Anyone use or have thoughts on eating peanut butter, almond butter or coconut butter during long course training/racing? They now have 2 tablespoon packets like Justin’s or Artisana and thought the fat would be good for sustained energy and an easy way to get good amount of calories.
Jordan, I singled you out because I know you take in a good amount of coconut oil for pre-race morning, what about ever during the race or long rides?
I know Ted King trains with Justin’s Almond Butter packets. Cyclists like to eat real food when they can. I’m sure its fine when training but racing may be a different scenario. I’m guessing the protein might be too hard to digest. You’ll just have to test it on a hard brick session.
Peanut butter Twix. But only for cool weather.
You have to remember that once you are racing hard you switch to burning a ton of glycogen which needs to be replaced to keep going and all the fat is doing is slowing down absorption. You can get away with a lot of things in training that you can’t racing simply because you have a much lower heart rate. I have experimented with nuts and dates in training this summer on long bike rides and I simply can’t absorb enough to sustain the level at which I am biking which is going to move me back to pure carbs on the bike even in training.
Best thing I ever ate - a double stuff peanut butter cup that I found laying in the road at IMLP…it was one of two, the package was on the ground…
You have to remember that once you are racing hard you switch to burning a ton of glycogen which needs to be replaced to keep going and all the fat is doing is slowing down absorption. You can get away with a lot of things in training that you can’t racing simply because you have a much lower heart rate. I have experimented with nuts and dates in training this summer on long bike rides and I simply can’t absorb enough to sustain the level at which I am biking which is going to move me back to pure carbs on the bike even in training.
Did you happen to try honey? I’ve been playing with it a bit using a gotube for carrying & eating, but I’m leery that it will do everything that I need it to do.
Have not tried Honey, but I am just going back to pure bars & gels on ride. The multiple sources in Powerbar in their C2 blend seems to really work wonders for me.
Just curious, I noticed an ‘elite’ level racer using Dex4 (rescue glucose for diabetics) last year and quizzed him a bit. He said they used the liquid Dex4 on races up to Oly distance. Later heard that honey is a simpler sugar than refined white and more readily absorbed by the stomach. Not sure if that’s true or not, but nothing like latching onto an enabling moment!
Have used a similar product to that before but it is really the multiple sources that seems to help in getting in as much as possible. Before Powerbar I used to use the CarboPro 1200 product before they discontinued itand that worked wonders as well.
Almond or peanut butter are great for racing especially if your stomach cant hold much.
You have to remember that once you are racing hard you switch to burning a ton of glycogen which needs to be replaced to keep going and all the fat is doing is slowing down absorption. You can get away with a lot of things in training that you can’t racing simply because you have a much lower heart rate. I have experimented with nuts and dates in training this summer on long bike rides and I simply can’t absorb enough to sustain the level at which I am biking which is going to move me back to pure carbs on the bike even in training.
In addition, fats have up to 4 hour digestion rate, so you will have to wait for that time before you can use the energy
Best thing I ever ate - a double stuff peanut butter cup that I found laying in the road at IMLP…it was one of two, the package was on the ground…
Free candy! How awesome is that?!?
IME, nuts and nut butters are great breakfast food several hours prior to swim start. Not so much while racing. Stick to gels or liquid nutrition in a race.
I’ve actually shifted away from using nut butters. It’s coincided in large part because I shifted away from breads of any kind, including gluten free breads. I’ve moved towards less and less processed foods. My wife has also been big on the guidelines of a guy named Ray Peat, who is pretty hard against PUFAs of any kind. Some of his stuff I agree with, some not. But, overall, it’s just basically meant that I no longer really have occasion to eat nut butters.
Personally, I think DURING exercise, you want sugars. Simple sugars. If you want something more “natural,” HoneyStinger is a great option. But I’m not - and never have been - a huge fan of fats DURING training.
I think if you want to do nut butters, better to do them earlier in the day, before training, as opposed to during. My $0.02.
I’m far from qualified to respond to a question directed at Jordan Rapp - but I just wanted to say a peanut butter and nutella sandwich in my jersey pocket is my secret weapon
.
Was totally expecting something about chamois cream.
I have used honey, there are threads on it specifically. It worked for me nutritionally, I just couldn’t keep it from getting kind of stuck in back of throat. May need to try it again when my gel stock runs low. I also added some salt and some molasses. There are recipes oine that closely mimic typical gel components.
Smuckers Uncrustables…Peanut Butter and Honey
.
I tried the Uncrustables a few years ago. They worked great on the bike but when I got off the bike to run all hell broke loose. Since then it’s been gels and liquids only when training and racing.
If you’ve been training and in general kept a diet where you are more fat adapted than the average person competing, than it would probably work very well.