Anyone that knows me knows that I eat A LOT. My friends in Evansville used to make fun of me because on our way to dinner I would be eating a granola bar or some kind of snack while walking across campus. University of Evansville's ENTIRE campus took up barely one city block, yet I would be eating a snack on the way to dinner, go figure. I still eat a ton, I have a ridiculously high metabolism thanks to all of the running and nonsense that I do on a daily basis, hence the giant caloric intake. This high requirement for calories does pose for a small drawback though. When I'm training I have to carry my own nutrition in my pockets or a running belt. Normally for a half marathon I'll eat 1 or 2 gels, a full I'll eat anywhere from 3-7 depending on the conditions. I've noticed lately that I am MUCH happier when biking when I eat roughly 200+ calories/hour. I used to eat less than that and wanted to kill someone part way through the ride, and usually ended up being a lousy biking partner. This year though I've increased my intake and have noticed that I am not only happier, but biking stronger. I did a 56 mile solo ride a couple of weeks ago, the weather was nice and cool, I went through pretty country roads, enjoyed life, and ended up singing Disney tunes at the top of my lungs the last 15 miles to keep myself entertained. No bonking, no crashing, no nothing. I was a happy midget thoroughly enjoying my bike ride. This past Saturday I did another solo ride and I hated everything. I was hot, I was tired, I was hungry, the path went up hill on roads I didn't particularly care for, cars tried to hit me, and my act of kindness by giving my CO2 cartrige to an older couple with a flat was promptly met by an ill-turned karma of being stung in the butt repeatedly by a trapped bug of some sort. Yep, not a great ride. I strongly believe that probably 90% of my mood could have been better tempered had I taken in more calories and more fluids. When I did my 56 mile ride in cool weather I took in about 800 calories and was as happy as a lark. This past week I called it quits and was mad at the world at 50 miles and finished my should have been 75 mile ride at 66 miles. I would have stopped at 50 but I was still 16 miles from my car. For that great ride I took in just shy of 1000 calories, but the temperature was about 15 degrees warmer, the terrain had a lot more uphill, there was a serious head wind for about 20 miles thanks to the cold front moving in, and my metabolism was already jump started with an 800m swim that morning. After that wonderfulness I have decided to go back to the drawing board and think of ways to not make me a miserable biking companion, not hate everyone around me, and basically be a fat kid on a bike by eating constantly.
I like my gels, the Gu chomps aren't bad, and the Stinger waffles are good too, but I'm getting a feeling that they aren't enough. I'm looking into different ways to get more calories in my drink so we'll see what happens. My current bike bottles are normally filled with 1 bottle of water and the other bottle of electrolytes but contain no calories. My new plan is to fill one bottle with electrolytes and the other bottle with gatorade of form, something with calories. I'm also looking at Skratch labs, it's an all natural drink mix with calories that I've been reading about, and also looking at EFS mix stuff. They all do essentially the same thing, just some sit with different people better than others. Ironman Florida is now 7 weeks away, so I guess the time to figure out what works best for me is now instead of later. I'm also considering Red Bull for T2 going into the run for a little caffeine boost. I read in a couple different blogs where people swear by drinking Red Bull coming out of T2 so we'll see. I already love the stuff so what could go wrong? Famous last words huh? This week I have a lot of running and swimming on tap so I can test out my Red Bull theory, then this weekend I have a 90 mile ride on Saturday which should be a PERFECT time to figure out some more nutrition. I'm going to attempt some of the EFS mix, try to take in at least 200 calories/hour of food on top of my drinks, and see what other nonsense I can come up with. I'm considering plantain chips to get a crunchy solid food in there and just to change up the texture since most of my calories are in a liquid or gooey state. I'll let you know how this goes! If it's an epic failure, at least I have 7 weeks to figure it out right? Seven weeks DOES NOT sound that long at all. Here goes nothing! :D
Happy training :D
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