This clinic is designed to give you the information necessary to understand basic sports nutrition and apply it during your training to improve your overall performance on the bike.
Note: First, I am not a certified sports nutritionist (I'm not even an uncertified sports nutritionist :-). What I know on this subject I have aquired through my practice as an athlete and from further reading/study as part of being a cycling coach. Thus, you must take what I say on this subject only as the opinions of a well informed individual, but not as an expert or professional.
First of all, this clinic is NOT about nutrition...it is about sports nutrition. What's the difference? If it were about nutrition you would be learning about how diet affects your overall health and what & when to eat to support a healthy lifestyle. Since it's about sports nutrition, you'll be learning about what & when to eat in order to improve your performance as an athlete.
OK, with that out of the way, lets begin. Everyone knows what the 3 most important things in real estate are: location, location and location. Well, in sports nutrition, the 3 most important things are: carbos, carbos and carbos. Well, that's not the whole picture, but its not far from it, as we will see below.
Carbos are found in abundant supply in most of the foods we eat. There are two forms of carbos: known as simple and complex carbos. Complex carbos are found in foods such as pastas and breads, potatoes and many other veggies. Simple carbos are found in foods such as oranges, apples and most other fruits, as well as other forms of "sugar".
When you eat carbos (both simple and complex) your body breaks them down into glucosymine (i.e., blood sugar) which is then directly usable by your muscles. Any glucosymine that is not immediately used (i.e., because the speed at which you are riding does not require as much fuel as you have available in your blood stream) is converted to glycogyn and stored for later use. The basic fuel source used by your muscles is known as glucosymine. At low levels of physical exertion your muscles get their fuel by breaking down stored fat and turning it into glucosymine (i.e., blood sugar). What constitutes "low levels of exertion?" That depends on the individual, but for most of us it will be XXX. As you ride faster and faster your muscles switch to burning a substance called glycogyn, which is stored mostly in your muscles and liver. Glycogyn is the stored form of, you guessed it, carbohydrates.
Note:Glycogyn which is not ultimately burned for fuel is eventually converted into stored body fat. That is, excess body fat is not directly the result of eating too much fat (the three sources of calories are carbos, protein and fat).
Whenever possible, you should try to get the majority of your fuel for athletic performance from complex carbohydrates. The reason is the the simple "sugars" tend to result in energy "spikes" and the comcomitant energy "valleys" that usually follow. Most of us are familiar with the "sugar" rush but we may be less familiar with the energy drain that usually follows quickly thereafter.
You may have heard of the concept of the glycemic index...which is a measure of the ease with which your body can break the energy in food down into a form usable by your body (i.e., into glucosymine); especially if you are diabetic. Simple sugars tend to have a high glycemic index, meaning they are converted to glucosymine very quickly. Complex carbohydrates (complex sugars)
That said,
- 200-300 calories 2 hours prior to exercise (bagel, yogurt and organce juice is ideal)
- 200-300 calories per hour during exercise
- 200-300 calories immediately after exercise (within 30 minutes)
- 400-500 calories within 2 hours after exercise
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Last Updated: 2001-02-09 paul.v.biron@kp.org |
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