Birkie calorie burners: Ok, this could be long, so hold on.............
You need to have sufficient glycogen to pull you through a marathon. How to do that?: 1. Train your body to use other fuels 2. Fill the tank race week 3. Attempt to add a bit more fuel to the tank as you race First, training. Long slow distance sessions of 2 to 4 hours 3 times a month for the 3 months leading up to the event. Who has that kind of time? - I don't know, but there are no shortcuts in programming the body. These sessions teach you what your individual body needs to survive calorie-wise. Advice: experiment eating exactly what you will eat in races. And most importantly, it trains the body to utilize free fatty acids more efficiently, thus sparing the carb/glycogen storage that you need for higher intensity exercise and to supply the nervous system. Second, pre-race week nutrition. Carbo-loading. Talk about a misunderstood word...... A better term would be supercompensation. The most severe method of supersompensation is to do a moderately long, hard workout 6 days before (a marathon at moderate pace or at least a workout of 2 plus hours). After that event/workout, consume a diet very, very low in carbos (don't allow your body to refill its depleted glycogen stores). 5 and 4 days before, do long (about 90 minute) ski specific workouts that continue to drain the tank. The "tank" is your liver glycogen storage and the smaller stores within the specific muscles used for the exercise (skiing in this case). By Tuesday night (prior to Birkie Saturday) you'll be tired and irritable and jittery (because glycogen is one of the few fuels that effectively feeds the nervous system). There are several possible side effects, like heart arrhythmias - not good. This is why this is the SEVERE method and not recommended by medical experts. But the tanks are now like dry sponges. In effect, you are turning on the bodies response to starvation - a cycle we humans went through for millions of years. Then on Wednesday (& up 'til race time), do a "180" and eat foods high in complex carobs and low in fats and proteins. Those "sponges" are so "thirsty", that they will suck up a more than normal supply of glycogen. Thus = supercompensation. However, be aware that for each gram of glycogen stored, it must bond with THREE grams of H2O. So drink up steadily. During the Wed. thru Sat. morning period, you can stay lightly active. Do low intensity stuff for an hour or less or don't do much at all. Hey, the money is in the bank. Any training done the week before won't "add to your principle". If you'd like to do a few quick pick-up intervals of well under one minute on Thurs or Fri, go ahead. They might make you feel like you are still sharp. But mostly, you will feel fat, thick-muscled and logy (remember the stored H2O?). You might feel that way all the way through your pre-race warm-up and into the first kilometer or two. But then you will start to feel normal (or better!) and fully fueled. The less severe method is to do the same workout routine on days 6, 5 and 4 prior, but just slightly turn down the percentage of carbos consumed beginning Sunday and then do a less extreme "180" degree turnaround Wednesday - again, with a less severe change in your normal diet. Normal body glycogen storage is about 1800 calories worth. The severe method will provide as much as 2400. You will burn about 10 to 15 calories a minute racing, so glycogen alone still won't get you through the race by itself. You still need to tap those free fatty acids. (So you still need to have trained that system - Like I said, no shortcuts.) So what about that gorging Friday night spaghetti feed where you eat as much as you do Thanksgiving Day? Huge mistake. Huge....as in the size of your intestine with all that uncleared food you'll carry up each hill the next morning. And even if it does clear, the body can't store that much excess all at once unless you have a hollow leg. Eat moderately, not excessively. Finally #3 Take on as much fuel as you can during the event. BUT in balance. The stomach is best at clearing a dilute sugar solution - current research says about 4 to 7 % sugar I believe. Sports drinks - good. Energy bars and gels - OK too, BUT with water. The gel packets usually suggest consuming 20 ounces of water with their 100 calories. That is hard to do in a race. However, I know some skiers who staple 6 gel packets to their bibs and swear that's what gets them through. How they find the necessary 120 ounces of water on the course in those little bitty cups at the aid stations , I don't know. Although some have found their bodies can handle it without so much water. Remember my suggestion that you experiment during training sessions? Most skiers skip solid food at the first few aid stations (those stations don't have much on hand because of this). They wait until they are hungry and hurting at the last few stations. It may be comfort food then, but because it takes 2 hours for carbos to digest and more for fats & proteins, the food eaten at the end of a race will only aid your post-race recovery, not your race. So if you think you need race-time calories, take them on board early. My personal rule is to always take energy drink whenever I can get it. The more calories the better, right? However, I like to try the drink at the race's Expo the day before to be sure it settles well in my stomach. Finally, DO NOTHING NEW ON RACE DAY. That applies to equipment, wax, routines, clothing and especially food. Take your favorite breakfast foods along and don't consume much more than normal on race morning. Remember, you'll never supply a jet engine with the fuel meant for a wood-burning stove. Eat well. Good Luck Eric and ALL, Ski ya, Don Fariss MadNorSki Junior coach _______________________________________________ http://www.MadNorSki.org/ XC mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.danenet.org/mailman/listinfo/xc
