Fluid & energy intake for 160k SKT

Keep_Her_Lit

Dear knowledgeable cycling folk (hope that's a nice enough intro! ),
I see lots of discussion of the Sean Kelly Tour this weekend, especially the 160k route. Here's my question: what's your plan for fluid & energy intake during this event?
I've done my share of long training spins recently, up to 150k with plenty of climbing in the mix. But despite trying various combinations - sports drinks, energy gels, water, bananas, Lucozade, oat bars - I've yet to come up with a nutrition strategy that allows me to go the distance without getting the dreaded "knock".
Being fairly sure that some posters here are dab hands at this lark, I'd be interested to know what works for you and what doesn't. Granted, it may not be a simple case of "copying and pasting" somebody else's plan but any new ideas are welcome.
Thanking y'all in advance.
Gav

irishmotorist

Keep_Her_Lit wrote: »

Dear knowledgeable cycling folk (hope that's a nice enough intro! ),
I see lots of discussion of the Sean Kelly Tour this weekend, especially the 160k route. Here's my question: what's your plan for fluid & energy intake during this event?
I've done my share of long training spins recently, up to 150k with plenty of climbing in the mix. But despite trying various combinations - sports drinks, energy gels, water, bananas, Lucozade, oat bars - I've yet to come up with a nutrition strategy that allows me to go the distance without getting the dreaded "knock".
Being fairly sure that some posters here are dab hands at this lark, I'd be interested to know what works for you and what doesn't. Granted, it may not be a simple case of "copying and pasting" somebody else's plan but any new ideas are welcome.
Thanking y'all in advance.
Gav

I'll start with a brekkie of muesli or (if the hotel caters) porridge with some raisins in it. I'll probably have brown toast and juice too. Then, I'll usually eat a banana every hour or so on the road - I won't let it go much longer than this. Getting sambos and cake and stuff at the food stops will all be consumed
Drink-wise, I'll probably go through about 5 or 6 bottles on the day. Just keep a slow but steady intake and try not to let yourself get thirsty - that's a sign that dehydration is already setting in. Personally, I'll have NUUN in one bottle and plain water in the other and I end up going through both of them at a similar pace - maybe alternating between them.

Lumen

Drink just below the rate at which your bladder gets fuller.

Eat as much as you can comfortably stomach. Aim for a little over 1g carbohydrate per kg of body weight per hour, at reasonably regular intervals (e.g. 20-30 minutes). "Carbohydrate" includes sugar.

For a very long statement of the obvious, read this. It's a bit old, others might have more recent studies.

tawfeeredux

Bowl of porridge, banana, a few spoonfuls of natural yoghurt first thing in the morning. Plenty of water. Then at the event itself, two bottles mixed with High5 Energy Source 4:1. A couple of spare sachets of same in the back pocket. A couple of Clif Bars and a banana perhaps in another pocket.

Then it's just a matter of knowing where the water/food stops are, and making sure that you consume most of your bottles before you get to each stop. No point trying to make them last the whole 160km. That's what I do anyway & it works. Used to get the 'bonk' myself, but a combination of better fitness & above routine seems to have solved that problem. I tend to avoid coffee too at the stops, as the initial boost is usually followed by a jelly-like feeling in arms & legs as the kick wears off.

markcroninbsc

with all the stops in the sean kelly tour for most people who can handle 150k already it shouldnt be too hard to do without gettin the hunger knock.

but for people like me that have done less than the 1200 miles this year (the 3 or 4000 missing miles are down to lazyness) i think the day before is fairly important too. its important to get plenty of food and water into ya for the 24 hours before, not just the breakfast. i find 2 or 3 banannas the day before help me not get cramps (im a big cramp sufferer)

I think ill make meself some pasta carbonara and a big steak the evenin before. poridge and ham sambos for breakfast then


heres me recipie for pasta carbonara

get 100g plain flour, crack an egg into it. mix it up for about 5 minutes. put it in cling film for half an hour in the fridge.

2 hot fryin pans and a pot of boilin salted water.

roll out the pasta (flour and egg thing above) with a rollin pin on a table with a good sprinklin of flour on it. roll it up into a swiss roll and cut it into stips, then shake them out.

grate some parmazan, crack an egg ina cup and whisk it a bit, cut some smokey rashers into squares, crush a clove of garlic. leave your steak out of the fridge for about an hour to ge to room temp.

in one hotish pan throw in the rashers and garlic (maybe some parsley) and a bit of olive oil. stick the pasta in the boilin water, and throw the steak in the other fryin pan (good bit of salt n pepper on it, or do marco on it and season with knorr (too salty for me, but lovely))

pasta takes about 2 or 3 minutes, when done take it out of the pot and throw it into the pan on top of the rashers and garlic, throw a little splash of the water from the pot in aswell.(remember to turn the steak) take the pasta and rashers pan off the heat, pour over the beaten egg and grated parmazan and mix it all up, the heat from the pasta should cook the egg (if the pans too hot it'll scramble the egg and thats rotten).

throw the steak on a plate, pour out the pasta on the plate. good cracklin of black pepper on top of it all (no need for salt, its already in the rashers and parmazan), and about 6 slices of buttery bread.

if you want i can give you the recepie for the poridge and ham sambos.

should this be moved to the foodies forum?

note: you'll be spittin up all sorts of ****e for the first 50k after this but its worth it

bbosco

Kudos on a carbonara recipe that doesn't involve adding cream - now can you please forward this to all the 'italian' restaurants in Dublin who haven't quite grasped this?

markcroninbsc

ah the italians here are just givin the people what they want.
ive got a meatballs recepie to go with the pasta too i make them with cheese in the middle and one or two with chilli instead for a bit of a surprise

tip for anything using mince : use lambs mince instead of beef its nicer.

Raam

The most important thing to do is load up on jellys a few minutes before the event starts. This will ensure that you have the energy to form the breakaway.

Once the break is established, eat some more jelly's and maintain the same pace which was used to form the break. You should be able to keep that up for the whole event.

Do Seskin Hill in the big ring, it's too short to change down.

Skip the first food stop. It's too early.

On the run in to Powers the Pot, completely drill it. Your momentum will carry you to the top.

Skip the second food stop, it's still too early.

As you approach Mahon Falls, let the magic road do it's thing.
Actually, you should be able to freewheel all the way to the top of Mahon Falls.
On the descent, close your eyes. It's dead straight and smooth all the way down.

Take some jellys.

Do the Mama Road climb with one foot unclipped.

Sure then it's downhill all the way back. Apart from the uphill bits, so no need to take any more jellys.

Leave the water bottles at home. It's too short a spin.

markcroninbsc

i find the testogel is better than the jellies for this kind of aproach to the spin

Raam wrote: »

The most important thing to do is load up on jellys a few minutes before the event starts. This will ensure that you have the energy to form the breakaway.

Once the break is established, eat some more jelly's and maintain the same pace which was used to form the break. You should be able to keep that up for the whole event.

Do Seskin Hill in the big ring, it's too short to change down.

Skip the first food stop. It's too early.

On the run in to Powers the Pot, completely drill it. Your momentum will carry you to the top.

Skip the second food stop, it's still too early.

As you approach Mahon Falls, let the magic road do it's thing.
Actually, you should be able to freewheel all the way to the top of Mahon Falls.
On the descent, close your eyes. It's dead straight and smooth all the way down.

Take some jellys.

Do the Mama Road climb with one foot unclipped.

Sure then it's downhill all the way back. Apart from the uphill bits, so no need to take any more jellys.

Leave the water bottles at home. It's too short a spin.

Wingman2010

tawfeeredux wrote: »

Bowl of porridge, banana, a few spoonfuls of natural yoghurt first thing in the morning. Plenty of water. Then at the event itself, two bottles mixed with High5 Energy Source 4:1. A couple of spare sachets of same in the back pocket. A couple of Clif Bars and a banana perhaps in another pocket.

Then it's just a matter of knowing where the water/food stops are, and making sure that you consume most of your bottles before you get to each stop. No point trying to make them last the whole 160km. That's what I do anyway & it works. Used to get the 'bonk' myself, but a combination of better fitness & above routine seems to have solved that problem. I tend to avoid coffee too at the stops, as the initial boost is usually followed by a jelly-like feeling in arms & legs as the kick wears off.

I just saw your comment regarding clif bars so I had to come in! I did a 120k cycle yesterday and I tried a chocolate chip clif bar. It was really good and very tasty I was told by someone today who does a lot of cycling to avoid these bars as there full of artificial crap :rolleyes: I was going to stock up on these bars for long spins but I don't know what to do now... maybe I just have to use what I actually enjoy eating doing long spins? On a different note I also find the high 5 powder really good. Is this also suitable to use after a long cycle?

DirkVoodoo

Wingman2010 wrote: »

I just saw your comment regarding clif bars so I had to come in! I did a 120k cycle yesterday and I tried a chocolate chip clif bar. It was really good and very tasty I was told by someone today who does a lot of cycling to avoid these bars as there full of artificial crap :rolleyes:

I don't know where he is getting that from, the whole point of clif bars is they are made from natural ingredients and avoid artificial flavourings. Heck, they even avoid dairy!

I eat the peanut ones and they are very tasty, but a nutrigrain is just as good for me.