Personally, I like to eat real food for my pre-race breakfast whenever possible, but I’ve noticed that quite a few people on the forum use Ensure instead. Do you do this mostly for simplicity/convenience, or are there other attributes that you like?
Thanks.
Simplicity and ease of digestion. I’m up at 3:00 on race morning and have to bottles ensure. Back to bed 3:03. Up to eat usual prerace meal 4:45-5:00.
I favor liquid for heavy training and racing including breakfast. I am usually on a 100% liquid nutrition just because I like it that way. The most i’ll do is on long rides eat a bar. Plus its easy, wake up, open eyes, drink 1 or 2 ensures and back to rest.
peace
I don’t know how rapidly Ensure digests. It’s got a lot of fat which slow gastric emptying. What do you nutritionists think.
I use it before 1/2 IM and IM only. I want the extra calories and can’t manage to chew and swallow solid food before a race. If I am at home I prefer to make a shake. Before a shorter race I am ok with bananas and gels.
Never really thought about the fat and gastric emptying.
I will put two ensure bottles or cheaper knock offs from Kroger or Target in a bucket full of ice when I go to bed. I put the bucket right by my night stand. I set the alarm 3 hours before any event, whether training or racing. Lean over and drink the two bottles (two bottles total 16 oz) and then go back to sleep. Very convenient.
Just prior to the event or training I will eat a banana and/or gel, with some water and I’m good to go. I feel like it really tops off the tank for glycogen burned during the night.
When I have missed the alarm for the early feeding and I’m within an hour of my event then I cannot take ensure because of the digestion issues. I really find that 2.5 to 3 hours is required. Otherwise it sits in my stomach like a brick.
The drinks are fairly expensive. So I only use them when training or racing over 4 hours.
On the advice of some others I used ensure several times this year and am a big fan. 2 in an icebucket before bed then layed right in bed a drank them a few hours before the race. Very quick and easy way to ingest a lot of calories. Seemed to help to get things moving also. Made it through, several long training days, epicman, tupper and LP without any on course dumping or GI issues.
My kids use this supplement in particular situations. In a (cycling) track meet for example. Be careful as not all people digest Ensure in the same way. Make sure to experiment with it for a few weeks before the race. Be aware also that there are several different types of this product with different caloric and ingredient composition.
Sergio
I cant digest Ensure fast enough and it sits with me for a while, instead I use Boost. It is like the same thing except I can stomach it easier. Used it before IM as I cant stomach too much solid food before a race, and I find it to be awesome. Now whenever I am meetign in the am to do a group ride, I eat 1 dry waffle and drin a Boost while Im riding to th emeet up point, between 3 and 7 miles. By the time we get going, Im good to go. I dont depend on gels as much as I get more calories than I used to.
It is like my new seceret weapon bc I hate eating in the morning. I work nights, and my stomach stays on that schedule, but this goes down.
What do nutrionist know about race fueling? Most of them… very little.
i use a knock-off of ensure in any half IM or IM i do, but i use carnation’s instant breakfast before all races. it’s somewhat of a taste thing—i can happily do the ensure thing during the race, but can’t force myself to drink it in non-race situations. and it’s variety, i guess.
i’ve not had trouble with either of these things. i do marvel at those who respond with stories about waking up, drinking whatever, and going back to sleep. i’d love to have that ability. i’d never be able to go back to sleep----it’s hard enough getting to sleep the night before the race, anyway.
back to the food thing: i do ingest my version of breakfast three hours before i’m scheduled to go off. that, plus the liquid nutrition idea, in general, all come under the heading “nothing in me that wants out before the end of the race”.
peggy