How many grams of carbohydrates would you aim to eat before each workout, and how long before starting?
How many grams of carbohydrates and protein would you consume after finishing to optimize recovery?
Would you significantly change your pre- and post-workout carbohydrate intake between a long Zone 2 ride and a harder interval session, assuming the rides are fueled appropriately during the workout?
I’m interested in both the current evidence and what has worked well in practice for you.
Say your z2 is 300w that’s nigh on 1100cal per hour which is a massive amount of carbs. Even if a proportion is fat l, the bulk is still carb driven.
For a quality session at 400w intervals you’ll be doing 1440cal per hour (24cal per minute) which is pretty much all carbs, (4cal per gram of carbs, so 360g per hour).
for your weight and power I’d shoot for 5g per kilo (425g) 2-3hrs before.
Best way is probably 250g dry white rice (200g carb), cooked with a light-on-the-stomach-milk (rice/oat), (20g carbs), 50g honey, 50g raisins and some fresh berries (100g carb), some salt, and bagel with jam (100g carbs)
3g per kilo top up that’s easy to eat and high Glycemic index (sports drink for example, banana and bagel with jam).
for less intense sessions lower gi foods can be eaten or closer to start, swap rice for oats, make the rice more savoury with egg instead of fruit and honey but add more fruit/jam to bagel/bread etc.
I workout early in the day, so I tend to not eat before other than coffee. Maybe a couple dates or peanut butter crackers just before I leave the house for the 2.5 hour endurance ride. Nothing before VO2 as I’d barf. I do most of my carb fueling during the ride, but you don’t want to talk about that part, so I’ll jump to post ride. If I finish before 10am, usually have either a protein bagel with peanut butter and honey or cream cheese. If I finish closer to lunch, I have a protein shake to hold me until lunch.
I don’t have hard numbers but my general plan is for rides longer than 4 hours (or a race) I’ll do calrose rice w/ eggs and soy sauce and if I’m doing shorter, more intense efforts toast with peanut butter and honey. Morning coffee is a must. Ideally I’d get up earlier to eat but I’m time crunched so I usually ends up being right before I get on the bike. I have problems eating in the morning so if I can get once slice down great, two is ideal. I lean more towards the sweet food but YMMV. I try to stay away from too much fiber in the AM to keep the tummy calm. Post ride I usually try to take in a recovery drink with calories, carbs, and creatine. Then onto the “second breakfast” in which I will incorporate more fats such as bagel w/ butter or cream cheese, a few eggs, and maybe a turkey stick. Sometimes I’ll do full strength yogurt with fruit in it with honey and oats. If you cannot eat more, I’ve also found success in drinking juice to get calories/carbs but watch out as some trigger your gut like fiber can.
Oaty has some good ideas. I’m pretty close to 90% of both your size and FTP.
For a 2.5 hr Z2 ride, intake pre-ride will depend on what I’ve already eaten leading into session. If I’ve done my usual snacking throughout day, I’ll usually just hop on the bike and go, with 150-200g in a bottle that I consume at a steady pace. Post ride for me is very consistent: 25g powdered protein, 75-90g carbs (50-75g cereal, plus blueberries), and a giant heaping spoon of cottage cheese. I use water to mix. Subsequent eating depends on the next ride’s needs.
For a hard workout, I’ll eat more carbs than normal in the 12-18hrs ahead of time, with my last meal usually 2 hrs before I start pedalling, with a target of 100-200g, again depending on recent eating. It often feels like digestion is still happening when I start riding, but by the time I’m warmed up, I usually don’t notice my stomach at all.
My FTP is currently 307/4.42 w/kg. I fuel with 400 cal/hr whether 90 mins or 6 hrs. Unless stuck or injured I never do rides less than 90 mins. Weekday rides I train first thing and usually have a banana first. Weekends before 4+ hr rides I’ll have 1.5-2 big bowls of Frosted Flakes (low on fiber) a couple hrs before my ride.
I like to keep things simple and eat one of two things 1-2 hours before nearly every race or key training session. If I need to deviate from this, I do it the day before, not the morning of.
Have you looked at the TrainerRoad nutrition calculator or a trial of the Hexis app to dial in your macros? Once you’ve done that you can determine your daily carb needs beyond what you need on the bike.
I also did the high cascade and planned my nutrition pretty meticulously. I targeted 100g carbs/hr, but fell off a bit the last few hours. I largely fell off because all the sodium and drink mix I was so sick of it the last couple hours. Looking back, I had a flask full of like 5-6 gels and I should have kept on those. Either way, I finished insanely strong during the last 15-20 minutes, so I feel that my fueling was sufficient.
A few general tips:
From the studies I’ve read, the max concentration of drink mix shouldn’t exceed 100g carbs/750 mL or water (or 120g/L). You CAN do this, but not recommended for longer events, or unless supplemented by pure water for dilution. I.e. 120g in a 750mL bottle, but sipping water from a hydration pack
In addition to calories, you also have to factor in hydration - 750mL/hr? 1L/hr? Over a 10 hr event, it makes a huge difference, and is dependent per person and ambient temperature. So, it’s really a bit of a math problem for all of these to align.
I figure out my bottle size/hydration needs and necessary calories all together. For example, if I have a 5 hr race, and I want to drink 750mL/hr, with 400 calories/hr, I might do 300 calories tailwind (carbs & sodium) per hr, and a 25g gel at 30 minutes past each hour. For my bottles, I’ll usually make it easy that every 15 minutes I’ll chug about 1/4 of the bottle. This doesn’t always work out perfect with aid stations and such and there’s been times where I dump a half bottle because aid stations were 1.5 hrs apart, not 2, but that’s easier to just plan out and go with 2 full bottles as I start the next segment. Same with if there’s drop bags and I’m swapping them out.
Once you keep it consistent (1 bottler per hr, 90 minutes, etc.) and just make sure you are drinking at consistent intervals (you can always make up a bit if you’re early or late), it gets much easier to remember.
Read up on sodium chloride vs sodium citrate. LMNT has sodium chloride which can cause major digestive issues (personal very bad experience). You can get a bag of sodium citrate for cheap to add to powders as needed. Just a thought. I still use LMNT for a little sodium loading the day before a long hot race.
I don’t like having my nutrition in a hydration pack because I can’t gauge how much I have drank of how much I have left. For HC100 the bottles were hard because it’s tough to drink out of bottles a lot of the time. I may do something different next year, but need to figure it out.
Lastly, for gels, it’s helpful to get small flasks that hold like 5-10 gels. You can put them all in the small flask, pop the lid and squeeze out “about 100 calories worth” at a time. Way easier than trying to navigate gel wrappers.
I train early in the morning, so this is more like breakfast (pre-training) and second breakfast (post-training). Then, 0 to 75g of supplemental carbs per hour intra-session, depending on the workout.
