Just got back from two weeks of hiking in the High Sierras. W/ exception of one morning where I bonked and grabbed a CLIF bar, I ate nothing but real food - which made me realize how fed up I am with gels, power bars and powders. Does anybody here train and race w/ normal food? If so, what works/does not work? Looking for some suggestions on where to start. Thanks!
One option is Feed Zone Cookbook: http://www.amazon.com/Feed-Zone-Portables-On-Go/dp/1937715000
There are also the old school options: fig newtons, bananas, dried fruit, baguette and jam sandwiches (with the bread’s whit full cored out).
what does real food mean?
why is the distinction important?
think about that and it will help you make more rational choices.
You can absolutely do this, it just tends to be inconvenient for no gain. Bananas and water can go a long way, you can pack a pbj, or rice cakes, or make gels out of honey and salt.
But a gel made out of honey and salt is chemically identical to many gels you buy in a store so it isn’t like you have accomplished much. Maybe saving money.
you can call me a partial real food racer. the only non real food i eat are gels. i carry/consume about 9-12 for an iron distance race.
1 prior to swim
1 post swim
6-7 on the bike
1 at t2
i also eat crystalized ginger, dried raisins (large ones from whole foods), dehydrated figs, homemade cookies, pizza, potatoes with cheese salt pepper and olive oil and salt tab. i just can’t go that long eating gels. i enjoy eating too much to sacrifice a whole day of eating fake food. my stomach will riot with nothing to work with.
john
I used to eat a lot of gels until I realized how expensive they are. I still like them best for run and swim, but on the bike I’ve switched to granola bars and candy bars and dried/fresh fruit. I did a 76 mi ride organized/supported ride today and the aid stations had oranges, bananas, PBJ, mini candy bars, and granola bars.
Malted milk balls make me really happy on long rides… I also think potato chips would go down well; at the end of it I wanted fat/salt, not more sugar.
Here’s a few of my tried and trusted favourites. Never trained or raced on commercial gels or bars and never had any bonking or gut issues. I’m also not adverse to a vegemite sandwich in the jersey pocket for a bit of variety but that might be an Australian thing…
http://forum.slowtwitch.com/gforum.cgi?post=4797925
I do use electrolyte drink powder - haven’t quite gone down the coconut water route as yet.
I used to eat a lot of gels until I realized how expensive they are. I still like them best for run and swim, but on the bike I’ve switched to granola bars and candy bars and dried/fresh fruit. I did a 76 mi ride organized/supported ride today and the aid stations had oranges, bananas, PBJ, mini candy bars, and granola bars.
Malted milk balls make me really happy on long rides… I also think potato chips would go down well; at the end of it I wanted fat/salt, not more sugar.
I’ve also always just used granola bars on the bike. Never thought of them as “real food” , I guess I always picture a plate of Spaghetti when I think of real food, but compared to a gel they’re definitely much more pleasant to consume. The only issue might be that sometimes you really have to take a ton of them because one bar usually isn’t so big.
spaghetti isn’t really any less processed than a gel.
not there ‘processing’ is inherently bad.
Kind of hard to live on completely non processed food, if you count cooking or grinding things as processing.
I just throw a couple whole squirrels into my jersey pockets and I’m good for 112 miles. Your face gets a little sticky/furry after biting into their little plump bellies, but a squirt from the water bottle and your good to go.
You’re right. Basically everything we buy in the supermarket is processed. Got confused by the terminology and was equating the difference between real food and other (fake?) food to meals vs. snacks.
I think the terminology is meaningless, one can’t help but be confused by it.
It is confusing because it makes no sense!
You’re right. Basically everything we buy in the supermarket is processed. Got confused by the terminology and was equating the difference between real food and other (fake?) food to meals vs. snacks.
that might work with salted fish?
lol
I just throw a couple whole squirrels into my jersey pockets and I’m good for 112 miles. Your face gets a little sticky/furry after biting into their little plump bellies, but a squirt from the water bottle and your good to go.
Nah you got it all wrong, you have to get em fresh, none of that processed at home. Keep your eyes on the side of the rode on the bike, when you see that squirrel, swerve and clip em with your rear wheel. Stop and pick em up…fresh and unprocessed. Every 10 minutes take a bite. One squirrel good for about an hour.
Nah you got it all wrong, you have to get em fresh, none of that processed at home. Keep your eyes on the side of the rode on the bike, when you see that squirrel, swerve and clip em with your rear wheel. Stop and pick em up…fresh and unprocessed. Every 10 minutes take a bite. One squirrel good for about an hour.
Make sure to tag them with your rear wheel, not the front one: http://cloudbaseimaging.blogspot.com/…-forks-dont-mix.html
Semantics aside, we all understand what the op is talking about. Last season I focused on road racing, and I homemade little energy balls out of soaked almonds, honey, cinnamon and bananas. They tasted super good, were easy to eat, and made me feel like I had energy, but I didn’t like how they took so long to “kick in.” I think bananas work well when it’s not too hot out. Jam sandwiches on white bread are good (whole grain slows digestion).
What I found that did work and saved me a ton of money was just putting 3 tbsp honey and a pinch of salt into water and shaking it up. You can calculate your caloric needs easily to figure out how much will work for you. I planned about an hour per bottle, and only got through 1.5 22 oz bottles in a typical road race.
Really want to get that cookbook!
I make 100 cal bars with dates ( fast energy) dried cherries (slower energy) raw cashews (even slower release energy) and coconut oil. Exact recipe changes every time but easy to eat and super fast absorption. I will bang out a gel in a race if I really need to (last Mondays 20k run) but for 90% I make all my snacks. I like it better. And the taste. Oh and bacon
I too have been experimenting more and more with real food. I am working my way through the Skratch Labs book “Feedzone Portables” and finding what works best for me. I have had good success with the rice cakes. I know it’s the high glycemic nature of rice but eating one of those is like Popeye popping a can of spinach in regards to the energy boost I feel. I don’t really get that with gels and such.
I highly recommend checking out “Feedzone Portables” though if you’re interested in real food to take with you exercising. That is what Skratch Labs is all about so they will have the best source of ideas and stuff.
I have given up gels for all natural honey long ago
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I see posts like this every once and a while and it makes me wonder if I differ from others in training. I use very little to almost zero nutrition on most of my workouts. The only exception is being a really long ride (even then not all the time) or as practice which I do maybe 1-2 times before a race. Other than that I believe I have heard (not read) that there have been studies that show that training without fuel can help increase the bodies ability to burn fat which I imagine is a really good thing come race day where you are guaranteed to run out of glycogen.
Anyway long way of saying that I completely agree with you in eating less gels, sports drinks, and etc. I disagree that one should replace with so called “real food” stuff as really all you are doing is the same thing just less efficient delivery of simple calories/sugar.
This blog post may interest you
http://www.samiinkinen.com/post/86875777832/becoming-a-bonk-proof-triathlete-fat-chance
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