Originally Posted by
photonick
Ok, so I've really gotten into Hammer Nutrition's products, I use Heed, Recoverite, Hammer Bars, Hammer Gels, and now Endurolytes.
Typically on rides under two hours I'd go out with a bottle of Heed and a Bottle of water and possibly one gel that I would take if I felt I was crashing or had an unsettled stomach. If it was hot I would do a double scoop in the Heed.
On rides over 3 hours I would use the advice I read on here and in the Hammer nutrition guides and eat between 200-250 calories per hour and typically use Cliff shot blocks for extra electrolytes after my first bottle of heed ran out) Lately I've been trying to use Endurolytes as sometimes I'm just not in the mood to drink Heed. My problem with them is they feel like I'm not really taking anything. What are your guys experience with them? Is 3 per hour a good place to start like it says on the box or is that just them trying to sell pills? (I'm 5'11 and 160 lbs)
As some of you know I had some health problems (had/have actually) and I'm just now getting back into riding over 3 hours. This weekend I'll be doing a pretty difficult So-Cal ride with some intense climbing and I expect to be out for about four hours. I planned on doing this for nutrition:
3 Endurolytes per hour
1 bottle of water per hour
230-260 calories per hour by ingesting 3 hammer bars and perpetum in one of the four bottles (which I have never tried but got a free sample)
Does this sound solid to you guys? I used to go out with far less than I needed and mostly went off cliff bars and probably took in way too few electrolytes trying to lose weight. These days I'm trying to fuel more intelligently so any help you experts have is appreciated.
Never try lots of new things on long rides. It's just a bad idea.
Try the perpetuem first. It's an acquired taste - I think it tastes like slightly rancid pancake batter. The plain is awful, and the orange is just barely tolerable to me. You do not want to try it the first time on a long ride.
Water needs vary based on weather and how hard you are working.
Electrolyte replacement is a controversial subject. Hammer's theory is that a) you need a whole bunch of different electrolytes during exercise and b) you shouldn't get too much salt.
I think they're nuts. You do use electrolytes, but for most of them, you have enough supply to last days. Salt is the exception, but hammer's idea that you shouldn't get too much salt (hard to do if you get enough water) means that you can't take enough of them to get enough salt without getting too much of the others electrolytes.
If you hang out on the ultra-distance forums (cycling or running), you'll see that many of the competitors just use salt tablets. I've used Succeed E-tabs (I think...) on my long hot rides, but that's for 6+ hours in the heat of summer. I'm a salty sweater and these have helped me a lot, but 4 hours is't that long. Another alternative is beef jerky, which is easy to find, has about a gram of salt per serving.