Training & Nutrition - Carbo loading - century 4 days away

Hi Everyone-
I'm doing a century on Sunday for the American Cancer Society ride and I was wondering what I should be eating these last few days before. I plan on eating pasta tomorrow and friday nights, but I don't know what to eat the night before the ride. I really want to ride well and plan on averaging 19 mph. Thanks for your help

Matt Dwyer

Make sure you drink plenty the day before and the day of your century. You don't want to wake up dehydrated. Starting from a deficit would suck. I also found that staying hydrated helps with recovery.

Water's the most important, wet up really well the day before. Watch the carbo loading stuff, if you do to good of a job you better bring a roll of toilet paper, i guarantee that at around mile 45 the pasta is going to want out, you're going to have to go and there won't be a rest room for miles. I find a guiness or three the night before and a wheat bagel in the morning are pleny to get me to the first sag, the rest of the ride will be take care of from there. Good luck and remember, It's all attitude.

You booze before long rides? I've actually heard that before but I never took it seriously. I've been training all summer for this ride so I can kick the crap out of it. Thanks for your help

Lots of carbs in beer :) Of course, I wouldn't overdo it since the alcohol interferes with hydration and can even elevate body temperature...

I don't "booze" but I may have one or two early the evening before a long day in the saddle, only extra stout because of the carb content. I'm telling you though, watch the pasta, it can cramp your style. I've tried most ways to carb up, if you look through my past posts you'll see that I do much long distance riding, the most important thing to watch is hydration and attitude. Both will take you out. I also find that animal crackers help me a lot, I eat them all the time, they keep the engine running. eat them before, during and after the ride. Don't watch your spped during the ride, ride as hard as you comfortably can and check your average at the sag stops, Striving to keep a pre-determined average speed throughout an entire century can toilet your attitude and break your spirit. Just keep the bike moving and you'll get there, most of the time, faster then you think. Build on increasing your average speed during future centuries, if this will be your first century you will learn a lot about rationing your performance in order to perform your best all day. 100 miles on a bike is a long way but it's just ten short ten mile rides, one after another. Again, good luck, don't run yourself into ground early, save a little for the last hill and when you start to feel like it's not such an easy thing to do think about this. We over 50 guys do it twice a week all summer long, as soon as we finish one, We look forward to the next.

"Carbo Loading" is a rather technical process, outlined in a number of web sites, and consists of more than eating carbs before an event.


Carbo-Loading

Carbohydrate loading, also known as super-compensation, aims to prevent the onset of fatigue during endurance events. If completed properly, carbo-loading can almost double the normal amount of stored carbohydrate found in a trained person.
Sports nutritionists recommend increasing carbohydrate intake to at least nine to 10 grams per kilogram of bodyweight (70 percent of dietary kilocalories) two to three days before an event.

This can be achieved by altering your training load and diet over a seven day period before the race. Moderate training and normal diet should be followed for the first four days. For the remaining three days, low to moderate intensity exercise and a high carbohydrate diet should be followed.

Carbo-loading also means reducing training load and resting the muscles to allow them to become completely loaded with glycogen. Since you want to start the race with as much glycogen as possible, resting (low to moderate intensity exercise) is as important as eating in the process of super-compensation.

A new, modified-loading regime developed by Michael Sherman from Ohio State University is unlike the traditional method of following a low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet, at the beginning of the week, to keep the glycogen content of the muscle low. The traditional method was shown to have an adverse effect on athletes who showed signs of excessive fatigue, headaches, and irritability and were not able to train or perform mental tasks properly. High carbohydrate supplement drinks can help assure ample carbohydrate intake during super-compensation programs

See: http://www.bodyandfitness.com/Information/Fitness/carb1.htm

Hi Everyone-
I'm doing a century on Sunday for the American Cancer Society ride and I was wondering what I should be eating these last few days before. I plan on eating pasta tomorrow and friday nights, but I don't know what to eat the night before the ride. I really want to ride well and plan on averaging 19 mph. Thanks for your help

Matt Dwyer

Eat what you normally eat just increase the portions by 50%. As someone cautioned, make sure you give enough of a window for the solids to pass out of your system that morning. Keep supplying your body with nutrients that are provide slightly less... "solids".. like have a bowl of oatmeal and a banana, some fruit the morning before. Pack some crackers and energy gels and keep hydrated. If you're doing it with a group of people, the century'll pass by like nothing.
The most important thing is not to feel like you have to go to the bathroom halfway into your ride.

"Bowl of oatmeal" - man that's nature's laxative! :)

"Bowl of oatmeal" - man that's nature's laxative! :)

LOL, at first I thought you typed "bowel of oatmeal".
Seriously though, it doesn't bother me...

I don't have problems with oatmeal, so I'll try it. I am planning on trying out gu on the ride to see how it helps. I just got new speedplay pedals which are totally sweet so that will help it be a more comfortable ride than my old spd's. Thanks for all the help!

Its a little late for true carb loading, the best you can do now is top off muscle glycogen to 100% by eating lots of carbs, rather than the super loading that can cram up to 150% of normal glycogen stores into the muscles (but it takes some planing ahead starting 6-7 days before the event, and involves a routine to deplete glycogen then at just the right time dumps it back in).
You should be fine though its only one century not a double.
Just know that unnessesary functions like digestion all but shut off during intense exersize so eat complex carbs and something salty a couple hours before starting, then toke on a mix of water and gatorade(or anolog there of) up until the start. Then what ever you like during the event, just drink nothing sweeter than gatorade as the extra sugar(higher than blood sugar levels) can inhibit the absorbsion of H2O.
And top of your calcium and magnesium (rolaids have both tums doesn't) and potassium (bananas and many other foods are good, you shouldn't need any massive K supplement)