Basic Cycling Nutrition Plan
The most dramatic improvements in human performance in the last 15 years of endurance sports competition, especially cycling, have come as a result of advancements in sports nutrition. If you stick to the basics you can build a nutritional plan that will help you get the most from your riding. There are three areas of nutrition that you need to educate yourself about and pay attention to on a daily basis. Hydration, Energy and Recovery.
Hydration
Water is the most important nutrient in your diet. Water is a vital component of all biological functions and is the simplest nutrient to manage. Water can also be used to transport carbohydrates into the body for fuel. Keeping fluids in the stomach helps with digestion of food and emptying into the intestines and will help you get better energy yield from what you eat on the bike.
Water helps regulate body temperature and eliminate waste materials. Internal body heat is carried to the skin by the water content in the blood and sweating evaporates surface body heat into the environment. If blood volume drops from dehydration the cooling mechanisms of your body are less effective. If water loss continues unchecked there are a host of heat related illnesses like heat exhaustion and heat stroke that can be very dangerous to your health.
It is generally accepted that dehydration occurs with fluid loss equal to as little as 1% of your body weight. Water weights about 8 pounds/gal. A loss of fluid equal to 2% of body weight will have a measurable effect on performance and can reduce muscular strength and endurance by as much as 15%. This can be a huge problem since the body’s natural thirst mechanism does not kick in until around 3% of lost body weight from dehydration. By then it is too late.
The effects of sever dehydration can take up to 24 hours or longer to repair. The solution to this is really simple. Drink. We work with riders to develop individual strategies to build good hydration habits during training and competition. Fluid replacement of around 800ml/hour is the average but rates up to 1.5-2 liters/hour have been reported in elite races like the Tour de France. The rule is “drink early and often and don’t wait till you are thirsty to grab the bottle”. Water is the most essential nutrient in your diet and the easiest to obtain.
The key to staying hydrated is to develop goods habits in your training that keep you drinking and topped off. Like every other aspect of your training eating and drinking on the bike are acquired skills. It takes practice. Remind yourself to drink by using a count down timer to alert you every 15minutes. Tape a small note on your handlebars as a reminder. Carry an extra water bottle in your jersey, the weight of the bottle will remind you to drink. Buddy up on training rides and trade off reminding each other to take a drink.
Keep in mind that cooler liquids will empty from your stomach faster that warm ones. Put ice cubes in your bottles to keep them cool longer in warm weather. Get fresh, chilled bottles in the feed zone or from the team car whenever possible.
Energy
The human body is made up of many complex systems that require a constant supply of energy to function properly. This 24/7 energy demand requires that you have good eating habits that keep the energy flowing all the time. Your body uses digestion to convert the food you eat into several forms of usable energy. Energy metabolism (breaking down nutrients into fuel components) for athletic activity takes place in the different muscle cells throughout the body. For lower intensity muscular work energy metabolism takes place aerobically, combining oxygen and fatty acids to produce adenosine triphosphate (ATP). ATP is the type of energy molecule that muscles need for contraction.
Another way to produce ATP is with anaerobic metabolism, which uses carbohydrate instead of oxygen and fatty acids. Carbohydrate is the preferred fuel for training at intensities that produce competitive levels of fitness. A high carbohydrate training diet is a must for serious athletes wanting to experience positive adaptations and progress.
Dietary sugars, carbohydrates, are digested for immediate use or converted and stored for future use as glycogen in muscle tissue and liver cells. The average athlete can store about 2000 calories of carbohydrate energy, which amounts to enough glycogen to support 2 hours of moderate exercise, without any carbohydrate intake, before risking a serious bonking episode. These internal stores can be spared most effectively by two means; dependence on a well developed aerobic energy system and using carbohydrate supplements (energy drinks and gels) during events and training.
It is important to remember that under strenuous conditions you burn carbohydrate faster than you can replace it so eat early and often if you expect to have a long hard day on the bike. The goal is to minimize muscle glycogen depletion. Experiment in training with different foods, drinks and gels to see what works best for you. Do some homework and estimate your basic daily caloric requirements, known as BMR (basic metabolic rate). Using your BMR you can add additional calories for your athletic activities to meet you energy needs for a particular ride of competition.
We advise our riders to begin taking in carbohydrate at the start of the ride to help reduce glycogen depletion during the course of the event. A competitive level rider can burn between 80-100 grams of carbohydrate per hour on the bike under peak race conditions. This rider will need to consume between 6-8 grams of carbohydrate per kilogram of body weight per day just to support their training activities and maintain adequate energy stores. The intake of carbohydrate should be about 65% of total daily calories. A general rule of thumb is to take in at least 300-400 calories per hour during strenuous activity to avoid diminished performance. Try to get these from a variety of sources if possible like gels, drinks and solid food.
Recovery
The most important thing you can do to improve your cycling is help your body recover between workouts. The sooner you can return to activity the more effective your training will be. As your fitness increases it is tempting to train hard over several days and not get enough recovery. Time away from training is when your body rebuilds and gets stronger. In fact, the greatest possible adaptations to your training will only happen in the absence of work.
The message about resting and recovery is more evident these days and more riders are learning to appreciate the value of an easy day or two following training or competition. The resting part is pretty easy. The nutritional aspect of recovery still needs a lot of explanation.
Recovery nutrition is even more important to your progress and success than training and racing nutrition. Once you put you feet up your body has to have the nutrients needed to repair the damage done and replenish your energy stores in anticipation of the next workout. This is a very simple process that only requires your to pay attention to when, what and ho much you eat after training.
The first two things you need to replace after exercise are fluids and muscle glycogen. There is strong research that establishes a “glycogen window” or optimal time for carbohydrate storage and muscle recovery. Save yourself a lot of headache and read “Optimal Muscle Recovery” by Dr. Edmund R Burke PhD. This book will tell you all you need to know about post exercise nutrition.
What scientists have discovered is that the presence of the enzyme glycogen synthase (GS) is extremely high for 15-30 minutes after exercise. GS functions to facilitate the uptake of converted carbohydrates as muscle glycogen. Taking advantage of the elevated levels of GS maximizes muscle refueling.
Glycogen is what your muscles need but carbohydrate intake alone is not the best formula for muscle refueling. The uptake of glycogen is dramatically increased by the presence of certain amino acids and adding a little protein to the mix is the key to optimal muscle refueling. Research has determined A 75% carbohydrate to 25% protein mix is the best. But how much carbohydrate do you need after training for optimal recovery.
We recommend 1.5 grams carbohydrate /.5 grams protein per kg of body weight immediately after training. This protocol is repeated about 1-2 hours after training along with other foods. Your body treats all forms of carbohydrate and protein the same so any combination of fluids and solid food will work. However, we have found that using a recovery drink like Endurox R-4 for 100% of post exercise recovery nutrition is best because it ensures fluid replacement along with other vital nutrients. If you choose solid food be sure to drink plenty of water.
Creating your Personalized Nutritional Plan
If you apply a few basic rules to your nutritional planning you can create a strategy that will work for you. Here are a few tips to follow when planning your nutritional training strategy.
Test everything you eat in training first….
If you practice eating during your training you will discover what works best for you and you avoid any gastric surprises on race day. Your stomach needs to get used to handling food while you are riding. You need to figure out what and how much you can eat before the big day comes.
Once you have found what works for you stay with it….
Consistency in your diet is just as important as consistency in the other areas of your training and preparation. You don’t need a diverse menu in the bike. Stay with what works best for you on the bike and avoid any nasty surprises.
Simple foods are the best….
You can get all the energy you need from very simple foods. Bagels and simple sandwiches with meat and cheese work well. Dried fruit and nuts are easy to carry and also encourage water intake. Energy drinks are formulated for balanced energy supply and are easy to carry. There are also energy bars and gels that provide quality nutrition.
The 20k rule….
The UCI restricts feeding during the last 20k of an event. This keeps the team cars out of the finale and lets the riders concentrate on the finish. Pro riders make sure they get there last feed in time to digest it before the finish. It is best to get your last food in about 30mintes from the finish so it stays down and you don’t experience any stomach problems during the hardest part of the event.
Train your stomach….
As you fitness improves you body gets better at digesting food to keep you going. The more fit you become the more efficient you digestive track becomes and the more proficient you will be at eating on the bike.
Daily Nutritional Strategy
The weeks preceding an event you need to have a stable and adequate diet that will support your training and maintain good fuel stores in the body. Your baseline diet should be based on your basal metabolic rate (BMR), plus additional replacement calories to support your training activities. You can determine you BMR using the following general calculation formulas:
BMR for Men: BMR in Cal/day = 9.8 times body weight in kilograms + 879
BMR for Women: BMR in Cal/day = 6.7 times body weight in kilograms + 795
(One pound = 454 grams or .454 kg)
Once you have estimated your BMR you need to add replacement calories to support your training activities to determine your total daily calorie intake. The table below is a will give you some guidelines for estimating replacements calories based on riding on flat terrain in neutral wind conditions using speed as the intensity component for the exercise measured in 5mph increments: Speed in miles per hour Calories burned/mile Calories burned/hour
The tables and formulas presented here are based on statistical data and research findings. They are to be used as a starting point for estimating your personal energy needs. You are encouraged to experiment with your calculations and fine-tune the data to meet the demands of your individual training program.
Your daily eating plan needs to be divided by calorie sources. A balanced diet that yields calories and nutrients from a variety of sources will be the easiest to build and maintain. Remember to keep it simple and wholesome.
Carbohydrates are the most important macronutrient and represent the largest volume of daily calories. Carbohydrates are the preferred fuel for athletic activity and should represent about 65% of total daily calories for the average endurance athlete. You should try to get your carbohydrate calories from higher quality complex sources like grains, cereals, pasta, potatoes, corn, rice and bread and not simple sources like sucrose (table sugar), dextrose, fructose (fruit sugar), lactose (mike sugar) and alcohol. All sugars yield 4 calories per gram so divide by 4 to determine you daily carbohydrate calories.
Protein is a critical macronutrient for glycogen uptake and well as a source of essential amino acids for repair of tissue and cells. Protein deficiency is rare in endurance athletes unless they are vegetarian. Even then, plant sources will provide most of the protein needed in an athletic diet. In rare cases vegetarians can require supplementation to get the essential amino acids available only in non-plant proteins. Athletes require about 1.5 grams of protein/kilogram of body weight on a daily basis. Protein should make up about 15%-20% of your daily calories. Protein yields 4 calories per gram so multiply by 4 to determine you daily protein calories.
Fat is the most common macronutrient in the diet of industrialized nations and the US is not exception. It is easy to overdo the fat intake in your diet if you are not careful. Fat is a very important component in the athletic diet and should provide about 15%-20% of daily calories. Unsaturated fats are the preferred source and yield the healthiest fat calories. Dietary fat yields 9 calories per gram and is an important component of aerobic metabolism because of its substantial yield of ATP. For most people regulating fat intake is easy. You just have to educate yourself about different foods and stay away from the ones that are bad for your athletic diet.
Pre-event Nutritional Strategy
In the 3-4 days prior to a major competition or event you will want to modify your eating plan a bit to top on the tank and maximize your glycogen stores. Increasing your carbohydrate intake by 10-15% will likely do the trick. Be careful not to over load as extra carbohydrate is retained and stored as fat and that is the last thing you need on race day. Maintaining a moderate level of activity will allow for a little extra freshening of the legs and ensure you are not tired or un-rested on the big day. A few energetic efforts the day before to blow the pipes out a bit and keep the legs loose is not a bad idea. Pre-race activity is a very individual thing. Some riders like to rest hard going into a major event while others need a little activity to stay sharp and ready. Do what works best for you.
Increasing your fluid intake is also recommended to make sure you have maximum water on board. This is especially true for hot weather racing and competition at altitude. Both of these environments will drain the water from your body if you are not careful. As part of your carbohydrate intake you can add a little energy mix to your extra water in the days before the event.
On the day of the event you need to have your pre-race meal about 3 hours before the start. This will ensure complete digestion and the availability of a large supply of dietary calories for the start of the event and help spare the stores in your body for the finale. Your pre race meal should be heavy in complex carbohydrates (150-200 grams) from sources like rice, pasta, pancakes or other forms of starch. If your event has a later start follow up your early meal with a bottle of energy drink about 30 minutes before the start.
During the Event
The easiest way to ruin your day is to forget to eat and drink enough during the event. I have a hard and fast rule for my riders, “eat and drink early and often”. At the earliest possible opportunity you need to start replacing fuel and fluids. Sports drinks are preferred for replacement of both since they often contain complex carbohydrates (maltodextrin, glucose) and electrolytes. The following strategy will help ensure that you do not run out of gas or dehydrate before the finish. Experiment in your training and establish your own standards for fuel and fluid replacement.
Calorie replacement: “early and often”
Minimum of 70grams - 80grams of carbohydrate per hour starting immediately. Liquid calorie replacement is preferred since it is absorbed more rapidly and will help maintain fluid levels. Sports drink should be mixed to about 7%-8% concentration. 20oz of sports drink per hour combined with solid food and energy bars or gels will do the trick
Fluid replacement: “early and often”
20oz - 24oz per hour starting immediately.
Taking in water in smaller amounts 3oz-5oz will aid absorption from the stomach. This works out to a mouth full of fluid every 10-15 minutes. Alternate between plain water and sports drink.
Post-race Recovery Nutrition
Optimal recovery starts with good nutrition and your recovery actually starts while you are still on the bike. The more glycogen left in your muscles at the end of the event the faster you will recover. The professionals refer to as “eating for the next day”. Complete and rapid recovery will get you back to training and riding at your best in a timely manner.
In the first 15-30 minutes after exercise you want to take in 1.5 grams of carbohydrate and .5 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. I have simple post race routine that incorporates fluid and carbohydrate replacement during the cool down period. Immediately after the finish, cool down for a few minutes while riding back to the team car. Change into some dry clothes, grab your recovery drink and a fresh bottle of water and some solid food and hop back in the bike for a 30 minute spin.
Recovery bottle receipt:
25oz water with three scoops of Endurox = 75-80 grams of carbohydrate and 25 grams of protein plus electrolytes and other micronutrients needed for recovery. I recommend Endurox R4 for recovery because it has the correct ratio of carbohydrate to protein and, IT WORKS.
Eat whatever solid food you want and avoid caffeine for the first 2 hours after hard training or racing. Keep the carbohydrate, protein and fluids going during for the next 3-4 hours. Finish the day with your normal meal schedule and diet.