As you already know, during exercise you lost a portion of electrolytes along with sweat. As you drink after the training, you increase the fluid levels in your body, which will lower electrolyte concentration even more. Natural foods, like fruits will replace nearly all the electrolytes, except sodium. Add two-three pinches of salt to your post-exercise recovery drink for sodium replenishment. The table below lists great fruits and juices for your recovery drink to replenish electrolytes in your body.
Notes: Liquid protein consumed within 30 minutes after exercise improves muscle repair. Including fruits and greens will deliver extra antioxidants. Stay aways from added sugars.
To fully restore the fluid and electrolyte losses after the workout, aim to drink around 24 oz (700 mL) of liquids for every pound lost. Don’t drink too fast, but instead consume your solution or water slowly over a 60-minutes period and later throughout the day. Listen to your body and use the thirst as an indicator of your hydration status. Doesn’t matter if you replaced all the fluids lost, forcing it down if you’re not thirsty is not a good idea. As a general guideline: if you urinate more often than 10 times in a 24-hour period and your urine is clear – you’re drinking too much.
Better Hydration = Better Performance
References:
Karel, L. (1948). Gastric Absorption. Physical Reviews, 28(4), 433-450.
Cordain, L., & Friel, J. (2012). The Paleo diet for athletes: The ancient nutritional formula for peak athletic performance. Emmaus, PA: Rodale.
Land, S. (2018, March 18). Everything About Getting Enough Electrolytes While Fasting [Digital image]. Retrieved February 3, 2019, from https://i0.wp.com/www.wildfirex.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2013/08/Electrolytes.png?zoom=2&w=700&ssl=1
What we are trying to achieve here is to prevent more than a 2% drop in body weight caused by fluid loss (about 3 lbs (1.4 kg) of weight loss for 150 (68 kg) pound athlete). The two main goals of performance hydration is to:
Improve calorie absorption by utilizing performance hydration as a “transporter”
Maintain blood volume.
Don’t wait until you get thirsty! Remember: better hydration = better performance. Now pull out your calculator, I’ll teach you how to create your ideal hydration solution:
Carbohydrates: 4-8% solution. To calculate it, divide the grams of carbs (sugar) per serving size by the volume of the serving size (in mL), then multiply by 100 . So let’s say you want to fill your bicycle flask of 500 mL with a 6% solution we will need 30 grams of carbs (sugars).
Electrolytes. Calculations are easier here: 0.5-0.7 grams of sodium per 1 liter (34 oz) of water. So in the same 500 mL cycling water bottle you will need to add 250-350 milligrams of sodium.
The chart below describes carbohydrates and electrolytes needs for optimal hydration during exercise, based on time. Athletes don’t always need to take extra electrolytes during training or racing. Anything under 75 minutes doesn’t require extra supplementation with sodium pills or salt tablets.
Notes: Glucose can be absorbed around 1g/min and fructose has been shown (when combined with glucose/maltodextrin) to be absorbed at 1.5g/min.
The reason is why you should include calories into your hydration solution is to improve fluid absorption rate. “Fueling” and hydration should be separate from one another, so you’re not trying to get your fuel from your hydration solution. A little bit of sugar works as a transporter to pull the sodium across the intestinal barrier to keep your blood plasma volume up.
Hydration guidelines:
When creating your ideal performance drink strive for 2:1 ratio of glucose:fructose as it has been shown to improve absorption rate.
Drink 5-8 oz (150-250 mL) of your solution every 10-15 minutes.
Train yourself to get used to drink fluids on a schedule while exercising.
If exercising at higher temperatures or humidity, reduce the intensity to improve the gastric emptying.
Go with sports drinks over the plain water to minimize the risk of hyponatremia.
As I already mentioned in the introduction, starting a workout in dehydrated state will take you places you don’t want to be in. As little as 1% of body weight decrease due to fluid loss will make you competitively disadvantaged and put you at greater health risk. Research shows that adequate hydration level prior physical activity reduces muscle tissue breakdown. You don’t want to use the muscles to fuel your workout. You should always go into training or competing in well hydrated state.
Pre-exercise hydration general recommendations:
4 hr before: 16-20 oz (500-600 ml)
1-2 hr before: 12-16 oz (350-500 ml). Water only. Carbohydrate (sugar) rich drinks can cause hypoglycemic reaction (low blood sugar), making you dizzy or lightheaded right before the start.
10-20 min before: 8-12 oz (250-350 ml). High glycemic drinks or sports drinks are safe to consume.
Add a pinch of salt to retain fluids in your body. Avoid drinking too much too fast as you may have to interrupt training session to use the washroom.
Morning Training
The first thing to do, straight from the bed, is to objectively access your hydration status. Run quick self-assessment on your body:
Do I feel not thirsty at all or particularly thirsty and your urine is bright yellow? You’re starting your day in a good state and there is nothing special you need to do before your workout.
How dark is my urine? The first pee in a day is the most accurate indicator of your background hydration status.
If you feel quite thirsty, the good idea would be to postpone the session 15-30 minutes to get some fluids in and make sure you’re not putting yourself into the deeper hole.
Afternoon Training
If you train in the afternoon and especially if you also been training in the same day morning, you have to take more aggressive approach to your hydration. Before going into your evening training, you have to completely restore your hydration status, especially if the morning session was challenging.
Your body stores much more energy in form of fat than as carbohydrate. Some athletes strive to change their metabolism so that their bodies rely more on fat to fuel exercise which in turn allows them to spare the carbohydrate that’s stored in muscle and liver and improve your endurance capacity. In theory, training when carbohydrate availability is low, may force your metabolism toward a greater reliance on fat as a fuel for exercise.
There are two approaches to creating a state of Low Carbohydrate Availability:
1. Exercising after an overnight fast. Stores of carbohydrates are used while you sleep and not replaced before a workout in the morning. 2. Exercising after a prior heavy, high intensity exercise. In this case carbohydrate is used up during an exercise bout and not replaced before the second workout.
These two approaches are different in their bio energetics and will lead to different adaptations.
At night, while we sleep the liver secretes glucose to maintain blood glucose levels and supply the body with carbohydrates. This is very important for the brain because it relies almost entirely on blood glucose to function. By morning 60 to 80 percent of the liver glycogen has been used by your body. However muscle glycogen levels remain high throughout the night and are high when you wake up for your morning run, because it isn’t secreted from or consumed by skeletal muscle cells while you sleep.
In summary, you go to sleep with high glycogen levels in both muscle and liver and you wake up with no change in muscle but with low levels in liver.
As you begin your workout in the morning skeletal muscle prefers its own fat and glycogen stores but gets some of its energy from fats and glucose in the blood. The liver breaks down glycogen to ensure that blood glucose levels are maintained to support all the cells of your body. During exercise a person hits the wall or bonks when they run so low on liver glycogen that the blood glucose levels drop. Muscle glycogen levels will also be low at this point because the muscle has been preferentially consuming it.
In endurance community the concept of exercising when the body is low in available carbohydrate (“training low“, meaning low in glycogen and glucose), has been adapted by athletes to encourage adaptations that favor the use of fats for fuel. In theory, improving fat utilization will lead to a sparing of limited glycogen stores and reduce the need to consume as many calories while exercising. Some recent research has shown that fat utilization can be enhanced by depleting muscle and liver of glycogen through high intensity interval training in the evening and then stressing the muscle in a prolonged moderate exercise about the next morning without eating any carbohydrate in between. With that goal in mind there are two approaches commonly used by athletes for training on low glycogen:
1. Exercise first thing in the morning without eating breakfast. 2. Exercise after depleting stores through a prior workout. In this case athlete would perform a high intensity workout then not eat carbohydrate until after a second workout. The two workouts would be performed approximately 10 to 12 hours apart. For example: early morning and then late evening or late evening and then the following morning.
These two methods are very different with respect to the bio energetics.
THE FIRST METHOD
Exercise first thing in the morning after an overnight fast and without breakfast. This method stresses your liver glycogen stores because only the liver uses its glycogen stores overnight. Skeletal muscle will rely on its own stores of glycogen during the morning training which it prefers anyway. The glycogen that is stored in muscles is for “locals only”. In other words, once it’s stored in muscle, it’s not capable of being transported to other areas of the body to provide fuel. Instead, it must be used at the site. When your body can’t push for one more rep, this likely means that the glycogen has been depleted in those muscles. While you exercise, your muscles may run out of their stored glycogen sooner than if the liver was supplementing them with additional glucose but muscle won’t be very compromised energetically and any stress for adaptations in fat metabolism will be small at best. Exercising in this manner you primarily stressing the liver because it can’t maintain blood glucose once it runs out of what it has left from your overnight fast. A rough estimate would be 5 to 10 miles run, depending on bed time and duration of sleep. After that you may feel the bonk because your brain isn’t getting the glucose it needs but your active muscles aren’t very stressed.
THE SECOND METHOD
Complete a high intensity workout or long run to deplete muscle of glycogen followed by a near zero carbohydrate diet for ten to twelve hours. Depleting workout forces both muscle and liver to use up their glycogen stores. During the 10 to 12 hours without carbohydrate the liver will metabolize any remaining glycogen to maintain blood glucose levels as best it can. When you start a second workout 10 to 12 hours later muscle and liver will be low in glycogen reserves. You’ll feel the same level of bunk but in this case it’s not just your brain bonking, it’s your muscle to muscle too. The muscles will be forced to rely much more on fat for fueling your exercise and they may adapt so that you rely a little more on fat in the future if you do this regularly.
CAUTION
It may seem that depleting muscle glycogen through prior exercise (second method) is the way to go if you want to really force muscle into a greater fat utilization, but be careful and consider the fact that the first workout places a substantial stress on muscles, it’s a depleting workout after all. Following such workout your immune system works hard to repair your muscles and it needs carbohydrate to do so. By depleting carbohydrate and not replacing it, these repair and adaptation systems are unable to function optimally. The second exercise, where the goal is to stress fat utilization, comes with consideration that the muscle is functionally compromised. Therefore the second bout should be of low or moderate intensity. Carbohydrate feeding should begin immediately upon completion of the second workout.
Endurance events are typically performed at average
intensities at roughly 60 to 70 percent of maximum heart rate. At such
intensities fat utilization is highest in most all athletes and nearly 60
percent of total energy expenditure progressing to 65 plus percent after
exercising longer than 2 hours.
A study was conducted, where after 12 hours of running at 60 to 70 percent max during a 100 km race, glycogen levels were measured to decrease by 64 percent in the thigh muscle and it was still very high in the calf muscle. These observations led to question practicality of doing anything extreme in an attempt to influence fat utilization in athletes competing in endurance events. Any shifts in fat utilization will have very little impact on performance, when compared with the many other factors, such as temperature regulation, hydration, fueling and especially mindset.
Overall exercising while carbohydrate stores are low may be something you choose to experiment with but it’s unlikely that it will lead to a large impact on your performance. Because exercising in glycogen depleted state makes it very hard to keep the intensity high, and places additional stress on your body and nervous system, you may compromise the quality of your trainings while you try to figure out what works for you. If you choose to train in a glycogen depleted state the biggest take home recommendation is to make sure that you’re actually depleting the tissue you’re trying to stress. If you want to stress skeletal muscles fat burning, exercising in the morning without breakfast won’t do it. To do so, you need to deplete your muscles with a bout of high intensity or long duration exercise and then not replace the carbs until after the next workout.
First a little bit of background. In 1853 Claude Bernard discovered that the liver secretes your body’s main carbohydrate glucose by observing that the blood flowing out of the liver of fasted or meat fed animals contained glucose while the blood flowing into it contained little. When a cell takes in glucose from the blood it is modified by the process called oxidative phosphorylation (the major cell energy provider). This locks the glycogen molecule into the cell for future use. Only the liver can secrete glucose and it has the highest concentration of it. If you ever ate cooked liver, you know that it doesn’t taste sweet at all. That’s because the glucose in it stored as glycogen and glycogen does not taste sweet.
Liver contains 100 to 120 grams of glucose as glycogen. Compared to the liver, skeletal muscle contain less concentrated glycogen. However, because there is much more skeletal muscle than liver, we can they have much grated storage capacity. In total, your skeletal muscle contains 400 to 500 grams of glycogen. One gram of glucose produces 4 kilocalories of energy. Therefore the net energy stored in the liver is about 500 calories and about 1500 calories in skeletal muscle. Comparing trained and untrained individuals, more trained people are able to store more glycogen in their muscles and liver, however the difference is little. Average athlete might store 2000-2500 calories in total as usable carbohydrate energy in muscle and liver.
Carbs is preferred source of fuel for your body. They are easy to digest and provide fast energy. However due to the limited amount of them stored on board, you can easily deplete your carb storages just within 2 hours of moderate-intensity exercise.
75% of glycogen is used by the brain and central nervous system. For athletes, eating carbohydrates is like putting the octane in their engines. Consuming carbs will increase your blood glucose levels and help to fill your tanks before training or racing.
Glycogen is either created directly from food (glycogen synthesis) or through an indirect pathway (gluconeogenesis). When you eat a meal with carbohydrates, your body releases insulin, which takes glucose from the blood for energy into the cells. When the body gets excess fuel, the glucose molecules are linked together in a chain, producing longer units, called glycogen. As mentioned before, your body can store a limited amount of glycogen before it gets converted to fat.
FAT or CARBOHYDRATES for FUEL?
Adequate glycogen storage in your body is the key for optimal performance. Exercising at low and moderate intensities your body uses both: muscle glycogen and fat. The higher exercise intensity, the more carbohydrates are required to fuel your engine. Below is an example of how your body shifts from using fat for fuel towards running purely on carbohydrates. This is my VO2 test, conducted in professional laboratory:
Red column on a left is my heart rate (HR), measured in beasts per minute (bpm). Two columns on the right show the carbohydrate (CH) and fat (F) utilization related to heart rate. What we see here is that at lower intensities (<111 bpm) my body works primarily on fat as fuel. However the higher intensity of the exercise becomes, the faster my heart beats, more carbohydrates are being burned. Approximately at 111 bpm my body’s engine works as a pure hybrid, utilizing about the same amount of fat and carbohydrates for fuel. As the intensity increases, less and less fat is being used to fuel the exercise, until my body shifts completely to using carbs for fuel at 163 bpm.
Maintaining optimal carbohydrate stores is essential not only for good performance, but for protecting your health. Your nervous system, and brain primarily use carbohydrates for fuel. When glycogen stores get depleted and blood sugar level is low your brain will do anything to stop you from continuing exercising. You “hit the wall”. Pack your bags buddy, cause you are not going anywhere at this point. Consider yourself lucky if you finish the race.
What restores glycogen?
When the body experiences glycogen stores depletion, it takes about 24 hours to refuel (i.e., to ingest, digest, and convert food into glycogen). It is understood that carb-containing foods will help replenish stores the most efficiently. When food is digested, glucose is created. The pancreas recognizes this and produces insulin, a hormone that regulates the amount of glucose present in the bloodstream. Any glucose that isn’t used at this time is directed to the liver to be stored as glycogen.
There are two commonly used methods among athletes to store large amounts of glycogen is through carb loading and “training low”. We will get into these methods more in depth later in a book.
Volume: (Average Sweat Rate 1400 mL x 3 hr ) = 4154 mL Carbs: 120 g (3% Solution)
Fueling
Formula: min 0.25 – max 0.33 grams carbs per hour x body weight (lbs) Or min 1 calorie/hour x body weight (lbs)
(0.25 x 150 lb) x 3 hr = 112 g of carbs
Results
Prior to the workout had digestive problems that woke me up at 3:30 am. Had 200g of bananas + cup of coffee and straight on the bike. First hour and 10 minute interval felt alright. It was challenging, but nothing crazy.
Began second interval at 1 hr 37 minutes. Wasn’t feeling strong. 2 mites later felt that strength is leaving me. I can’t freaking believe it… I am BONKING AGAIN! I can’t believe I am doing the same mistake I did last week. I won’t let it happen, I’ll push through! – I told myself. My body was not listening anymore. I reduced the resistance and pushed as long as I could. Nervous system shut down setting me into really dark place. I stopped for 10-15 seconds… At the end of this 10 min interval my body completely shut down and I stopped sweating (1:46). The skin got dry in instant.
It doesn’t look pretty. This is what it feels like to go into serious training unprepared, under-fueled and sleep deprived. I didn’t learn from my previous mistake and I continue paying the price for it. Do you want to feel and perform like this next time again?
Completed remaining of the ride to the best of my abilities. Had about 700-800 ml of hydration solution and Quest protein Bar. Began sweating again only about 1 hour later at 2:35. Too late buddy.
Average Power 219 Watts Average Speed 43.7 kph Distance 142 Km Energy Expanded 2.560 Calories
Total Failure
Pre-weight: 69.2 kg Post-weight: 69.3 kg Liquids consumed: 4,154 mL
Body weight loss: 4 kg (6%) FAIL
Felling totally down. Disappointed, upset… Total failure.
What did I learn?
Eat sufficient amount of carbohydrate rich foods a day-two before the ride.
You are a competitive athlete. You put a lot of hard work into your training days in, days out, completing every workout as prescribed. You are the workhorse, doing everything necessary to succeed in the sport you are in. You pay close attention to your nutrition and your kitchen has no place for Doritos and donuts. You fuel your machinery with high octane, nutritiously rich foods. While your friends are just getting ready to hit the bars on Friday night, you are in your bed at 8 pm. You sacrifice meeting with your buddies, because you know how important the quality sleep is for recovery. Everything seem to be in check and there is nothing that could possibly stop you on your way to your dream – a podium. Nothing besides… diarrhea.
Discussing intestinal problems in athletes is not sexy. What’s even less sexy is shitting yourself on the course in front of other people and fellow athletes.
You are not alone
Gastrointestinal problems among athletes are more common than you may think. About 30 to 50% of endurance athletes experience GI problems related to exercise. The numbers go higher with the level of athlete and can reach 70% for elite class performers.
Don’t perceive GI problems as your personal flaw. Instead accept it as the opportunity to learn and grow. Your body is intelligent super-machine and it is trying to communicate with you by bringing up GI symptoms, which only cover the bigger underlying issues. Work with your body, not agains it. Understand that there is not a singe person in the world that will have exact same body as yours. People keep different lifestyles, eat different foods and have personal training regimens. It is nearly impossible to create universal “pill” that will help each and everyone. You must take initiative in your hands and experiment to find the root cause of your GI distress. Realize that you are the one who caused your body behave this way, and you are the one responsible to fix it. However you are not alone and I am here to help you and give you some tips on how to fix what’s leaking.
What causes GI distress?
There are many reasons why your tummy fail on you. We can place them into 3 buckets: mechanical, physiological and nutritional. Let’s break them down:
Mechanics
The mechanical causes of GI-problems are either impact-related or are related to posture. Running and jumping movements cause your GI track repetitively bounce, which can contribute to lower GI symptoms such as diarrhea and urgency. More severe case of lower GI issues is gastrointestinal bleeding and is common amongst long distance runners.
Posture of your body also have an effect on GI symptoms. Shifting to aero position on a bicycle move your body to more horizontal position and increase pressure on the abdomen, which can trigger upper GI symptoms.
“The frequency is almost twice as high during running than during other endurance sports as cycling or swimming and 1.5-3.0 times higher in the elite athletes than the recreational exercisers“, (Erick Prado de Oliveira, Oct 2009).
Physiology
Reduced blood flow and pre-competition anxiety fall under physiological causes of GI-symptoms. During exercise blood flow to the gut can be reduced by as much as 80%. The body redirect blood to the working muscles and compromise gut function to varying degrees.
Anxiety and stress mess up your hormone secretion which affects gut movement, compromise absorption rate and cause loose stool.
Nutrition
Fiber, fat, protein, and fructose intake increase the risk of developing GI-symptoms. Dehydration with body weight loss greater than 4% may also exacerbate the symptoms.
Dehydration. In an extensive literature review using an evidence-based approach, main factor for exercise-induced GI tract symptoms is shown to be dehydration (body weight loss > 4% during or after exercise).
Hydration solutions overloaded with carbs can also distress your stomach. Too much is >12 g /100 ml of carbohydrate as well as electrolytes (most sports drinks are around ~6 g/100 ml).
“Association was reported between nutritional practices and GI complaints during a half ironman-distance triathlon with the intake of fiber, fat, protein and concentrated carbohydrate solutions during the triathlon, in particular beverages with very high osmolarity“, (Erick Prado de Oliveira, Sep 28, 2011).
Alright, let’s get practical…
Foods to Avoid before exercise
High fibre foods. (use the table below to learn about fiber content of some of the most common foods you need to stay away from)
Fermented foods. Wanna know where adrenaline is coming from? Have Kombucha as a pre-workout.
Coffee and tea. Hot fluids can stimulate gut movements while caffeine itself can have a laxative effect
Fatty and Spicy foods
Alcohol
Vitamin C in large doses
Are you Overtraining?
Below are the few possible underlying causes of runner’s diarrhea and other intestinal problems which are less obvious than the ones I described above and require your personal assessment.
Let’s dig deeper…
Food digestion is very energy-demanding process and requires your body to dedicate energy resources into it. When you overload your body and it can’t handle the external stress caused by training, it puts less priority on eating and digestion.
When the off-season is over, athletes are usually ramping up volume, intensity and frequency of their workouts. Total load on the body increases, while caloric consumption often stays the same. In addition, the amount of rest and downtime is not properly adjusted to support higher training load. This essentially leads to overtraining.
Overtraining can disrupt your liver’s ability to properly break down nutrients, which can lead to leaky gut syndrome, bouts of diarrhea or constipation.
You haven’t always had GI problems, however at one point in time something worked as a trigger and you started to experience them. Next time you find yourself on a toilet after another “incident”, ask yourself the following questions to narrow down the possible causes:
Do you remember when you began having the symptoms?
Did your training regimen change lately?
Do you experience any of the signs of overtraining?
Washed-out feelings (tired, drained, lack of energy)
Night sweats
Mild leg soreness, general aches, and pains
Pain in muscles and joints
Drop in performance (decrease in training capacity/intensity)
Insomnia
Decreased immunity (increased number of colds, and sore throats)
Moodiness, irritability, depression, loss of enthusiasm for the sport
Decreased appetite
Is your caloric consumption adequate to the level of energy you expand? What those calories are mainly coming from (carbs, fat or protein)?
Have you introduced any new sports supplements into your diet?
When all else fails
There is no quick fix for your health issues and there is no magic pill that will cure you once and forever. You must search for the answers by asking yourself the questions outlined above, you need to experiment with different foods, especially during pre-workout time period. However racing season is here and you need something that could at least relieve the symptoms while you search for the root cause. Below is the over counter medicine that might temporarily stop the leakage:
Pepermint TUMS
Taking peppermint TUMS prior to hard efforts to decrease stomach irritation and diarrhea. Here’s how TUMS may help with your symptoms: – Calcium works with the neuromuscular contractions and muscle metabolism – Carbonate helps to coat the intestinal cells, reducing endotoxin release and the ensuing symptoms – Peppermint is a homeopathic remedy for GI disturbances.
Imodium
Imodium help stop diarrhea by slowing the movement of food through your intestines. Many runners suggest that by taking a does prior to long runs or races could relieve GI problems. It can also take up to 48 hours to work, so if you’re trying it for the first time on race day there are no guarantees.
Possible side effects of Imodium include:
dizziness,
drowsiness,
tiredness,
constipation,
stomach pain,
skin rash, or itching.
Again, it should be considered as an option… not a solution. Figure out the cause, don’t mask it.
Lomotil
Lomotil (diphenoxylate and atropine) is alternative medicine to imodium and both are antidiarrheal medications used to treat diarrhea.
Common side effects of Lomotil include:
drowsiness,
dizziness,
headache,
tiredness,
restlessness,
blurred vision,
dry mouth,
nausea,
vomiting,
upset stomach,
loss of appetite,
skin rash, or itching.
SuperStarch
“Super Starch” mixes are used by many endurance athletes to fuel their workouts. Unlike sports gels and high GI sugary solutions offered on the course, super starch mixes don’t overload the system with a high GI sugar shock, which may prevent some gastro intestinal problems. If you tried eating real food of all kinds, various different gels (including all natural ones) and still have GI issues, you might want to try super starch mixes.
Summary
GI problems should not be perceived as personal flaw. Instead they should be used as the opportunity to learn and grow.
Mechanics, physiology and inadequate nutrition are main contributors to GI distress.
Reducing consumption or avoiding certain foods prior to exercise can help reduce or eliminate symptoms.
Overtraining can be the root cause of gastrointestinal problems.
There are over counter medications that can help reduce GI distress symptoms.
References:
How much fiber is found in common foods? (2018, November 17). Retrieved April 3, 2019, from https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in-depth/high-fiber-foods/art-20050948
Clark, N. (2012). Recognizing and managing exercise-associated diarrhea. ACSM’s Health and Fitness Journal, 16(3): 22-26.
Masters Athlete. (2012, November 30). Retrieved April 4, 2019, from http://www.mastersathlete.com.au/2012/11/diarrhea-in-athletes-stopping-the-runs/
Lomotil vs. Imodium Treatment for Diarrhea: Differences & Side Effects. (n.d.). Retrieved April 4, 2019, from https://www.rxlist.com/lomotil_vs_imodium/drugs-condition.htm
Oliveira, E., De. (2009, September). The impact of physical exercise on the gastrointestinal tract. [Scholarly project]. Retrieved April 5, 2019, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19535976
De Oliveira, E. P., & Burini, R. C. (2011, September 28). Food-dependent, exercise-induced gastrointestinal distress. Retrieved April 5, 2019, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3190328/
A brick workout is any workout that combines swimming, biking and/or running into a single session. The most common example is the bike to run brick, where you go for a run immediately after finishing a bike ride.
Today I pushed myself above my physical limits. Today my mind won over my body, forcing me give everything I had. It’s all good Mental Training. IRONMAN 70.3 Marbella
Warm-up: 15 min easy
Main set: 3.5 hours @ 200 watts At the top of every hour, ride x 10 mins @ 275 watts with 3.5 min easy riding after each interval.
Cool-down: 15 min easy
Using the sweat rate and fueling data I’ve collected over the past few weeks My strategy is following:
Hydration
Goal: Prevent loosing more than 3% of weight through the fluid loss. In my case 68 kg (150 lb) = 2.1 kg
As I recently found out, Lionel Sanders has exactly same Sweat Rate as I do. We both sweat at approximately 1400 mL/hour. Another question is how much sodium each looses?
How?
Sweat Rate (SR): ~1400 mL/h Liquids Required: Exercise Duration x SR = 4 hr * 1400 = 5600 mL x 1.06 (to convert in grams) = 5936 g Carbohydrates Required: (X g carbs / 5936 g) x 100%; X = 5936 x 0.05 = 296.8 g (5% Solution) Sodium Requirements: 0.5 x 5.936 = 2968 mg
What?
Electrolyte Solution:
Gatorade G2 (591 mL) x 5 bottles = 2955 mLx 1.06 = 3132 g Bio Steel (500 mL) + Karma (532 mL) = 1032 mL Coke x 2 (355 mL) = 710 mL Aloe crap = 500 mL Smoothie = 450 mL Sodium: 1685 mg Carbohydrates: 231 g (890 calories) Total volume: 5647 mL x 1.06 = 5986 g
FUELING
Pre-Exercise: 30 min Before
As usual workout is done early at 6 AM. After the night fast.
Two bananas + cup of coffee. That’s it
50 g of Carbs = 192 calories
During Exercise
How?
Formula: Low End: 0.25 x 150 = 37.5 g/h x 4 hr = 150 g High End: 0.33 x 150 = 49.4 g/h x 4 hr = 198 g
Fueling & Bonking Calculator
Calculator suggests I take in 60 g/h x 4 h = 240 g of carbs It also predicts the calories burnt (from fat and glycogen), distance covered and training stress score (TSS). Let’s see how close those predictions are…
What?
As I mentioned before, I would like to experiment with liquid sources of carbs, so here we go. When thinking about sugar, the first thing that comes to mind is Coke. In addition I threw in a smoothie or “natural” juice plus “Dena Aloe” drink. All the carbs are coming from liquid sources today.
Taking peppermint TUMS prior to hard efforts to decrease stomach irritation and diarrhea. Here’s how TUMS may help with your symptoms: – Calcium works with the neuromuscular contractions and muscle metabolism – Carbonate helps to coat the intestinal cells, reducing endotoxin release and the ensuing symptoms – Peppermint is a homeopathic remedy for GI disturbances
RESULTS
Pre-Weight: 68.1 kg Post-Weight: 69.5 kg Liquids Consumed: 5647 mL (5986 g) Weight Lost: 4.6 kg Sweat Rate: 1080 g/hr
Weight Loss: 6.6 % body weight
Bad job Sasha! That’s waaay too much…
BIKE
First hour felt ok holding 200 watts, however I sensed something’s not quite right, wasn’t feeling particularly strong. Shortly I understood why…
10 x 3 at 275 Watts Intervals:
#1
F*ck it hurts! Can’t hold 275 Watts going down 10w. Lasted 6 minutes, dropped down to 260 W.
#2
Lasted for about 2 minutes, then – BONK. Dammit I can’t believe it, again. Couldn’t hold 275 W any longer, gradually reducing power… Went down to 240 W – it’s the maximum I can squeeze out of my body right now. SO MAD! I am not going to give up! Slowly increasing wattage… Last two minutes of the interval ramping up to 260 Watts. F*CK IT HURTS! HR stays low. 2 hours to go… not sure if I can do it. I might just drop out right here. No sense to continue after I hit the wall.
I continue. It is no longer physical training – now it’s a mental training. Let’s see how far can I push myself mentally.
Suddenly after I opened the second can of Coke I felt that strengths comes back. I thought, once you bonked, there is no way out of it… Jogging down on soda. Feeling stronger.
#3
Held 276 W for the entire duration of the interval!!! So damn HAPPY and PROUD of myself! I pushed above my limits here. My mind won over my body. Sweat is so acidic, and it burns my eyes. My legs are hurting like bitch. It took me enormous amount of effort to push through. I left nothing in me…
RUN
My legs are numb and heavy. Really hard to keep up with that pace.
Distance Covered: 170 KM: 168 on bike + 2 by feet Time Elapsed: 4 hours 15 minutes Energy Expanded: 3106 Calories
Lessons Learned
I am not eating enough. With my current load I need to be eating more carbohydrates.
I prefer taking in solid carbohydrates, instead of liquid.
You CAN get out of bonking hole. It took me 2 cans of Coke (90 g of sugar). However don’t expect your performance to be the best.
Even consuming the right volume of fluids, I finished seriously dehydrated. Probably due to the low glycogen stores, as it holds the water in the body.
Fueling & Bonking Calculator suggested that I am in the very high risk of bonking. How right it was!
Sanders has very similar sweat rate. I might look into his sodium loss to guesstimate mine.
What will I do Differently?
Increase caloric intake few days before big training session. Make emphasis on carbs!
A brick workout is any workout that combines swimming, biking and/or running into a single session. The most common example is the bike to run brick, where you go for a run immediately after finishing a bike ride.
What a beautiful day today in Canada 🇨🇦. Sun rays gently pet my face. The sound of birds singing give me so much joy. I breath fully into my lungs, I stand strong on my feet, I AM ALIVE! I am full of energy and my soul is singing. I am so happy to come out of my Pain Cave and shake up my legs on a little run.
IRONMAN 70.3 Marbella 2019 is around the corner and I feel that I reach my peak form. Training volume goes up and I begin to feel fit as f@ck! I feel the explosive power within my body.
Warm-up: 15 min easy
Main set: 3 hours @ 180-195 watts At mins 30 & 60 of each hour, ride x 7 mins @ 260-275 watts with 3.5 min easy riding after each interval.
Cool-down: 15 min easy
Using the sweat rate and fueling data I’ve collected over the past few weeks I develop the following strategy:
Hydration
Goal: Prevent loosing more than 3% of weight through the fluid loss. In my case 68 kg (150 lb) = 2.1 kg
How?
Sweat Rate: ~1400 mL/h Liquids Required: Exercise Duration x Sweat Rare = 3.5 * 1400 = 4900 mL 5% Solution: (255 g carbs / 4900 mL) x 100 Sodium Requirements: 0.5 x 4.2 = 2450 mg
What?
Electrolyte Solution:
Gatorade G2 (591 mL) x 8 bottles = 4728 mL Carbohydrates: 12 g x 8 = 96 g Sodium: 270 mg x 8 = 2160 mg Calories: 50 x 8 = 400
FUELING
Pre-Exercise: 30 min Before
Workout is done early at 5:30 AM. After the night fast.
Two bananas + cup of coffee + sugary drink (Aloe bullshit) + BCAA with Creatine Monohydrate
Felt good, not overly stacked. Just enough.
75 g of high GI Carbs = 300 calories
During Exercise
How?
Formula: 0.3 x 150 = 45 g/h x 3.5 hr = 158 grams of carbs
Pre-Weight: 67.5 kg Post-Weight: 68.2 kg (post bike) 67 kg (post run) Liquids Consumed: 4137 mL Weight Lost: 3437 ml (3.4 kg) Sweat Rate: 982 mL/hr (post bike) 1040 mL/hr (post run)
Weight Loss: 5 % body weight
5% is too much. Bad job here.
BIKE
Yesterday I’ve had a quite hard day with 3.5 km swim, followed by 16 km run. On top of it I had some work commitments to deal with. I also didn’t eat enough calories to cover the energy expended.
Considering the fact that I woke up at 4:30 am, I was concerned about how my body will handle 4 hours of consistent training…
To my HUGE surprise I felt really good and strong. In fact, holding 195 Watts for 3 hours was so easy, that I even thought there might be something wrong with the power meter. (No issues with equipment. Calibrated power meter before the ride). With so much power in my legs I began to wonder how long will it last for until fatigue begin to creep up? I was expecting my power go down and HR go up as I go farther. I was really surprised to see that 1, 2 hours into the ride my HR significantly dropped, but power stayed the same. It felt even easier to hold that power, so I put the higher gear – my speed and cadence increased. What is going on here? Why do I feel so strong? Past two days I’ve been pushing my body so hard, but I am feeling so good… Is it something related to nutrition? Sleep? Hydration? Why? I shouldn’t be performing so good … Is the power meter broken? No it’s not.
It felt I could ride like this for days. Is this some sort of breakthrough? I am confused but happy…
I want to feel this way every day. How can I maintain this energy levels consistently?
I am really happy with bike performance and the way I felt. Great job Sasha!
RUN
First 10 minutes were and easy run @RPE 3. Didn’t feel very strong.
Next 5 minutes were at RPE 4, so I picked up the pace. I got surprised by how much stronger I felt compared to running at the slower pace just a moment ago. What’s going on? I got the feeling that I could run much faster so I speeded up even more.
Feeling strong! I’m so confused…
Distance Covered: 150 KM: 145 on bike + 5 by feet. Time Elapsed: 3 hours 50 minutes. Energy Expanded: 2787 Calories
Lessons Learned
Start eating right from the beginning and stay consistent.
Pre-meal doesn’t have to be huge, as long as you’ve got enough during-fuel.
Proper bike position changes RPE and power output. Seat position is REALLY painful 😖. The cover I put on helped, but not much. I need a new seat.
Higher cadence (80-90 rpm) makes it easier to hold bigger power.
Sweat Rate of 1400 mL/hour is on the high side. At this intensities I could go away with approximately 1200 mL/hour.
The race is over. You’ve given all you had. You pushed your body to the limit. What’s next?
Recovery Proper post-exercise nutrition as much important as the two previous stages pre- and during- exercise fueling. Show your body appreciation and give it exactly what it needs and deserves for the work it’ve done. Learn about how to maximize your recovery through the lenses of sports nutrition.
First 30 minutes after the exercise stops are extremely important in recovery. There are five main goals we are trying to accomplish during this stage:
Replace expanded Carbohydrate Stores
Take in carbohydrates that are high on GI: potatoes, rice and grains are great choices. Take in 1/2 – 3/4 body weight in grams of carbs within 30 minutes of exercise (ex: 150 lbs = 75 – 112 grams). Liquid form is preferred.
Rehydrate
Take in 500 ml of liquid for every pound lost during exercise.
Provide Amino Acids
After carbohydrate stores get depleted in the working muscles, the body begins to break down protein structures within the muscle cells, cannibalising itself. Protein, particularly BCAA should be taken in at a carb-to-protein ratio of about 4:1 or 5:1. Best sources are Egg or Whey Protein (easiest to absorb).
Begin Replacing Electrolytes
Electrolytes are critical for muscle contraction and relaxation. Drinking juice or eating fruit will easily replace nearly all of the electrolytes, with the except of sodium.
Reduce the Acidity of Body Fluids
During exercise, body fluids trend increasingly towards acidity. Fruits & vegetables have a net alkaline-enhancing effect (reduce acidity).
Below is the table of GL (glycemic load) and GI (glycemic index) of alkaline-enhancing foods:
(L. Cordain & J. Friel, 2012, p. 63)
Meal Examples
During this stage the emphasis is still primarily on the intake of solid carbs and proteins. See the alkaline-enhancing foods table above to pick net-alkaline starchy vegetables with high GI that you might enjoy.
Good choices for carbs and proteins are:
CARBOHYDRATES Potatoes, Sweet potatoes, Yams and Dried Fruits
PROTEIN Fish, Shellfish, Egg whites and Turkey Breast
The protein intake is recommended within the same ratio 4:1 or 5:1 with carbohydrates.
The most commonmistake here is to keep eating a high GI diet. Right after the exercise your main focus was on carbohydrates, and specifically the ones that are high on GI. Those foods are great for refueling your glycogen tanks, however they don’t bring much of nutrients. Now you need to shift you focus to eating more nutrient-dense foods, filling your body with minerals and vitamins. The more you demand from your body, the more important it becomes.
The optimal food choices here are:
Fruits Any fruit is good so pick and choose whichever you prefer
Vegetables Vibrant color ones: red, yellow, green and orange. Stay away from white colored veggies
Nuts, Seeds and Berries Macadamia nuts and walnuts are rich in omega-3. Avoid beans and peanuts
Lean Protein from Animal Sources Rich in BCAA and essential amino acids: Game animal and Free-ranging animal meats, Ocean or Stream-caught Fish & Shellfish, Turkey breast High in Omega-3: Cold-water Fish, Beef Liver, Eggs enriched with omega-3
Omega-3 Supplements Fish or Flaxseed Oil
The five MAIN GOALS for this stage:
Maintain Glycogen Stores
Assuming you’ve done a good job eating enough of carbohydrates from good sources in the previous hours, less carbs are required to maintain your glycogen stores. To maintain, aim for low GL fruits and vegetables.
Maintain a healthy pH
Fruits and vegetables reduce blood acidity protecting your muscles and bones from losing nitrogen and calcium.
Reduce Inflammation
Omega-3 have been shown to reduce inflammation. The ratio between omega-6 to omega-3 should be approximately 2:1
Rebuild muscles
To prevent your body from cannibalizing itself in attempt to repair damaged muscle tissue, it requires optimal amount of branched-chain amino acids (BCAA) and essential amino acids.
Optimize body weight
The lower your body mass, the less to carry. Maintaining low body fat percentage, in most endurance sports can lead to improved performance.
Make It A Habit
Create a non-negotiable habit of fueling your workouts. You will notice your energy balance throughout the day is enhanced, training and racing performance improves, it will get easier to manage body composition and you will experience fewer cravings for foods later in the day, you try to avoid.
Last Tip: Sleep Recovery & Protein
If your training load is heavy, you struggle to sleep, or simply want to maximize recovery and minimize stress, then begin and end your days with protein.
20 grams of protein before bed 20 grams of protein when you first wake up
Protein suppresses the negative effect of cortisol (stress hormone) and helps you to switch from fight-or-flight response to rest-n-digest.
References:
The Paleo Diet for Athletes: the Ancient Nutritional Formula for Peak Athletic Performance, by Loren Cordain and Joe Friel, Rodale, 2012, p. 63.
