Food vs. Fueling: Part II

OK, it has been longer than I planned. Part I was basically do not eat crap food when it comes to your day to day nutrition. Remember the disclaimer that I am not a RD, nutritionist, no certs of any kind, just some reading, some experimentation, etc. But, I will say again that I really do believe that A LOT of what we are led to believe as endurance athletes and people in general is not necessarily in our best interests, but in the interests of those funding the study.

I am at a training camp right now, so I have put in more training in 4 days than I typically do in 7. I am doing my best to eat real food, but I cannot always read the labels...so I am sure that I am eating a bit more sugar than normal because the yogurt definitely has sugar in it. I am also eating more dairy than normal because I have not had the convenience of my blender at home for smoothies, protein powder, etc. Anyway, at times it becomes an issue of just getting the calories in. I am fast finding that the "easiest" way to do that in Thailand is with fat...coconut milk, butter, eggs (&protein), cheese. We have continued to do our best to limit the sugar and limit or cut out the wheat products since we have found that to work well for us. Which kind of brings me full circle to what I want to say here.

I try to think about workouts in terms of what type they are or how much glycogen I am going to burn during the workout and tailor my nutrition to that. Without getting too crazy about it, the easiest way to explain it will be to run through a few examples, and give you somewhat of a quote.

- Glycogen depleting workouts that are early. These are hard swim, run, or bike sessions that have intervals in them and last 60 or more minutes. I typically will have only eating a little bit to stave off the morning hunger. I will have a recovery drink after these workouts IF I am not going to eat soon after. If I eat soon after, I make sure I have some carbs (NOT a LOT), hydrate, and then eat real food the rest of the day.

- Glycogen depleting workouts that are late. I try to have real food most of the day leading up to them with not too many carbs. As long as you have eating sensibly, your glycogen stores will be topped off. I try to plan these workouts so that I have a real meal with some protein, fat, and carbs shortly after and DO NOT drink a recovery drink.

- Aerobic (some say base) workouts or easy workouts. Real food before and after, just eat normal. If you experiment a little, I bet that you find that you DO NOT need 70% carbs in your diet like the experts say you do. Go to fitday.com or another site and see where you are. If it is a long ride or run, you can really get by with less than you think. If it is a race rehearsal long workout, it all goes out the window and practice what you plan on doing on race day, but I have found that it should not differ too much.

That is a good start. I posted my general nutrition go-to sites, so I will post some of my workout related nutrition sites...one is on both lists.

First Endurance Team Site


Bob Seebohoar

Robb Wolf

Allen Lim and Neal Henderson both have some very, very good stuff out on the web if you look for it.

Robert Kunz of First Endurance came to Austin last summer. One of the questions asked was should I have a serving of Ultragen after EVERY workout? Robert basically said, no. Based your need for a recovery drink on what type of workout you did and when you plan to eat following the workout. That is the key to workout nutrition in my opinion, and it sold me more on the First Endurance line of products even more. You DO NOT need a 300+ calorie sugar bomb right after every workout...especially if you want to lose some LBs.