Best food for multi day endurance?

[dusty_nz]

Looking at doing a multiday endurance event. Not a race. Averaging around 120km per day for 9 days. Plan is to stay in zone 2 for heart rate most of the time.
What would be the ideal source of fuel. Carbs, protein, fats as a basis?

Have done numerous 100km MTB races and maltidextrin is the primary fuel but intensity maxed out.
Thanks

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk 2

 

[steve24]

I have done some week long Alps and Eastern Europe trips and ate what I could buy on the way. Bread rolls from the hut/ hotel breakfast. Bananas and supermarket food on the way.
Coffee and cake.... A few gels or bars for getting in before dark.
Probably much easier in Europe as you always find something.

Really depends where you are going. Will you be passing town or need to carry it all???

I rode a lot of WEMBO this year on vegemite sandwiches.....

 

[SlowManiac]

I've done a few multi day runs before.

Are you talking about food for during the ride or refueling after?

If during the ride - stick with what you usually eat on long rides, maybe a bit more 'real' food than usual due to lower intensity. Hammer Perpetuum has a good mix of nutrients.

For refueling after - fat, carbs and protein! All of them are required. I took those tuna sachets and man were those things gold. Body building style protein drinks are good for recovery too.

 

[driftking]

I haven't had experience with these types of events but im assuming.

Carbs and even some fast digesting protein (whey isolates) would be good during the race, this would ensure your gastric emptying is kept smooth and you don't get discomfort or stomach issues. Given the race is long and over days maybe some for of nutrient replacements for vit and minerals would be beneficial during the race too.


Afterwards Id think as already mentioned all the nutrients would be super important so lots of carbs and adequate protein and get in plenty of fats and make sure you're hitting your caloric needs for each day.

Consider those nutrient needs like magnesium, potassium, sodium, calcium etc all those that need balance for optimum muscle performance and maintain healthy respitory function. (For this stuff your better off talking a qualified professional to ensure your intakes are good. Too much or not enough of any of these or just the wrong balance can be dangerous to heart function and keeping your system working right)

just my assumption though and things Id personally look at for these long events.

Goes without saying hydrating obviously key too, make sure you don't over or under hydrate.

 

[tex72]

Pies & Chocolate flavoured milk will cover ALL of your nutritional needs.:hungry:

 

[disappearin]

It depends if it supported or not... You can't beat real food.
Sandwiches and fruit make up the majority for me. On solo self supported rides/races I've done you are at the mercy of supply options. Generally I load up with dried fruit and electrolyte tablets every chance I get on these. They are easy to carry and lasts well in your bag. A pub meal and a beer never go astray either ;-)

 

[dusty_nz]

Limited support. Occasional servo (1 every second day) so weight and volume is a factor

Each night will have a pub meal so its the lunch we are carrying. 120km (80km - 150km) average at a nice pace are upto10 hours in the saddle. 6000+ calories gets hard to carry in any scenario.

Was going to try and get the pubs to cook a spare pizza which I will bag for lunch. Snickers bars as a fall back. Will also carry a box of protein energy bars.

 

[LJG]

If I'm going on a longer ride I always take along chicken sandwiches, a bottle of something like Staminade and energy bars. I've even made up a batch of Staminade for my backpack bladder. I usually spead out eating over set periods, say every second hour or less as I get tired (which is often haha). Works for me but I'm not sure about eating a chicken sandwich that has been in my backpack for a couple of days :stupid:

 

[SlowManiac]

You will obviously not be able to carry all the calories you will burn and nor do you need to. Even the skinniest rake should have enough fat reserves to last them for several days. Endurance training is partly about training the body to efficiently use fat as fuel once all easily available reserves have been used (e.g. glycogen).

Pizza is good, nice and calorie dense.

The last multi day I did I really struggled to eat - especially if it's hot it really kills your appetite. I was running/walking for 12hrs non-stop and then had to make camp and really force myself to eat.

 

[disappearin]

What setup do you have on your bike to carry stuff? You'd be surprised what you can carry with a good setup! I'm running a set of bags from the 'bikebagdude'. I can carry enough food and water in the frame back to last me a day or so without restocking, if it's really remote or hot I'll run a camelbak as well. My sleeping kit, spares, clothes etc fit easily into the seat and bar bag. It's all trial and error. Once I got my setup and eating right it opened up my multi day riding ability and confidence greatly!

 

[chewbacca450]

I do 200km road rides with an average bpm of around 145.
I love clif bars as they taste like proper food and are easy to swallow. and dont seem to give me that sore gut from too much sugar. They do a double espresso gel shot which works awsome for pulling you out of a energy hole. Staminade every second bottle. Pack baggies with 2.5 scoops or make up a super strong mix in your second bottle and decant into your fresh water bottle. I think the aim is 1 gram of carbs per kilo of body weight per hour but dont quote me. Yarra valley cycles stock all the clif products. I know other stores dont have every thing. Speak to joel there he will give u good info.
Have solid proper food where possible. I make vegemite sangas and squash the crap out of them. Same nutrition smaller size. Use brown bread for the lower gi.
Hope this helps it works for me. And no i dont have anything to do with yarra valley cycles just a happy customer.

 

[The Duckmeister]

A fairly big chunk of your energy stock for each day will come from your meal the night before, so load up on stuff like spuds, pasta, rice etc to fuel up properly. While on the bike your best approach is to eat small quantities frequently; the digestion process draws blood away from working muscles, and the greater the quantity of food to be digested in one hit, the less energy-rich blood is available to the muscles, which can leave you feeling flat & horrible, so avoid big meals while riding. Medium to high GI food is OK, for "trickle fuelling", but not too high. You want some fast-burn carbs (high GI) to get into the system quickly with each little feed, but you also need lower GI/slower-burn carbs to provide more consistent energy delivery so you don't go through constant spike/crash cycles. Nutty/muesli-type things are really good here.

Post-ride for the day, chuck down a protein-rich recovery drink soon after you stop, then boost it with a big hearty dinner later on.

 

[driftking]

Have you looked at carb loading. You ussually start 24-48hour prior. Find a reputable source to get this info though. AIS talks about carb loading and some good stuff.

http://www.ausport.gov.au/ais/nutrition/factsheets/sports/triathlon

While the above is for triathletes it gets more specific about carb loading

This might be great to read to it talks about multi stage riding events
http://www.ausport.gov.au/ais/nutrition/factsheets/sports/road_cycling

Obviously make sure your drinking enough water in the days leading up, I don't believe you need to up your intake but just make sure your not dehydrating yourself at all.

While carb loading might only help performance on the first day it should give you that little extra and hopefully it will pay off towards the end of the event.