What To Eat?

[jaret10]

I'm not sure I know it sure is nice to have an ice cold drink on the trail lol I was just curious if anyone else had heard this and since boyscout was pretty knowledgable about nutrition maybe he knew something about it?

[boyscout]

jaret- if your hot drink cold water- keep your body as cool as possible.

Why caffeine? Ever see a marathoner throwing up while running? Ever see some one in and Ironman Triathlon with stomach cramps doubled over? Ever see a wrestler dropping weight and they stop sweating and dropping? Ever been really thirsty in an event but felt bloated too? The reason is their stomach gets locked up and stops processing what they are eating and drinking, because all the blood to power the system is some where else. Cliff bars and Gu with a little caffeine in them helps keep it all moving. Im not talking a large cup of coffee or double espresso.

And i like coffee.

[jaret10]

I used to drink an energy drink before a race(so that must be where i got my caffeine) but i quit drinking them about a half a year ago because i measured my heart rate during an enduro and it held an average of 182 with max heart rate of 220 something.

This freaked me out so I started recording my heart rate daily, and realized that even if the adrenaline was pumping during the race and i was able to have that high of a heart rate even when not in the race during a normal work day (still drinking monsters) my heart rate was higher than it should normally resting in the 70s (not true resting like when i woke up, resting after sitting for about half an hour) and it would jump higher than normal during activity. so i quit drinking monster and my heart has been a lot better.

I talked to doctors and nurses and they were baffled a little at how my heart could beat that fast and i never blacked out or anything told me to lay off the caffeine and see what it does. I have yet to record my heart again in a race while not drinking my energy drinks, but i gotta tell you i feel better on a daily basis.

But thank you for noting that you DO need some caffeine to keep your stomach working i will remember that because i would probably jump out and not have any caffeine, and wonder why i got sick.

Oh i am also 23 yrs old and have been racing for almost 20 years, about 6'1'' and 170 pounds not super athletic build but not skinny, I have talked to cyclist and they say that my heart rate is fine, but the doctors and nurses were a little worried, I also do not think that they know what kind of stress you put your body through in an enduro or the amount of adrenalin pushing through your body before an accident. I also mt bike some to keep in shape for enduros.

how much protein after the enduro would you recommend taking in as well?

and thank you for all your help boyscout! i appreciate it

edit: you said this but is this just a general amount for anyone or just your build/weight?
Post race- 25 grams of protein and 30 grams of carbs within one hour of completion (sooner is better), closely followed by several beers.

[swazi_matt]

V interesting about the caffein, I always avoided the products with caffein under the assumption of how it used to make me feel all jittery and excited (before I had kids and only drank herbal teas that is now with 2 youngsters I cannot operate before I have a strong morning coffee!!)

But I know the bloated feeling you mentioned and figured it is from the energy juice I was using, I now use 2 bladders in my camelbak, 1l of cytomax at the strongest recommended mix and 2l of water in the second bladder, but this is fine for a normal enduro but not one that is 7 hours

[boyscout]

Jarret- about 100 grams of protein per day if your working out. But you should only have about 25 grams per serving, otherwise its just going out the back side. Find a protein supplement that you can stomach and use it, I use Chicago Nutriton impact, vanilla flavor. I start my day with a shot of that and then make sure all my meals have protein.

[AlpineMS]

Really cool topic. Its fun thinking back on all the spaghetti dinners in high school sports.
I foresee a better racing diet in my future.

[swazi_matt]

been looking at some energy drinks and see differences in caffein dosages, when does it become too much? (i would guess filling my camelbak with red bull may be a bit OTT!)

[boyscout]

I would keep it under 50 mg per dose, that is the amount in the Cliff bars (peanut toffee buzz) I've been using. The caffeine in it comes from a green tea extract. Ive also used the Hammer gel product with 25 mg with no ill effect. Cant stress enough to try it in training first.

By the way a cup of coffee has about 90- 150 mg (unless my wife made the coffee then it has 3000). If you can't get a product like the one i mentioned try using your regular rehydration drink and then eat some dark chocolate. The whole idea is to keep your body processing what your drinking and eating. The harder your working and the hotter your body gets the more of a problem it becomes.

Remember you only really need to use a rehydration drink if your event goes past the 1 hour to 1.5 hour mark, other wise just drink water.

P.s. when i think "energy drink i think red bull, monster, rock star,et all... thats not what i am talking about when i say rehydration drink. Im talking about Gatoraide , Acceleraide, Hammer nutrion and the sort. I have never had an energy drink, other than coffee. Sorry if i was not clear.
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[swazi_matt]

Originally Posted by boyscout

I would keep it under 50 mg per dose, that is the amount in the Cliff bars (peanut toffee buzz) I've been using. The caffeine in it comes from a green tea extract. Ive also used the Hammer gel product with 25 mg with no ill effect. Cant stress enough to try it in training first.

By the way a cup of coffee has about 90- 150 mg (unless my wife made the coffee then it has 3000). If you can't get a product like the one i mentioned try using your regular rehydration drink and then eat some dark chocolate. The whole idea is to keep your body processing what your drinking and eating. The harder your working and the hotter your body gets the more of a problem it becomes.

Remember you only really need to use a rehydration drink if your event goes past the 1 hour to 1.5 hour mark, other wise just drink water.

P.s. when i think "energy drink i think red bull, monster, rock star,et all... thats not what i am talking about when i say rehydration drink. Im talking about Gatoraide , Acceleraide, Hammer nutrion and the sort. I have never had an energy drink, other than coffee. Sorry if i was not clear.
t

I had that, but on those lines I saw Letti's pit crew pour a tin of monster into his camelbak at the roof this year, but I do not know what was already in there could have been just water = end result of that would be similar to the coke and water they used to dish out at marathons!

[boyscout]

Yes coke and water was used back in the day with good results but that was before high fructose corn syrup, then it was made from real sugar. They would also make sure the coke was flat so it didn't fizz up your stomach.

Back in the day pro cyclists would smoke menthol cigarettes to "open up their lungs". We've come along way.