FEEDING STRATEGIES FOR ENDURANCE EVENTS

I have been asked to write about something a little new and today. I will be talking to you about feeding strategies for long distance events and in this case cycling. Now this is important during endurance events. If you do it wrong you could promote gastrointestinal discomfort (stomach pains) or even not have enough energy to sustain your activity level which would impair your performance.

Firstly I will talk to you about what foods. Well this is the easy part, you need carbohydrates. Something that is high in carbs but low in fat. Why? This is because carbs are full of sugar which will increase your energy levels while fats will store themselves. You need something easily carried so pasta would be stupid to bring along as you would have to stop to eat. Dried fruit, low fat cookies, energy bars, sports drinks etc are a great source of carbs. < all very easily bought in a sports shop.

After much research on this field I have found a lot of 'eat before you're hungry and drink before you're thirsty' which is good in theory but by the time you are starting to get hungry your glycogen stores have already dropped which is the first stage of fatigue. There is also the mistake of having large meals during the race. This is completely wrong due the high possibility of stomach cramps.

So step by step this is what I recommend:

The night before: Carbo-load - this is so you liver glycogen stores are full the next morning.

Breakfast: Eat a high carbohydrate breakfast.

During: Eat every 30 minutes during the race to keep your stores at a steady level. These must be little bite sized pieces of food. This way you will avoid cramps and you will keep a steady blood sugar level throughout the race. This is because there will not be much depletion in your glycogen levels meaning you will feel less fatigued during the race. You must also be sure to drink energy drinks with electrolytes. This way you become less dehydrated which will mean you become more mentally focused on the task ahead.

After: Eat a mixture of a protein rich and carb rich meal to replenish and repair your muscles. This will decrease your recovery time so you will feel much better the next day.

This was a very new subject for me to write on. All of the data is accurate to my knowledge and I hope it helps if you are about to compete in a long distance event.

This is me competing in my first half marathon last year for charity.