Marion Freijsen A blog about Sports, Fitness & Health

Keep that Fuel Tank topped up!

By Guest Blogger Coen van Schijndel, Topvorm -  www.topvorm.com

Keep your Energy Tank fuelled!!!

An important concern of cyclists, as well as marathon runners or triatletes and all those that go for the longer nuance races is their energy supply. The energy sources which you have available to support your effort, are your body fat store and the storage of glycogen (carbohydrates) in your liver and muscles together with whatever you manage to consume and add during the actual activity.

To keep your energy stores fully loaded, it is first of all important to calculate how much you actually use during a particular activity. An average effort over a period of 90 mins. to 6 hours, will require about 20 kcal/mins. The mix of fats and/or glycogen used, will depend on the intensity of the training (see my earlier post on Energy). During easy riding or running, the fat burning aspect will be more predominant, but as you increase the intensity you will start using more and more of your glycogen store.

Normally speaking, every self-respecting sportsman/woman who’s entered a race will wish to complete the route in the shortest possible time.

This means that depending on the duration of the course, you will at some point run out of glycogen. The body fat level I have encountered in most sportspeople during an average race is more then average to compensate and to ensure you don’t run out of that as well. So it is important to keep adding carbohydrates during your ride or run.

As your body has to ensure that your muscles get enough blood during the effort you ask of them – your stomach (i.e. your fuel tank) will have less blood available to digest. So this means that you do not want to overload your stomach with heavy foods. Solid foods are less easily digested then liquids, which means that liquids will pass through the stomach more quickly and the important elements can be absorbed by the bloodstream on average in about 30 minutes. So you can see why solid foods like bread cannot be optimally digested. If you do suffer from stomach or bowel problems during your training or races, you might want to look at the foods you consume and make some alterations.

There are plenty of sportsfood supplements you can find that will help you prevent issues. It is important that you try out and figure out which is the easiest and best for you. And, not unimportant either, which gel or liquid you actually like best.

The body is capable of digesting about 60 grams of carbohydrates per hour. On the packaging of most liquid supplements you will find how many grams of carbohydrate there are in each 100 grams. In your liver and muscles, you have a readily available store which will last about 1,5 hours of reasonably intensive effort. But you certainly don’t want to wait 1,5 hours before you start adding new energy – as said, it will take on avg. 30 mins. before your body can absorb whatever you add. So start eating as early as you can. For example, if your ride takes up to 5 hours, you can add 5×60 = 300 grams of carbohydrates during the entire time. More then 300 grams is not a good idea either as your stomach may start protesting…not helpful in the middle of a race! And why take in more then you need? Practice during your training sessions with liquid foods and use the exact same product during your race.. keep that tank well fuelled and there will be enough energy for the entire duration and performance you have trained for!