Food supplements, energy foods and mixing training up?

320DMsport

Hi all,

I know i'm always relating advice from the road training to MTB but i get a better response here.

Just wondered if any cyclyists use food supplements like Amino Acid tablets or natural things like Korean Ginseng?

I've been reading up and apparently taking the Amino Acid ie Amino 1000 gives you the essential Amino's your body cannot produce, and they can help the body assimlate protein better and also create a Amino that is contained in steak that will help the body metabilise fat for energy better, all sounds good!

Also reading up on Korean Ginseng is supposed to help endurance sport athletes stay fitter and go longer as it contains anti oxidants and a natural sterol which sounds abit dodgey....maybe a complete placebo effect!

Onto the training, i'm currently still base training for this 24 hour i'm mad enough to contemplate but also chucking in the odd MTB off road session, i'm increasing my time on the bike each week, i'm upto 3 hours non stop on the road and anything upto 4 hours off road.

Now the event is 9 or 10 weeks off so am i right in thinking to taper the training down the 2 weeks prior to the event, and should i keep increasing the time on the bike each week until then?

So the base training is steady away but would i find it beneficial to start doing some hill repeats thrown in alongside my road training and MTB riding off road?

I'm also weight training for upper body strengh as i know the forest the event is in and it's hilly with some rigorous downhills which take it out of shoulders arms and back.

What other suggestions can anyone throw in?

Also i've been using SIS Go in my Camelbak but i'm going to try PSP22 as the carbs are higher but in the warmer weather would i suffer with sweat loss using the PSP22 or should i go back to the GO in warmer weather and drink the PSP22 when i come in from a lap to get carbs on board before going out?

Also on a 24 hour i may come in for a rest, could it be beneficial to consume some REGO during in the event?

I'm 77kg in weight so should i be consuming 80g of carbs per hour to keep going?

Obviously after carbing up the day before would that fuel me?

It could be 500ml of psp22, couple of fig rolls and a GO gel per hour would roughly give me that amount of carbs, i would also eat rice pudding, raisens (anyone use Raisens?) flap jack and the odd sandwhich to keep me going.

Any advice would be great as i'm experimenting on rides already to see how i fair.

Cheers Lee

Babbsy

Lots of interesting questions there. May be worth splitting them into separate posts - you might get better response by being more specific.

320DMsport wrote:

Also i've been using SIS Go in my Camelbak but i'm going to try PSP22 as the carbs are higher but in the warmer weather would i suffer with sweat loss using the PSP22 or should i go back to the GO in warmer weather and drink the PSP22 when i come in from a lap to get carbs on board before going out?

PSP22 also has electrolytes but not as much as Go. The energy difference is not that big either. I guess it's down to what works for you.

320DMsport wrote:

Also on a 24 hour i may come in for a rest, could it be beneficial to consume some REGO during in the event?

Some iron man triathletes use Rego during races . The theory, as I understand it, is that the protien helps with the absorbtion of carbs.

320DMsport

Cheers there,

I didn't want to carpet bomb the forum with all the questions separate but i do gabble on abit!!

Edwin

Don't waste your money. If Ginseng was that effective it would be banned.
Caffeine would help, and trying to find any good sources of carbs you can digest easily.
I wouldn't bother with an overpriced recovery drink during the event, would probably just upset your stomach as protein is harder to digest.