I ❤️CARBS! (and so should you!)

^ that plus some trial error puts me at around 450g of carbs per day.

Hmm, that’s about what I would target for a workout like Tweed +8 (at 270w ftp). Believe that workout is 5-min intervals at 102%, about 40-45 minutes total intensity. Your issue with the last 3 intervals could have been with muscular endurance, and not carbs. For a workout like that I’d have two bottles with electrolytes and 400-600 calories of food like granola bars, Cliff bars, fig bars, and sometimes bananas or dates. BUT I’m not you…

Individualization of nutrition and hydration is a thing, and you can learn a lot from trial and error. TR has some balanced blog articles, and some that push high carb consumption during workouts. I’ve found I don’t benefit from 60-90g/hour during normal 5 workouts/week at 1-3 hour each. Have worked with a nutritionist, eat well off the bike, time workouts with post-ride meals, and for workouts over 1.5 hours up to about 3 hours have found 30-60g/hour (depending on pre-ride meal or snacks) works very well for me. I’ve done a fair bit of trial and error, including a few bonk experiments. Protein consumption throughout the day has also been important. Lately I’ve been averaging around 10 hours/week.

Was going to post this before work (for Runners), but then work got in the way… you table is better.

Beg my pardon if i wrong but you said you do what i did but this 400-600c is more than 55c. FTP is currently 225 so yes less but that does make me think i need more. Though it may be more overall daily carbs / calories rather than intra workout.

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Per hour on most 1 hour to 2.5 hour workouts:

  • 2 granola bars
  • 200 calories
  • 30g carbs/hour

Eat meal within ~1 hour of returning home. If not within an hour, have a glass of chocolate milk and a handful of almonds.

Per hour on a harder workout I usually do Cliff bars for a little more carbs:

  • 1 Blueberry crisp bar
  • 250 calories
  • 44g carbs/hour
  • pre-ride another 44g carbs as I’m leaving the house

Eat meal within ~1 hour of returning home. If not within an hour, have a glass of chocolate milk and a handful of almonds.

On long rides (>3 hours), I’ll supplement food with 1 bottle water + 1 bottle Gu Roctane (250 calories / 60g carbs) and refill every 2 hours. That generally pushes carb intake on those long rides up to 90g/hour.

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Depending on intensity only 0-4 bananas for rides up to 2-2.5h. Really depends on intensity. Above 3h I fuel with maltodextrin/fructose mix. Depending on the context of the session 40-100g/h. My LT1/AeT is fairly high though, I burn through a lot of calories even at endurance pace. Getting the calories in is key.

This is so dependent on the individual context. But it’s not really rocket science either … or brain surgery.

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Bit of and overkill for a 3x20min sweetspot workout, but you do you lol :smiley:

Which part is overkill? :slight_smile:


If you ignore all the details regarding my food intake, then it pretty much only says “One gel for 2hr of 3x20min Sweet Spot”.

Thats 60g carbs for 2 hours.

And see, this is the issue with your mindset. 60g of carbs for the 2 hours of Sweet Spot only works because I have properly fuelled the day before and the morning of the workout. So by calling my advice overkill, you obviously don’t understand why the details are important here.

If I were to just “eat whatever” and then get on the trainer and that workout, depending on your strengths, previous workouts etc, you might fail it.

Yes, it might be overkill for someone who just eats whatever, rides their bike a bit, and then does TR just so they don’t get dropped on their local coffee ride once a week. But if you actually wanna get stronger in the long run, not run yourself into the ground, ride a lot (10+ hours a week) you have to fuel properly.

And the main reason I was so specific is because for me, those specific measurements of everything allows me to stay in a 500kcal deficit while also performing on the bike.

Everything is relative.

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It’s 3x20 (low-ish) SS man, not an A-Race. Especially the carb-loading the day before just makes me laugh. I get having a proper fueling strategy for some workouts, but you should be able to do sweet-spot regardless of perfect fueling. If not, your FTP is set incorrectly.

I’m running 1000 TSS weeks without that much planning and still getting faster+losing weight. But, as I said, you do you.

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Just saw this. Can confirm your suspicion.

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I am not carb loading. I am eating. A 1500 calorie deficit isn’t healthy, so I have to eat. I am not going to stuff myself with crap either to reach the intake for the day.

I am really struggling to see what you are finding so atrocious in what I wrote. What would you propose I do? Eat worse food? Not eat at all?

Like I said before, I am doing a 500kcal deficit (weigh all my food etc.) and therefore have more control over exact macros. And since I am doing a ride the day after, I prioritised carbs before protein. If I have a rest day the day after, I do more protein and lower the carbs.

Thats it.

You are making a hen out of a feather, and also being negative about fuelling properly.

And of course I could just stop measuring everything, just eat normally, and then fuel on the bike. But now @Dunk asked how people are eating on training days and rest days. So I answered.

With your mindset, why even be on TrainerRoad forums? Might as well just say “stop training on TR and just ride your bike”.

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You are right, I lack the pro athlete mindset and should just shut up. While I do that you should have a look at your protein intake. 200g is an awful lot - no matter your mindset.

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I just think that discussions should at least try to be a bit objective. You are free to pick apart my diet, but considering that I am getting help from the same nutritionist as Bora Hansgrohe uses, I feel that I am at least on a semi good path on being able to perform & recover, while also losing weight.

And yes, you’re right! :smiley: I had a lot of calories to eat that day to compensate for the training, and it happened to be including a lot of chicken :wink: Hence protein went crazy that day!

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Have got to agree on this, unless you are over 100kg

This one’s for you! https://youtu.be/F-1JJqMblvc

Hope you all find it helpful! Many more like it on the way.

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Thank you for the videos!

Dude, this is a weird axe to grind.

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I can do 80-100 pretty easily when the temps are below 80F or so. Once the heat kicks up, it gets harder.

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Super useful. How does this fit into a daily carb consumption context? In training im generally getting 40-60g per hour. I feel its outside where things go a miss.

@Dr_Alex_Harrison Here’s a half silly, half serious question…

When training the gut and pushing the limits on carbs, can flirting in and out of gut distress (pain) be thought of as “hard intervals” for the gut? Or is it more like something you want to avoid ever reaching?