How to Fuel Your Next Ride

by: Robert Panzera

Learning to carry and consume food while training may improve performance (and mood). The off-season is a good time to learn how much to consume and how often you need to consume proper calories to ensure you are maximizing your training potential.

Glycogen Depletion On-The-Go

Your body needs muscle glycogen to function properly through the entire exercise period. This graph depicts how various fuels are used to attain 100 percent of your energy when exercising:

As you can see muscle glycogen (yellow) starts off providing nearly 50 percent of your fuel at time zero and is almost depleted after four hours. It is important to note that the exercise bout depicted is 70 percent of VO2 Max, which many of us would consider a “recovery” pace. Note that you can substitute the energy loss from depleted glycogen with carbohydrate ingestion (red).

Cyclists can fend off a “bonk” (i.e., a severe depletion in available energy stores, which adversely affects performances) by simply cruising and eating. This may be more difficult at high intensities, or when out for more than four hours of endurance. In these instances, you have to “train yourself to eat” before exercise, during exercise and after exercise.

The following are tips to ensure you are consuming the proper calories at the proper times. Adhering to these tips require commitment, foresight, and a willingness to experiment and learn.

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Running on H20

Rebecca Rebmann recommends 92 ounces of fluid for women and 125 ounces for men each day.

Last week Steve shared his winter dehydration woes. We did a little more research and chatted with Rebecca Rebmann (M.S., R.D.), a sports nutritionist and dietitian at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, to get the run down on healthy hydration.

Q. Why is hydration so important?
A. Water plays an important role in maintaining our body’s homeostasis. Water is the most abundant component of the body (approximately 70 percent), and plays a part in regulating body temperature, flushing toxins out of the body, digestion, fat metabolism, nutrient transport, and it lubricates and cushions organs. We lose a lot of water daily through metabolic losses, sweating, urinating, respiration, etc. so we need to replace this lost fluid, especially when our water losses are increased, for example during exercise. A 1-2 percent drop in hydration levels can lead to both physical and mental performance decreases, leaving you more at risk for injury and heat illness/stroke. When we lose water and don’t replace it, our body will pull it from our blood, which in turn thickens the blood, making the heart work harder to pump blood through our system.

Q. Do you recommend a standard intake level?

A. In general, women need 92 ounces and men need 125 ounces of fluid daily (not accounting for any extra water use due to exercise etc.). On top of that, water loss through exercise needs to be accounted for. The best way to do this is to individualize your own requirements based on your sweat rate.
TIP: Drink 7-10 ounces every 10-20 minutes during exercise. What is an ounce? One big gulp. Try calculating your total daily hydration needs using Coca-Cola’s online calculator. You can even factor in exercise time and intensity.
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