Nutrition Tips 01

Nutrition for the Long Haul
By Chris Carmichael

Editor’s Note: If you’re interested in the CTS-Asheville Mt. Mitchell Camp, and the long, challenging Assault on Mt. Mitchell event, we thought you’d appreciate this sports nutrition column from Chris Carmichael.

At a recent cycling camp, I was talking with Dave, a rider who was clearly frustrated with his performance during long rides. Rides lasting under two hours were fine, but once he passed three hours he started having trouble with eating and drinking. As he rattled off a long list of foods, drinks, and combinations he’d tried, I realized he was actually eating and drinking too much on the bike!

The American College of Sports Medicine and most sports nutritionists recommend 30-60 grams of carbohydrate per hour of exercise, but few athletes understand where the recommendation came from. The average person can only process (or oxidize) about 1 gram of carbohydrate per minute, no matter how much is consumed. And it’s not your blood or muscles that are the bottleneck, but your intestines. There’s a limit to how fast you can move carbohydrate from the intestine to your blood, and dumping more into the gut just increases your chances for an upset stomach.

It’s easier than you think to overload your gut with too much carbohydrate. Take the example of my new friend, Dave. He was consuming half an energy bar (23g of carbs), one gel (27g of carbs), one bottle of sports drink (about 50 grams of carbs), and one bottle of water per hour during his long rides. That adds up to about 100 grams of carbohydrate per hour! Early in his rides, he was doing great because he was getting so much fluid, energy, and sodium into his body; but after a few hours the excess carbohydrate sitting in his gut was making him nauseous, bloated, and ill.

One of the easiest ways to optimize your carbohydrate intake during rides is to drink plain water while you’re eating carbohydrate-rich foods like energy bars and gels, and drink a sports drink by itself. Simply separating these two categories of foods (sports drinks and energy foods) typically brings people back into the range of 45-50 grams of carbohydrate per hour while also ensuring they’re getting adequate sodium and fluids. Two PowerBar Gels and one bottle of water provide the same amount of energy and electrolytes as a bottle of PowerBar Endurance drink.

But what if there was a way to increase the amount of carbohydrate you could digest and use in an hour? Then you could deliver more energy to working muscles, slow the natural depletion of your body’s stored glycogen, and go faster for longer! Well, new research from Asker Jeukendrup and his colleagues indicates that mixing up your sugar sources can boost carbohydrate oxidation from 1 gram/min to 1.2-1.4 g/min.

And when it comes to putting all this new information into practice on your next long ride, use the table below to figure out what to pack into your jersey pockets:


30 minutes before ride: (1) bottle of water or sports drink

Ride Length: 60 min or shorter

• Primary Concern: Fluid replenishment
• Fluids: Plain water
• Food: Nothing, or one sports gel – 27 grams of carbs and 200mg sodium
• Tip: Eat a full meal within an hour after these intense workouts for optimal recovery

Ride Length: 1-3 hours

• Primary Concern: Carbohydrate replenishment.
• Fluids: 1 bottle water & 1 bottle sports drink per hour, at least.
• Food: 30-60 g of carb per hour from bars, gels, and sports drinks – up to 80 g if you’re consuming glucose and fructose.
• Tip: Don’t dilute the sports drinks – they’re absorbed best at their correct concentrations.

Ride Length: 3-plus hours

• Primary Concern: Carbohydrate replenishment .
• Fluids: 1 bottle water & 1 bottle sports drink per hour, at least.
• Food: 30-60 g of carb per hour – more solids at the beginning and gels in the last third or the ride.
• Tip: Build your nutrition strategy around bars and gels, then supplement with additional foods (granola bars, fig bars, fruit, etc.) for variety.