Petite village

by Marcia Sivek

It is training time again or, for some of us, it is still training time. In either case, the season is opening up to longer bike rides and less inclement weather. Think back to when you began riding longer, farther and harder last spring and summer, were you satisfied with your performance? Did you recover well from long rides or training sessions? If the answer is no to both questions, read on. If you answered yes, the following information may or may not be useful for you. Why change something that is working, right?

 

If you had difficulty maintaining proper energy during training and recovery it is likely you are not meeting your nutritional needs. Determining individual nutritional needs can become complicated even if the goal isn't to get a medal or yellow jersey. It is difficult to know what combinations and amounts of nutrients we should eat to achieve optimal health and/or performance without considering individual genetics, gender, height and weight, exercise level, daily routines, mental stressors, lifestyle and food quality. The goal of this article is not to give you a meal plan to follow strictly, it is the goal of this article to provide you with basic nutritional guidelines that will help you create your nutritional needs to meet your performance goals.

 

The biggest consideration when planning a diet for strenuous exercise is determining the amount of macronutrients (carbohydrates, fats, and proteins) that are necessary to provide adequate energy. Enough calories must be ingested in order to balance the amount of energy spent for your body composition or desired body composition. Cyclists and endurance athletes should consume a diet made up of approximately 65% or more of carbohydrates. The sugars from the carbohydrates are absorbed into our blood and eventually our skeletal muscles, where glucose is stored in the form of glycogen for future energy use. So, determining the appropriate amount of calories and type of carbohydrates for your body will help you maintain higher glycogen levels and provide enough energy on longer strenuous rides.

 

So how many calories are appropriate you ask? Well a basic formula to calculate individual calories needed daily based on your body weight is 30 calories per kilogram of body weight (divide your weight in pounds by 2.2 to determine kilograms). So a person weighing 160 pounds weighs approximately 73 kilograms. Therefore, this individual requires approximately 2,182 calories per day. You may have to add calories (~100 to 300 per day) if you live an active life, or, you may have to subtract if your lifestyle is rather sedentary or if you are trying to lose a few pounds.

 

When choosing carbohydrate calories it is a good idea to choose nutrient dense foods like beans, some vegetables, yams, fruits, and whole grain breads. Nutrient dense foods tend to have a lower glycemic index, meaning they do not cause major spikes in blood glucose. Many people do well ingesting high glycemic index foods during exercise and during recovery right after exercise when a spike in blood sugar is necessary. Examples of high glycemic index foods include: bananas, carrots, oat bran, rice, white bread, granola, white rice, and processed foods containing high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). However, in general, when sedentary, it is advisable to moderate or avoid consumption of high glycemic index foods. Low glycemic foods include: apples, figs, yogurt, pears, peanuts, grapes, lima beans, and cherries.

 

Calories from fats and proteins are also required in order for the body to perform properly. When performing strenuous exercise, the intake of fat and protein should each be below 30% of total calories. This percentage is less then what the average more sedentary population would consume. A diet higher in carbohydrates and lower in fats and proteins will promote the emptying of the stomach. No one wants to feel “full” when trying to ride along at a good pace for a long distance.

 

It has been scientifically proven that a well-hydrated person performs better. The easiest way to determine if you are hydrated enough, look at the color of your urine. If you have dark yellow urine, you are not drinking enough water. Urine should be a light color with very little to no odor if you are properly hydrated. Not drinking enough water can also cause fatigue, constipation and headaches. Athletes performing in a dehydration state of 2% of their body weight can expect to see up to a 20% decrease in performance.

 

Meal timing also needs to be considered when exercising. If you eat too far in advance before an event, fasting will cause a decrease in glycogen stores before exercise begins. Eating immediately before an event can cause the hyper stimulation of insulin which will cause a rapid decrease in blood glucose eventually decreasing energy and performance before desired goal is met. Studies have shown that it is best to eat a meal made up of approximately 65% complex carbs 3-4 hours before the event. At this point the stomach will be empty and hyper stimulation of insulin will be avoided. On a ride longer than two hours it is important to have a snack, energy gel or sports drink. A person may need to snack at regular intervals if the ride is going to be several hours long. When eating several hours in advance some people find it helpful to them to eat a light snack like a handful of raisins 15 minutes or so into the ride. It is also recommended to drink at least one bottle of water per hour.

 

Good recovery replaces the water lost, glycogen levels, and muscle protein, which should help combat muscle soreness and being over fatigued. This can be done by simply eating a few high glycemic index foods like wedges of oranges, banana or a sports drink with glucose or sucrose within 10-15 minutes after stopping. It is best to avoid ingestion of highly processed foods that contains HFCS. Therefore, soda with HFCS is not adviseable during a ride or for recovery, or, for that matter and in my opinion, ever. HFCS can inhibit the attachment of glucose to the cellular insulin receptor. Glucose transport into the cell to produce energy is dependent upon insulin. Therefore, HFCS is not a good source of energy because it cannot efficiently deliver glucose to the cells.

 

Nutrition, hydration, and meal timing are the main keys to a cyclist reaching performance goals. Without proper nutrition or hydration you will bonk and have difficulty recovering. Proper nutrition, hydration and meal timing as well as eating frequency will need to be experimented with to meet your individual needs. This can be done by keeping a food journal of the what you eat daily when training and noting your mood, along with performance, after each meal and training event. Did you bonk after a 60-mile ride? Look at what foods you ate, how much water you drank, before, during and after the ride. Did you snack during the ride? How many hours did you eat before the ride? Be honest to yourself and try to recollect everything you ate when keeping a food journal. A 7-day diary will give a fair assessment of your diet or if that is too tedious, track your food and mood for three days but make sure to include a weekend day in the journal. Eating habits generally change on the weekend compared to a weekday.

 

The food diary information can be added into a dietary analysis program to determine the percentages of macronutrients (carbs, proteins, and fats) consumed. There are many free dietary analysis sites out there (it should be noted that many of these programs have limitations to the foods they allow for input, but can be a good guideline in determining some of the macronutrients ingested). I happen to use a free web-based program called Fit Day (http://www.fitday.com/) which seems to work for me. You can use this as a guideline as to where to cut back on certain macronutrients. Maybe you are getting more fat in your diet than you thought, which may be the reason you are not getting peak energy results. Just remember that even though we are all basically made of the same stuff, our individual nutritional needs can vary greatly from person to person. So finding the right diet plan for you during training will take a little bit of research and experimenting and possibly advice from a nutrition expert or healthcare professional.