Alex Larson joined us to answer your questions about whether a static “healthy” diet is deficient due to lack of variety, how to avoid pre-race vomiting, if we’re all taking in too much sodium, and more.
Then I walk you through my last minute strategy to try to qualify for the @leadvilleraceseries 100! I go over my training plan, execution, nutrition, heat training protocol, etc.
I’m gonna need a miracle to qualify, but we’ll give it a shot!
Tune in on Spotify or YouTube, and rate and share with your friends!
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(00:00:00) Welcome!
(00:01:08) How Important Is Nutrition Variety?
(00:12:24) Race Preparation and Training Insights
(00:15:57) Pre-Race Nutrition and Anxiety
(00:26:02) Hydration and Fluid Intake
(00:38:38) Quick and Easy Meal Hacks
(00:41:41) Protein Tips and Tricks
(00:44:32) Probiotics and Dairy Tolerance
(00:46:11) Fueling for Workouts
(00:48:53) Homemade Nutrition and Sodium Intake
(00:55:31) Coach Jonathan’s Leadville Goal
(00:57:00) The Death Ride Course
(00:57:37) Coach Jonathan’s Training Review
(01:02:54) How to Qualify for Leadville
(01:04:04) The BRUTAL 2025 Tahoe Trail Course
(01:06:23) Heat Training Protocol
(01:10:34) Preparing for the Death Ride
(01:12:16) Adjusting Nutrition for Heat
(01:13:52) Tahoe Trail 100 Pacing Strategy
(01:15:07) Tahoe Trail 100 Tire Choice
Hi @Jonathan new to the forum here but I’ve been using Trainerroad for the first time this year to train for both Tahoe Trail 100 and Leadville 100.
Thanks to Trainerroad, I’ve been able to boost my w/k to 4.03, however, I’m completely new to racing so hearing about how hot Tahoe Trail 100 is going to be definitely has me a bit nervous.
Do you have any suggestions on how to pace myself? Is Best Bike Split accurate? I have a power meter on my bike, but have never used it to help with race pacing, I typically have just used it to keep myself in Z2 for longer weekend training rides I’ve been adding on in addition to what Trainerroad has been rec’ing.
Also do you have a recommendation for how much sodium to take in an hour during the heat? What strategy/products have you used to make sure you’re replacing lost electrolytes?
In theory that’s true. I can’t help but imagine some of the lower quality products might have impurities, heavy metals, or other things you don’t want to be ingesting.
I don’t understand why people still rely on electrolytes during exercise. There’s no solid evidence that they improve performance, nor is there a valid mechanistic theory supporting their benefit beyond pre-exercise fluid loading. According to the common electrolyte replacement theory, if you don’t consume the exact concentration of sodium and water lost in sweat, your cells will swell and you’ll suffer severe consequences—like a saltwater fish placed in freshwater. This idea is clearly absurd; there’s no way our bodies can’t regulate such a fundamental process as osmolality. In reality, the typical athlete has about 75–100 grams of sodium (equivalent to 190–250 grams of table salt) stored in their body reserves. Additionally, the body maintains sodium balance through robust hormonal mechanisms, including aldosterone, antidiuretic hormone, and atrial natriuretic peptide.
TLDR: you wont die if you don’t slam LMNT
I doubt there is signifigant difference especailly when you account for batch variation. I would just go with whatever maltodextrin, glucose, fructose, and sucrose you can find cheapest.
I run 120g sucrose per 750ml bottle with a bit of salt (makes it yummier no performance reason). I don’t want my mouth to be any more acidic so I don’t use lemon juice but I bet it is tastey.
Personally I’m losing close to 40g of sodium per week right now through just biking. And, on individual races like Leadville, some people might lose as much as 30-40g of sodium in one big day (which is one of the events this thread is talking about)
I think it’s a little bit of a blanket statement to say that people don’t need to supplement and can get away with massive amounts of just water.
I’m still of the mind that you’re better off taking in close to what you lose for longer / higher sweat rides and events as long as it’s not causing you issues.
The vast majority of athletes have more than enough sodium in their diet and there body deals with the extra thru excretion, hormones, and renal mechanisms. Over long term the body perfectly adapts and you should have no issues.
I’m in the @Aeroskiii camp on sodium. (At least for me).
Coming from N Ca to Texas and being a sweater, I could not believe the sand/salt on my legs after a ride. I tried adding more sodium via tablets to my rides, thinking I needed it. This made me feel sick after 2 hours. I then tried adding sodium to my bottles. Besides feeling sick I now felt bloated and dehydrated. Going back to a Gatorade dosage of sodium, 160mg per bottle seems to work for me. I will eat a few peanut butter pretzels on a ride. The added sodium does not have any negative effect. I’m sure everyone is different but wanted to share my experience.
I think there’s a balance with the sodium thing. For my first few years of hydrating I was doing 200-300mg per bottle and would feel like garbage after every ride. Central Virginia, it’s humid as hell here and I sweat a lot, and lose a good amount of salt. Wife will always comment on my salt stains.
Switched to higher dosages like Liquid IV, 500mg per serving, but did not like the sugar associated with it off the bike. Decided to try out LMNT which is a gram per serving.
Feel like switching to 1G per serving fixed a lot of the on the bike and post ride fatigue I was feeling. Groggy, headaches, lethargic, etc. Probably dehydrated in retrospect.
Started feeling pretty good having an LMNT serving preride, one in the bottle on the bike for 2-2.5 hours on the bike and one post ride. So 3 G for each 750ml bottle. No sugar in that so started bonking on the bike. Switched to LMNT pre and post but sugar on the bike with never second at 60-90g which is around 400mg Na I believe on the low end.
I think everyone has a balance, and I do think there is something to having more salt pre, during and post. Going to be dependent on where you are. I’m a little hesitant with the high carb phase as that seems to scare me more than high salt for the long term effects. I sometimes feel like my bottles are too sweet during hard workouts and my body is wanting salt so may need to add some additional salt to the higher carb intake.
BP is down from increasing my salt intake which typically goes against the normal medical science and recommendation as I had BP in the high range prior to increasing my salt in take. No longer a problem. Don’t take this as medical advice as I’m not a doctor. Just providing some anecdotal evidence from personal experience with hydration
