Crummy Nutrition and Hydration

[crummy]

I noticed there has been some discussion on the topic.

After last years Scott I have been reading and trialing a few different things. Along with the great information we can draw from our local pro Fenz, we should be able to suggest ways and means on the topic of your Crummy Nutrition and Hydration.

[bozz]

doood some Endura will go along way..... Optimizer give it ago

[crummy]

Replenishment

There has been the idea that you need to replace the water you lose immediately, you know consume what you lose. As a result you can experience cramping, stomach upset and other problems. So what is the go with hydration? How much or little can I consume to perform and train at my best?

I suppose we can take a recent experience of people at the same endurance event. The same day, same track, all with mtb racing experience.


"Safely into the 5 minute pause zone, I met up with my dad for a refuel. I learned that I had left my Staminade back in Moss Vale, while filling my first Camelbak for the day. So for this coming stage I would be running on Endura Optimizer, a drink normally reserved for post-race recovery. Oh well, it had carbs and protein, so it'd work.

I ripped open a Verofit bar to give me a little boost. But little did I know, the Endura Optimizer had caused intestinal instability. Not being used to the milky vanilla mix in the middle of a ride, my stomach wasn't ready for a whole serving of Verofit. It wasn't long before I realised my dilemma. I could see Craig ahead, 200 metres down the track. It was tantalisingly close. But my stomach was packing in. This was my chance, he was right there! I started to slow, but I had left it too late. Everything came up and out. Most of it went over the handlebars. That was, most of it. And then I was on the ground. All the Optimiser was out of my system, along with the Verofit bar. It was pretty filthy, but in an endurance race you just don't care."

and from another......

"About half way into this stage I noticed I had again lost my sports drink so I tried to make up the carbs by consuming gels. It seemed to work ok and I was feeling great at the end of this 2nd stage. I grabbed another 5-6 gels, another sports drink and continued my chase. At about the 100km mark ( the virgin blue water station) I was within 1 min of the lead. It was about this same time that I couldn't take any more gels and was starting to struggle with fluid intake also.

I switched very quickly from race pace to survival and worked on rehydrating. It seemed like the heat was starting to get me, I thought I was making an effort to drink but I guess I don't really use a camelback much racing."

and further..

"I just kept an eye on the clock and fed on time. Like 9:30 gel, 10:00 muffin, 10:30 sustagen etc.
Made a big difference - no hunger flats (although I did feel a bit sick at one point while trying to eat a banana) and no dehydration (drank almost 6L in my 6.5 hours, which may be too much given that I needed 3 natural breaks but was better than the result of not drinking enough). I worked out how much to eat beforehand based on one gram of carbs/per kg of bodyweight/hour. And I reckon it was pretty much spot on. My only feeding gripe is that the Gu2O I filled up my Camelbak with at halfway tasted thoroughly disgusting!"

Excerpts are from some bloke called Ed, a J. English and Megs.

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From Meg’s words you can see some effort has been put in to kj intake. But the three nature call could this be a sign of good hydration? Is drinking close to six litres in six and a half hours over-hydration or just replacing what you have lost?

From what I have found you can’t go on what you lose but more along the lines of what your body can reasonably absorb over time. Our body need our help in replenishing what it loses just in amounts that co-operate with the way we work.
When riding at an aerobic pace our body go into a different mode with blood going to the working muscles, fluids being used for cooling oxygen going to the main organs. It doesn’t really want to know about the large amounts of fluids you may be forcing into it. Since our body goes into this different mode it already knows it can’t immediately replace the fluids you lose and it has the ability to deal with this issue.

[bozz]

hey mate just a quick one did you use endura much before you raced with it??? the chocolate one is alot easier to use then the vanilla also.

i used Endura optimizer for the Scott and it was basically my main food source for the race. I didnt have much slow burn food throughout that race becuase was using that.

I have spent the last 4months training with it though, on an average of 5 days a week twice a day.

you will also find that Optimizer can be used as a pre, post and during excercise drink also. The normal Endura is also very good for stopping cramping but after a bit of mucking around with mix ratio, i found that one scoop per bottle is the best for me

Whip them legs Bozz

[Between the Tape...]

OK........it's time the downhillers added to the discussion.....

Nutrition agenda for a State/National DH race:

Friday night: Big steak and chips and copious amounts of beer..
Saturday: (practice day) hungover waiting in the shuttle line, at least 2 cans of Red Bull and 2 panadol/nurofen....the hangover actually takes your mind off the insane track you're about to hit up, with it's deadly rock gardens/road gaps/drops.....
usually there's steak/sausage sangas/hotdogs at the event site, but if you're real lucky, there's a Maccas close by......
Saturday night: Same as Friday night, except you know the roll of the pool table better and should win a few more games.
Sunday morning: Bacon and egg roll/Mc muffin/deluxe breaky roll........more Red Bull and panadol.....
practice usually only goes 'till lunch, so jam in as many runs as you can....snakes/red frogs help, untill you can get that sausage sanga back at the event site.....
Try and get to the top of the hill early for your race run so you can get your head down for a bit (takes your mind off the eagle size butterflies in your guts)........'bout half an hour before your race run, satchel of gu, Red Bull and more panadol (if you still have a headache or any nagging injuries).......by the time your race run comes around you'll be buzzing and ready to smash out your best time....
After your race run, straight back into the beers, to either celebrate or commiserate........eating is optional... ;D

[crummy]

"downhillers added to the discussion"

Good to see some quality input from the DH end of town.
I cant imagine you would perform better any other way.