Nutritionally speaking, the harder you go the harder it is to eat. I can give you several very simple tactics for nutrition:
Experiment with the nutrition you will use for your event in training.
Shoot for 250-350 calories per hour in the form of carbohydrates. A glucose/fructose sugar combo seems to work best for most people.
Make sure that you are matching your fluid intake with adequate electrolyte amounts and with enough carbs. Liquids are easiest to take in and can provide all three in one drink.
You can train to eat while working out. Practice it and get in the habit of taking in a little bit of something every 10 to 15 minutes. Set a timer if you have to. Eating a whole powerbar at once is hard to do. Cut it into quarters and eat a bite every 15 minutes instead and follow with some fluids. 250-350 calories is a half a power bar and 24 ounces of energy drink. Or a gel and sports drink combo. Stay on top of your eating by taking in a little at a time and that will really help. For workouts longer than an hour, you will benefit from a sports drink to make that workout better and to help you recover for the next workout.
Garmin is a good estimate within 10% or so. Problem is that you can’t take in that many calories while exercising. For longer events, you should shoot for as many calories as possible while still being able to put out the required effort and without gastric distress. Some experimenting is involved and I would say that at least 200 cal per hour no matter what is a good start point.
Experiment with the nutrition you will use for your event in training.
Shoot for 250-350 calories per hour in the form of carbohydrates. A glucose/fructose sugar combo seems to work best for most people.
Make sure that you are matching your fluid intake with adequate electrolyte amounts and with enough carbs. Liquids are easiest to take in and can provide all three in one drink.
You can train to eat while working out. Practice it and get in the habit of taking in a little bit of something every 10 to 15 minutes. Set a timer if you have to. Eating a whole powerbar at once is hard to do. Cut it into quarters and eat a bite every 15 minutes instead and follow with some fluids. 250-350 calories is a half a power bar and 24 ounces of energy drink. Or a gel and sports drink combo. Stay on top of your eating by taking in a little at a time and that will really help. For workouts longer than an hour, you will benefit from a sports drink to make that workout better and to help you recover for the next workout.
4 comments:
I know when I am out on my long runs, if the mere thought of drinking or eating crosses my mind, I act on it. I look at it like my body's way of signaling me, and don't question it.
Good luck with your nutritional experimentation! :)
but what if it doesn;t enter your mind and then 5 minutes pass and you realize you are fantisizing about chewing your running mates arm off cause you are so hungry....
Then you better hope your mate has Chuck's biceps so you can at least fill your tum-tum!! LOL!! :) :)
all good advice from GP. when you are in a race it's easy to forget to get some nutrition in, and typically by the time you think of it you are already depleted. lots of people will set an alarm to go off every 9-10 minutes to remind them to take a gel or sip of drink.
the best advice he mentioned is PRACTICE DURING TRAINING!! we are all different in what we can and cannot ingest during a race, so it's best to try several different things (a few times each) to see what works for you.
set up a spreadsheet and make the columns calories and carbs. then plan out what you think you will need and add it up to see if you are getting the proper amount per hour of training.
this can be very painful and frustrating at first, but it will pay off in the end!!
good luck!
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