4 Ensure as pre-race midnight snack: Tell me why / why not
This has been my race ritual for the last 10 or so IM: drink a big glass of water at bedtime, wake at around 2-3am, drink 4 cold Ensure (the regular stuff, not the high protein) while I'm up to pee, and then back to sleep.
I'm normally 145lbs race day. I've kept with this ritual because it's been problem-free, the Ensure have been easily digested and keep me full until race start, they are available pretty much everywhere, and despite the long list of chemicals on the package, are yummy enough to tolerate when shotgunning them at 1000cal in 40 seconds.
Should I change? If so, what are the reasons? I see the prevailing advice is now about 750 cals, and lots of people take this as all-carb fruit smoothies. Is this preferable?
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I've also been using Ensure for the last two years. Works very well for me as (part) of a pre race meal. They have to be cold to chug down though...
Macca uses Ensure, according to his new book, during the early stages of an Ironman.
I used it with success at IMWI 2008. I had two at 2:00am and one in the morning. No issues.
I used to use Ensure, back in the day, but the ingredients now freak me out a bit, specifically that it gets a LOT of it's cals from fat, oil I think. I'd rather get those cals from carbs and good stuff, not a high school lab experiment. That said, if it works for you, I see no reason to change it.
That's pretty much how I used it for my HIM's - 2 bottles at 2 am, then something a little more real at 4:30 or so. I use Ensure plus vanilla. 350 calories per bottle, 100 of which are from fat. So not too bad I don't think. Very little saturated fat (1 gram). 45 grams of carbs, and a good amount of sodium and potassium. Lots of vitamins and minerals. I thinks most of the scary ingredients are the vitamins and minerals. Here's the nutritional label:
http://ensure.com/products/ensure-plus
Just looking at the ingredient list that Jim points to, the fat cals are almost entirely canola oil and corn oil. Of the two, I prefer canola, but neither is a particularly "bad" fat.
The high school chemistry experiment part comes in the "less than 0.5%" pile. Those things are antioxidant preservatives, mineral sources (e.g., magnesium phosphate), emulsifiers to keep the oil suspended nicely in the water (lecithin), some vitamins, some mouth-feel ingredients (carrageenan), and your favorite and mine "artifical colors ad flavorings". Of all of these, the ones I don't like in general ar the artificial color/flavorings.
A Naked Juice smoothie has basically nothing but carbohydrate. Its made from fruit purees, but does have some "natural flavors" added.
http://mix1life.com/all-natural-protein-shakes
* 4 cups natural applesauce + 1 scoop protein powder
* 1 banana
* 16 oz of sports drink (gatorade, perform, whatever)
Then it's sipping water, etc. Then 15' pre race it's 2 x gels.
I just can't eat in the middle of the night and sleep...
Pretty much the same here Coach. Takes me long enough to get to sleep the night before an IM without getting up an hour or so later to eat. Eating three hours before the race has historically worked well for me.
I did the Ensure thing in the past. They are for sure an easy way to get in some calories quickly. Pretty easy as you can drop a couple in a hotel ice bucket and leave them next to the bed. I also decided against them because they are oily crap. I also no longer ever wake myself up to eat. If you are up anyway doing the "holy crap its race day" thing I am sure it wont hurt but sleep is pretty valuable and I can get enough in me on race morning. I do not think the calories I ate at dinner are going to be any less available to me on the bike than ones I consumed at 2 am? Not sure if IM duration makes it different but I often start out on multi hour bike rides having eaten little to nothing in the morning and do fine. Same with long runs, does anyone eat anything before the 2:30 o dark thirty run? At most that is half a banana for me.
Maybe some of the truly smart nutrition folks can chime in here but how do calories taken in the middle of the night differ from those the evening before or in the morning a few hours before the race?
Do we do this stuff because others have told us to and it hurts nothing or is there a valid reason? If the body can only store so many calories for use and then only process so many while riding/running, does it really make any difference?
In the spirit of full disclosure my recent prerace meals have been cofee and pop tarts, I think strawberry are the fastest...
@Chris: The middle of the night/early morning meal isn't different, just additional fuel to be sure the tank is topped off. The reason for doing it early morning is for transit time so that a large meal is not sitting in the stomach/small intestine when the exercise starts which can cause problems.
BTW - I think cherry frosted poptarts are fastest!
But nothing like that in 10 posts, so I'll keep on keeping on.
It tastes AWESOME and is lactose-free if you have issues with lactose. It also has a lot fewer ingredients that you can't pronouce....