How to Fuel Endurance
Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2016 11:32 am
Train for it!
Fitness comes first in this case, not fueling. Building a big aerobic engine that can resist fatigue over the course of whatever you're trying to accomplish is the most important thing, whether a hike, ski, run, bike ride, or whatever.
If you haven't trained for it progressively, shoving down more calories won't make up for it.
Case in point, Sat. I raced an 8 hr MTB race in Norcal. I rode four laps of a technical course that almost never let me have a second to take in fluids or calories. It was hot and humid, so virtually all refueling happened between laps.
What propelled me for hours? Four onigiri and one bottle of sports drink. Maybe 800 calories all together. Plus I had a breakfast of two large homemade rice cakes a little too close to the start, so my gut was grumpy for the second half of lap 1.
The sports nutrition industry has us believing that we need to consume x amount of calories, y amount of water, z amount of electrolytes at precise intervals to avoid complete catastrophic collapse.
Wrong.
Train your fitness and efficiency, making your body great at using stored fat as fuel and managing its resources, so you have a great day.
Fitness comes first in this case, not fueling. Building a big aerobic engine that can resist fatigue over the course of whatever you're trying to accomplish is the most important thing, whether a hike, ski, run, bike ride, or whatever.
If you haven't trained for it progressively, shoving down more calories won't make up for it.
Case in point, Sat. I raced an 8 hr MTB race in Norcal. I rode four laps of a technical course that almost never let me have a second to take in fluids or calories. It was hot and humid, so virtually all refueling happened between laps.
What propelled me for hours? Four onigiri and one bottle of sports drink. Maybe 800 calories all together. Plus I had a breakfast of two large homemade rice cakes a little too close to the start, so my gut was grumpy for the second half of lap 1.
The sports nutrition industry has us believing that we need to consume x amount of calories, y amount of water, z amount of electrolytes at precise intervals to avoid complete catastrophic collapse.
Wrong.
Train your fitness and efficiency, making your body great at using stored fat as fuel and managing its resources, so you have a great day.