That sounds like a terrible strategy for trying to fuel any potential gains. You can’t do hard workouts and be starving yourself at the same time. Eat up, gain some watts, then shed weight after
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If Traditional Base helps give a change of perspective, outlook, and new hope - my two cents would be to switch over! Start incorporating nutrition into your workouts or at least something simple right before for starters and I truly believe it could make a world of a difference.
Dreading every workout will only makes things harder as you’ve already shared and I understand that mindset completely. Step away from SSB because you can still see plenty of benefits with TB.
I used to never eat during/before workouts and it wasn’t until I saw just how much pros eat that I finally accepted the idea. You can hone in nutrition off the bike but fuel those workouts; you’ll burn through all those calories and feel much more energy!
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Cost is definitely one factor for some people. Other factors may be taste and effectiveness (does it work for you), but this is highly individual and purely down to personal needs and preferences.
I saw a definite improvement after switching from my old hydration to the SIS mix, so even though it’s a bit more pricey, I’ll stick to something that I know works for me.
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Similarly, I’ve been doing 2-3 Tbsp of maple syrup and a pinch of salt per bottle for sweet spot workouts. It’s pretty good.
Those aren’t that different from the gummy bears others have mentioned, no?
I have a pack of gummy bears as my emergency sugar.
If you like and don’t have any problems with the Gatorade, changing is probably not worth it.
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Ramp test. I’m a CX guy, wonder if my willingness to endure extreme pain skews ramp test results.
Looking at your recent history, you were off the bike for 3 weeks and when you came back you did 2 vo2 max workouts, and mary austin. I’d at least do a ramp test to get a more accurate FTP, and probably don’t pick the hardest workouts as one off’s.
Sweet spot is a high carb utilization zone so if you’re not fueling properly during the ride your later intervals are going to really suffer when you get to that 60-90 minute range, and potentially earlier if you’re body’s fighting to allocate what carbs you take in.
I’ve been playing around with all sorts of fueling options (homemade) for fun and I’m gonna be chugging enough gels during the 40K TT plan I don’t wanna get sick of them now. I’m doing Traditional Base Mid Volume, so lots of long slow rides. Banana bread has been my go to so far, really easy to make, and full of good stuff. I usually eat it as is, or throw some honey roasted peanut butter on the lower end rides, can be a little tough to eat peanut butter at tempo. Also, Liv cycling has a good recipe for pumpkin spice date bars, which have been really good. They’ve got lots of spices and carbs plus some cashews for a bit of fat and protein. My final, and favorite, has been homemade white bread (king arthur flour sandwich bread recipe) and home made jam (currently strawberry).
I tried waffles, but my preferred waffle mix is a 50/50 mix of white and whole wheat flour, and they ended up a bit too dry for the ride, needed a lot of water. Might be better with 100% white flour, will get back to you. Would be good with any combo of peanut butter, bananas, honey, or maple syrup.
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I’m going to try these, thanks. Yeah, I separated the left shoulder on September 7th and I injured the right shoulder at Ruts N Guts on 11/31; went ahead and raced on it this weekend, lol. It was a pathetic year.
Anything over an hour it is electrolyte mix 500ml an hr together with roughly 1 snickers and half a banana per hr . If i am not on cheapo snickers i tend to make my own granola bars
I think the question is a bit flawed - IMO most people should be using vastly different nutrition strategies based on the type and duration of the workout. If you’re applying the same nutrition strategies for endurance and VO2 workouts you’re likely making a mistake for one of them
Endurance rides - water and whole foods such as fruit or sweet potatoes
Sweet spot rides - water and bars or gels as necessary
Threshold and VO2 - water and gels when not in race season. Skratch hydration, beta fuel, bars and gels during race season (training my gut to handle as many carbs as possible)
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If I’ve eaten before the training ride (love oatmeal), I just have water and Gatorade. If I have not eaten before a ride, I will use Hammer or Gu gels or one of those Hammer bars. Being diabetic, I typically need to take in a bit more carbs so my medication doesn’t drop me like a hot potato as I burn through those carbs. I typically add a gel for the 1.5 hr. training ride where the intervals are getting longer to ensure I stay energized. For my condition, I’ve got to play it safe and would rather over shoot than under shoot.
Just One Man’s Opinion (JOMO)…
For SSB High Volume, I’ve been using a combination of food and gels/drinks to fuel my indoor rides.
Real food seems to work well for sweet spot if the intervals are shorter (5-15 min) or if there are plenty of rest intervals to eat. When the intervals are longer (20+ min), I move to mostly gels/carb drinks.
Food: homemade rice cakes like these Umami Rice Cakes I’ve been making a big batch, throwing them in the freezer and thawing them out before each big sweetspot workout. Also dates and figs mid-ride have been a staple
Gels/drinks: combination of SIS gels, SIS Go drink powder, or Maurten drink powder with the aim of hitting 60-80g carbs per hour
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This goes against all sound advice for keeping CHO levels high during workouts, but unless the ride is over 3000kj, or I’m doing SST as part of a long 4-5 hour ride, I never eat on the bike.
Hear me out. If your CHO stores are full, you have about 2000 calories of energy as stored glycogen. If I can’t get through a 4 x 4:00 @ 115%+ session with some tempo to follow it up – maybe a 2000kj workout – without food, I didn’t eat properly before the workout. I’ve done stupid crap like the below workout with no gels, and it’s been just fine – if I’m conditioned for it.
https://www.strava.com/activities/1482297090/analysis
80 mile ride with a couple of long climbs and some punchy “VO2” hills? Sure, I’ll bring some Haribos and some natural, froo-froo pop tarts. But short workouts? I don’t see the need. Science be damned.
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Think of the effects described in this article before you think you can train optimally while fasted through a 2000kj workout.
I’m familiar with that research, and I know my “no food” habit is not optimal. I do it anyway.
I’ll eat during races – make no mistake – but in training I don’t want to mess with wrappers and waste and anything in my mouth other than swigs of Lime flavor Nuun, my beverage of choice.
I figure if I can do a 2000-2200kj workout in 2 hours, with no food, I’ll be ok on race day when I do bring along a few caffeinated gels.
I think the importance placed on fueling rides is just as much about getting ahead of recovery as it is about getting through the workout. If you go through a 2000kJ primarily carb-driven workout and deplete glycogen stores, that’s a pretty big deficit for your body to bounce back from afterwards, especially if you have another tough workout the next day.
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True – but, one can also eat those 250-500 calories after the workout.
Because madness is its own form of beauty.
I know I could put out more power while fatigued at the end of a high CHO demand workout, but, if I’m doing a high CHO demand workout, it’s usually because I want to deplete the fibers and make them work while depleted.
I don’t like having anything in my pockets, other than spare tubes and a 4-5-6. I don’t like drinking calories, period.
My races are almost never over two hours because I’m 50+. I find that I can sustain high CHO demand workouts over 2 hrs without food. As for recovery, that’s what the post-ride eating is for – I’d rather have another PBJ than a post-nuclear holocaust food bar or liquid sports energy drink ooze.
Clif Bloks or Skratch for me.
If I’ve eaten more than 3 hours ago I like Bloks cause they’re solid.
If I’ve eaten ~3 hours ago I go with 2 big bottles of Skratch / water with just a single scoop each.
I eat on anything more intense than an endurance ride. Mainly SiS gels and the SiS GO carb drinks. I also am in love with trolli sour worms and eat those before almost every hard workout.
Just like to eat on the bike - maybe it’s mental but it helps me get through them so why not.