Life & Laziness

Life & Laziness – These are the two most destructive forces in my quest to become an endurance athlete. I haven’t been on my bike in over two weeks and it’s been even longer since my last run. We’ve had a lot of family visitors over the past couple months which seems to drain all motivation from me. I seem to eat a lot of ridiculously unhealthy restaurant food and drink an absurd amount of alcohol while they’re here. This results in entire days being used as hangover recovery days. Then, on the days that I'm not hung over I have no desire to do anything at all, including riding.

One of my goals at the beginning of the year was to get my first off road hundie in. I was planning on completing it at the Hammerhead 100. Now, I’ll be lucky to finish the 50 option. I need to gain my motivation back and start hitting the trails again. Also, my marathon training starts this Sunday and I can’t afford to slack on that.

What do y’all use for motivation to get out there and ride and / or run when you really don’t feel like it?

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Enter Stage Left - Running

I, in all my wisdom, decided to run a marathon with virtually no training earlier this year. This brilliant decision resulted in a serious case of ITBS. Fortunately it didn’t effect my riding. Running, however, is a different story. I ran a 5K with Theresa a few weeks back, my first run since the marathon, and just about bit the dust a couple times from the severe ITBS pain. I hoped the 2.5 months of rest would have given it plenty of time to heal. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case. I’m going to have to deal with it until I can figure out how to get rid of it. I’m considering getting a Patt Strap to get by for now.

 

In an attempt to complete an entire marathon with out injury I decided to actually train for my next one. There’s just one catch, this time I’ll be running a half marathon the day before the marathon. This combination is called “Disney’s Goofy Race and a half Challenge”. So, not only do I need to be able to run an entire marathon, I’ll have to do it after completely exhausting my body physically and mentally the day before. Oh yeah, and I’ll have to remain injury free through all this.

 

There are a lot of training programs available out there. I found one that I like on www.marathontraining.com . While perusing their site I also noticed a program for “mileage buildup” which contains very low mileage for 19 Weeks. This is to get your legs in shape and used to the pounding they’ll be taking later on. After the 19 weeks of mileage buildup I’ll start the actual marathon training program which will last another 18 weeks. This should get my body used to running the longer distances required for the Goofy. I’m going to have to modify this program slightly to get my body used to running the longer distances 2 days in a row but I’m confident that, providing I can stay injury free, I’ll be able to pull this one off.

 

P.S. Don’t worry, I don’t plan on ditching my bike. I’ll have to use it as my cross training.

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PowerBar Gel: First Impressions

The first of the energy gels I'll be reviewing are the PowerBar Gels. I’ve had a couple opportunities to use them and my initial impression is very good. I’ve done several rides using only these gels and haven’t had any issues. PowerBar Gels can be purchased in 7 different flavors. and although I’ve only had the Strawberry Banana and the Vanilla I’m very impressed with the taste. They are in more of a liquid form than the Gu Energy Gels and Hammer Gels which seems to help them go down much quicker and easier. I’ll give the final word on these after the Hammerhead 100.

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Endurance Nutrition: Energy Gels & Carbs

As part of my path to proper endurance fueling I’ll be testing and reviewing different foods, diets, and fueling suggestions. The first on my list of fuels to test are energy gels. The three gels I’ll be reviewing are Hammer Nutrition’s Hammer Gel, PowerBar Gel, and Gu Energy Gel. These reviews will come later though, right now I’m going to discuss the types carbohydrates in each gel, weather they are simple or complex, and how the mixture of simple & complex carbs may be beneficial during exercise.

First, I’m gong to discuss the different types of carbohydrates contained in each gel. I found a great comparison chart of all the popular gels that states the different carbs for each gel.


As you can see from the chart all three gels being reviewed here have maltodextrin which is a complex  carbohydrate. Both the Gu Energy Gel and the PowerBar Gel have fructose, a simple carbohydrate, and lastly, the Hammer Gels contains dextrose which is another simple carbohydrate. I couldn’t locate anything stating the amount of each carb contained in these gels but a description from the webpage of each product gives us a clue as to the percentage of complex carbs and simple carbs. Hammer Gel states “we use long-chain complex carbohydrates for smooth, consistent energy release. There's only a trace of sugar”. This tells me that their product contains mostly complex carbs. Both PowerBar and Gu claim to contain a mixture of 80% complex carbs and 20% simple carbs.

Now I’m going to talk about simple and complex carbs. Simple carbohydrates can be defined as sugars that are composed of a single sugar molecule or two joined sugar molecules. Complex carbohydrates on the other hand are large chains of sugar units that must be broken down before absorption can occur. It is widely known that simple carbs are more quickly absorbed into the body than complex carbs. This is because they don’t need  to be broken down. They are already in a form that the body can absorb.

Sports nutritionist Namrita Odea suggested that I use PowerBar Gels or Gu Energy Gels over Hammer Gels. She stated that they would be better absorbed by the body due to the mix of simple carbs, fructose, and complex carbs, maltodextrin. To help explain why it’s important to have a blend of simple and complex carbs I’m going to refer to a quote from an article titled “Latest Research on Carbohydrate Recommendations During Exercise” by Tricia L. Griffin:

glucose-fructose combination works better than glucose alone because having multiple carbohydrate sources allows more carbohydrate to be absorbed from the digestive tract. Research indicates that glucose and fructose have their own separate transport systems in the digestive tract. These transporters help carry ingested glucose and fructose from the digestive tract into cells. However, the glucose transporter can only carry glucose, and once it’s filled, it can’t carry any more.

Glucose and fructose are mentioned in the above quote. Fructose is one of the carbs contained in the PowerBar and Gu Energy Gels. The glucose however was not. So, you’re probably asking yourself “where does the glucose fit into this discussion?. When maltodextrin is broken down it becomes glucose. Now we have two simple carbs, each with their own “transportation system” allowing a quicker absorption into the body. The Hammer Gels have dextrose, which is also known as glucose. Once the maltodextrin breaks down and becomes glucose you end up with much more glucose than the other two gels. Since the glucose “transportation system” can only handle so much it is absorbed into the body slower.

Now, I’m not an expert and know there is a lot more to it than I’ve stated here, but this is how my mind understands it. I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if I’m completely wrong.

Please post up and let me now if I’m an idiot or if you agree with me.

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