Training4cyclists

Cycling Training Tips

carbohydrates

How to Boost Carb-Loading Before a Cycling Race

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Most cyclists and triathletes have heard about and experienced the consequences of insufficient carb-loading before races.

Carbohydrate loading has been used for many years to boost performance in cycling races lasting more than two hours in duration.

While there are various methods of carb-loading, the process basically involves consuming large quantities of carbohydrate-rich food in order to fill the muscle glucogen stores.

More muscle glycogen protect you from (or delay) exercise-induced hypoglycemia and help you to exercise longer at high intensity.

Please remember to practice your carb-loading plan well before your priority race.

Since carb-loading only last a few days there are no reasons to worry about that some minerals and vitamins are not represented sufficiently in your carb-rich diet.

After the race you return to your normal, balanced diet and that’s fine.

It is important to know that when you carb-load you also increases your body mass. It is estimated that every gram of glycogen stored is associated with app. 2.7g of water. So you can expect a body mass gain of app. 2kg when you are fully loaded with carbohydrates. This is important to know and may influence your decision on whether you should carb load or not.

Many experiments have been performed to find the perfect method for carb loading before races. The best known method is the carbohydrate-depletion/carbohydrate loading method. The theory behind this strategy is that exercising to exhaustion 6 days before your major race combined with a low-carb diet until three days before the race depletes muscle glycogen.

When your glycogen stores are completely depleted the theory is that your muscles are hungry after storing glycogen and are able to ”˜super-compensate’ the last three days before the race. So it should be possible to store even more glycogen than through regular carb-loading procedures.

I’ve tried the depletion-load method once and I ended being well loaded for the event.

Though, it is a bit problematic to train to exhaustion just 6 days before a major race followed by low-carb dieting. That’s not optimal tapering. So the carbohydrate-depletion/carbohydrate loading method works best in theory. And the theory has not proved to achieve higher glycogen content than regular 3 day carb-loading in scientifical studies.

In practice you can reach full benefit from carb-loading just three days before your major race:

Here is my advice for optimal carb-loading:

1) Consume for 7-10g carbohydrate per kg body weight per day.
If you are highly trained you should probably aim for close to 10g/kg body weight /day the last three days before your race. If you are out late, it is still possible to achieve great results with just one day concentrated carb-loading.

2) Minimize fibre-rich food
Since many carbohydrate sources contain fibres, you may need to prefer carbohydrate sources with a low content of fibres. Large quantaties of fibres may cause flatulence, diarrhea, gastric and gut discomfort.

So it is recommended to choose a high-carb, low-fibre diet (white bread, white pasta, white rice, liquid forms of carbohydrates etc.)

3) Increase fluid intake
As mentioned above, carb-loading is associated with water so you’ll need to drink more fluids to stay well hydrated. Fluids can also be seen as a source for carb-loading if you don’t want to eat pasta all day long, e.g. soft drinks, juice, sport drinks etc.

Again, make sure to test your carb-loading procedure BEFORE you enter an important race. We are all different and you might need to make individual customization to get a perfect diet plan.

Finally there is a sweet little ninja trick that may boost your carb-loading:

When I have athletes at cycling races I always ask them to do a short, high-intensity interval the day before. This is both mentally and physically a great way to prepare their bodies for competition.

In the mirror of carb-loading this little trick also increases the glucose uptake at a minimal cost of muscle glycogen.

Thus, you might end up maximizing your glycogen storage and being physically and mentally prepared for action. Cool, right?

VO2 Max Booster Program – More Active Recovery

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When you train hard, the importance of recovery is more pronounced. I guess most readers will agree that the VO2 Max Booster Program is challenging, so there is also an increased need for recovery. Today you will do an easy ride of just 30 minutes, so use your extra free time to think about how you can improve your recovery.

I like to optimize recovery principles because that helps you to get stronger without working harder. Work smarter, not harder.

The proper use of simple recovery tips can accelerate your recovery and help you to reach a higher level of performance. If you rehydrate, eat carbohydrates and proteins, change clothes and do some easy rolling immediately after training sessions that will help you a lot.

You can read more on recovery tips here.

Day 10
Total time: 30min
10min incremental warm up
5 x (30+30sec) 100% VO2 Max
10min easy rolling

Next step: Final Stages of VO2 Max Booster Program (did you miss day 10?)

Dehydration Shortens Time to Onset of Muscle Cramps

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Exercise-induced muscle cramps are common among cyclists in the end of hard races. Some riders seem to have more frequent episodes of muscle cramps than others, but most cyclists have experienced the phenomena. Your performance will be lowered if you have leg cramps, so there is good reason to learn how to avoid such.

Drink water. Dehydration shortens time to onset of muscle cramps.It is often written that hydration with water and different electrolytes may protect riders from muscle cramps, since dehydration and electrolyte imbalance is very close related to these involuntary, painful muscle contractions.

One of the potential risks is exercising in hot environment because of dehydration and massive loss of sodium, potassium, magnesium and other electrolytes.

When water loss is recovered with plain water, there will be a net loss of electrolytes. In old days hard working people who worked in mines died because of an excessive water intake that diluted the concentration of electrolytes. This was called ”˜Miner’s Cramp‘.

Carbohydrates, sodium and water does not protact you from muscle cramps
Scientists from the University of North Carolina have published an article in Journal of athletic training, June 2005: Influence of Hydration and Electrolyte Supplementation on Incidence and Time to Onset of Exercise-Associated Muscle Cramps.

In this study 13 men with a history of exercise-induced muscle cramps performed two tests that were made to provoke muscle cramps in the calves. One test was done with supplementation of water, carbohydrates and sodium, while the other test was done without any supplementation. The findings were that 9 people developed muscle cramps in the hydration/supplementation trial and 7 people did in the dehydration trial.

But carbohydrates, sodium and water may prolong the onset of cramps
These findings do not indicate that hydration and supplementation with carbohydrates and electrolytes protect against muscle cramps. It tells us that there are other factors implicated in development of exercise-induced muscle cramps. However, in the hydration/supplementation trial, the time to onset of muscle cramps were prolonged (36.8 minutes completed before onset, compared to only 14.6 minutes in the dehydration trial.)

In my opinion, the study should have included a trial with plain water only. This should be done to see if it was the water or the supplementation that prolonged the time to onset of muscle cramps.

5 Simple Tips for a Better Recovery

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When you train hard, you deserve to get good results. One of the best moments to improve your performance is the first hour after your training session. Here are 5 simple tips for a better recovery:

Cycling recovery

  1. Drink water
    60% of your body weight is water, so there is a buffer system to cover water loss during training. Nevertheless this water loss has a huge impact on your performance and must be replaced as soon as possible. Plain water is under normal circumstances adequate for rehydration, since solid food replaces the electrolytes lost during exercise. Thus, if you eat properly, you do not need to take any supplements to make it up for the electrolytes. Under very hot conditions it is, however, necessary to replace electrolytes as well as the lost water.
  2. Eat carbohydrates
    Blood glucose concentration regulates the secretion of insulin, which works as an anabolic steroid for you after training. Thus, we are interested in eating carbohydrates to stimulate the secretion of insulin and get all the benefits of this natural hormone. Insulin promotes the uptake of glucose from blood into cells (advanced version will come later), stimulates the synthesis of glycogen and promotes synthesis of muscle proteins.
  3. Eat proteins
    This is not an advice I will keep for strength lifters and body builders only. Muscles cells are built of proteins and they are broken down during training. Endurance athletes also need proteins immediately after training to recover from their effort. Just like carbohydrates, proteins stimulate secretion of insulin, which help building up the muscle again.
  4. Change clothes
    Get some dry clothes on immediately after training or competition. You can easily get a cold if you do not change clothes. And do it before you start to freeze, please. I have seen it a lot of times, when people are chatting after a race. Exactly that moment is one of the easiest moments to get ill.
  5. Cool down
    Take a short ride in small gears. It helps your muscles to recover from hard intervals or races. Removal of lactate and other metabolits is enhanced when you do light exercise. Depending on your overall fitness, I will recommend that you do a 5-20 minutes ride after each training session.