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Sunday, January 22, 2012

Getting my nutrition right!

Today's long ride was all about getting my nutrition right - and I'm pretty happy with the result!

Pre-ride nutrition:
1 piece of organic rye bread with peanut butter
1 protein smoothie: 250ml malt-free soy milk, 1 banana, 1 tbsp cacao, 1 scoop protein powder

Ride nutrition:
1hr mark - 1 piece of organic rye bread with peanut butter
1hr 30min mark - 1 piece of organic rye bread with peanut butter
2hr mark - 1/2 homemade energy bar
2hr 30min mark - 1/2 homemade energy bar
3hr mark - finished! No food yet as I was straight out the door for a run.


Garmin Stats
Distance: 80km
Ride Time: 3:05
Average Speed: 25.3km/hr
Average Cadence: 88rpm
Average HR: 133bpm
Calories: 2058

Highlights:
1. No gels!
2. Minimal back pain!
3. So close to 90rpms!
4. HR control!
5. an 8km run off the bike!!!

Overall, a great day out. It was tough as I got dropped from the group quite early, but they were hammering right from the start... and there was no way I could keep my HR low even if I tried to hang on! I made the call early to go at my own pace, particularly as today's ride had such a particular focus for me.

I'm still not quite sure I had enough food (~30g carbs & 200 cals/hr) as I felt I was fading at the 60km mark, but I must have gotten a second wind - usually the last thing I feel like doing post-ride is running!

To get in the recommended 60g carbs/hr seems almost impossible right now, but I'm willing to give it a try - I'll just need to do things differently next time, as I couldn't have eaten more actual food. 

Next time:
1. Liquid calories. Eating peanut butter and bread resembles clag glue while your moving and nearly choking on quinoa is far from ideal.... The whole breathing heavily and eating thing is something I really haven't mastered yet :)
2. More carbs/calories. I look forward to a long ride where I feel strong the whole way home.
3. Faster acting carbs (e.g a banana, dried fruit) on the way home. My bars are great but the fats are obviously better earlier in the ride..

I'm one step closer to my goal. I would love to hear your long ride success stories - after all, nutrition is the fourth discipline and I'm determined to get it right.

5 comments:

  1. Hi sweets,
    The min recommendation during training/racing for CHO's is 30gr/hr (complete recommendation for CHO's being between 30-60gr/hr). I don't think you need to be having the full 60?? (I'd leave that for when you're doing really high intensity HR stuff and burning heaps of energy quickly). I'd be sticking to anywhere between 30-40grCHO/hr maybe but looking at more high GI CHO's (and like you said, particularly on the way home). Also the fat in peanut butter will slow down the rate of digestion, if you're going to eat bread on a ride you're probs better of using jam as a spread rather than peanut butter. Any way, just some thoughts :). Also, what do you drink on a ride?? If drinking sports drinks that = CHO's too (as you know :)).

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  2. Thanks Margs. I'm just trying to get the balance right as I burn a relatively high number of calories on a long ride. I trialled peanut butter this time, as I can only handle fructose in small doses and find eating bars (containing honey) and bananas to be too much in one sitting. Jam is unfortunately out as I avoid pure sugar as much as possible. At the moment I'm just drinking water, as I'm researching natural (and economical) electrolye blends as we speak. Thanks for your help! :)

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  3. Ah ok fair enough :) have you tried making your own jam?? What about honey? That might be an option?? Also, have you tried the shotz electrolyte. I love the stuff!! So much better then Gatorade coz nowhere near as much sugar..?? Sounds like ur on a mission tho :) let us know how u go :))

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  4. Ooops just realized honey might be a no go as it has a moderate amount of fructose. Hmm... Definitely keep me updated. Really keen to see what alternatives you come up with :)))

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  5. I'm ok with honey in small amounts, but it's already in my bars so I don't want to double up. I definitely will - I love experimenting with food!

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