Stoking the Fire - Fueling the Body (PT1)

So I'm going through and testing different methods of fueling my body prior to workouts and endurance activities. I'm thinking that my fueling habits could be much better than they are now and what they have been in the past.

Let me start off by describing what I've done in the past regarding any "formal" fueling for activities. Way, way back I ate whatever as everyone did prior to getting really serious. Then I started to cycle much more and I eventually brought more water along. I then began to bring PowerBars. The original, hard-as-a-brick energy bar. I learned to stick them into the leg portion of my lycra shorts. It softened them so they were much easier to eat rather than struggling on the bike as you man-dogged the thing. Soon came the nice, pliable Clif Bars. These were before, during and after the efforts for me. Then came the Gu Gels. Vanilla Bean... mmmmm. All this with only water to drink. Now come the energy drinks and electrolyte replenisher. I started with the best of the best at the time... Cytomax. I actually liked it but I couldn't tell you if the claims of lactate buffering had any merit. I just liked the taste. I then tried Gu2O, but I didn't care for the flavor and the can turned into a brick before I tossed it. I eventually turned to the very cheap alternative, the consumer sports drinks.

I have used sports drinks as my sole source of fuel for the better part of 5 years now with mixed results. The worst being severe cramping with my legs locking straight and causing me to dump it in the sand. This is when I loaded up with Powerade only in my bladder for last years Iceman Cometh. The best being the year before where I loaded up with Gatorade in a 24oz waterbottle and had plain water in my bladder. I use just about any sports drink of this kind for heavy working days in the hot sun and/or high humidity. This is where I began my real journey to find out what works best for me fuel-wise.

I began by asking and researching what was out there. Everything from examining labels for ingredients to tracking down unbiased testimonials (not easy, mind you) and now obtaining samples and small packets to "try before I buy" since a lot of this stuff usually costs an arm and a leg... at least over plain water or the sports drinks that can go for as little as fifty cents for a 32oz bottle at the local grocery store or even less if you opt for the powdered stuff (I have some). Some of the top products that keep surfacing over and over are Hammer Nutrition products, eLoad, Gatorade Endurance and EnegVit. Earlier this week I visited the local bike shop to pick up some of Hammer Nutrition's products to sample. I was specifically looking for HEED and some of their gels. Well, they didn't have any HEED in stock so I was out of luck there. I did grab about 5 different flavors of Hammer Gel as well as 2 packets of eLoad to try. Man, those small packets were $2.50 each and are meant to make only 16oz of fluid. Ulp! As I mentioned before... an arm and a leg.

This past Monday, I tried to see what happened if I reverted back to what I used to do; plain water and gels. So I filled the bladder with plain water and loaded up 2 gels in my jersey pockets and ripped one down right then. I used the Hammer Gels I had picked up earlier in the day.

Regarding Hammer Gel, I didn't like the consistence very much as it was very liquid, in my opinion. I prefer the consistency of GU gel instead. I also wasn't a big fan of the flavors I tried... chocolate, rasperry and orange (I think).

Anyway, so I rode 15 miles at a moderate-high pace. I felt like I was half empty for much of the ride and no where near the output I had over the past few weeks running solely on Gatorade. No cramping but I just felt drained.

Next up, I will be trying out the eLoad as the sole fuel. More on that next time around.