To the ones that knows

[Mads]

I am still in my training shoes and have the following question to those that know:

 

On a "race" like ie the Burger I would use USN Cyto Max HP with Pepto Pro in my bottles and some Gu's or other energy gels. For food I take boiled baby potatoes ( because it eat easy)  When I train I normally take Energade MAX but I dilute it at aprox 1:10.  Actually it is only to give the water some sort of a taste. 

 

Now my question is the following:  Am I supposed to train with all these supll I use when I race?  I am trying to do 2 x 1.5 hours a week and a long run of 2-4 hours on weekends. I am not a pro - not by far - but aiming to beat the 4 hour mark in the Argus. 

 

[Mads]

Someone???

[fandacious]

Find what works best for you

 

 

 

Just because eating 3 x kfc burgers the night before works for me, it might not work for you...

 

 

 

and with your training you should crack a 3h30 argus no problem

[Mads]

What I mean is that when training I dont take any supplements as the Energade is so diluted. Should I for instance put Pepto Pro in my cooldrink when I train as well? Or do I leave that for races only?  I am actually aiming for 3.30 but its a secret.

[fandacious]

train with water in the week. If you're riding the long rides on the weekends, then take something to eat and some juice...

[Mads]

Thank You

[fandacious]

While nutrition (on and off the bike) is important, nothing is more important that time in the saddle (TITS).

 

 

 

Train as hard and as often as possible. with water or anything else.

[stringbean]

Agree,try use only for racing NOT all the time.Try and eat more on the bike.I used to use all those things including GU.The problem is after time it starts to effect your teeth.Dont laugh,My teethy are starting to fall out(or rather not as strong as they used to be)and i am sure its the constant high sugar content of all that crap in your mouth.Water and food i say

m2c

 

[stewie911]

To give another answer to your first question:

You don't have to train with all the supplements you take on raceday, but you should do a few long rides with them aspecially closer to the race to make sure your body can digest it. This is because some people find it hard to digest certain things during training.

 

For the rest of your long rides you can use normal energade, but you will need to consume 20 - 40g of carbs per hour, so you're 1:10 ration won't be enough.

 

For rides longer than 1h you need extra carbs. Usually something like 20-40g of carbs per hour. So your 1:10 energade mix during the week is maybe good enough.

 

[Azonic]

 

All comes down to sugar. I don't think many people on TheHub are at the level where they need super duper (doper?) nutritional supplements or drinks.

 

Last time I went into Game Stores I bought a big tub of Muscle Science sports drink, why, because it was cheap. Then bought two tins of the old school Game energy drink powder and mixed it all together to sweeten it up a bit.

 

Whatever you drink won't make you as fast as training an additional 30 minutes every training ride would.

 

If you have any decent breakfast before a race (about 4 hour before), and maybe a small chocolate or something 30 minutes before, you can probably race Die Burger on water and still have enough energy to spare.

 

I train on water.

 

 

Azonic2010-01-08 00:44:13

[HappyMartin]

Your muscles need fuel like a car a needs fuel and when your muscles run out of fuel they stop working as your car will stop running without fuel. When training you want to work your various energy systems and that can be hard to do without fuel. Be a bit like Rossi practicing on his motor bike with lower octane fuel or less fuel. It wont make him faster on race day as he would not have a good practice. In the same way it is pointless to go on a hard training ride and run out of energy. Perhaps your muscles can still do more work and get more training but without fuel you are going nowhere.

 

 

 

You most likely will not need all the potions and stuff in training that you would use on race day but it is vital to still be well fed, fueled and hydrated.

[Bram_on_Madone]

Ok my 2 cents worth.

 

From the sounds of it, you're probably at the same type of level that I am (recently started taking cycling seriously, aspirations to do a respectable Argus, but certainly not win it...)

 

I've done a little research into the topic and have also chatted to my dad, who is a medical doctor.

 

Firstly the most important thing in improving your cycling is TITS (as mentioned above) and generally leading a healthy lifestyle with a balanced diet.  That means cutting out smoking, heavy drinking, fat (speak fast food and most restaurant food) and making sure you have enough carbs and vegetables in your diet.  For your normal training level, which is well short of a professional cyclist's, this will mean that usually your muscles have sufficient fuel to relatively heavy exercise.  Even Lance eats a lot of meat and fat free pastas and enjoys a Nutella sandwich before training.

 

Secondly the two things you want to during long training and racing is giving your muscles fuel and keeping your body hydrated.  Having regular healthy meals and a good breakfast will mean that your body ("glycogen stores") should have enough energy for at least an hours worth of heavy training, but if you don't train every day, usually +- 2 hours.  What this means is that for your twice weakly sessions of 1.5 hours you shouldn't be using any energy drinks (btw this is probably a bit light if you want to achieve 3h30 in the Argus).  As far as hydration is concerned, the pro's might be able to last 4 hours on two water bottles, but you should probably be replacing about 750ml/hour of water.  For longer rides and races you will have to use some form of easily digestible carb to feed your muscles and I agree that you should train and race with the same stuff to see how your body reacts.

 

Thirdly all the suplement stuff is largely mumbo jumbo.  There are some basic truths though.  There is some scientific evidence that the body can digest a combination of sugars more efficiently than a sigle sugar.  but most cheap energy drinks have cottoned on to this and also use a combination of sucrose and fructose.  You also want to add back some salt lost in training, but this can be done quite easily.  Apparently Eddie Merckx used to train on apple juice diluted 50% with water and a table spoon of salt - achieving the desired effect of sugars, salt and hydration.

 

As far as recovery drinks are concerned, all you want to do is prevent your body from going into a catabolic state (where your body breaks down muscle mass) after heavy exercise (probably 3 hours plus at your pace).  Which means you need to eat carbs and protein in ratio of approximately 4:1.  If you like the taste of the recovery shakes go for it, but chocolate milk works just as well, and I prefer an egg sandwich.

 

Most of this is based on my own amateur experience, so don't take it as scientific fact, but I hope it helps.

[Mads]

Thank You to all. So now it is me my bike and I for 2 months!