Nutrition

September 29, 2008

Good grief! It’s been almost a year since I’ve done this page any justice. Guess it shows that I really haven’t been “training” at all this year. Nutrition is still an issue for me on the bike. If I’m doing a fun ride, I have no issue eating regular food (granola bars, sandwiches, etc.) during the ride, but if I introduce any level of high intensity, it all changes.

In general, I’ve always tried to get in about 250 – 300 calories an hour. Turns out that isn’t enough. Matt did a nice experiment on me for the recent Durango Fall Blaze Century. I had high intensity right off the bat, and then left my body starving and in need of recovery. Towards mile 50 or so, Matt started giving me a Hammer gel every 20 minutes or less. I was so sick of those things, but:

1. I was able to eat all of them without feeling like I was going to puke
2. I had strength to ride when I really shouldn’t have (rarely got my heart rate over 155, and my lactate threshold is 157).

Lesson learned? Eat more, stick to Hammer still. I will say I didn’t use as much Perpetuem as normal, which does tend to bloat me after about 4-5 hours of use. We shall see…

October 4, 2007

The diet below is still working for the most part, but I’ve found that for the longer mountain bike rides, I still want real food much more than on the road bike. I also did a random experiment this past weekend on a mountain bike. I couldn’t eat breakfast, not sure what the deal was, but I had a big mountain bike ride that morning. I ate a piece of toast, made it to Santa Fe, then bought a Santa Fe Baking Co. breakfast burrito with red chile and ham. That probably would have sent most into hurl mode for the ride, but for some reason, no problems! And it wasn’t like I was doing an easy ride either. I started with a steep, hard climb. Interestingly, no intestinal issues all day. I still had Perpetuem and Honey Stinger bars. Go figure…

August 5, 2007

I’ve since given up tracking all the food I eat at each big event. I’ve tracked long enough now to know pretty much what I can handle and not handle. Turns out that on the big endurance rides, real food IS okay, but in moderation. I’ve also learned that a VERY light breakfast is key for me. I’m sipping Perpetuem along the way, so I’ll make up for it on the bike.

Hammer products are still the key for me. I’ve also started avoiding products with milk in them while riding. Simple rules for a peaceful, unbloated ride….ahhhhhhhhh…. Oh, and if you want to save 15% on your Hammer products, just click the link to the right on my blog! Along with the Hammer food, I have also taken a hankering for Honeystinger bars. My favorites are the Peanut Butter Protein Bar and the Peanut Butter Energy Bar. For the double centuries, around mile 150+, I’m sick of eating just about everything, so my secret weapon for still getting the energy in me is using Cliff Bloks.

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I’m tracking the food I eat during long rides to see how my body reacts to it. So far, the answer seems to be sticking to pure Hammer products.

For detailed tracking of my nutrition, I’ve been using Diet Power software.

Here’s the info (newest event to the oldest):

San Ysidro Dirty Century (Mar. 17, 2007)
82 miles, dirt
Details are in Diet Power, so I won’t repeat.
RESULTS: Ate slightly too little…need to remember to sip the Perpetuem regularly. It’s harder to do this! Did fine on the dirt roads, but didn’t do well at all while I was in the White Mesa riding the singletrack.

Death Valley Double Century (Mar. 3, 2007)
200 miles, road
Details are in Diet Power, so I won’t repeat.
RESULTS: Bottom line: Don’t drink too much Perpetuem at the beginning. It leads to severe bloating and belly aches for the rest of the ride…I made it, but could have been a lot more comfortable.

Butterfield (Feb. 17, 2007)
85 miles, road
Breakfast: 1/2 bagel with 1 pat butter and 2 strawberry jelly packets, coffee with creamer, 1 large apple
Entire ride: water; 2 water bottles filled with 4 scoops of Perpetuem in one; 1 packet of Cliff electrolyte drink mix in the other
Other ride food: 1 Hammerbar
End of ride: Endurox recovery drink
RESULTS: No bloating at all. Nothing significant to note, never hungry on the ride.

Solo Century in Albuquerque (Feb. 10, 2007)
100 miles, road
Breakfast: 1/2 cup egg substitute, slice of ham, toast with peanut butter, coffee with milk
Entire ride: water; 2 water bottles filled with 3 scoops of Perpetuem in one; 2 scoops of Heed in the other
Other ride food: 1 Hammer bar, 1 Cliff bar
End of ride: Endurox recovery drink
RESULTS: No bloating. Seems like when I drink a little less Perpetuem, I do better. Also, eating real bars doesn’t seem to bug me too much, although the Cliff bar was a little heavy in the gut. A granola bar would have probably been better, or one of Matt’s Cowgirl cookies. I was never hungry on the ride, and I didn’t eat as much as I usually do.

Casa Grande Century (Jan. 7, 2007)
102 miles, road
Breakfast: hard boiled egg, 1/2 bagel, banana, coffee with creamer
Entire ride: water; 2 water bottles filled with 6 scoops (I think) of Perpetuem in one; 2 scoops of Heed in the other
Other ride food: 1.5 Hammer bars; Electrolyte pills–4 total; BBQ pork and 1/2 hamburger bun, BBQ beans, pasta salad; regular and peanut M&Ms
End of ride: PowerBar recovery drink
RESULTS: Not much bloating at all beyond the usual feel I get. Surprising since I ate quite a bit of “regular” food. I never felt hungry on the ride, but I do think I got dehydrated. I got sick of drinking flavored water with either Heed or Perpetuem flavoring. Right after the recovery drink, I had a turkey sandwhich and a little bit of tortilla soup. Later that evening on the drive home, I had a banana, and a cherry/nut bar from Macy’s in Flagstaff.

Foothills Ride (Dec. 9, 2006)
40.8 miles, mountain
Breakfast: scrambled egg beaters (2), 2 slices of ham, WW toast with peanut butter, coffee
Entire ride: water; 2 water bottles filled with 3 scoops of Perpetuem each
Other ride food: 1 flask of Hammergel; 1 Hammer bar; Electrolyte pills–2
End of ride: PowerBar recovery drink
RESULTS: Something I ate left me feeling really bloated last time, so this time I stuck with straight Hammer products. I still got bloated, but not as bad. I think the culprit may be the Perpetuem, so next big ride will be all Sustained Energy to figure out what is going on. Interesting news is that I didn’t ingest as many calories as you’d think I would need (300 per hour??), but I was never hungry, nor did I feel like I was running out of energy. I essentially ate about 1300 calories with the food I had, and based upon the Garmin (which isn’t really all that accurate for calorie burn), I burned 1180 calories during the ride. This seems low, but who knows. Same amount of time on the road bike shows me burning over 4000 calories.

Turkey Day Century (Nov. 23, 2006)
100.55 miles, road
Breakfast: hard-boiled egg, whole wheat english muffin with peanut butter, apple
Entire ride: water; 1 water bottle filled with 1 scoop of Sustained Energy and 1 pkg of Clif Shot Electrolyte powder, another with 2 scoops Sustained Energy and some more electrolyte stuff –I kept adding water to this
Other ride food: 2 Powerbar gels; 1/2 hammer bar; 1/2 Lara Bar; 1/2 Clif Bar; 1 peanut butter chocolate chip cookie; 1/2 chocolate chip filled croissant
End of ride: PowerBar recovery drink; 1 hr. later, turkey summer sausage with crackers and chips/salsa; 1.5 hrs. later, turkey, mashed potatoes/gravy, sweet potatoes, gr beans/carrots, pumpkin pie
RESULTS: Something I ate left me feeling like a bloated turkey, especially at about mile 45 or so. By the time we stopped for a snack break, I really had no appetite because I felt too bloated. This lasted for the rest of the ride. Something didn’t set well with the nutrition. Probably too many simple sugars.

Durango Blaze Century (Sept. 30, 2006)
100 miles, road
Breakfast: banana, recovery drink
Entire ride: water; 1 water bottle filled with 2 scoops of Sustained Energy and 1 scoop of Heed–I kept adding water to this
Other ride food: Hammer gel–1/2 flask; oatmeal raisin cookie at first break, orange (1/4) at 2nd break; 1 hammer bar
End of ride: 1/2 IPA beer, 3/4 large baked potato with fake cheese sauce, brocolli, mushrooms and some chili with ground beef; a few bites of carrot cake (they fed us well at the end)
RESULTS: No problems on the ride other than a little stomach rumbling at around mile 70 that passed shortly thereafter. I got very tired muscle wise, but nothing I couldn’t ride through. I did a poor job with nutrition at the beginning, not really eating until after the first 1 hr, 20 min or so.

Cedro Peak MTB Race (Sept. 17, 2006)
~22 miles, mountain
Breakfast: 2 egg beaters, 1 slice of ham, 1 slice of WW toast w/ peanut butter
Entire ride: water; 70 oz Camelbak filled with 3.5 scoops of Sustained Energy and 2.5 scoops of Heed.
Other ride food: Apple cinnamon CarBoom
Rest of ride: Honeystinger; water; remaining Sustained Energy
End of ride: Endurox recovery drink, 1/2 Hammer bar
RESULTS: No problems on the trail. A little belly action after the ride, but nothing to write home about. Overall, everything worked well. I wasn’t hungry on the ride and I didn’t bonk. I just need to be a stronger rider and learn to pick up the pace for longer periods of time. Intervals, here I come… Taos (Sept. 9, 2006)
~36 miles, mountain
Breakfast: 3/4 everything bagel with veggie cream cheese, 1 recovery drink, 1/2 banana
First 1/2 of the ride: water; 2/3 of a bottle of Sustained Energy (6 scoops); 1 Hammer bar; Honeystinger
Top of Elliot Barker–Lunch: water; 1/4 cinnamon raisin bagel with peanut butter (from Denise); Luna Lemon Zest bar; Honeystinger
Rest of ride: Honeystinger; water; remaining Sustained Energy
End of ride: Beer; peanuts; granola bar
RESULTS: No problems on the trail, after Elliot Barker lunch break, a little bloating came on. Nothing as bad as Santa Fe (Sept. 3), but the same feeling. Bloating went away by the time we made it to the lookout area at South Boundary. Dinner was about 2/3 of a Turkey Fatty and some of Matt’s beer. I snacked on more peanuts back at the hotel and some trail mix.

Possible cause of bloating? The cinnamon raisin bagel? It’s either that or the Honeystinger or the Luna Bar. I’ll try to not combine all the food together next time to narrow this down. Odd that the bagel from the AM didn’t bother me. Maybe it’s raisins?

Santa Fe (Sept. 3, 2006)
~20 miles, mountain
Breakfast: 2 eggs, 1 slice cinnamon raisin bread, 1 slice ham, 1/4 cup hash browns, coffee with Lactaid milk
First ~7 miles: water, Powerbar Endurance drink (1/2), Honeystinger
Top of Tesuque at Aspen Vista Rd: 3/4 cinnamon raisin bagel
Rest of ride: Honeystinger
End of ride: Recovery drink
RESULTS: No problems on the trail, but when we got to Santa Fe Bakery for lunch/dinner, my stomach suddenly became bloated. No desire to eat. Forced down a bowl of soup and some bread. Later in the evening, less bloating, very hungry, ate about 3/4 of a Calzone at Il Vicino.

Possible bloating cause? Bagel? Honeystinger hasn’t given me problems in the past.

Durango 100 (Aug. 26, 2006)
37 miles, mountain
Breakfast: 1/2 banana, 1/2 recovery drink (no appetite)
First ~18 miles: Sustained Energy, Heed (felt like I was going to throw up the entire time, but not because of a full stomach–belly ache in upper part of belly; got some good energy on the road heading to Graysil Mine Sag area)
Break/Sag: Hammer bar, water (not feeling the nausea anymore, but feel weak)
2nd ~18 miles: Hammer gel, 2 endurolyte caps, Hammer bar (couldn’t breath on the CO trail)
End of ride: Recovery drink
RESULTS: Stomach problems first 1/2 of the ride, no real hunger issues. I felt weak the entire time. Had another good burst of energy when I hit the first road after the Graysil Mine Sag area. Altitude could have come into play for this ride.
Stonewall Century (Aug. 19, 2006)
102 miles, road
Breakfast: hard-boiled egg, 1/2 recovery drink, 1/2 cinnamon raisin bagel
First ~50 miles: Sustained Energy, Heed (slow, tired start, hard to wake up)
Lunch: Turkey sandwich, wheat bread, turkey, mustard, lettuce, tomato; 2 Oreo cookies; small handful of Doritos (probably 5 chips)
2nd ~50 miles: Hammer gel, 4 endurolyte caps, Hammer bar (felt really strong)
End of ride: Recovery drink
RESULTS: No stomach problems, no real hunger, although I probably should have taken in more calories during the first 50 miles. Nutrition plan worked out very well!