Fueling during training workouts
I was wondering what everyone does about calorie consumption during training. The core diet team suggest you should eat during a training session as you would during a race. I get that you're training your body to use the fuel and maybe some other points but the one thing I can't reconcile in my head is weight loss.
If I am trying to shave off 18 lbs for my A race 8 months form now, do I really need to fuel so aggressively during training now? I don't starve myself during workouts. For an hour workout I would usually have half a litre of water and 2 scoops of perform (140 cals), followed by a VEGA recovery drink at 100 calories. During a bike session I may burn 600 calories. Should I try calorie deficit or fuel more under the assumption that my body will burn calories more efficiently?
As the training volume increases I also tend to suffer from sleep loss which I think is related to glycogen levels being low and/or overtraining which is a fairly typical creeper for me. How do I balance weight loss with fueling?
Curious what everyone else does...
Thanks for the input!
Comments
First up, I would think it highly likely that disturbed sleep during a training build is related to the onset of over-training. So you need to avoid that!
In relation to fuelling and workouts, I follow the Core ideas in that for any wko of 60 mins or more, I fuel before , during (as per race), and after.
I have body composition issues (I like to eat drink etc). So during the season I eat 3 main meals plus 3 snacks every day and select what and how much to eat from lists my nutritionist made for me — the calorie budget has a deficit of 500 cals per day (lose 1 pound per week).
So, I just need to make sure I replace the calories I burn during wkos by taking account of the before, during, and after fuelling — if I am in deficit as measured against my energy spent during the wko, I need to eat more — usually additional snacks — I try and space out my eating across my waking hours.
If I am in surplus, I cut out some snacks to get into balance again.
I find that fueling hard during training alleviates later hunger issues and enables me to eat consistently every day, regardless of how much I worked out that day. Pre-EN, I would not fuel during workouts and then I would become an eating machine. Now if I have perform+gels+endurox after, my appetite drops back to regular levels. Then, I can eat off my normal meal plan (2000cal/day) rather than trying to say "well, this workout was 1200 cals, so I can have another beer".
I also have body comp issues and would like to drop 20 lbs this year...I am cutting out beer between now and Oceanside as an experiment.
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For me, it all depends on when my previous meal was.
Anything less than 90 minutes, s/b/r or whatever, I try to only use water w/ Nuun.
Sat morning long rides, I eat/drink my big breakfast smoothie before I go out to ride. I can last 3 hours (moderate level) without eating anything. 3 hours of HARD riding and I'll eat about 1:45-2 hours in.
Long runs on Wed or Thu, I eat a banana before I go, and can last 2 hours before I start to bonk.
You just have to learn what you can tolerate, as we're so individual when it comes to nutrition and fueling. General guidelines are great, but like is said around here "don't follow the plan into a wall".
EDIT: do NOT experiment in a race though, there's plenty of OS, pre-race and race rehearsals to do that!
For morning 60-min OS workouts (rare), I don't eat any breakfast but do a 100cal gel or 3 Shot Bloks before the workout. Then after I do a protein bar and gatorade. On those days I would have had a pretty light dinner the night before, nothing special.
Honestly I think for me managing weight has a lot to do with "nutrient timing" (a concept in the book Racing Weight), and also with the fact that I do not eat a large dinner (or any formal dinner at all on many weeknights) unless compelled by client/work/social reasons.
@ everyone, thanks very much for the replies. Confirmed my thoughts.
@ John, thanks so much for the links. VERY helpful and insightful!
Jan, here are some thoughts for you. Yes, it's more about improving body composition, which you say you don't really need to do, but there's a lot of good guidance in there about how to, in general, monitor what you're doing. My notes:
The variables I'm always trying to manage when my training load is up there, are:
(Keep in mind that my training sessions are almost exclusively in the morning, so imagine this process being done in the AM before a workout)
So basically, part of the journey of becoming a better endurance athlete is learning what works, and doesn't work, for you.