Race Fuelling

First of all, let me clarify here. All of my content is written by me. I don't even run AI to correct it. I don't care if it was formulated badly, as I am not a native English speaker. I don't care abut typos. I am a human. At this moment I don't have time, I still use some AI images, but as soon as I have the time, I will replace them, with my own images. I will freshen them up in GIMP or something. So no AI for me, just quality, real, human content. 

Let's get down to race fuelling and get a good grip on what is going on right now and since the beginning of the need for fuel. And the need for speed of course. 

A quicky here: in the 80s we thought to have a max capacity of sugar absorption topped at around 30g an hour, as when athletes took more, they got bloat, vomit and more. Then we realized that mixing in fructose, we can enhance this by using 50/50 or 60/40 glucose to fructose solutions. Maple syrup is around 50/50. Then some athletes started experimenting with 90g in the early two 2000s and that became somewhat of a norm, using a mixture of gels and drinks. Some swearing about super starch, vitargo, waxy maze while others just doing gels. The thing is that we still could not point our hand really on why some athletes get extraordinary performances and others puke their guts out. The high carb craze started to get formed. Triathlon and Cycling was always leading the way. 

Well, it is simple. Gut training as a first line of defence. However, 20 years ago, products were so shitty that you could train your gut as much as you wanted, battery acid stays battery acid. You either puke or you don't. I tried at least 40 brands and 100s of mixture combinations. Why ? I am a big guy. Right now 90kgs. Racing balls to the walls for 6hours needs fuel. Loads of it ! Back in the day, what I have found was the High5 ISO. That was a much bigger gel than all, simply by adding more water to it. Sort of hydrogel. It was smoother on the stomach. I had my first race of 63km in very hot conditions on very technical terrain, beating pro runners, using that gel, 4 of them each hour. I think it was either 2009 or 2010. Due to my extensive cycling work, riding 30+ hours a week as a guide on yearly average, I had a lot of endurance and very low heart rate. I was running this race, really huffing and puffing all the way, but over did the fuelling and did not eat anything during the last 90min. Just did some coke and sparkling water. 

GUT TRAINING

What is the limit if sugar intake ? What is the limit of absorption ? Weight and  energy consumption ? 

Actually and unfortunately, the digestive system of natural, bigger athletes, is not proportionally bigger, than of smaller ones. That is true to their heart and lungs too. I am not sure about blood volume, but I believe that bigger athletes have more blood, more blood vessels, more liquid and more lymphatic fluids, need more water. It looks like a normal setup as science states that the limiting factor of human endurance is neither heart nor lungs, but blood. 

This simply means that bigger runners, might not be able to take in more carbs than smaller ones, despite that their energy needs are much higher. So, the bigger you are, the higher end you must push, in case you want to go fast and long. 

I will give you some rules, so you can dial in your race fuelling and test out some ideas. 
1g of carbs / kg / hour when running at your zone 2.  So as a 40yo athlete if I ran a race at like 180-40 heart rate, what is 140, I would take in around 80g of carbs an hour, if I was running an even race and would be 80kg of weight. 

I would take in the same calories for sub 4hour races of varying efforts, like high performance trail running. Except I would definitely have breakfasts, and would distribute calories dialled in to the effort and terrain, temperatures and conditions. 

45 to 60g for the first hour if no big climbs, then 90 - 135 depending on pace and climbing. Right now what I practice is before 45min climbs I take in 90 at once and keep on fuelling normally onwards. I don't have an issue anymore with that. I just squish 2 * 45 , get even an apple sauce pouch with also 20g of carbs in it and go. Climb. If I had only descending and some flat running for the last hour I would take zero gel, but 3 to 4dl of coke in an aid station. If it was 10km dead flat or climbing involved, I would still definitely take in a gel. I often have a smooth hydrogel that is lighter on the stomach and lower in calories for this final section. 

Right now cyclists can take over 200g an hour in some special cases and some runners push 145g for 10 hours+ 

You need to understand, that it is not only gut training, but aerobic training. You need output, the suck in the sugar. You cannot run 110 beats a minute and absorb the solutions. Not going to happen. So you need to be pushing it. In training, that is the same. I take gels in 3 or 4 situations. 

• I am exhausted or under fuelled during the day. 
• I am doing intervals.
• I am doing long run 

So if I did an intermittent fasting day and want to run twice, like midday and evening. I would take a gel before each run. I would also take two or 4 gels during a 90min interval session. Depending on the goal of the session. If gut training was an objective, I would get in 4 x 45g. If simply executing the intervals properly, practising race pace and reaching speed goals, I would just fuel the session. Like take a couple of 25g hydrogels and that is it. 

I order my gels in bulk. 90 to 100gels at once. I also use maple syrup too, especially summer time. I make sure I take in and force fluids too. With salt ! How much ? 500 to a liter an hour, or more. That is one of the best training methods I found. You finish a training. Arrive home. Jug down 1L or 1.5L of water with tons of electrolytes and 50g of vitargo. Get back out for 15min tempo right away and finish off with 10min jog. That works like a charm. What it does it actually, trains your stomach and gut, to not throw up, nor to s..t yourself. It is also not too long and not too fast to hurt you. I helps you recognize burps. Which burp is a burp and which burp is a slow down for a sec here.

I am not going to tell you which gels I am using, as it is cheap, simple, without chemicals, anti doping clean sports certified most importantly and it works. It costs 1/5 of the price of 1 SIS beta. For 9.99 I can get 16 x 45g gels. That is an awsome deal for something that is origin Europe and non GMO. I am telling you. Test, look, research, find out. Of course that SIS Beta and Maurten are great ! Of course the PF¨90 gels are dope, especially if you want to microdose it on a hard climb, like each 5 to 10 min a sip. However, when you consume a lot, it can be a burden. 

Can you be as healthy and as performance without sugar ? The answer is no. How do Africans do it ? They do not think and do anything else outside of running. They might do some light gardening and time to time chop some woods. They do not chop woods all day long, weekends included for 5 decades on the go ! They might have a phone, but they don't sit front of the screen 8hours a day. They might have sit on a bus, but don't drive cars every day for hours. They might get exposed to some 3G or 4G here and there, but won't have 5G and 10 wifi signals bombarding them. Their stress levels are low and do very little in their life. Imagine sending your kids to school. That is it. Send them. No, in Europe, you need to think about books and paper and rulers, 10 types of pens and so. Your kid has a hole on his trousers, the teacher will phone you up, that it is inappropriate. If you don't give food for your kids and they are not signed for the cantine, they send you the social care services. In Africa, that is normal. A kid arrives to school, with no food and water, the others just share what ever they have. Normal. Sharing is caring. 

So yes, to light up your nervous system, your brain, to get out the max from you, a jolt of sugar is needed. Also to keep your thyroid from burning to the ground and also to keep that heart health fully pounding, sugar is the best energy. It is pure, burning clean and also releasing a lot of juicy ATP. 
When living, that is another energy system. When living that is something else. Endurance, fat burning and slow metabolism. I can fast and be active anytime for 48 or even 72 hours. I can also run quite fast for 3 hours without food. This has nothing to do with taking gels. Your training is to be as efficient, as fast as powerful as possible. 

Your life is about something else.