Increasing endurance - how to fuel it?
starbuck
Posts: 256
I'm doing some charity rides this year (london to brighton(57 miles), london to southampton (80 odd miles).
I rode the london to brighton last year, and I ride on the isle of wight a few times a year, but I want to increase my endurance so I can go further, faster (and longer).
I know the best way to increase distance/endurance is to put the miles in, but the help I'm after is how to fuel myself for those distances (or longer), so I don't run out of energy halfway through.
I know that hydration is one of the most important things (and looking at other threads, elete sports drink seems a good one to go for), the questions I have are:
1: How much liquid should I be looking at taking in roughly each hour?
2: What is the best food to have on the ride (when I do long rides, I tend to load up on pasta the night before and porridge on the morning of the ride) to keep me fuelled to the end (and to that end, do you just eat when you're hungry, or is there a certain regime you should follow?).
Finally, what are people's thoughts on energy gels/bars etc, as I assume most of these have quite a lot of sugar in them and are not actually as good for you as they seem - true?
I rode the london to brighton last year, and I ride on the isle of wight a few times a year, but I want to increase my endurance so I can go further, faster (and longer).
I know the best way to increase distance/endurance is to put the miles in, but the help I'm after is how to fuel myself for those distances (or longer), so I don't run out of energy halfway through.
I know that hydration is one of the most important things (and looking at other threads, elete sports drink seems a good one to go for), the questions I have are:
1: How much liquid should I be looking at taking in roughly each hour?
2: What is the best food to have on the ride (when I do long rides, I tend to load up on pasta the night before and porridge on the morning of the ride) to keep me fuelled to the end (and to that end, do you just eat when you're hungry, or is there a certain regime you should follow?).
Finally, what are people's thoughts on energy gels/bars etc, as I assume most of these have quite a lot of sugar in them and are not actually as good for you as they seem - true?
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Comments
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You want to be consuming at least one 500ml bottle of water per hour (more in hot weather/high intensity) and 0.5g carbs per kg of body weight per hour too, so usually a bottle of sports drink or an energy gel.
It depends on weather conditions and intensity generally but just make sure you carry enough with you.
Eat your pasta the night before and make sure to eat porridge or some other decent breakfast 2-3 hours before the event, then maybe a sports drink or gel an hour-30 mins before.
Gels and good sports drinks only have 150 calories or so per serving and are quickly absorbed, but you'll burn much more than this in an hour so don't worry about the whole sugars are bad thing. Your body will be burning fat at a pretty good ratio on these longer, low intensity rides so you don't have to worry about gaining weight. Eating sugar when sedentary is where you put on the weight.0 -
