umd

nick, how long did you take and how did you place? I saw you come in a bit after the lead group but I couldn't find a pic. Don't feel bad about getting shelled, it happened to many people in every field. The guy that won you race is a very strong rider from my team that just finished his 10th race... I guess that means I'm racing him tomorrow

fauxto nick

I 100% agree and I am totally playing with this, this is half the excitement for me, the nutritional aspect. Right now I'm enjoying heed on under 2 hour efforts, it's an easy way to get calories, electrolytes and fluids. The only problem is the taste, next race I think I'm going to try endurolytes and gels. I don't doubt the importance of eating during the race, maybe I could have done with 200-250 calories which is what I'll aim for next time.

I'm also going to take your guys advice and try and take in more calories before the race but I do not believe that taking in 800-1000 calories in a regular sized breakfast before a race is a good idea. The argument presented is that your body ends up processing that food so by the time you get on the bike your body's insulin level hasn't leveled out.

fauxto nick

Oh god, I got dropped then regrouped at the half way point then got dropped again and worked with some other 5(A) stragglers, I ended up finishing after the 5(B) group at about 1:40ish. I was pretty far behind the 5A group. It's all gravy I had fun and just signed up for the Dominguez crit and the San Dimas stage race. I'm going to keep getting dropped until I don't anymore lol!

umd

grolby, I don't necessarily feel that eating is required during such a short race assuming proper pre-ride nutrition.

fauxto nick

Oh and I'd say I place in the last 5 riders.

grolby

I didn't check the distance before - you're right, though it can be more complicated than that. I obviously don't know how Nick's body works, but I'm currently adapted to burn glycogen almost exclusively, which hurts me pretty badly even in relatively short races. I think I've gotten to the point that I can finish a 30 mile race without eating during the race, but I need to eat a Clif bar on the stop line. I know that you've developed a good ability to burn fat at moderate intensities, which is a neat trick. I already know my major early training plan for the 2010 season: lots and lots of low-moderate intensity riding without too much food from November to January. I got killed in a 50-mile race last year because I just ran out of gas, and there was nothing the food I had with me could do for it.

OC Roadie

Hi Steve- You looked strong today, nice race I wish we (teammate and I) would have realized that we were already over 'the climb', we kept thinking that we still had it coming and then saw the 1km sign. Oh well, the objective was to see how we stacked up against the competition and I was happy to finish with you guys.

Figueroa was kind of brutal! What's the average grade for that climb? We went to the Ranger's Station and turned around. Emptied the tank for sure. Thanks for the info on getting there. See you next week.

Nick- Welcome to bike racing, it's not supposed to be pleasant. You'll last longer next time. Nutrition is finicky and different for everyone. You've got to experiment until you find out what works for your body.

fauxto nick

Thanks man, I'm so addicted it's not funny, as soon as the cramps went away I was ready for more lol.

Snap

You've got to play with the nutrition during training rides. Don't experiment on race days. Long rides do require food. Usually I have a couple of GU's in my pocket when I ride, but on a 30 or so mile race I'd be drinking and maybe hit 1 GU.

Endurance is going to come from putting the miles in, not a nutritional plan. Bad nutrition can kill a ride, but good nutrition isn't some magic bullet to make you fast. Most of our events are done in about 2 hours. It's not like riding a summertime century where you need pockets full of stuff.

I eat before I ride. I have friends who can't eat more than gels before a ride. You just have to play around, feel like crap a few times and dial it in. Don't rely on one manufacturer for advice either, they want to help but they are in the business to make money.

Oh yea, good job on the race. I was sick after my first race too, from getting dropped.

wanders

Not much to add to the gut thing, but congrats on getting out there.


Oh yeah,

"that looks great, sharp, nice composition, and good exposure!"

my money is on kuf taking the pic.

botto 

you haven't really raced until a race made you spew. well done.

umd

hey I took the pic!

kuf takes great pics but I'm the photographer...

slim_77

less than 3 hours before a race, yes: bad idea. 3 hour or more before a race: great idea. The activity curve for synthetic insulin is about 4-6 hours (depending on the individual) and beyond 2 hours you have already cleared the peak. I'm a T1 diabetic, and have messed with this a bunch. If you are consuming two bottles of heed in a 1.5 hr race, as others have said, you may have been better served consuming those cals prior to the race.

BigSean

Just a thought, I loved Heed before I began racing. No idea why things changed. When I was doing century's I drank Heed with no problems, but when I began racing it really upset my stomach. The intensity must trigger something that caused a negative reaction. Now I prefer the PowerBar Endurance. Much more calories and carbs in the PowerBar too.

ericm979

That's what Hammer says in their litterature and its been bugging me for a while. I don't think that it is right for everyone. It is certainly not right for me. I do just fine riding an hour or two after a decent breakfast. But I don't eat high glycemic foods (like a bar, or sugary/processed ceral) for breakfast. If I do then I will get the insulin spike they talk about and it will suck. If I wait three hours after breakfast I am already getting hungry. For a long race where getting the calories down is important, I don't want to start out with a deficit.

For a short race like this one and with it being close to home, I would have eaten a normal breakfast and then raced with maybe 1/2 of a bottle of HEED and some water. If there's more drive time involved or the race is longer, I'll have a snack while warming up and bring more food for the race.

But I am one of those 'breakfast is the most important meal' people. Lots of people get up and do training rides with no breakfast, which just wouldn't work for me. Its clear that people differ, and you should experiment to see what works for you.

fauxto nick

I'm a big fan of breakfast but I eat it after my ride, typically if i go out for a two hour training ride I'll have a gel before I leave and then dive into a bottle of recoverite and a rounded breakfast post ride.

fauxto nick

So I woke up today with my legs feeling pretty good and not too fatigued but my lungs feel terrible! They're tight, it doesn't ache to breath deep but I'm definitely just feeling it in my lungs. I guess I have work to do on my lungs maybe?

botto 

fauxto nick

lol

mmmdonuts

If your lungs hurt that much then you were not ready for the effort when the pack dropped the hammer. A better warm-up could have helped your lungs and possibly your legs. That and getting used to ride hard in cooler/cold weather. Sucking in cold air can make your chest rattle for days.

MONGO!

I get strong allergy symptoms after a race or hard ride sometimes, it's a side effect of gulping down air for hours.

Like others said, I think you should eat more before the ride and less during.
I usually eat something stodgy, oatmeal or a bagel, avoid anything acidic like coffee, I'm guessing the bar you had was a little acidic too.

This morning I did a fast paced 50 mile team training ride, race pace for most of it.
Had a bagel before and a bottle of heed and one gel during.

umd

kuf did the crit today after not riding much for a while and has severe allergy symptoms as well as asthma afterwards. She said she hadn't had asthma for over 10 years...

MONGO!

It happens especially if I haven't ridden hard in a while.

Had kinda a cough after today's ride but other than some sinus swelling I'm fine.

fauxto nick

It's funny you say that mongo because all damn day today I had post nasal drip and allergies. I'm feeling better now. I had to move today, how miserable is that :/ haha

Apus^2

But do you have to eat during a 33 mile rr? I do longer rides on longer rides (I ate a waffle, snickers bar and marathon bar on my 5 hour ride yesterday), but generally on 2 hours or less, no.

Wake up earlier, have a better breakfast, have a snack before the race. Experiment with different goos/gels/bars. There are some gels that have a lot of fructose in them that can be a belly buster.