutSeason when the cracks start to emerge. And when I start poking around I find it's not that you are weak...or unsuited....you are being crazy.
LORD HELP THE NEXT PERSON WHO TELLS ME THE WORKOUTS ARE "HARD" BUT THEN TELL ME THEY ONLY DRINK WATER!!!! 
Seriously, the OS is hard...on purpose...and you need your "A" game even if the workout is only 45 minutes long. Here's what I recommend, after years of bonking and ruining my OS workouts until I learned and now feel comfortable enough to use all caps at you.
- 15' before the workout have a gel.
- Then make your drinks, I use Ironman Perform and aim for 24oz every 45 minutes.
- Start your workout.
- Have next gel at 15' mark, middle of warm up.
- Drink every 5' on the bike.
- Continue with gels every 30 minutes, as :15, :45, 1:15, etc.
- Recover afterwards with protein shake or chocolate milk.
- All related/recommended nutrition products are online here under All Star Health.
You will only get out of the OS what you put into it. So just like your 4-hour trip to Grandma's house will suck with no food, water or pit stops, so too will your OutSeason.
First Rule of the OS: Always Bring Your A Game to A Cage Fight.
Please Note: If you have an alternate strategy for managing your nutrition, low-sugar, etc, that's 100% fine. I just want you to eat...I don't care what you eat as long as you eat it!
Comments
OK, I'm in. I'll follow your plan as you have written it exactly for the next week. I'll let you know how the workouts change for me.
Given Coach P's post (or warning!), taking in calories during these workouts will not only fuel our bodies, but prep us to be able to handle the nutrition down the road when our bodies are really put to the test!
Would using bananas instead of gels provide the same benefit? I try to keep things natural whenever possible.
@Peter Yes, always when running. I use a Fuel Belt which I fill with PowerBar Perform and every 35 minutes I have a Perform Gel and every 30 minutes a Salt Stick. I did a Nutrition Consult with The Core Diet and I need a lot of sodium and potassium. I follow the same basic thing on the bike. Occasionally I will switch up a Gel for 3 Cliff Bloks.
--Larry
For runs I have a gel with some water 10-15 minutes before I leave the house, and bring 1-2 w/me in my back pocket of my run jacket. Mix up 1 tablet of Hammer Fizz in water, and divide that into 2-3 bottles on my race belt. I make sure I drink every 15-20 minutes, and have a second gel about every 20-40 minutes.
For the bike, I have a bottle of Fizz between the front bars. Haven't had to use any gels yet.
to others- as many have referred to previously, I'm trying to lose weight now, too, and the workout is NOT the time to restrict those cals. Use that focus for the other 23 hours of the day.
Workout # 1 in the book following the EN nutrition protocol. This was a really difficult workout. Can't say that the added nutrition helped. I do know that the gels and fuel make me feel more thirsty than when I drink water only.
@Brenda & @Al, thank you. This is my first exposure to training with a real plan and with other athletes, albeit online. I am fully invested in the system an intend on continuing with future goals in mind. There are a lot of differing opinions on fueling of workouts. I just read from Joe Friel that he only drinks water for any workout under 3 hours. I try to keep my mind open to all information. I also try to feel any changes that may come from different inputs. The cumulative impact of the OS is beginning to add up. I am still hitting my ranges, but my cadence on the bike is dropping significantly. There was a lot of work today to keep from recording a DNF on the workout. The EN OS has significantly more running than I have done in the past. I have made big gains and am running very fast for me. I am paying for that on the bike.
Fueling the Energy Systems
Nutrients get converted to ATP based upon the intensity and duration of activity, with carbohydrate as the main nutrient fueling exercise of a moderate to high intensity, and fat providing energy during exercise that occurs at a lower intensity. Fat is a great fuel for endurance events, but it is simply not adequate for high intensity exercise such as sprints or intervals. If exercising at a low intensity (or below 50 percent of max heart rate), you have enough stored fat to fuel activity for hours or even days as long as there is sufficient oxygen to allow fat metabolism to occur.
As exercise intensity increases, carbohydrate metabolism takes over. It is more efficient than fat metabolism, but has limited energy stores. This stored carbohydrate (glycogen) can fuel about 2 hours of moderate to high level exercise. After that, glycogen depletion occurs (stored carbohydrates are used up) and if that fuel isn't replaced athletes may hit the wall or "bonk." An athlete can continue moderate to high intensity exercise for longer simply replenishing carbohydrate stores during exercise. This is why it is critical to eat easily digestible carbohydrates during moderate exercise that lasts more than a few hours. If you don't take in enough carbohydrates, you will be forced to reduce your intensity and tap back into fat metabolism to fuel activity.
As exercise intensity increases, carbohydrate metabolism efficiency drops off dramatically and anaerobic metabolism takes over. This is because your body can not take in and distribute oxygen quickly enough to use either fat or carbohydrate metabolism easily. In fact, carbohydrates can produce nearly 20 times more energy (in the form of ATP) per gram when metabolized in the presence of adequate oxygen than when generated in the oxygen-starved, anaerobic environment that occurs during intense efforts (sprinting).
With appropriate training, these energy systems adapt and become more efficient and allow greater exercise duration at higher intensity. courtesy of http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/sportsnutrition/a/Energy_Pathways.htm
"During rides I take in only water unless it lasts longer than 4 hours. In that case I will carry a sports drink in one bottle and save it for the latter portion of the workout. I typically do intervals of various intensities both above and below the lactate threshold, tempo, and aerobic endurance sessions. These are all less than 3 hours. Water only. In the summer I do rides well in excess of 3 hours in the mountains of Colorado with Intensity Factors generally between 75 and 85%. I’ve done rides of greater than 5 hours several times this summer at 70 to 80% taking in no more than a few ounces of a sports drink. There has been no bonking, unusual fatigue or loss of performance from how I’ve done in the past when I was taking in a lot of sports drink."
The full article is http://www.joefrielsblog.com/2013/0...eight.html
It's true that you don't need to take in any new fuel to complete three hours of activity - you can easily rely on your internal glycogen and fat stores as needed to power your muscles. Although, once the glycogen is gone, they will operate exclusively in the less effective fat burning mode, thus slowing you down ("bonking"). And, you don't need any fuel during a typical hour long EN interval workout to complete it effectively - you have enough glycogen on board for 1-2 hours of such activity.
The problem comes, of course, downstream. Fueling during and especially after an intense workout is necessary to replenish the glycogen stores for the next workout(s), 1, 2, 3 days later. Get a little bit behind - ie, don't completely restore the glycogen - and you can't do the subsequent workouts at the level and duration called for - you'll run out of CHO based fuel too soon, and will have to rely soley on fat - just shuffle along at that point. It takes at least 24 hours, even with sufficient calorie intake during and post workout, to completely replace all the glycogen stores in your muscles and liver you've used up during a 75 minute FTP or TP interval workout. This is why avoiding fuel during or even after a workout to "lose weight" or "train your muscle to use fat more effectively" is a misguided and self-defeating effort. It buggers your overall training effort.
A good reason for using fuel as well as fluid even for a longer, slower multi-hour training session (like those three hours Friel mentions): we're training to race, and during a race of longer than three hours (HIM/IM), we'll need to be able to efficiently absorb fuel from our gut while (literally) on the run. Just as our wkos train our muscles, tendons, bones, and brain, so too they can train other organs like our intestines, skin and kidneys, to operate more effectively at the higher levels of work and stress we impose on them.
OK, while I was writing, Edwin included the Friel quote above. My response: first off, I've got a lot of respect for Joe Friel. I follow his blog, and value his ability to keep current with research and synthesize it for the rest of us. And, he's been writing a lot about the Aging Athlete the past two months, which I personally have found valuable.
The problem with his advice, though, is that he is not expecting himself or his clients to do high intensity workouts at the frequency the EN plans prescribe. In the OS especially, we're doing doing such workouts 5 days a week, maybe double what he would say is an appropriate training pattern. When operating in our mode, it's quite common (as Patrick's OP indicates, we see it every year especially in those new to EN training) to gradually get behind in the replenishment of glycogen stores, resulting in the inability to maintain the effort level after 2-4 weeks. It's also why the off days are so important in these plans - recovery is king.
Also, I don't know if Joe Friel has ever done an IM himself, or at least fully understands the nutritional intricacies involved in actually racing for that length of time. Reiterating my point, while we may not need any fuel during a long, slow, "aerobic" 3 hour workout, our GI system can get a lot of benefit from having to learn how to absorb 200-300 calories an hour while running or cycling continuously at, say, 75% of maximum heart rate. Many pure cyclists in training slow down or stop to do their re-fueling. We're not training for bike races, where there may be feed zones, or other times when there is a lull in the action to lower one's HR and allow easier absorption of fuel and fluids. Most of Friel's advice is aimed at cyclists and short course triathletes. The nutritional requirements during such races are significantly different from HIM and IM, where we're going without a break for 5-15 hours.
Al states 'training to race' / 'recovery is king'. This is especially true in the OS preparing ourselves for the 'longer intervals' in the next series of training episodes. Each to their own version of intake volume and whatever works for you to preserve the muscle memory/ mental stimulus to prepare for the next wko at 100%. I've experimented with versions of fuel in the OS preparing myself for going into HIM. In prior life, I found that if I only had water 'during' the shorter wko, I had that usual hunger afterward and 'spurged' on any carb that's available. Now in the OS, I mix +-60/40% water to sodium, potassium and carb content 'followed' by the 30-45:00 window to the protein shake or other type of solid or liquid protein. This has helped control the weight / hunger issue and preservation muscle-glycogen storage etc cr and mentally prepare oneself for the next day. For me personally, I will have a gel available as the interval volume increases.
I used to be that person that loved the calorie burn of a good workout. Meaning, I just rode my ass off for 90 minutes (or whatever) and burned like a 1000 calories so now I can eat whatever the hell I wanna the rest of the day, right?? YAY!!!!!.....er.....no. I seriously want everyone to tell me that they don't think the same thing? Now, Coach McSmartyPants is telling us to eat/drink lots of calories during our training session. But, wait....that's taking away from what I CAN eat the rest of the day! BOOOOO!!!!! Now my 1000 calorie burn has only netted me like 600 calories (or whatever) because I took in 400 before/during my ride??? Not cool!
I wish I could tell you that he's wrong. But, he's totally right. When i started fueling my workouts the right way last OS, I saw a big change downstream in how my body absorbed workouts across the week and over the weekend. You might "feel" the same, but after a few weeks, you'll notice the ability to hold your Watts longer/easier as a ride progresses.
This also means that I needed to start being cognizant of what I ate the rest of the day. No more acting like a Hoover and vacuuming up anything edible within a 5 foot radius all day. But, I also noticed that I didn't want to do that as much. I wasn't finishing workouts in as depleted of a state as I used to be. I also was able to take in nutrition no problem at IMLP because I had been following the same plan all season long.
Just my 2 cents experience. I think it's worth doing it.
I would like to see Withrow chime in here though. I know he's fond of doing some un-fueled long training stuff to help his body learn to burn fat as fuel more efficiently.
I guess since my good friend Kori invited me in, then it's okay to finally give my thoughts.
Disclaimers:1) Fuelling is individual and our relationship with Calories and Carbs and Fuel is as much mental as physical.
2) I was a wrestler growing up so my food and weight loss history if f'd up more than most people.
3) I will likely experiment even more this yr with other new things (like whole day fasting now, and 'EN approved' core diet stuff next spring and summer).
5) I do NOT eat recreational sugar (with a few exception periods in the yr) and eat gluten free (probably 95% compliant) read more about that HERE.
With that out of the way... Last yr I did NOT fuel ANY workouts from late November until around March. It was a bit of an experiment and here is what I discovered, a LOT of the "bonking" I had experienced in previous yrs was from improper fueling throughout the day or evening before a workout. Part of it was also mental since I "thought" I needed the fuel "during" a workout to perform. So I think it took longer for me to build up the mental confidence to hit my numbers or go longer without fuel than it did for my body to actually accept it. After a couple of months of a gradual build in workout duration, I actually did a ~3hr trail run in 10 degree temps with 4 friends on zero fuel or water. I woke up in a fasted state and went straight to the trail head with nothing but a bottle of water on the way. Within about 10 mins my Camelbak froze up so no water for the whole time. About 2 hrs into the run some of my friends were struggling (and they were taking gu's every 30 mins) but I just got stronger the whole time. I imagined my body burning itself so it was a mental boost for me to get stronger as they were starting to bonk in the cold even while they were "fueled". But this was after several months of building up the duration and at an intensity level that I would argue was low.
So what about high intensity stuff? Last yr was also my 3rd OS so I also experimented with tweaking some of the workouts to add in an extra run session during the week. This often required me to do the Thursday bike and the Saturday bike in back to back sessions on Saturday morning, followed by a short brick run. (DO NOT TRY THIS IF IT IS YOUR FIRST OR SECOND OS). Each week I varied which of those I would do first in my back-2-back session. I focused a lot on recovery and fueling, but I did all of these workouts in a fasted state. I always did them first thing in the morning and never had anything but water until I was done with the final short run portion. I almost always hit all of my FTP sets and all of my VO2 numbers since I was doing them by stacking two workouts. This was a crazy hack and I DO NOT suggest you try it. But my point here is that I did all of my VO2 sets and FTP sets with nothing but water and I did all my run intervals the same way. I know I got stronger and never felt "before or during workout" nutrition (or lack there of) in the OS held me back in any way.
BUT, and this is a BIG BUT... I take my recovery and fueling VERY SERIOUSLY! I only eat real food (rarely highly processed stuff), with lots of fruits and nuts and vegetables. I do not eat Recreational Sugar as I believe it is addictive and an inflammatory agent in my body. I eat a Massive recovery meal immediately AFTER all of my workouts. For big workouts, this is a big recovery shake followed by a big breakfast. During the week, I eat a banana and a huge omelet (with spinach and peppers and onions and cheese) after all of my workouts (and on rest days). I eat A LOT throughout the day snacking continually on nuts and fruit. I also usually eat a super healthy dinner (because I have the best wife in the world and she cooks every night). I also make SLEEP a focus in my life (I went so far as to buy a sleep monitor headband to bed to track my sleep) giving up things in my life like Sunday Night and Monday Night football, etc. I also take a crazy amount of supplements (OptygenHP, Glutamine, Adrenal Support, Omega3, VitaminD, VitaminC, etc. etc. etc). And I have and use all kinds of recovery gadgets like my R8 Roller and my Normatek boots.
So as Al pointed out above, your body has ~3hrs of Glycogen stores already in it (many in your muscles but others in your liver and other places). Without the constant sugar drip of gu's and sports drinks, your body has to go immediately to these glycogen stores and burn a higher percentage of fat, especially in longer workouts. However, refueling during your workouts allows you to not completely deplete these stores and instead burn the added blood sugar (hence all of the downstream workouts everyone is talking about). I approached this a different way to not specifically fuel before or during the workouts, but to fully top off these stores immediately following my workouts in that prime window (30-45 mins) when I believe my body can absorb it. And throughout the rest of the day and in the evenings before important workouts.
If your body is used to burning the blood sugar you are putting in it it during your workouts it can become very efficient at doing so. Most of you/us fall into this category. If your body is there and you do NOT fuel before and during your workout, you will likely have a sub-par workout which hurts your potential for big gains in the OS. The whole point is you can't just do workouts and think you will get the results you want. You must fuel your body appropriately to allow it to recover from the muscle breakdown from the workouts and rebuild them back daily stronger and more efficient. There are plenty of debates around which timing is better, but our bodies are very smart and very adaptable, so many different strategies "could" work. But to allow them to function properly, we MUST fuel our bodies properly to give it the building blocks to allow it to make big gains. I think this was the REALLY IMPORTANT point of Coach P's original post.
Preparing your gut to absorb your race day fuel is a totally different discussion (and an important one). My gut does pretty well with just about anything. By late last spring and into the summer I switched my "protocol" to try to incorporate my race day fueling practices to get my body used to absorbing and processing the calories again (through elevated blood sugar). My body "remembered" how to do this very quickly. And on one long ride where I was rushing out of the house and "forgot" all of my nutrition, I didn't sweat it and was mentally prepared for a ~4hr ride with nothing but a little water and I did NOT bonk at all. I "thought" my body now had 2 fueling tools in it's toolbox, burning it's own fat slightly more efficiently than before AND burning the sugar drip I would be putting in all race day through my Infinit and gu's, etc. I don't think I'll ever know if this "theory" actually worked in practice.
Great information all around. I am a former wrestler (10 years) so my past eating habits and weight lost strategies are also a little screwed up. Personally, I have started fueling a little during my OS this year and have noticed good results. I am only using 1.5 scoops of Perform per 24 oz of water which seems to be just enough to keep me going. It is apparent that my body is better prepared for the workouts down the road. This is my second OS and I feel much stronger at this point than I did last year.
I have also pushed myself to get a little more sleep, averaging just under 8 most of the week.