On long endurance events, such as The HeidelBay, energy management is crucial. You only have a finite number of matches in that box. When they're done, you're done.
We've all had times when we feel exhausted and we blame, only, our levels of fitness. I bet more often than not, it is as a result of us eating too little and running out of fuel.
I intend to ride long days and minimise rest and sleep, so it it conceivable, that I can burn in excess of 10000 calories per day. For the sake of simplicity, lets assume, best results are achieved when you match calories burnt, with calories consumed.
From some of the reading I've done, it seems that at most, humans can absorb 240 calories to 360 calories, in an hour. That means, at best, about 8640 calories per day, but then only in ideal circumstances. Its more likely to be around 5760 cals. There is nothing you can do to absorb more.
Sadly, there will be a Nutritional Deficit.
Some of that will be covered by fat reserves and even protein, but you will most likely be paying a visit to the 'Bonk', for a generous withdrawal of pain and suffering.
There is a process by which you can improve energy extraction, from your almost endless supplies of fat. Unsurprisingly, it is called fat adaption. This subject will not form part of this discussion.
To improve your chances of maximum calorific absorption:
- drink water, but don't forget to...
- replace electrolytes and salts
- the more intense your physical exercise, the less you'll absorb
- the hotter the external temperature, the less you'll absorb
- the more fatigued your are, the less you'll absorb
- you'll absorb sugars quicker that fats
- mix multiple sources of carbs
- eat regularly
- etc, etc
I found this article quite interesting and written simply enough, so that even I could understand it.
In order to help balance the books, I compiled a list of foodstuff's I'm likely to find at an Engen garage shop or similar and I ordered them in terms of the the most energy dense to the least energy dense, for the sake of my needs.
The more energy dense, the less weight you have to carry, the less you have to eat and the more bang for your buck you'll get.
No comments:
Post a Comment