Thursday, June 23, 2011

Don't Leave Home

I watched the fascinating "fueling the Ironman" video featuring Michael Lovato again last night because something was bugging me. Did he (or did he not) say that his nutrition strategy was to take on 2K calories on the bike? That would be a preposterous grand per 56, or 500 for 40K. When I do a 40K TT, as part of a tri or not, I might take on ONE GEL, 150 calories, tops. Certainly the longer the course, the higher the burn rate (and his is way more then mine) and the conditions of the day (this was for Kona), point towards the more is better tactic. But 2,000? Wow.


As described in yesterdays post, strange things can happen over the course of 140.6 triathlon miles. Toss in some wind, sun, the Kona factor, the rub that every hour of racing IM costs about $200 (entry fee, gear, travel, etc) and the drama is dialed up well past ten. And then there is the suffering.


As we echo quite often 'round here, training is testing. Could it possibly be that in all these years, my personal missing component has been in a seriously underfueld bike/run? Is it as simple as doubling caloric intake on the bike as Michael suggests?


Alright then, we'll give 'er a go. July 17 in Chelan, we'll put this test into play. Granted it's half the 140.6, but still a decent and timely distance to test the theory.


A thousand calories on the bike over 56 miles. With another 150 every three miles on the run. OK. Got it.


The Thursday links today feature an uplifting article about French cyclist Jeannie Longo (photo) who won her 58th national championship at age 52.


A rather vanilla (at best) piece from Active.com re-posting an article from Shape Magazine suggesting that eating a meal of low-glycemic foods, rather than high before exercise will give you 55% more calorie burn. Yo, Shape, show me the numbers! 55% NO WAY (but even 10% supports our current testing).


Three subsequent links found in the attempt to validate the 55% absurdity follow.


Some very interesting nutritional data, charts and graphs from Shape.


TrainingPeaks on the ONE RULE.


FitnessRX mag on indoor cycling and dressage. Giddyup.


Fuel. Don't leave home (or T1) without it. With special thanks to Karl Malden.

4 comments:

FW said...

After much trial and error, I have learned that I perform best with 1 bottle per hour (assuming under 80 degree weather) @ 90 calories per bottle, plus 220 calories of something solid like Odwalla banana bars.

Figuring about 310 calories per hour over a four or five hour ride, that works out to 1240 to 1550 calories to maintain around a 17-19 mph average on rolling terrain.

ej said...

2500 calories, thats what I'm talking about...

FW said...

That comes after the ride, dude.

KML5 said...

Calories without exercise is like sex without love. Wait