Hi All

Just wondering what others consume nutrition wise when out on a long ride or event. I have just done D2D for the 3rd time as a team of 4 and struggled with what to eat!
I had pasta with Tuna in the afternoon, consumed maxi-muscle viper on the way around, then a chocolate recovery drink after each lap. Didn’t feel great after 2 laps!!

Would be really useful to know what you guys eat / drink at events like this to keep going….

Cheers

Bananas and tinned peaches for me in team events, seem to go down well. And an unhealthy number of haribo jelly babies.

Bottle or 2 of honey, fig rolls, bananas, flat coke, elevenses, jelly babies all good
Then chocolate yazoo follwed by Guinness and a cheese burger and chips
Oh forgot high five 4:1 in bottles

http://www.scribd.com/doc/65680796/Nutritional-Concerns-in-Recreation-Exercise-And-Sport

I feel its more important what you eat the day/night before a big ride. Get plenty of good carbs in with greens and fruit juices. Gets your glycogen/immune system levels good and ready. More easily absorbed carbs in the morning, a bucket full of porridge with grapes and honey work for me. During the ride granary bread with peanut butter and jam is my fav. Giving you protein, carbs and sugars. Topped up with bananas plenty of go gels and electrolyte based drink. Works for me?

Forget protein during exercise and immediately prior. Your body won’t absorb it. Simple starchy carbs in small quantity and regular intervals, but ease up on too much sugar and even more so on chocolate.
High 5 zero in water but don’t drown yuh self just when you feel thirsty.
As the sensible fella said above; carb load the day before (healthy stuff tho’) you only need [quality ] protein post exercise and at night. other wise its just high and unnecessary calories.

Pudd is spot on (imo) if you have protien within 3 hours of a race you will not have time to digest it and make use of it, I guess you were out every 2.5 to 3 hours for the start of your next lap so no good between laps either just more to weigh you down.

Avoid things that can spike your sugar levels, these give you a super high for a while.. then you hit the floor as it wears off. Torq have some good info on there website (http://www.torqfitness.co.uk/)and it worked amazingly for myself

I use Herbalife prolong can’t fault it….well maybe the price I’m sure one one will be along in a min to say its rubbish etc blah blah 🙂

Gels.

Bacon and egg pasta with chille sauce night before. Dry fried egg sandwhiches in the morning with diluted orange juice. ham cheese and pickel sandwhiches when out along with a bottle with sis go in with a aldi dissolvable multi vitamin thats nearly identical to high five contents minus the salt plus what water i carry in the backpack. Afterewards rego if needed, fruit, more sandwhiches and a sugary drink.
Thats only for long rides 4- 6 hrs and has taken a while to find what works.
Shorter rides. Water, bananna, emrgency gel if i remember it.

Depends on my mood, some days I can do 100 miles on a bag of jelly babies, 750ml of water and an espresso half way round. Other day’s I’ll eat everything in sight. I’ve tried most things and here’s my conclusion:

*Eat whatever you crave, forcing yourself to eat gells when you want fig rolls is counter productive.
*4:1 or similar is like rocket fuel on fast rides, really good if I’m feeling unfit and/or going out with a faster group
*soft fruits like peaches, bannana’s, pears etc especialy on road rides where you can plan to pass through a market to get them fresh and ripe rather than supermarket ‘ripen at home’.
*gells work well, although I prefer them to live in the bottom of my camelpack as an emergency ration rather than any planned strategy, OK on long 40+ mile off road rides to get me up the last climb.

I think the theory that if you start on simple carbs then you have to keep up with them the whole ride is true. So avoid anything suggary at the start of the ride, starting on a good breakfast, then not eating much at all until the 2nd half when I’d start on biscuits and fruit or a proper (but light) lunch like soup/sandwich/salad and gells if I really hit a wall on the last few climbs.

Thing about sugary snacks is, they’re short term fuel. Now this means one of two things. Either, you eat a load, insulin crash, then 30 minutes later you fall off your bike. Alternatively, it is both a licence and an obligation to eat haribos like it’s going out of fashion for the rest of the ride. Now tell me, where is the downside to this plan?

Pudd and Northwind have it about right from all the reading I’ve been doing.

Most people who don’t have a professional nutritionist to hand normally eat too much sugar and drink too much.

Listen to your body and drink when you need to and eat when you need to. Eat things that have carbs in them before/during exercise and protein to help with recovery.

Try training on a low carb load before the event, you’ll suffer less with sugar crashes and may find you do better at endurance events. You’ll also need less sugar to have a major effect on your energy levels during the event.

Thanks all some really good advice in there. Funnily enough before my 3rd lap i had a banana and some flat coke as i was feeling sick and by the end of my 3rd lap i felt better if somewhat hungry!!

I think the CNC recovery drink after lap 1&2 may not have helped things as a mixture of Carbs and Protein.

More bananas and soft peaches + Haribo it is!!

Cheers Guys

Jelly snakes are a winner plus chomp on Soreen for simple “stuff in the bag” food. Also banana AND Nutella on a butty is as good as gel I’ve found but lasts longer

Cheese, saucisson and bread. Dried fruit, jeely beans and chocolate fro the sweet stuff

How do you know if/when you would benefit from post-exercise recovery food?

I don’t normally bother after short rides but I wonder if I would benefit after an hour-long swim.

Malt loaf!! Great form of carbs, gives you a more full feeling too. In all honesty you should try different things, eat what suits you and your stomach best. You can train your stomach to tolerate food if you struggle now. During 24 hr solo races I’ve eaten a mix of cereal bars, mixed nuts, gels, jelly babies and chocolate all washed down with 4:1 hi 5 drink. Not for everyone but just my method.

Jez http://www.followingthechainline.blogspot.com

As many el paso fajitas I can eat the night before carbs, peppers (vit c) & onions (vits A&C) and of course the carbs & protien in the chicken.

Massive bowl of 50% fruit Muesli 2 hours pre ride, peanut butter sandwich immediately pre ride, then is Nectar (4:1) in the bottle, carb based snacks (fig rolls, oaty bars) and an emergency gel with a stashed fiver for bonking. For anything over 70k from home.

When I’m driving to events all of the above but I’m munching something like nutrigrain / flapjack in the car on the way.