Busy Monday #3

For today long ride, I decided to solely rely on my energy drink, even-though I was carrying with me 12 dates (to be munched on during the day). That didn't work out too well as I was kinda low on energy for the last 10 kilometres or so. Could also have been that I only consumed half of my bottle of home-made energy drink ... Anyway, lesson learned. From now on, I'll make sure to always consume something half-way (for ride above 80km).

Here's the ride on Strava:

I made my usual energy drink, but with one little spin which turned out to taste pretty good. Instead of adding 2 tablespoon of (grounded) Chia seeds, I used a 50/50 mix of (brown) Flax seeds & Chia seeds. Nutrition wise it seems to make some sense as both seeds seems to complement each other (calcium, omega-3 ...) while providing both calories and proteins.

For post ride snack, beside my 12 dates, I had one Luna energy bar (yes, I know it's optimized for Women ...)  and one Nature's Path bar. Seems it was enough to top-up my glycogen and general energy level as I felt pretty good throughout my ride home and subsequent run:

... in fact, with an average pace of 4:54/km it wasn't bad at all. I guess, I ought to eat more during the day to fuel my following work-out. Not really a surprise ...

Green energy!

About Energy Drinks (part #2)

I was at a nearby Running Room store Saturday and grabbed some energy drink supplements which I had heard about from listening to Coach Brett's podcast:

• eLoad FLY (carbohydrate fuel)
• Nuun Active Hydration (electrolytes)
• Chia Seeds (proteins & fat)

While I'm still trying to formulate (I got the Chia at another store BTW) the most appropriate drinks for my running and cycling (see previous post on the subject), I though I'll give these a try during my Sunday's ride and assembled the drink as follow:

• Russian Earl Grey brewed overnight in 800 ml of filtered water
• 3 tablespoon of Agave Syrup
• 1 Nuun tab (orange flavoured)
• 1.5 scoop of carbohydrate powder (so 120 kcal of carbs)
• 2 tablespoon of grounded chia seeds (which may have been too much according to a twitter exchange I had with Coach Brett)

The Orange flavour of the Nuun tab was very pronounced, and I probably should have used a tea that marry better with it; but overall the drink didn't taste bad and I didn't get any stomach issue as the result of consuming it (yay!). As the weather was on the cool side, by the time we were done our 2:47:00 ride I had only consumed about half of it and finished the bottle on my drive back home.

So, did it help? ... Maybe. My legs felt a little less sore and I didn't feel hungry for a while after the ride (I skipped breakfast when I came home and instead had a late small lunch before an early dinner couple of hours after) ... but that could have been coincidental. This week long run (+28 km) may serve as a better test platform for that drink ...

to be continued ...

Energy drink supplements!

Got these bad boys: Electrolytes tabs and Maltodextrin powder ...

About Energy Drinks (part #1)

According to my wife, I have been obsessing a lot about energy drinks lately ... From all that I have seen and heard (in articles and podcasts) what you drink during a workout (or a race) is very important for anything longer than one hour so it's definitely an interesting subject for an inspiring endurance athlete, therefore my OCD.

So what's the deal with energy drinks? What is their purpose? 

• combat dehydratation
• replenish electrolytes (necessary for muscles)
• metabolic stimulation
• refuel the body (for continuing efforts)

While there is a LOT of various sport energy drinks on the market that will fills this list of requirements, I found that it is more interesting to come-up with your own recipe. It will also be better suited to your particular needs (e.g some energy drinks pack a lot of sugar) and tastes and probably cheaper overall. Such an home-made drink should be based on the following contents:

• water (filtered, e.g. with a Brita filter)
• calcium/sodium/potassium additive
• caffeine (from coffee or tea)
• fast and slow acting carbohydrates as well as some proteins

Depending on the type of workout and the duration, the amount of water, electrolytes and fuel to be mixed will, obviously, vary.

to be continued ...