Get Prepared for Colorado's Triple & Double Bypass
By The Feed.
One of Colorado's lesser known, but highly demanding, single day events is the Triple or Double Bypass. We've partnered with the event to bring you all the fuel you may want on course in addition to a full protocol for coming prepared.
If you’re looking to take part in and tackle the Double or Triple Bypass events in Colorado this summer, you’ll want to pause right here. We’ve prepped a blog outlining all the details of this event and how you should prepare to fuel it for a successful day out.
In addition, The Feed has nutritional guidance and coaching available online! Don’t hesitate to use these resources (alongside filling your shopping cart). The Feed is stocking all aid stations available at this year’s edition with hydration, gels, bars, waffles and more to use along the course. Get acquainted with what you may need now!
Event Info
Conditions:
The route will bounce between 7,000ft and over 11,000ft. That’s high, whether you are an altitude dweller or not. One thing to consider is spending time at altitude prior to the events to acclimatize as much as possible. If you can spend 10 days ahead of time, that’s great.
If not, don’t stress about it! A heavy amount of research also supports using heat training from a sauna, or natural conditions while training, to prepare for altitude exposure. In fact, the same thermal stress can trigger these adaptations advantageous to altitude events. Typically, heat can be a real factor at this altitude and time of year anyway.
The Courses
1. Double Bypass: 79 miles - 6,400' elevation (Loveland to Edwards)
2. Triple Bypass: 118 miles - 10,800' elevation (Evergreen to Avon)
On Course Support:
Four aid stations including a light lunch at Loveland ski area (three for Double riders). These will have all the necessities you may want, like general drinks, bars, gels, fruit, and etc. However, are you picky? Do you want your specific fuel?
How to Fuel
Carbs
Forget about calories – focus exclusively on how many carbs per hour you are consuming. You will see a massive performance improvement, especially in multi-hour workouts.
Most athletes training above zone 1 & 2 are burning around 3g of carbs per minute. Many female athletes may be burning even more. This is an average of 180g of carbs per hour you are burning. That’s a lot.
Sodium
What kind of “sweater” are you? It’ll be to your benefit to account for this in your fueling plan. Making sure your sodium intake is up to par beginning days in advance up until + through the event will help keep fluid on board and the cramps at bay. Consider practicing with a higher amount of sodium when preparing for this event if you are a salty sweater or bring electrolyte tabs/caps with you.
Most hydration mixes sit around 200-400mg of sodium per serving, but some offer higher amounts (like Precision Hydration or Flow Formulas).
Your goal is to consume 80g of carbs per hour.
It's easier said than done. You'll be amazed at how you are constantly eating/drinking, but remember you are replenishing less than half of what you are burning.
The Feed Fueling Formula (FFF) uses a ⚡️ icon to signify how many carbs every product has and is how we’re building your guide for the Double or Triple Bypass events.
Here is how it works:
- Each ⚡️ equals 20g to 25g of carbs per serving
- Your goal is to consume at least three ⚡️⚡️⚡️ per hour
- This is approximately 60-75g of carbs per hour.
Your Fueling Plan
This event is longer in duration and will place a heavy emphasis on endurance. While the terrain will certainly dictate where your hard efforts are going to be required (ie the two or three passes), there is a lot of time between them that will require a good bit of time in Zone 2 where you are burning a lot of fuel still.
You can use this time in the lead up to a pass or recovery from a pass to really fuel up.
If you are tackling the longer event, then your average pace might be a bit lower. This is good for fueling so you have more time to eat in a “controlled” rhythm.
The Double/Triple Bypass Plan:
Goal: ⚡️⚡️⚡️ per hour to manage a consistent, reliable carb intake.
Start line: One Gel (or half chew pack)⚡️⚡️
Per Hour:
- One bottle of Maurten 160, NeverSecond C30, or Skratch ⚡️⚡️
- One Gel like Endurance Tap, Maurten 100, NeverSecond C30 ⚡
- Another Gel, half-chew pack, or snack ⚡
Want to stick to liquid calories only? Then a bottle of Maurten 320, Skratch Superfuel, Neversecond C90, or Flow Formulas will get you four ⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️ in the ease of one bottle.
Want more real food? Try Spring Energy for a great natural gel alternative or Maurten SOLID and Betty Lous for something satisfying.
💡 Pro Tip: bring sachets of drink mix to refill your bottles with when at feed/aid stations. That also eliminates about 2 gels from your pockets, per hour.