Sports nutrition - cycling a century or more

[Lisa B 0]

Hi all - I ride, a lot, and had been relying on Shot Blox to keep me going on rides longer than 50 miles, but after hitting 300 miles on the bike last week, I came to on Monday morning to find I'd gained about 5 lbs. As of Wednesday I've only lost about 1.5, so I'm thinking that's real weight, not just Water, and the only thing I can attribute it to is the number of Shot Blox I consumed. I did 50 miles on Monday, 35 on Tuesday, 55 on Wednesday, 45 on Thursday, 30 on Friday, 50 on Saturday and 38 on Sunday. That's two or three packages a ride, or more, plus miscellaneous bananas, cliff bars, and regular meals.

Bottom line, I'm trying to figure out what to eat on long rides. I've got a metric century coming up this week, and two centuries next month. I need to get my nutrition to a point where I can fuel the ride (and Protein just doesn't cut it), but keep losing weight. I've asked the fill nurse and doc, but no help (neither of them are athletes).

Thoughts, suggestions?

Thanks!

Lisa B

[Jachut 487]

I've never found the various gu's and gel's I've tried to do all that much for my performance to be honest, but what DOES make a difference is eating a wholegrain based diet. If I keep my body carb fuelled, I can run long distances with maybe ONE gel (at 100 calories) to get me through if its 15kms or so. I dont find I need sports drinks, Water is fine for me.

I simply dont do a Protein based diet. It makes me feel crap, I have no energy and I run out of oomph very fast if I try to put in long running sessions. It does not suit my body and that's all the evidence I need that its not the be all and end all of weight loss eating. I eat carbs and they make me feel healthy and energetic.

Overall, I eat stuff like oatmeal or wholegrain bread for Breakfast, I eat bown rice and brown Pasta, I eat lots of fruit and vegetables and I try to eat a slice of bread or so a day if I'm preparing for a longer run. I can eat bread though, I'm lucky. And if I couldnt I would unfill a bit so I could - because there's less calories in good quality carbs than there is in a zillion shots of a sports product during your ride. Carbs are fibrous and airy and take up room in your tummy for much less calories than Protein even though gram for gram the calorie count is the same. And I find because I burn it off, I can afford to eat it without it affecting weight or weight loss.

In short, carbo load. The standard bandster diet is not a great diet when it comes to talking about sports nutrition for endurance events. It is not what athletes would eat. And no amount of expensive products is going to make up for it.

Edited May 21, 2009 by Jachut

[kagoscuba 0]

Based upon my recent HIM performance, I'd say the issue isn't Shot Bloks. They do not have enough calories in them to cause weight gain, especially for a century or even a 50 miler. One Clif Bar has more calories in it than two packages of SB, and that'd still not be enough to properly fuel you. I drank 2 entire bottles of Gatorade, which is about 400 calories or more, and it wasn't even close to enough fuel for me to get through the run leg. In fact, I felt the first twinge of a cramp at mile 45 of the bike leg.. Granted, it was 90 degrees out, but you could eat cheesecake on a 50 mile ride, and other than the GI distress, the calories would mean next to nothing. Your BMR plus exercise would significantly reduce the caloric intake/burn rate to even levels.

[MacMadame 81]

I don't like Shot Blocks because it's like eating salty licorice. :smile:

The rule of thumb is to consume 200 calories an hour when doing endurance sports. I find that hard to do with just drinks, but I can't eat anything and run and I find the gels do nothing for me anyway. It's like they go right through me.

What works best for me is a sports drink with a 3:1 carb to Protein ratio (my body hates pure carbs), Protein Bars and bananas.

As for weight gain, are you tracking all your food and exercise? I track everything and so I can always go back when I get an unexpected number on the scale and analyze what happened. Without that information, you are just shooting in the dark and relying on (notoriously unreliable) memory.