How to Fuel Your Longest Summer Rides & Runs
By Carson Beckett
Writer, Pro Cyclist
If you have a big ride or event on the calendar, preparation is more than just the training. Ensuring you have a good ride can hinge on your fueling, hydration, and energy management. Here is a template you can use to make sure you check the boxes and have a successful event this summer.
Tips and tricks on nutrition during training.
Hydration: Why it's a balance of both water + electrolytes.
Fueling: Why 80g and strategies to get to it.
Recovery What to do post-ride or race?
Hydration:
With temperatures rising, it’s important to evaluate your hydration needs as you head out for big days. With higher temperatures, you will sweat more volume and lose more electrolytes. The first line of order is increasing your sodium to support your needs. However, in addition to increasing your sodium, you also need to consider the increase in overall water volume that should come with it. If it’s really hot, you’ll need more fluid in general which will support the increase in your electrolyte concentration.
The rule of thumb is one liter per hour. The amount of sodium you need depends on the type of “sweater” you are and can vary widely. Notice: do you come back with a topo map of salt stains?
450mg of sodium an hour is usually the lower end for most athletes. So, start there and work up to the sweet spot that encourages you to drink the most and maintains a low amount of water weight loss.
Why is this so important? You can’t recover inside of the ride if you become deficient in hydration like you can with fueling.
The layman’s test for hydration:
Weigh yourself before riding (naked ideally), train, and then weigh yourself again following the ride. If you have lost more than ~3lbs, you aren’t hydrating enough.
If you suffer from cramping, there is another trick you can keep up your sleeve. There are a couple of products that pack a punch and can get to the source of your cramps. HOTSHOT and Sucker Punch can be super helpful with fighting off cramps on your big day.
Products we suggest:
Hydration: Mortal + Mortal Salty, Skratch Labs Hydration, SaltStick Chews
Cramps: HOTSHOT, Sucker Punch
Fueling:
Why the 80g mark?
Fueling has had an interesting road to get to where we are today. Back in the day, the experimentation with high-carb drinks ended up with upset stomachs and issues.
Fast forward to now, brands can produce high-carb drink mixes and gels that unlock better performance for us with ease. Why is high-carb fueling having such an impact? Let’s look at basic numbers.
The average athlete riding at a moderately high intensity burns about 180g of carbs an hour. That is going to be impossible to match and the more we can “limit our losses” and reduce that burden the better.
The goal across the board for athletes should be to consume 80g/carbs an hour.
The best way to accomplish this is through a consistent dose of carbs in combination with a bottle and gels in your pocket. Stick to a routine that works for you, like every 20 min. One high-carb bottle over the first hour of your ride keeps things simple and allows you to eliminate a couple of gels while getting in both carbs and hydration early.
If you want some solid food, use the bars or solids during the first hour or two of your ride. This allows you to front-load some slower-burning, more complex carbs first before you switch to the simple carbs.
Products we suggest:
High-carb drink mixes: SIS Beta Fuel, Maurten 320, Skratch Labs Super High Carb, Flow Formulas
Gels: Maurten 160, 6d Ultra Gel, Amacx Drink Gel, Carbs Fuel, SIS Beta Fuel
Bars and naturals: Styrkr Bar 50, Maurten SOLID, Betty Lous, Spring Energy, Muir Energy
Recovery:
What to do post-ride or race? Well, other than grab a beer…
When you have put in a solid effort over 90 minutes, you can benefit greatly from a recovery drink. There is a beneficial window after your big efforts where recovery is at a premium. Within that 30-60min, the body is more primed to receive and utilize nutrients for recovery. This is where the recovery drink comes in handy.
You are looking for a good dose of carbs and protein to help kickstart recovery. Additionally, a product like SwissRX Total Recovery is going to give you much more nutritional value, providing plenty of nutrients and inflammation-fighting ingredients. Now, if you can’t tolerate the taste of common chocolatey or vanilla shakes, there are some options like Victus 03 After that utilize a more light and refreshing protein.
Your next step would be to get hydration levels back in check. If you dug a deep hole, then a rehydration drink would be ideal for next-day recovery.
Need a little help to wind down? PILLAR Triple Magnesium is an amazing pre-bed treat to both increase a vital nutrient (magnesium) and support better, more restful sleep.
Products:
Recovery: Victus 03 After, SiS REGO, SwissRX Total Recovery
Rehydration: Quinton Totum Sport, LMNT
Sleep: PILLAR Triple Magnesium
Performance Supplements:
This is a space where marginal gains can be made. While we could go down a rabbit hole, the simplest and most effective supplement would be a vasodilator. By boosting nitric oxide (NO) you dilate your arteries and can increase the blood flow to working muscles, resulting in increased endurance and easier recovery. The performance impact is even more significant the higher in altitude you go.
The next is caffeine. Yes, that lovely sidekick to your morning cup of joe. The performance implications from increased caffeine are profound, but research says those benefits sit at around 300mg. So, it takes a little work.
If you have an early morning start to your event, we are fans of taking something like a Maurten GEL 100 CAF 100 at the start. This sets you up to maintain high levels for longer, given the half-life of caffeine, and then you can follow up with more if needed later in the event.
Products:
Vasodilators: SwissRX Nitric Oxide, Plasmaide, Modex, Cardio Elite
Caffeine: Maurten GEL 100 CAF 100
Alright! That was a lot of info, but implementing the basics from this Summer Ride Guide will make your training, and big events, so much better. Take some time to practice these fueling and hydration habits and watch how your performance changes.
Photo credits: @fjimz10