Nutrition questions--
I am starting to use Infinit this season. 224 cals / hour. I am 130 pounds. I used it on a two day ride in Iowa this past weekend. 107 miles the first day.By mile 35 I was famished. I ate an entire PB&J and a whole role of clif bloks at the second SAG stop as a result. I was SO hungry all day. At mile 70 I ate a clif bar too and more bloks. There was 6000 feet of climbing that day. Was I more hungry bc of the hills? I am concerned that 'liquid nutrition' may not be enough for me on IMFL race day. Do I need to supplement Infinit with solid food?
Also--any suggestions on what works on the run? Do you still use infinit or is it better to switch to gels/water?
Thx!
Mel Neumann
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Comments
I shoot for ~500 cals for a 2.5 hour half-iron ride. My body can't do much more sports drink than the half bottle per hour or I get nauseous. I prefer gels + water.
This past weekend I did 5 hours, 85 miles, ~5000 feet of climbing on 900 calories. My cals came from EFS and EFS gels; I don't take Infinit. I do the same plan on flat or hilly although I do find it's harder to eat on the hilly ones because of the terrain. Heat usually affects the water I consumer but not the cals I consume.
On the run, I do water & gels (every 40 mins or so) but do grab the occasional sports drink when my body craves it.
Bottom line, is that I suspect you can be fine on just liquid but you'll have to experiment. I've experimented a lot and finally found the plan that works for me.
From the great feedback I already received my problem may be lack of fuel leading up to the ride and breakfast the morning of day 1--I doubt I ate enough the days prior and morning of before biting off 107 miles on hills on day one, then 47 miles on day 2. I am trying to drop weight so I am usually averaging a 500-800 cal deficit per day which I did the 3 days before the ride (was only at 300 deficit the day before but...). I ate dinner the night before at 7pm and started riding on Saturday at 7:30AM. The morning of Day 1 I ate a clif bar and a banana with 1tbsp peanut butter 2 hours before I started riding.
I've been told as a general rule that it's good to get ~500cal in pre-workout/race. I usually eat ~30 prior to my workouts (but I'm one of the lucky ones w/no GI issues - knock wood!). Having your breakfast 2 hrs pre-ride was probably a huge contributor. I've also been told to aim for 50-80 carbohydrates per hour (grams) - approx 1 gram carbohydrate per kg of body weight (kilogram - not pound!). Hopefully someone like Penny will weigh in...
I have a gel in T1 and T2 and use Infinit exclusively on the bike (except for a Stinger Waffle at special needs as a treat!). As for the run, I use PowerGel, water, and supplement with Salt Stick (I also have a Salt Stick every hour on the bike if it's super hot). I don't LOVE the gels, but I really hate chewing and running at the same time! I also try to keep my liquid intake to the barest possible minimum or I'd be in the porta-potties every mile! My husband John uses the new Infinit Napalm - it's a powder that has to be mixed, and from what he says it's more liquid than a traditional gel. I love Infinit on the bike, but personally, mixing the Napalm and putting into those little squeeze bottles is just way too much work for me (lazy!)!
In a big block like you describe you need to fuel up before the session, fuel during, and make sure you have a recovery meal afterwards.
I always have at least 300 cals after any session then add breakfast (as all my workouts are am except swimming where I have lunch).
Depending on how hard you are exercising, you might be able to tolerate more or less. Good info below.
A good rule of thumb is to start with 1 gram of carbohydrate per kg of body weight per hour. Then adjust as tolerated.
I weigh about 70 kg which would be 70 gms of carbs per hour (280 cal). I can handle about 300/hr on Ironman bike at 75% of FTP. As I said before, your rsults may vary but this is a good starting point.
I use all Infinit on the bike except for a banana and am not hungry. In fact I'm forcing myself to eat late in event. Definitely start the ride fueled up!
Hi Melanie,
When I work with people on their nutrition, I don't like them to run a calorie deficit at all coming into a big workout weekend like you had. At some point, you have to decide what is more important - weight loss or a great workout/ride/run.
One of the tests we run is kcals/hour at different intensitites on the bike and run. Most people run between 600 - 1000 kcals/hour depending on the person and intensity. You are digging a HUGE calorie hole in the kind of ride you had. Therefore, you probably needed to be even over your calorie goal the day before if not two days - not a huge overage, but some would help (500-ish would be a starting point).The pre-fueling helps get your glycogen stores filled up which can also be only partially full when you are cutting calories.
A clif bar (as long as it was a whole bar and not one of the mini ones), banana, PB is a good start for race morning. Sounds like you need to work on dialing in the couple of days before.
Hope this helps. I'm glad you posted. Remember . . . the goal of the team is to help! If you don't ask, we can't help.
Nutrition is still a puzzle for me too, so thanks for asking the question.