Nutrition when it's still too cold to sweat

kmepham

I've been doing the Saturday and Sunday long rides using my race day nutrition, a Speedfil of Infinit plus another bottle between the aerobars.  Now, I'm a pretty heavy sweater when it's warm, but it's still so cool and windy (even rainy) that I'm hardly sweating at all, so with all that liquid nutrition I spend too much of of the ride distractedly looking for a place to pee.  (It's early spring so no leaves on the bushes yet.)  Given that I couldn't pee in the ocean while scuba diving, my odds of success with peeing on the bike are pretty low, so I'm not looking there for a solution.

I've decided to try switching to solid nutrition (Powerbar Energy Bites) plus water in the Speedfil, so I can control my nutrition and hydration separately, at least until it warm up enough that I start to sweat off more of the Infinit.

Is anyone else running into this problem?  How are you dealing with it?

Nate Parady

Kevin, I have a state park that I ride to where I can use a bathroom. for my 3 hour rides I typically hit the stalls twice to pee and refill water bottle. The park is about 18 miles from my house so by the time I get home I usually run to the bathroom again. Pretty annoying. I feel pretty lucky to have this option. Do you have ANY public rest stop you could use? Can you adjust your training course to include one? My pit stop takes maybe 60 Seconds if I'm rushing and YES, I take my bike into the bathroom with me.

For me, I'm loving my all liquid diet on the bike. last season(pre EN) I was using Gu and power bars which resulted in me getting stomach cramps pretty regularly. I also was pretty shackey off the bike for anything over 2 hours. Now, with my rocket fuel (infinit) I feel sooo much better. I'm in a similar boat as you here in VA in terms of temp. As soon as it gets hot out my Nutritional needs will probably change. Could be, less calories and more water for me. I also really want to train how I'm ganna race in terms of nutrition. i want hours under my belt with practicing my concentrated mix plus water so if anything weird happens on race day I will have some experience to tell where I'm at and what I need to adjust. Last weekend I practiced with a two hour bottle (500 cals) for my 3 hour bike ride. Result was OK but noticiably different later in the day. Felt a little shakey and weaker when i got off the bike.

Not sure that gives you any answers, but that's what I'm dealing with on my long rides...Good luck.

[Deleted User]

Kevin, I did my first 56 training ride last weekend, and kept a bottle of Heed for my electrolyte drink, and Gu 15 min. into the bike, then two power bars through out the ride. I also drink Perpetuem which has the extra calories that Heed doesn't have. I know that drinking every 15 minutes on ride helps too. All together, I needed 850 calories for a 1/2 IM bike distance. I use Perpetuem, because it is available to me at my local bike shop. I was wondering if when doing a full IM, do I need to double or triple this caloric intake?. I usually have to use the bathroom about 50 miles into ride. I weigh 144lbs and find that Heed with Pertpetuem, 2 Gus, 2 power bars and refill water bottle wit hwateror gatorade was the perfect formula for my 1/2 IM distance. No upset stomach, and I think the rule of thumb is 850 calories for 150lb of weight. I agree with mixing the solids with liquids. Just wondering about the IM formula for the bike, double or triple it? Hope this helps. Linda

penlynwilson

It is CRITICAL to remember that nutrition and hydration are two separate things. Blog post on this from a couple of weeks ago: http://blog.eatingforperformance.com/2011/04/08/nutrition-vs-hydration/

You have to satisfy both your calorie and hydration needs. When you are not sweating as much, you may only need to take in your sports drink to meet your needs. When you are sweating, add water.

@Linda: You should start a new topic for your questions so they don't get lost in this thread. :-)

jwpicciotto

@Kevin - If you are only taking down Infinit, then this should mean that you are taking down 20 ounces of liquid per hour. That's not much liquid even with cold temps. I would guess that you also took in liquid nutrition before the ride? You were probably already highly hydrated before you got on the bike. Remember that you also have to account for everything that you did in the hours before hopping on the bike.

@Linda - Its not a matter of doubling your nutrition as you go from a HIM to an IM. You should target to achieve a consistent number of calories per hour between the two. If your HIM ride is 2 hours at .85 IF, and your IM ride is 5 hours at .70IF you can see that just doubling your nutrition will not address your caloric needs, you will end up under fueling your body as you are on the saddle for longer.

jburbatt

@ Linda- You can also check out the wiki for nutrition advice, both under the nutrition specific heading and within the specific guidance for executing a HIM/IM.