By Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter Latest Exercise & Fitness News
FRIDAY, Aug. 3 (HealthDay News) -- I rolled into the St. Helens, Ore., rest stop, 172 miles into my single-day ride of the 204-mile Seattle-to-Portland Bicycle Classic, truly unsure how I was going to make it the rest of the way.
Despite my best efforts, I had hit the wall. I had been eating and drinking the entire long day, focused on replenishing the thousands of calories I'd been burning, and still it hadn't been enough.
"When you're out there for extended periods, your body gets depleted," said Nancy Clark, a registered dietitian in Boston who has written about nutrition for cyclists. "It gets depleted of water, it gets depleted of calories. You want a constant infusion of carbs to fuel your muscles and brain, and liquids to replace the loss of sweat."
Nutrition and hydration had been my two major concerns as I trained. I had only ridden in bicycle "centuries" (100 miles) before, so the STP -- a one- to two-day race held on July 14-15 this year -- would be double any previous exertion.
I tried different sports drinks and supplements during my training rides in the months leading up to the big event, and experimented with snacking at different times during the rides.
This, it turns out, is the right way to go. "Upon starting to train for an endurance event, you should also start to create your fueling strategy," Clark said. "While training, you need to determine what food and fluids you prefer for fuel during exercise."
I stopped training the week before the Seattle-to-Portland ride, to give my legs time to be fully rested.
"It takes 24 to 48 hours for muscles to become completely fueled, after you've tapered off your exercise," Clark said. "You probably didn't need to take that much time off, but it didn't hurt."
In the couple of days just prior to the big day, I began loading up on carbs.
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Race-Day Diet Can Make or Break a Competitive Cyclist
