Just read this article and wanted to know your thoughts since i’m on the high carb wagon.
Interesting takeaways:
Honestly, the best thing you can do is stop reading industry stuff and pick up Louise’s book.
Phil
I thought this website’s how to guide was satire at first (How To Fuel Guide: Half or Full Iron Distance Triathlon | Hammer Nutrition)
For the majority of athletes, this represents an intake of 120-180 calories per hour.
Don’t eat for 3 hours prior to your workouts and races
I fuel my long course efforts with cubed steak. Works like a charm.
When all you sell is hammers, everything looks like a nail.
Can this be summarized? Lol. I’m lost.
Tldr: very long, very disorganized, jargon filled video that doesn’t present any data to support the conclusions he draws.
He makes a bunch of claims about the existence of various mechanisms that might limit the rate of carbohydrate utilization… But, he presents no actual data to show what the rate limits are. Note: he does present “how/why” these limits might exist. But, he doesn’t quantify the limits.
Ie, a bunch of personal opinions without scientific basis in data.
Lots of misinformation here. An exercising body does not release insulin in response to carb intake. Therefore, no insulin spikes during workouts. Can get yourself into trouble if you eat a bunch of sugar ~30 min before a workout though. Second bullet, your body uses all available fuel. 120 g/hr of carbohydrate is still only 480 calories/hour. Given your body doesn’t have that much glycogen on board, ergo i must be able to use fat as fuel for anything over a few hours long, and even more so when pro athletes are doing way more power than i can even dream of. Gluconeogenesis has nothing to do with lactate. In fact, lactate is simply half a glucose molecule, which is fed into the krebs cycle to produce more atp.
Takeaways: there’s a reason hammer nutrition hasn’t been relevant for a while. If what he’s saying is true, why would people be eating more carbs than ever, and going faster than ever in races?
I watched the video for about 5 minutes and realized I was only 20% through. Skipped to the end and hoped for some summarized info only to be just as confused.
Thanks for the summary.
I’ve had no issues with 90+/- grams/hr. I have had issues with 50 gr/h in terms of falling apart.
So I’ll stick with the higher amount and error on the high side. A mild amount of GI issue might slow me down a touch, but bonking derails a race.
This is an interesting thread on what is often a contentious and ever-changing topic based on the day’s science. 20 years from now, I’m sure we will all be debating this topic.
Speaking of which, I’m wondering if there is going to be a point in an athlete’s health where the shit hits the fan because of the copious amounts of sugar consumed during training and racing. What IS good in the short-term… is it healthy in the long term?
To be clear, I’m just talking about ingesting it while training and racing, and not eating cakes in the middle of the night in Tucson, away from the cameras.
I was thinking the same thing yesterday while out for a run. The amount of gels and sugar water I’ve consumed over the past couple years is pretty significant.
If my workout is 1-1.25 hours I only use 30gr-50gr. I don’t find I’m going to deep in that situation. (Although I do get fatigued near the end). If I know it’s going beyond that, I’ll start going towards the 80-100 range.
I did read some articles on this however that we shouldn’t worry about it since we are burning it off so to speak… It’s when the calories aren’t being used and are stored at fat where it becomes an issue. That was my understanding of it, but I’m not a nutritionist or doctor.
This looks like a textbook. Is there a ‘for dummies’ version?
^^^^^This.
It’s important not to conflate what taking on lots of hi-glycemic foods while at rest does to the system with how the body handles those foods while engaged in moderate to intense exercise. That’s where the original article goes wrong.
I have never felt better both during training and racing and post training since I moved up to 120g per hour. I don’t bother using any nutrition on runs under and hour and I don’t use nutrition on the pool deck. But if I’m racing or going long I pound it down.
100%
When I go and do 3-4 hr trail runs ive moved to 120,also. It makes a huge difference in how I feel at the end of the run… In addition, and maybe more importantly it dramatically impacts howw quickly I recover from the run in the days that follow.
When I first shifted to fueling runs more fully (I use Dr Harrison app) I had to relearn my recovery rates from various types of runs.
Pretty much every time I read about the “newest” in performance cycling, there is a doping ring busted. Like arch mounted cleats, Lances super high cadence, David Miller counting the sugar in his coffee and Tyler Hamilton going straight to bed after workouts and races, short cranks etc etc. it’s all about the red blood cells.
Note: I do feel better carbing like a maniac during rides.
I think the reason this topic is so hotly debated is that athletes appear to be doing empirically well on super high carbs, but there’s limited science explaining how/why. We keep hearing about maximum oxidation rates make >100g/hr useless, etc. I’d guess this is just an area where athletes are ahead of the [published] science.
Yeah, it’s a textbook. But it really isn’t that bad a read.
My book has a section on race nutrition. You can find it on amazon.
Phil
There’s evidence as high as 120-130g/hr using glucose / fructose mixtures.
Phil