training to eat less?
Can you "train" your body to need less calories when you workout? I have been finding this year that I do not need as much nutrition as in past years when I train. I used to go out with at least 2 bottles of some type of formulation for 1hr+ rides, and now I am finding that I feel just as good with 1 bottle of water for most of my rides now (less than 2 hrs right now) when I have a good shot of gel prior and haven't eaten much a few hours before. I figure if I bonk in training, that is okay I can dial my nutrition in, plus I feel it may be a benefit to me to ingest less. Any thoughts to this rationale? Thanks!
Dan
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Bob says YES. Haven't read his new book to offer an opinion either way
http://www.usatriathlon.org/resourc...y-training
Hayes, I'll look that up, thank you. Today was a good example, I went out for 1:40, 140TSS, .90 IF, great ride, just finished my one bottle of water as I pulled into the driveway and felt great. Too bad you couldn't do that for a whole race, it would be a lot easier!! Appreciate the link.
Dan
Penny mentioned Bob positively during her nutrition talk on Marathon Nation last week and I had a chance to read the book this weekend.
The basic premise is that picking the right combination of nutrients (lean protein, healthy fats(high omega-3 choices), fruits and vegetables) and strictly limiting refined sugar and all grains(including whole grains) during the preseason will increase your percentage of fat metabolism both in the resting state and at higher levels of exercise.
By managing nutrients during race prep, taper and racing Bob was able to reduce %carbohydrate metabolism by up to 50% during races by increasing the ability of athletes to burn significantly more fat. He indicated this was particularly valuable for events last more than 3 hours including HIM and IM and ultramarathons.
CoachP clued me in to the Primal Blueprint(see Mark's Daily Apple on the web) that he had used this spring to trim down and reduce cravings. The diet matches closely what Bob has recommended for his athletes and I've also found it easy to follow and very helpful (down 8# in 4 weeks with good energy and a HM PR(down 3 min 14 sec) last weekend).
I'm still trying to incorporate Bob's ideas into my High Cliff HIM prep but am very interested in what other's think about this new nutritional direction.
Hope you are all doing well. I've been a bit focussed on my running and the body comp project.
I'm also interested in Bob's work, but haven't read his book yet. I think it may be helpful, but do not have any personal experience with it yet.
To me, it comes back to listening to your body. There may be days when you need more and days when you need less. It also depends on how you are eating when not training.
Great stuff, thank you everyone. I'll have to make another book order!
Dan
As I have become more fit and also changed my daily diet to be more heatlhy, I definitely noticed a huge difference in how much I needed to take in during my workouts.
Currently, if I'm going under an hour I take nothing, 1-2 hr I take water. 2+ hour I may take a gel, 3+ hour on the bike I begin to take infinit. I am also going to try to race a HIM with less calories this year as I think I may have been over feeding myself the last year or so during races.
FWIW, I raced a half marathon yesterday on 1 gel 20 minutes prior to the start and only water during. I ran Boston with 3 gels (and I think I only took 2 and lost 3rd other somewhere), again pretty much water only as needed.
@Matt: As I have become more fit and also changed my daily diet to be more heatlhy, I definitely noticed a huge difference in how much I needed to take in during my workouts.
Exactly what I have experienced. Sad that it has taken me 35 years to figure this out. I feel so much better now that my diet is in fairly good order. I feel strong, recovered, and always ready to work.... supplements are nonexistent now, I'm a firm believer in a good diet. I trained for a year for IMLP last year, ate okay, took about 10 pills a day, and never felt this good. My ftp has jumped, my vdot is going up (slowly) and I feel guilty when I take a day off because I don't feel like I need one, but mentally it is necessary. I have a 11.5 mile trail race next month, I may go minimalist, it is totally self supported, but I could care less about the result, just wanted to do the race and finally got in, so I'll experiment a bit.
Dan