Food, powder, and sustinance in General!
Discussion
I use Lucozade Body Fuel Powder for drinking - Tescos sell the 1170g tubs and regularly have it discounted to £12.99. Energy bars I last purchased from www.wiggle.co.uk for a box of 25 'High 5' bars
Edited by boolay on Friday 6th August 16:25
Unless you're planning on entering the Tour de France, don't bother with all the branded energy stuff that costs a fortune to pay for their advertising budgets when the following will do:
Jordan's Frusli bars (or any supermarket type cereals bars you fancy)
Soreen Malt loaf
Tesco Value Shortbread fingers
Tesco Value flapjack
Bananas
Muffins
It's all about the calories not the pretty wrapper it comes in.
Use the money you save to buy carbon fibre wheels.
Edited to add: Use powdered carb drinks like Isostar, Lucozade or SiS by all means but when it comes to food, any of the above will do.
Jordan's Frusli bars (or any supermarket type cereals bars you fancy)
Soreen Malt loaf
Tesco Value Shortbread fingers
Tesco Value flapjack
Bananas
Muffins
It's all about the calories not the pretty wrapper it comes in.
Use the money you save to buy carbon fibre wheels.
Edited to add: Use powdered carb drinks like Isostar, Lucozade or SiS by all means but when it comes to food, any of the above will do.
Edited by neilski on Friday 6th August 17:28
neilski said:
Unless you're planning on entering the Tour de France, don't bother with all the branded energy stuff that costs a fortune to pay for their advertising budgets when the following will do:
Jordan's Frusli bars (or any supermarket type cereals bars you fancy)
Soreen Malt loaf
Tesco Value Shortbread fingers
Tesco Value flapjack
Bananas
Muffins
It's all about the calories not the pretty wrapper it comes in.
Use the money you save to buy carbon fibre wheels.
Sounds fair enough, already have carbon wheels though.Jordan's Frusli bars (or any supermarket type cereals bars you fancy)
Soreen Malt loaf
Tesco Value Shortbread fingers
Tesco Value flapjack
Bananas
Muffins
It's all about the calories not the pretty wrapper it comes in.
Use the money you save to buy carbon fibre wheels.
I will pop down to tesco tomorrow to give these a go!
VEA said:
neilski said:
Unless you're planning on entering the Tour de France, don't bother with all the branded energy stuff that costs a fortune to pay for their advertising budgets when the following will do:
Jordan's Frusli bars (or any supermarket type cereals bars you fancy)
Soreen Malt loaf
Tesco Value Shortbread fingers
Tesco Value flapjack
Bananas
Muffins
It's all about the calories not the pretty wrapper it comes in.
Use the money you save to buy carbon fibre wheels.
Sounds fair enough, already have carbon wheels though.Jordan's Frusli bars (or any supermarket type cereals bars you fancy)
Soreen Malt loaf
Tesco Value Shortbread fingers
Tesco Value flapjack
Bananas
Muffins
It's all about the calories not the pretty wrapper it comes in.
Use the money you save to buy carbon fibre wheels.
I will pop down to tesco tomorrow to give these a go!
there are a lot of good alternatives to the branded stuff.
kelloggs "elevenses" bars are pretty good, they are full of carbs and go down fairly easily with just a bit of water. the packs of 12 are under £4. bananas are also great but can be a bit heavy on an intense session. i swear by sis go electrolyte on the bike.
post ride, a pint of nesquik milkshake is just as good as a for goodness shakes or something like that. incidentally, they now do a powdered milk sachet version but i didnt like it. it was a good idea though as you could stuff it in a pocket and just need access to cold water post ride to mix it up.
sport beans or the lucozade jelly beans can really be very little other than jelly beans with some added gloucose, i always take a trail mix of jelly babies, jelly beans and choclate covered raisins on longer rides.
kelloggs "elevenses" bars are pretty good, they are full of carbs and go down fairly easily with just a bit of water. the packs of 12 are under £4. bananas are also great but can be a bit heavy on an intense session. i swear by sis go electrolyte on the bike.
post ride, a pint of nesquik milkshake is just as good as a for goodness shakes or something like that. incidentally, they now do a powdered milk sachet version but i didnt like it. it was a good idea though as you could stuff it in a pocket and just need access to cold water post ride to mix it up.
sport beans or the lucozade jelly beans can really be very little other than jelly beans with some added gloucose, i always take a trail mix of jelly babies, jelly beans and choclate covered raisins on longer rides.
t in a cycling thread?
If I'm doing something hard, I will have the branded energy nonsense with me - High5 gels in the pockets and SIS Go in the bottles - the whole point is that is it easilly digestable - if i'm racing, I can knock back a gel and feel fine, and also feel the impact from it - if I tried to munch down a flapjack I would have trouble getting it into my belly and then it would just sit there doing not a lot.
For easy stuff - elevenses bars, flapjacks etc. - anything oaty that takes my fancy - sit up and relax for a bit and maybe miss a turn at the front to let it digest a bit.
Read that on Slowtwitch a few years ago - no idea about the particulars of Diabetes, but this guys seems to plan it well enough.
The low/zero calorie electrolyte drinks (Nunn etc.) will just hydrate you and give you very little in the way of fuel - calories are what you burn and you need to be getting them down you.
The london tri is an olympic, right? wouldn't have though you would need too much - maybe 1 gel in T1, 1 on the bike and 1 somewhere on the run if you need it - plus whatever you get from liquids? Training is a different kettle of fish - if you go out for much more than 2 hours you WILL need to be getting some calories down your neck.
For easy stuff - elevenses bars, flapjacks etc. - anything oaty that takes my fancy - sit up and relax for a bit and maybe miss a turn at the front to let it digest a bit.
Hughesie said:
What about us Diabetics out there, just about to get into training for next years London Tri and one of the things i cant take on board is massive amounts of Sugar, so are there any low cal drinks i can take on board as well ?
http://ringthebolus.blogspot.com/2008/07/race-report-2008-ironman-lake-placid-i.htmlRead that on Slowtwitch a few years ago - no idea about the particulars of Diabetes, but this guys seems to plan it well enough.
The low/zero calorie electrolyte drinks (Nunn etc.) will just hydrate you and give you very little in the way of fuel - calories are what you burn and you need to be getting them down you.
The london tri is an olympic, right? wouldn't have though you would need too much - maybe 1 gel in T1, 1 on the bike and 1 somewhere on the run if you need it - plus whatever you get from liquids? Training is a different kettle of fish - if you go out for much more than 2 hours you WILL need to be getting some calories down your neck.
VEA said:
As my training is getting more intense, I am finding that I am using more products on my long rides.
For training rather than actual events (e.g. endurance races or long, competitive sportives) I try to rely on proper food rather than "products". Although gels etc tend to be easier to digest, your long rides probably shouldn't be at the sort of intensity where this is an issue or else your recovery time will be too long. To counter-balance that, I do know people (much faster than me) who like to train with whatever they'll be using for races, but they're sponsored.For long slow rides I just take bananas and cereal bars, plus some "emergency" jellies. On day-long rides I'd generally incorporate a snadwich stop. Allen Lim's rice cakes are good too, if I can be bothered to make them.
For races I just stuff a few fig rolls up my jersey.
Edited by HundredthIdiot on Monday 9th August 10:43
get with the programme and give 110%....VEA said:
Good afternoon all,
As my training is getting more intense, I am finding that I am using more products on my long rides.
Where is the best place to buy from? At the moment I buy from my local shop but would like to buy a bit more in bulk.
I am not too fussed about the brand.
Ta
VEA
Its more important you take fluid and a small amount of food every 20 minutes than what type of product,liquid with some carb powder etc will be absorbed twice as fast as liquid only.You should eat at least 3 hours before your event/ride not any closer.Stay away from any high sugar liquids like coke lucozade etc or foods As my training is getting more intense, I am finding that I am using more products on my long rides.
Where is the best place to buy from? At the moment I buy from my local shop but would like to buy a bit more in bulk.
I am not too fussed about the brand.
Ta
VEA
As most people have posted you dont need expenisve energy bars although they are well wrapped and very convenient to eat while on the move
mrandy said:
liquid with some carb powder etc will be absorbed twice as fast as liquid only
This is only an issue if you're right on the limit of hydration, which would be very unusual in the UK.I cycled recently in 35C+ temperatures with water containing a pinch of salt. I was getting through 750ml per hour and didn't get dehyrated, although heat exhaustion was a risk - I had to pour water into my bibs to stay cool. If I drank more than that I'd just piss it out. This wasn't race pace though - if I was racing for many hours in hot conditions I'd be a bit more methodical.
IMO the major disadvantages to carb drinks are that you can't refill conveniently, they're sticky if spilt, and they are (subjectively) pretty nasty to use hour after hour.
In general terms sports nutrition products can be good in extreme cases but completely unnecessary otherwise. There isn't a sliding scale of benefits.
racings different you have people passing you drinks or depending how good you are fetching them Id rather piss fluid than blood three hours after a race.Point is for the original question is no you dont need expensive food products and be controled with your food fluid/intake to avoid dehydration and the dreaded "knock"
Id rather piss fluid than blood three hours after a race.Point is for the original question is no you dont need expensive food products and be controled with your food fluid/intake to avoid dehydration and the dreaded "knock"The real problem is knowing what you can stomach and when.
I did a test for someone's masters theses where I had to do 3 40k time trials in a 30 degree 100% humidity hear chamber to see what fluid worked best. There was water, a zero carb electrolyte one and a carb/electrolyte mix - I think a litre of each spread over the 40k.
My times were 58.xx 1.00.xx and 1.02.xx with the electrolyte, water and carb/electrolyte mix respectively. It actually surprised me that the water performed better than the carb/electrolyte mix, but it was down to the fact I couldn't get the stuff down when running flat out.
You can read all you like on what the pros do and what the scientifically "best" option is, but its such a personal thing. Did the Paris Roubaix sportive back earlier this year and by about mile 90, I was so fed up with the sugary crap I had been eating and grabbed a proper fatty, salty saucisse sandwich at one of the feed stations - no website or guide in the world will tell you that is a good thing to be eating for good performance, but it was exactly what my body was screaming out for.
I did a test for someone's masters theses where I had to do 3 40k time trials in a 30 degree 100% humidity hear chamber to see what fluid worked best. There was water, a zero carb electrolyte one and a carb/electrolyte mix - I think a litre of each spread over the 40k.
My times were 58.xx 1.00.xx and 1.02.xx with the electrolyte, water and carb/electrolyte mix respectively. It actually surprised me that the water performed better than the carb/electrolyte mix, but it was down to the fact I couldn't get the stuff down when running flat out.
You can read all you like on what the pros do and what the scientifically "best" option is, but its such a personal thing. Did the Paris Roubaix sportive back earlier this year and by about mile 90, I was so fed up with the sugary crap I had been eating and grabbed a proper fatty, salty saucisse sandwich at one of the feed stations - no website or guide in the world will tell you that is a good thing to be eating for good performance, but it was exactly what my body was screaming out for.
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