Energy Gel Consumption

[Ernaantoinette]

Hi guys, I recently started doing long distance cycling competitions and would like to find out what the correct amount of energy gel is to consume during a long distance race?

[jkoorts]

Depends on,

 

1. What you ate 2 days before the event,

2. The day before the event,

3. The morning before the event,

4. as well as what you ate on the start line.

[jcza]

Roughly 40 grams of carbs per 45-60 mins. (that is 1 x bottle and 1 x gel)

 

If event is < 6 hours then liquid is best.

[leona]

I've always felt that the general advice to have 1 every 45 mins was a bit excessive. id think this would only apply to people racing a shorter crit effort type of race and would be too much for the average person. thats not to say it would do any harm except if you were out for a really long time making you really sick of gels.

 

i think it will depend on the effot that you are putting in. if you are reasonably fit but not fussed about racing and therefore not pushing that hard then i think 1 every 45 mins will be more than necessary. it also depends if you are using energy drinks and/or solid food.

if you are very unfit then its going to be harder for you and in that case i would err on the side of causion and have 1 every 45mins.

 

personally i go for 1 an hour in conjunction with electrolytes. if I'm doing a stage race then il normally use energy drink as well but not very strong.

 

there is no right answer really, everyones requirements vary, some need much more than others so you'l have to see really what works for you. what have you been doing on long training rides?

[Tomik]

Welcome!

 

Everyone will be different. I find gels have too much sugar - makes you kinda reliant on them if you use them from the start. I use a gel in emergencies (i.e. last 30 minutes of Argus) or an hour to go in a longer race. For the rest, good old food is better. Jungle Bars, Protein Bars, droewors and dates.

 

A bottle an hour is likely to make you need to pee...For a 3 hr Argus, I get by with one bottle (if I drink half a bottle before the race), 1 jungle bar, a couple of dates and a GU for the last bit. And 4 beers after!

[Tjokkits]

1. if all else fails follow instructions on packet
   

['Dale]

Not sure which of the two threads are operational:

 

Long?

3, 4, 5, etc hours?

 

For a century race:

One at the start for that launch;

One in the final 45 mins for that zip to the chalk.

[Snytjie]

Its more complicated than just taking a gel before an intense part, or taking a standard amount such as one per hour or such. Your body burns a certain percentage of glucose as you exercise, and that percentage rises with intensity. The can however only store a limited amount of glucose, and therefore you run the risk of running out of it (the 'hit the wall' phenomenon).

 

So the idea of race nutrition is to offset the deficiency as much as possible. For example, if you cycle for 3 hours at high intensity you'll burn something like 700kcal per hour in glucose. Typically your body can store 1500-1800 kcal in glucose, plus the opportunity to manufacture some more from protein in an emergency. So, you'll have around 2000-2200 to work with. That means that after three hours you'll be very close to bonking if you take nothing. In crease the time/intensity and you have no choice but eating.

 

But its not only a case of eating to offset the deficit. Each body differs in its capability to digest food during intense workout. You can also train your body to take more. I started e.g. with 150kcal p.h., and can after a year take on 300kcal.

 

I would say that one has to have an idea of how the body uses glucose at certain level, and then do loads of experimentation during training.

[Ernaantoinette]

I certainly think that there must be a health risk involved in taking to much energy gels. Over flowing your body with carbs and fructose that are ingredients of many of these gels can lead to diabetes even in the long run and for somebody with a very fast metabolism it may be necessary to take them more frequently during a race, as they tend to experience fatigue quickly, because they use energy so fast. I seems like the average consumption is around 1 gel every 45min with 400-500ml of water then? Most of my races are about 3-4 hours to now I can plan accordingly and adjust if necessary. Thanks

[Gen]

I am poop bang of the energy gels. I tried it once and I got the shakes.. def not for me. I just make sure I fuel my body the days leading up to a long distance event.

[gazzamuller]

Everyone is different and it also depends whether or not you have trained with the nutrition and if you body is used to it or not. Your body can absorb up to 400 Calories an hour. I use a gel every 45 minutes as instructed on the packet along with a calorie dense drink to get in the calories I need. Carbohydrates are stored in your muscles as glycogen and you can completely deplete these stores in 90 minutes. A gel is the most efficient way to keep these glycogen stores up and to fuel the body as they are easily absorbed. In tougher race situations or when it is colder I tend to use a gel every 30 minutes as I know I am then burning more calories and need to replace them.

[jcza]

I certainly think that there must be a health risk involved in taking to much energy gels. Over flowing your body with carbs and fructose that are ingredients of many of these gels can lead to diabetes even in the long run and for somebody with a very fast metabolism it may be necessary to take them more frequently during a race, as they tend to experience fatigue quickly, because they use energy so fast. I seems like the average consumption is around 1 gel every 45min with 400-500ml of water then? Most of my races are about 3-4 hours to now I can plan accordingly and adjust if necessary. Thanks

 

Don't stress you can never eat enough to keep up. There will always be a deficit when racing, that's why you slow down. The bit about diabetes is not true.

[JGR]

Its more complicated than just taking a gel before an intense part, or taking a standard amount such as one per hour or such. Your body burns a certain percentage of glucose as you exercise, and that percentage rises with intensity. The can however only store a limited amount of glucose, and therefore you run the risk of running out of it (the 'hit the wall' phenomenon).

 

So the idea of race nutrition is to offset the deficiency as much as possible. For example, if you cycle for 3 hours at high intensity you'll burn something like 700kcal per hour in glucose. Typically your body can store 1500-1800 kcal in glucose, plus the opportunity to manufacture some more from protein in an emergency. So, you'll have around 2000-2200 to work with. That means that after three hours you'll be very close to bonking if you take nothing. In crease the time/intensity and you have no choice but eating.

 

But its not only a case of eating to offset the deficit. Each body differs in its capability to digest food during intense workout. You can also train your body to take more. I started e.g. with 150kcal p.h., and can after a year take on 300kcal.

 

I would say that one has to have an idea of how the body uses glucose at certain level, and then do loads of experimentation during training.

Triathlete right here ....

[Snytjie]

Don't stress you can never eat enough to keep up. There will always be a deficit when racing, that's why you slow down. The bit about diabetes is not true.

 

True. You can only digest a limited amount of the sugars (as said here 150-400kcal). After that your digestive system shuts it out and you puke/get stomach cramps. Moderate intensity exercise will see you burn around 50/50 calories of fat and glucose/glycogen, and for cycling that would translate to about 450 kcal of each. You are thus always in deficit, or in other words, you burn more that you can actually take in even when exercising moderately. Go quicker and the deficit enlarges...

[Snytjie]

Triathlete right here ....

[WIPEOUT 1000]

I ended up in ICU because of energy gell's at last years Epic.

 

Have look at the attached clip for the explanation.

 

 

I now ride on water and real food. I suggest you also have a look at Tim Noakes book Waterlogged.