I ask as I am 3 months into a 9-month 140.6 build and don’t seem to be losing “a lot” of body fat. I’m 6’ tall and weight 195 with a race weight target of 180. I’m using a 140.6 training plan on training peaks and hitting my TSS almost perfectly. I would say my body fat % is between 15%- 20% but as a 54 yr. old male I carry the excess in my abdomen and “love handles”. I have been down to 10% body fat years ago at a weight of about 175ish.
So back to my question about fueling, on long rides (currently about 3.5h) I am consuming maple syrup in water (about 240 calories per bottle per hour) or gummies (25 per hour) but starting to wonder if this is preventing my body from tapping into fat stores for glycogen. I understand over the length of an entire race I need to maintain fueling but do I need to fuel that much when just training? I’m certainly burning a lot more calories than I’m taking in but wondering if I should trim back from the prescribed “race fueling” guidelines? I want these handles gone by spring!!
For training I only take what I need to get the workout done. It’s OK for me to fail in training because of nutrition as long as it doesn’t happen too often.
An example of my training vs racing fueling for HIM training. I haven’t done IM in a long time.
Racing, 2 gels before the swim
1 gel every 20 to 30 min on the bike, drink to thirst. Normally 1.5 to 2.5 bottles in a HIM (I’m small)
1 gel every 3 or so miles on the run. 3 to 4 in a HIM drink to thirst
Training, Gatorade only during swim workout, usually half a bottle
Bike 1 gel every 40 to 60 min on a longer bike, under 2 hours I may take a gel if I’m sluggish. Drink to thirst.
Sometimes I’ll stop at a gas station and get a hostess fruit pie, $1 for about 400 cals which is significantly cheaper than gels
Run maybe a gel if I run an hour and it’s hard, the longest I run is 2 hours and I’ll do 2, sometimes 3 gels in 14 miles
My biggest problem is overeating after workouts. Unless I’m eating lunch or dinner afterwards I try not to eat more than 200-300 cals after working out but I often exceed that.
You need to make sure you can handle your nutrition for a race and the time to practice will come in the last 4 to 5 weeks in your build for your IM.
For general everyday training, just take what you need to get through the workout.
IM bike training is more about 4+hour rides which don’t have to be too hard but should be done nearer 60-65% of FTP or 50% of VO2max. Just eat what you need for those workouts.
I eat a lot when I’m riding my long endurance rides - something like 75g carb / hour. If I up that to tempo I might eat ~100g / hour. I’ve done lots of testing at various levels and I can go much longer when I’m properly fueled.
Anyways, I eat what I need to finish the workout. If it’s a training ride or race, I eat the same amounts
Separately, you don’t lose weight while working out - you lose it by fixing habits off the bike.
Another option that some use is for the first 60-90mins to use water/electrolytes then switch to the race fueling after.
The idea is to get the fat burner going and then fuel to keep the session going. Also deemed better for the day burning if the session is started in a fasted / low carb state.
Getting the training done should be the first priority what ever that requires. Lower fueling strategies are likely to lead to a reduction in performance pace/power during the training session, with the aim of improving race day performance.
Are you concerned mainly for your long sessions or for shorter workouts also?
In my experience weight loss is much more impacted by what you do outside the “training hours”. Recovery also plays a good part on that, a good night of sleep mostly. It’s a catchphrase, but there is no amount of training that can overcome a bad diet.
In general people eat a lot the day before long bike sessions… Maybe that’s your case, I would start with that.
I fuel like racing only 6 weeks prior to the race to make sure I will have no GI issues and if I do I know more or less what to expect.
I’m certainly burning a lot more calories than I’m taking in
How much have you lost in the 3 months of training?
Im holding pretty steady at about 194 lbs. I am using an app called Lose It! I have a target weight of 180 by June, therefore I enter my meals and it gives me a calorie budget, taking into account my training calorie expenditure.
Are you concerned mainly for your long sessions or for shorter workouts also?
In my experience weight loss is much more impacted by what you do outside the “training hours”. Recovery also plays a good part on that, a good night of sleep mostly. It’s a catchphrase, but there is no amount of training that can overcome a bad diet.
In general people eat a lot the day before long bike sessions… Maybe that’s your case, I would start with that.
I fuel like racing only 6 weeks prior to the race to make sure I will have no GI issues and if I do I know more or less what to expect.
For the most part just the long weekend workouts, and thank you for the reminder about recovery I do need more and better quality sleep.
You have to go to starvation mode for a while so your body will start burn fat. It’s not easy because you will be tired and lose strength but if you keep pushing, your body will eventually adjust and you will be lighter and faster. You will have to find best weight and power output combination by doing some experiment. It’s a long journey but you will get there.
I do both. Some session I fuel more than I would in a race, I am trying to get my body adapted to handling a high volume of carbs per hour without getting an upset stomach. Now I can cope with more than 100g carbs per hour at Ironman race pace
I also train under-fueled. No mater how many carbs you take, you will need to burn fat, so I find that its useful getting the body used to burning fat. Training under fueled doesn’t really give much fitness benefit, so training too ofter under fueled is really not going to help build fitness effectively
I do a lot of racing on Zwift. I make a really concious effort to fuel during any race in excess of 30 mins - the reason is that I am generally working at 80-90% of my ftp, training my body to absorb carbs while working hard is a valuable skill. I always have a pack of Jelly Babies next to my Zwift bike, and I eat one every 10 mins - if it is an easy section, like a downhill, I will eat 2 or 3. If it’s a long Zwift race (greater than an hour) I will take a Maurten gel every 20 mins (which is my strategy when running a marathon)
You have to go to starvation mode for a while so your body will start burn fat.
Absolutely not true. Exercise intensity plays a much bigger role in substrate utilisation than diet. Diet can shift the percentages a little, but there’s no real evidence that translates to performance benefits long term anyway.
Yes, you’re preventing your body from tapping into fat. SFuels has a guide you can download on their website. It’s in my signature of your interested in learning more about tapping into your fat.
I do both. Some session I fuel more than I would in a race, I am trying to get my body adapted to handling a high volume of carbs per hour without getting an upset stomach. Now I can cope with more than 100g carbs per hour at Ironman race pace
I also train under-fueled. No mater how many carbs you take, you will need to burn fat, so I find that its useful getting the body used to burning fat. Training under fueled doesn’t really give much fitness benefit, so training too ofter under fueled is really not going to help build fitness effectively
I do a lot of racing on Zwift. I make a really concious effort to fuel during any race in excess of 30 mins - the reason is that I am generally working at 80-90% of my ftp, training my body to absorb carbs while working hard is a valuable skill. I always have a pack of Jelly Babies next to my Zwift bike, and I eat one every 10 mins - if it is an easy section, like a downhill, I will eat 2 or 3. If it’s a long Zwift race (greater than an hour) I will take a Maurten gel every 20 mins (which is my strategy when running a marathon)
I like this advice ^^^^^^^^^^ a lot and come closest to practicing this in my training/racing.
It is imperative to be able to handle nutrition/hydration on race day so that must be practiced occasionally. It would be bad to realize you guessed wrong and can’t hold down needed fluid/calories. It is certainly something that can be trained. It helps to know which things are more likely to give you an upset stomach and cause cramps. Getting used to salt intake takes practice also.
I recently have been trying to handle more caffeine and found my limit…ha.
In training, going lower than needed at times helps also, IMO.
Race day should be nutrition dialed in as best as possible prior to the event. It should also be well practiced at race pace and ideally in race heat.
Even better if it’s done with planned on course nutrition/fluids.
You should fuel like your racing when training but at race pace !
This is the biggest mistake that is made, you train LSD endurance but never crank up the heart rate to see how your nutrition works under higher stress.
It took me 3 early years to figure this out over 15 yrs of racing.
To lose weight, you need a calorie deficit. Losing weight while training means not enough calories for good recovery between sessions. Losing weight should be a goal during an off-season leading into a prep, not necessarily a goal during a prep. To lose 15lbs in 3 months, for example, is roughly a pound a week. That translates to a rough deficit of 3,000 calories per week. That’s a lot of calories to deprive your recovering body.
Agree with the others on both doing some under-fueled workouts and some workouts with your planned race nutrition. When you’re doing an easy recovery swim, bike, run, or mobility/strength session, unless you’re really depleted from another session, you can do these fasted. However, for long or challenging workouts, your goal with nutrition is to fuel the workout so that you can complete it the best you can. I think it’s important to learn what kinds of nutrition and how much you can tolerate at race intensities and durations. These workouts are also demanding and fueling them well will set you up to do more work in the next week.
However, I would turn your focus to your daily nutrition as this is where you’re likely to make the most progress towards your goal of hitting “race weight.” Fitness and calorie tracker apps can work well to develop awareness of what you’re eating and your caloric intake. I’ve found with my patients that the biggest benefit is evaluating their calorie budget and then assessing whether or not they truly need that next snack. If you are consistently mindful on your daily nutrition and keeping in mind that “budget” of your calories, you will make progress towards your goal. A very mild calorie deficit works okay to reduce weight but needs to come with a corresponding improvement in the overall quality of your nutrition to make this count.
Each person is unique so you may do better with a higher protein, lower carb approach whereas another might be the opposite. Anything you eat should have a purpose.
Long story short: fuel your long and hard workouts. Fast or underfuel your easy ones. Track and be mindful of your caloric intake throughout the week and play with your carb/protein/fat ratios to where you feel the best, perform the best, and move towards your goal.
Fueling during training shouldn’t hold you back from losing weight, as you’ll just be less hungry after the workout than if you didn’t fuel during it. Anecdotally, I spend half the year running high volume and never fuel during runs even 20+ miles, then the other half of the year biking high volume and I like to eat a lot at stops during rides, and I’ve never noticed any weight changes or issues cutting pounds due to what I mentioned above.
As far as fueling to practice for racing, I’d recommend treating your longest few workouts as mock races and fuel as much as you can during them. It’s important for intensity to be as high as race pace for this to work well, as it’s much harder to fuel at higher intensity, especially on the run.
As for whether you need to fuel for workouts themselves to be optimal, I really don’t see much benefit for anything under 3 hours unless it’s max intensity. After that a good 200-300 per hour is going to be smart or necessary. I think you’re smart with what you’re doing now.
