Getting dizzy during races

[BDF]

Yup - clearly bannana's are not ideal - remember you will have carbs in your bottles too - so subtract that.

 

And because you are not top fit and athletically slim, you should probably use your ideal race weight and not your actual weight - you can probably use a lot less because you won't be able to sustain the intensity needed to use that amount of carbs - so try 1 gel per hour and half a bannana and normal carb drink in your bottles - should keep you in trim for a 3 hour race just fine - perhaps even overkill.

V12man, do you think that we sometimes want to eat in a long race just because we may me "grazers" in a normal day? What I mean is that we have trained ourselves to feel hungry every hour or couple of hours because we snack (even healthy snacks) during the day. Then we get on our bikes and "feel hungry" even though we may not at that point need any fuel. From my research I have read that a sort of average athlete has roughly 90 minutes of glycogen stored in the muscles before a session. That implies that we need not take any carbs in for the first hour. Is this true?

[cfcjim]

So lets say i am 125kgs thats 125g of carbs and a banana contains 23g per 100g that relates to roughly half a kilo of bananas an hour. So a 3 hour race i will carry 1.5kilos of bananas with me. 

There are different ways to carry bananas...

[Bateleur1]

On a personal note.

I eat NOTHING on a race.  One bottle water.  One bottle carb drink.

Nothing else. 

 

A long ride (5hour+) I will take one banana and a bar.

 

Jy weeg boggeroll so dit tel nie.  Ons dikker manne moet maar n mandjie vir die pad pak. 

[Spinnekop]

Jy weeg boggeroll so dit tel nie.  Ons dikker manne moet maar n mandjie vir die pad pak. 

Wait....what?

Is dit nie ANDERS om nie?  Ons maargatte moet MEER eet want ons het nie "reserwes" nie.

[V12man]

V12man, do you think that we sometimes want to eat in a long race just because we may me "grazers" in a normal day? What I mean is that we have trained ourselves to feel hungry every hour or couple of hours because we snack (even healthy snacks) during the day. Then we get on our bikes and "feel hungry" even though we may not at that point need any fuel. from my research I have read that a sort of average athlete has roughly 90minutes of glycogen stored in the muscled before a session. That implies that we need not take any carbs in for the first hour. Is this true?

Generally accepted that you have 60 - 120 minutes of glycogen stored if you have normal levels, without specific interventions to raise that level, like carbo loading.

 

So yes - it is true that you don't have to take any carbs in the first hour, but that pre-supposed the excercise ends after 1 hour - remember there is a lag between eating/drinking the carbs, and them being absorbed through the gut into the bloodstream - if you get the timing wrong, then you will run out and 'bonk', and it's VERY difficult to recover from mid race - and will definately cost you time, and almost certainly cost you performance the next day too - possibly longer.

[michaelbiker]

So lets say i am 125kgs thats 125g of carbs and a banana contains 23g per 100g that relates to roughly half a kilo of bananas an hour. So a 3 hour race i will carry 1.5kilos of bananas with me. 

Disclaimer: Take this all as non-medical, anecdotal advice, but it definitely worked for me and I believe, through a lot of research of my own on the subject that physiological science behind it is sound.

 

Over a 4 hour ride, I eat nothing. I just drink water. A couple of years back, I wasn't able to go 1 hour without getting dizzy and bonking out. It was awful, I used to buy energy bars by the box.

 

What I did was train my body to burn fat rather than glucose. This is a lot harder than it sounds though, and takes a lot of discomfort in the beginning. A quick way of achieving it, while losing weight at the same time, is to try fasting, once a week. Don't attempt this however, without first consulting a doctor and/or building up to it. Here are a few really good tips on training and losing weight at the same time: http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/article/6-ways-for-cyclists-to-burn-fat-fast-47474/

 

A fit human body is able to store roughly 2500 calories of energy as glycogen in the muscles and about 10 000 calories in fat stores. Even a very lean athlete has more energy stored in the form of fat than glycogen. If you are able to train your body to start burning fat when the glycogen runs out, you would be able to go on for quite a long time without needing to replenish the lost calories. 

 

 

I personally don't think its 100% necessary to eat while exercising, unless you are doing extreme endurance (4+ hours). You just need to train your body to perform accordingly.

[lerouc]

Yup - clearly bannana's are not ideal - remember you will have carbs in your bottles too - so subtract that.

 

And because you are not top fit and athletically slim, you should probably use your ideal race weight and not your actual weight - you can probably use a lot less because you won't be able to sustain the intensity needed to use that amount of carbs - so try 1 gel per hour and half a bannana and normal carb drink in your bottles - should keep you in trim for a 3 hour race just fine - perhaps even overkill.

 

But i want to stay away from the gel/carb drinks/anything that contain any higher amounts of sugar.

[V12man]

But i want to stay away from the gel/carb drinks/anything that contain any higher amounts of sugar.

Just look for gels/drinks that contain low glucose levels and high maltodextrin levels as carbohydrate - they won't spike your blood glucose levels - and truth be told as long as you eat after you have started exercising your blood glucose levels will stay constant.

 

Still - I don't believe your issue is diet - try my experiment.

[BDF]

Generally accepted that you have 60 - 120 minutes of glycogen stored if you have normal levels, without specific interventions to raise that level, like carbo loading.

 

So yes - it is true that you don't have to take any carbs in the first hour, but that pre-supposed the excercise ends after 1 hour - remember there is a lag between eating/drinking the carbs, and them being absorbed through the gut into the bloodstream - if you get the timing wrong, then you will run out and 'bonk', and it's VERY difficult to recover from mid race - and will definately cost you time, and almost certainly cost you performance the next day too - possibly longer.

This is how I have worked it for some time now. I take water in one bottle and a carb mixture in the other. Generally long chain carbs. After about 45 min I start sipping the carb bottle and keep doing that more or less at 15 min intervals. For rides over 3 hours I have a different mix. Carbs and protein. I do the same with this. The mix I take includes electrolyte replacement. On hot days or 4-5 hour rides I add more electrolyte. Straight after a long ride (3 hours +) I try to eat something containing protein (egg on toast or something) and some Vitamin C as well as a lot of water over the next few hours. This has acted as a goo anti-bonk and anti-cramp regimen for me.

 

It has not been 100% foolproof though. Some nights after a tough ride I get leg cramps still.

[worriesnot]

Generally accepted that you have 60 - 120 minutes of glycogen stored if you have normal levels, without specific interventions to raise that level, like carbo loading.

 

So yes - it is true that you don't have to take any carbs in the first hour, but that pre-supposed the excercise ends after 1 hour - remember there is a lag between eating/drinking the carbs, and them being absorbed through the gut into the bloodstream - if you get the timing wrong, then you will run out and 'bonk', and it's VERY difficult to recover from mid race - and will definately cost you time, and almost certainly cost you performance the next day too - possibly longer.

 

I got it wrong at Sani day 1 this year and could not recover for the rest of the event... silly, silly mistake. Made it worse by chomping down way too many simple carbs at WP1 - damn those jam doughnuts are good, but also very very bad...

[NordicElf]

But i want to stay away from the gel/carb drinks/anything that contain any higher amounts of sugar.

 

I think you should test some stuff out and see how you respond. I don't do well on high carb or caffeine stuff, it spikes me and then buries me. I take a weak version of EnduraPower the non caffiene one from  http://www.paceandpower.za.net/ took me a while to figure it out. I also have learnt recently that you need way less than you think.

 

Take backup stuff with you and try not have it. 

 

I rode with a guy once who only eats dry wors and water, I tried that for a bit, I need a little bit of carbs. everyone is different, you've got to figure out what your body needs.

[V12man]

This is how I have worked it for some time now. I take water in one bottle and a carb mixture in the other. Generally long chain carbs. After about 45 min I start sipping the carb bottle and keep doing that more or less at 15 min intervals. For rides over 3 hours I have a different mix. Carbs and protein. I do the same with this. The mix I take includes electrolyte replacement. On hot days or 4-5 hour rides I add more electrolyte. Straight after a long ride (3 hours +) I try to eat something containing protein (egg on toast or something) and some Vitamin C as well as a lot of water over the next few hours. This has acted as a goo anti-bonk and anti-cramp regimen for me.

 

It has not been 100% foolproof though. Some nights after a tough ride I get leg cramps still.

Try taking magnesium tabs (take the cheapest, they are all basically the same) for a week or so before a planned tough ride - see if it helps with the cramps...

 

Depending on how hard you ride, then your carb intake will probably be ok - if you ride at the ragged edge of your capability, then you are not taking enough in to maintain performance levels during longer rides.

 

I am quite comfortable riding fasted in the morning for 2 hours of training with nothing but some water - provided it is cool - but to race for 2 hours will take some carbs in - probably from drinks only - if it's going to go beyond 2 hours then drinks based carbs and real food as well during the ride.

[V12man]

I got it wrong at Sani day 1 this year and could not recover for the rest of the event... silly, silly mistake. Made it worse by chomping down way too many simple carbs at WP1 - damn those jam doughnuts are good, but also very very bad...

I don't think eating them is a bad idea - but stopping to eat the whole box is for sure a bad idea - you have to start eating almost immediatly you start racing to avoid a flat spot later in the race - especially when it goes over 2 - 3 hours and you start to run out of endogenous carbohydrate stores.

 

And once you have bonked, then recovery turns into a major problem - both mid ride and for days after - this is when you pray your race partner has not made the same mistake and is willing to give you a tow for a while....

[V12man]

I got it wrong at Sani day 1 this year and could not recover for the rest of the event... silly, silly mistake. Made it worse by chomping down way too many simple carbs at WP1 - damn those jam doughnuts are good, but also very very bad...

I see you live close to me - pm me some contact dets and lets get a ride in one morning.

[BDF]

My worst ever bonk was at the Rand Water Race for Victory some seasons ago. I seemed strong until around the 80km mark. Then it felt like a bear though a fridge in my lap. It is the first race I actually got off my bike and sat under a tree! Limped to the finish which seemed like 100 miles away! It took me a good month to properly recover after that. I just couldn't train properly. Never want that again.

[Gunu]

I want you to try something for me (call it an experiment)

 

Go for a 1 hour race pace (hard as you can go) ride - eat and drink whatever or nothing - and after the 1 hour - STOP quickly and get off the bike and stand next to the road - see how you feel after 5 minutes.

You should really try this. I had similar issue and got a big fright. I was out riding and had pushed hard and then stopped - took a few minutes and I started to feel light headed - actually passed out and fell over. After it happened a second time I went to doc. Did stress test, ECG, heart sonar at specialist and could not find any problem.

 

I now do two things differently and have not had the same problem again. 1. Make sure I am properly hydrated and use electrolytes in my bottle. And 2. Don't stop suddenly and just stand - I try and slow down my heart rate from max before stopping or keep walking for a bit once I get off the bike. This seems to allow my body to adjust.