Food!!!

I hate diets and love good food, so why can’t I be competitive at my sport?

Huh? Oops did I just forget a certain 12 hour race I came 2nd in (grovelling around in pain from a knee injury), or my often reasonable finishing places in the odd race here and there, not to mention in the Open Mens Team that took out the Peak to Peak race not too long ago, well something must be working. I train hard but sporadically.

So what helps me and people like me to get up the energy and enthusiasm to get out there and race? The answer is food. There is no race without food glorious food and often people ask what should I eat when I’m out riding.

This is where I come in. I can say with all certainty I have tried and competed on, all the supplements that the Bikeshack sells and here it is my perspective on food and food supplements.

The Bikeshack stocks and sells the following brands;

• Enervit
• Leppin
• IsoFuel
• One Square Meal
• Nuun
• Peak fuel
• Em’s Power Cookie

Yes I have my own personal preferences, I will say that they all have an additional benefit to give, but for me each one has a certain different effect upon my body.

Now let’s get some things straight – the golden rule is never ever try a new food or supplement on race day! Why? When your body heads into the stress of racing, blood flow is diverted to the muscles, fluids are also in demand from other organs in the body, the body’s organs and systems compete for the available resources, in race mode this is under huge stress. Introducing an unfamiliar substance with different nutrient concentrations can and often will have devastating effects to the athlete such as, stomach cramps, dirorreaha and excessive dehydration to name a few.

Enervit
This supplement has it all. If you wanted to stay with one brand then this would be my preferred brand. They have the quick carbo shot right through to the long race endurance amino/protein drinks. Also very importantly the post race fluid replacement. Not very well known in New Zealand as yet but is used and highly respected in the northern hemisphere races.
My observations – it tastes nice, very refreshing, the sachets are easy to use on the go and for me under racing conditions I rate 8/10 as a performance supplement.

Leppin
Simple sachet or the very familiar yellow tube. A few stories with this supplement, simple carbo shot approx 30 – 45mins of exercise fluid, easy to take. The manufactures have extended the range and Leppin can supply you with every range of race based food group. One product of theirs that I rate is the Carbo loader. This product allows you to maintain your ordinary daily meals up to race day by mixing up this product, ultra high in Carbs and drinking as required. This eliminates the pasta, potato and rice loading days, very easy, no fuss and it works! They also have all the endurance and recovery drinks. Back in my triathlon days this product was huge in my competition life. Ugh I remember one particular race many years ago, the leppin sachets were unflavoured and in a clear tube, the fluid was more a jelly substance – something I see has improved over the years!! I had finished the swim leg and was on the bike, I settled down into my rhythm and took a sachet, unfortunately the “jelly” stuck in my throat and no amount of water would wash it down, I coughed it out to the side (well thought so) however every time my right knee came up to the bar there was this wet sticky feeling, my brain was well in the zone and so it took some time before I was distracted enough to investigate. Well when I looked, the leppin globule I coughed out had landed on my handlebar and had this long tendril of leppin gloop dribbling down onto my leg. I vaguely remember a few dangerous wobbles as I attempted to dislodge the gloop, only to get covered all over in a sticky stuff, rather funny but very uncomfortable!

My observations – sachets easy to use, some of the powders difficult to dissolve in water. I find leppin a little too sweet tasting for me, but some of the products eg. carbo load excellent, under racing conditions 7/10.

IsoFuel
This product would form 70 percent of my racing supplement. It is supplied in a sachet based product which is mixed in with your drink bottle. Remarkably I have found this absorbs into my system very easily and for me it has a pleasant taste. I have raced with this as my only nutritional intake (not recommended at all) for races over three hours in duration and results indicate a reasonable performance. Based upon its taste and performance I give this a racing rating of 9/10.

Cramp
Let’s take a short break and talk about cramp. Well what is cramp for one is not necessarily the same for another. Definitely the trigger can vary hugely from person to person. What we do know is that it is an imbalance of nutrient/minerals in the body. Common triggers are dehydration coupled with excessive exercise. The cure? Go home rest, recuperate and eat well. An effective training program will help build a strong foundation in your body that will help avoid the onset of cramp if the nutritional and exertion levels are observed.

Once in Le Race I caught up with a good working small bunch just off Gebbies, we were working very well in to Little River however I knew my heart rate was well over 170, far too far above my racing pace (well any pace I wanted to last over 30 minutes in), as I approached Little River I felt the 1st twinge tick in my leg, the next half of Le Race aka the hilly bit was sheer agony, fortunately I was given some cramp stop that certainly didn’t stop the cramp but if I didn’t take it how bad would it feel? Who can say, at that stage there isn’t a lot you can do but soldier on through the pain, drinking as much as you can. My time was ok, but I do wonder how much better I would have gone had I not been stupid and exceeding my HR far too early.

So do products such as Cramp Stop work? For some yes, for others no. All in all if eating well and maintaining hydration levels are observed, cramp should be prevented, just don’t be fooled with all the rumours out there. If the scientists are stumped then don’t rely upon what works for others. You are an individual. How your body responds to physical stress and uses its internal resources can be ever so different from your fellow cramp sufferer. So what eliminates their cramp may not help you. However if you do suffer frequently from cramp, start a food diary and find the food, be that a banana, salt or whatever that helps you out and stick with it. Share your experience just don’t ram it down peoples throats – that cure is yours and yours alone. A food diary will help a nutitionalist spot weaknesses in your nutritional intake.

One Square Meal
A meal in a silver wrapper, can it be that good? Nice to taste, easy to carry, a meal in your pocket. Seems like this is every persons dream food. Well I carry two in my pack on most rides. Last year I was recovering from an ankle injury, mentally unsettled I was railroaded into entering a mountain bike race. I had a good start but my obvious lack of fitness was taking its toll on me, unsure where I was on the course, I felt the dreaded cramp, slowly spinning up a hill I popped a One Square Meal in and I was away, I was very impressed.
Observation, easy to carry, easy to eat, tastes good, rating, 8/10.

Nuun
A relatively new product on the market for us – Nuun has taken over my drink bottle! It comes in a tube with dissolvable pellets similar to berroca drop one into 500ml water wait for it to dissolve and away you go. One tablet does 500ml – normal drink bottles are 750ml. Also they give off a gas and I have found I become a tad gassy if I drink it too soon after mixing, however a very nice taste, very easy to mix and appears to work very well indeed. A 4 hour mountain bike ride using only Nuun mixed in water, absorbed well into my body and I performed well.
Overall observation 9.5/10.

Peak Fuel
Mark Ingles creation. Originally in a toothpaste style tube, an excellent product has now been expanded to a powder can based product. A comprehensive nutritional food supplement. Now be aware its small amounts more often – not half the tube in one hit!
A good supplement, easy to take but consume it within seven days or the nutrients will go off and be redundant.
Observations, easy to take, nice package that’s easy to use, racing rating 8/10.

Em’s Power Cookie
Yummy yummy, however this is the only one I have yet to race with and try under full hard race conditions. All in all the nicest tasting supplement I have tried. We use it in the shop just to eat it is soooo good. Designed by Emily herself – if she uses it then they must work as she is no slouch and has performed at a very high level. The packaging states that it is filled with all the good stuff, only drawback is it has a short self life. Cannot give it a race rating as yet, but overall impressions are high. It would be nice to have I imagine at the three hour mark just to have something that tastes so good and yummy.

These impressions are mine alone and yes I do try them all under stress to see how well they work. My current preferred supplements are IsoFuel and Nuun and if you look in my back pack there is nearly always a One Square Meal.

If you have any questions pop in and see Dave or myself at Hillmorton or if in Hornby talk to Phil. We each have our favourites and will happily point you in the right direction. For the teenagers I train – well they don’t get any supplements!! they run on sandwiches and fruit, in my opinion they are too young and not fully developed to be taking such products.

In the 12 hour race I concentrated on taking good ole fashion sandwiches every 2nd lap this helped avoid the monotonous same drink but also provided me with what I term a familiar food and one my body is well used to eating and recognising. Regrettably my support crew didn’t make my “special”mixture up for me but I will give you a hint, at about the 8 hr mark most competitors go through an very emotionally challenging timeframe, as a support person you need to rally around them and bring them out of this stage resetting them to finish the race on a high not a struggle. To achieve this the support crew need to find out what the athlete does or takes that transports them to a relaxed state. For me my relaxed state is a cuppa tea with my feet up, it helps my days stresses fade away, you cannot imagine the boost I received when I came in for my stop and was handed a nice hot cuppa Dilmah tea. Absolutely delicious!! It put me back in the race, raw butt and all, finishing a lap down in 2nd place not too bad for an old fart!

Shane Griffith
Bikeshack