Training on less drink query

Not Another Hill
Not Another Hill Posts: 382
edited March 2009 in Training, fitness and health
When I ride, either on club runs or on my own, I only end up drinking about 6 - 700 ml of fluids (Torg Energy), eat nothing whilst riding (except a snack and drink at a cafe stop). The runs are any where between 45 - 60 miles at a reasonable pace over hilly terrain.

I usually feel fine and ride reasonably strongly.

My question is this: Are there any training benefits to this?

When I took part in a longer reliability ride (75 miles) recently, I took loads of gels, energy bars, extra fluids etc and felt very strong on the ride.

Does it make your body adapt to riding with 'fewer' amounts of fuel?

Comments

  • thiscocks
    thiscocks Posts: 549
    If you constantly ride drinking little (say 500ml over 50miles) then yes your body will adapt. Whether it is of benifit or not is another question. Perhaps you will feel stronger if you take more plus energy stuff one ride...

    700ml is about right for 50ish miles I recon. Id ad another 500ml bottle for anything over that.
  • Bhima
    Bhima Posts: 2,145
    Depends on your training intensity. If you do them REALLY slow, you could probably get away with it. If you sprint the whole way, you'll need a few bottles at least.
  • sampras38
    sampras38 Posts: 1,917
    thiscocks wrote:
    If you constantly ride drinking little (say 500ml over 50miles) then yes your body will adapt. Whether it is of benifit or not is another question. Perhaps you will feel stronger if you take more plus energy stuff one ride...

    700ml is about right for 50ish miles I recon. Id ad another 500ml bottle for anything over that.

    I would suggest that the amount of fluid taken on a ride would really depend on the size of the individual rider, and obviously the pace they're riding at.
  • bahzob
    bahzob Posts: 2,195
    sampras38 wrote:

    I would suggest that the amount of fluid taken on a ride would really depend on the size of the individual rider, and obviously the pace they're riding at.

    Agree with above. I think I am on the "needs little fluid" end of the spectrum and have done centuries just over 1 bottle on a cold day with steady pace. However have got through more than 2 bottles during a very intense hour on an exercise bike in a hot gym.

    Couple of additional comments:
    - dont think there is a lot of benefit in forcing yourself to train without drinking on regular basis but do think its worth having an appreciation of how much you really need to drink if your goal event is chasing a time on a sportive. Drinking too much during these can have a negative effect as well as drinking too little.

    - I've got one of the new Camelbak Racebaks. lhttp://www.fuelforadventure.com/racebak.html and first impressions are very good. For shorter events it gives the option of not needing bottles at all (and stops risk of losing them en route). For longer it gives greater range between needing to stop, useful if a feed station is clogged up or has run out. For TTs think it even claims an aero benefit though cant verify that yet.
    Martin S. Newbury RC

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