In your opinion is this article correct

I have been reading “The Endurance athlete’s guide to success” which can be found on www.hammergel.com. It appears to me to be very technically focused.

It suggests that 16-24 ounces of water (500-700 mls) is all you absorb and use? This seems low to me.

At the upper end that’s only 3.5 liters (or 5 average sized bottles) in a 5 hour half IM, at the lower end only 2.5 liters).

It also suggest you can use a max of 250-280 cals per hour which seems on the low side.

Your thoughts/experience?

This seems right. I was on 250 calories an hour at Ralphs last week on the ride (Cyto and Clifshots). Went through almost 1 tall bottle (20oz) of cyto and perhaps 8 oz of water on the bike. Sipped water on the run. That’s about the most that I can take as my body just won’t absorb more calories than this. In retrospect I should have hydrated more prior to the race and maybe forced down a little more fluid on the bike as I was pretty dehydrated on the 2nd half of the run.

An uptake of 250 - 280 calories seeks low to me although I imagine this is a fairly personal thing. I’ve found that I’m comfortable with 380 - 410 per hour. Any more than that for a 1/2 IM and I very quickly fell bloated and generally like crap, any less and I get very fatigued, weak, and hugry. I’ve only experimented with trial and error though, never been to a lab.

The water figure strikes me as a bit low at first too, but in thinking about my races, it seems about right. I find when I drink as much water as some seem to recommend I constantly have to piss. But if I were to do a 1/2 IM training effort, I’d definitely only drink 3 or 4 bottles (tops) on the bike and about 1.5 on the run.

HCaloric intake:

Hammer Gel s Steve Born recomends a fueling strategy that takes you from pre to post race and is kinda cumbersome, but they seem to have figured out a formula that works (at least for me).

In his article: Fueling strategies for Triathletes (1/2 and full Ironman) he goes through fueling pre- to post race.

In the pre race fueling strategy he recomends a plan that includes eating your meal 3 hours prior to race start. where he mentions ** remember that our bodies can only return 240-280 carbohydrate calories an hour back into the energy cycle*** an very important part of our performance is determend by our ability to utilize stored fatty acids as energy***

Then he goes on to reconmend fueling for the bike and run leg (in which he claims that a proper bike fueling protocol is essential is setting up your run sucess) he advises a 222 to a max of 633 calories/hr on the bike depending on external and internal conditions.

So… Steve gives you a significant higher caloric intake than what you quoted…

The literature is kinda lengthy, but it I have followed it now for a month and it seems to work for me; it has eliminated some gastro problems I have had.

(see hammergel.com for the articles on fueling strategies)

enk (eating healthy is expensive!!)

I do not know the exact numbers, but exact numbers when you are talking about the human body while exercising hard are always a huge variable. Hence, the ranges that are given are quite generous.

It is important to know that the absorption of water and calories is inhibited while exercising and that generally there is a direct correlation bewteen how hard you are going and how inhibited the absorption process is. Also, everyone is different. There are those who have glass stomachs and those who have Iron-guts. The former can get an upset stomach and digestive tract at the slightest provacation and the latter who can wolf down just about anything at any time and be fine. Futhermore, hydration and caloric consumption in the previous 24 - 48 hours can have a huge impact on the need for both water and calories during the event. Obviously, it is key to be both well hydrated and fully loaded with Carbohydrates at the start of the event. Again, this can be a big variable. Some/many are so nervous in the preceding 24 hours that they don’t drink or eat enough or travle has got in the way of eating drinking etc . .

The best advice is the old advice: Work out a hydration & nutrition routine in training and C & B level events that works for you. Be sure that when doing it in training that YOU ARE AT RACE LEVEL INTENSITY! A 100 mile ride with friends stopping every hour for pee breaks, punctures and coffee shops is not the same as hammering for 100 miles with minimal stops at race level intensity.

Stephen Fleck - BSc, Biochemistry