Nutrition during training.

[Veetack]

I'm curious how everyone maintains nutrition while training for Ultras. I'm really starting to take in interest in proper nutrition. So far I've bought a juicer (a great buy, BTW), and I'm experimenting with Hammer Gel and Perpetuem for my on bike nutrition. I've entirely cut out soda and fast food, and anything processed. I honestly feel a ton better than I used to, and I'm really starting to feel myself get stronger on my bike. What does everyone else do while training?

[joeydurango]

I just eat a ton of everything.  I'm also that guy that can't gain weight no matter what.

In all seriousness, I eat pretty healthy/whole foods, and a lot of them.  No fad diets (gluten free, paleo, blah blah blah), but I'm not eating junk food either.  One thing I've done over the last several years is completely phase out "exercise nutrition" products.  I used Hammer products for years but I'd much rather eat real food, and not having to carry special powders, potions, and gels around is really nice.  My typical 12-hour ride food will look a lot like this:  PB&J, nuts and dried fruit, jerky, probably a cookie from the local bakery (anyone who knows me knows I love a good cookie), and lots of water.

[Matt Schiff]

For ultra long events you just want to eat healthy foods that don't give you digestion problems. You need lots of carbs but still some fat and protein (there's plenty of debate on the calorie composition). Everyone is different in what they like to eat. I remember watching Tinker Juarez race a 24 hr race and at night he went into his camper and took a couple of longer breaks to eat some burritos.

For shorter events or events where you can keep the intensity high, you have to think about the most digestible food and that's where products like gels and liquids have a place.

For myself, I won't eat anything solid for a 4 hour or less race. For a 4-12 hour race I might add some bars. Over 12 hours I'll eat more normal foods.

This is just for racing though. For training it all depends on what I can stomach, what is convenient, and the intensity of my ride. Any long mountain bike ride with friends results in some stops and I'll eat a sandwich. My stomach might feel a little full, but I don't care because it's not a race.

I'd eat as much real foods as you can while still maintaining your performance. A heavy diet of maltodextrin, sucrose, dextrose, and other sugars is not the greatest for you even though it's packaged as a "performance" product.

[timroz]

Real food is good.  I am partial to leftover pizza and chocolate milk on long rides.  I also try to eat anything I find on the trail that people have dropped.  I figure it will toughen up the gut and it grosses my wife out.

[sthig]

Non tropic Fruits, veggies, protein on non training days...

 On training days bananas, honey, Icoconut oil, peanut butter, caffeine, sugars and salts

On multi days... Junk foods like m n ms, soda, Vienna sausage... It's a mind warp to get back off junk food. I generally let my body dictate what I eat on multi...

[Done]

When I'm not training, I generally try to eat lots of "whole" foods like fruit and veggies, whole grains, etc. I also try to avoid too much junk, like fast food. But I do eat a lot of chocolate, drink a beer or two every week, etc. I don't adhere to the latest "diet of the moment," but rather eat a wide range of different things. Eating is too much fun to turn into work!

Not much changes when I'm training. I add some additional protein after hard days, in the form of more chicken, turkey, jerky, tofu, fish, etc. I probably eat more baked goodies for the calories if I'm putting in a lot of long days.

For rides over 2 hours, I sometimes consume "robot food" like powders and gels. I think that most of the claims are just marketing hype though. But they are convenient, easy to eat, and easy to digest. Fruit bars are great, and less processed.

For the CTR, I eat whatever I can get down and will fit on my bike. PowerBars, Laura bars, jerky, dried fruit, cookies, fruit bars, granola bars, more cookies, almonds, cheese, etc. More carbs in the daytime, and more protein and fat at night.

[mikepro]

At Home: I'm big on burritos ... brown rice and black beans, eggs (huevos rancheros if you will), etc.  Huge smoothies in the vita-mixer with all kinds of fruit-and-greens concoctions.   Orange juice, green plant food juice from Trader Joe's, etc.  I tend to go with seasonals and cravings ... like the past few weeks have seen a bunch of mangoes, oranges, and grapefruit go past my lips.  In the fall, there's way more berry consumption that other times of year.  I'm also big on cheese, which is one of my vices that I know needs to go, or at least cut my consumption way down.  With kids at home, there's the occasional burgers/fries/pizza dinners ... rarely fast food though, all home cooking, though fries come from a freezer bag!  Then we go visit my parents once a month or so and it's all Eastern European meat-and-potato style eatin' for a few days.

Snack time: herbal tea 2x to 3x times a day, apples, celery, chips, occasional coconut water

On a the bike: I found during last summer's CTR that jerky and Gatorade (lemon-lime only) sit well with me, bars are rare for me (I seem to do better in the digestion with rice-based bars), trail mix for sure.  Gels for "emergency" only.  For longer training ride (over 2 hours), I'll take a bar of some kind, or a kid's fruit snack, and bulky fruit (banana, orange) and eat the fruit first.

[mikedeber]

I love eating so damn much, especially on the trail.  Real food is my preference but I'm not against the occasional sports-type food as long as it tastes good.  I've come to realize that burning lots of calories requires consuming lots of calories, hazah!  If I'm out all day riding really hard and I start craving pizza, well, why not just sit down and pull a couple slices of pizza out of my bag?

A list of some of my favorites, in no particular order:

I found these towards the end of last season, been sucking them down a lot while skiing this winter.  Cheaper than Gu's and taste much better imo, available at the grocery store too. 180 Calories per packet
http://www.justins.com/products.php
It's fun to ask your friends if they want some of your nut butter.  Oh yeah, spreading a packet onto a Honey Stinger Waffle if pretty out of this world.

I'm partial to boiled potatoes for long rides.  Boil, skin, toss in olive oil with sea salt and freshly grated parm, wrap em up in foil.  I'll do up a bunch of them at once and then toss em in the fridge.

Cinnamon rolls always have a special place in my belly, if unavailable, most pastries will suffice. Turnovers! 

Salt and pepper cashews, gummy bears, sour patch kids, bacon, burritos, leftovers, oranges, jerky, granola bars, pb&j's, the list goes on.   

At home I tend to eat a lot of salads and comically large fruit smoothies.  Not considering myself a racer I don't consider any of my rides to be for "training".  Therefore I don't keep track of calories or bmi or any of that, just eat to maintain energy and avoid muscle cramps.  Coffee and beer, those are really great too!

[BigPoppa]

As your race/ITT approaches, I would practice eating really sh!tty food. It can be a big adjustment to go from high quality whole grains, lean meats, and fruit to.... Um, oh Mcdonald's is the only thing open, I guess I'll eat five big macs then.

Now mind you, I wouldn't eat a ton of it but I would try it out a few times just to get your system used to the idea.

[phil_rad]

I usually don't take anything to eat when I do rides of less than 3 hrs, unless I'm going hard, then I'll take a gel or use some kind of powder stuff in my water bottles. For longer rides I'll take bars and or trail mix, bananas, sandwiches, crackers, just basically whatever I feel like eating.

Big Poppa hit the nail on the head, practise eating junk food on some of your longer training rides to see how you G.I. reacts. As with any new piece of gear, it should be tested before the race and or tour starts.

[joeydurango]

Probably a good idea to practice junk food, as you've all said - but I don't eat fast food normally and haven't had issues when I have to eat it in a race situation.  Once my metabolism is fired up you can shovel anything in there and it will burn.  The only exception was this GIANT brownie I got in Silverton to get me home to Durango.  Every few bites sent me scurrying off the trail, until I just quit eating it.  It was too bad, as I adore chocolate... and baked goods...

[Done]

Probably a good idea to practice junk food, as you've all said - but I don't eat fast food normally and haven't had issues when I have to eat it in a race situation.  Once my metabolism is fired up you can shovel anything in there and it will burn.  The only exception was this GIANT brownie I got in Silverton to get me home to Durango.  Every few bites sent me scurrying off the trail, until I just quit eating it.  It was too bad, as I adore chocolate... and baked goods...

Where did you get that brownie, Joey? I'm suspicious that I also got some bad food at a shop in Silverton...

[joeydurango]

Mmmm... memory by that point was pretty foggy.  It was a restaurant/bakery/hotel place, not on the main drag - but damned if I can't remember the name.

[EricB]

Any advice on nutrition to avoid cramping? I've been training and finding that at around the 5-6 hour mark my legs start cramping on climbs. I try to eat a bar every hour and a half and some trail mix in between. My hunch is that it's salt related since I sweat like a mofo.

[joeydurango]

Fritos!  Or, my personal fave, salted cashews...

[Done]

Mmmm... memory by that point was pretty foggy.  It was a restaurant/bakery/hotel place, not on the main drag - but damned if I can't remember the name.

Yeah, my memory is foggy too. But that sounds like the same place!

[mikepro]

Celery (at home, daily) ... for the cramping.  And thinking not about what to eat at home, but what NOT to eat at home.  I've had the same issue historically, and I've proven to myself that it's too much sugar and cheese in diet, and also lack of training at specific distances (not saying this is you, just speaking from experience).  Working desk job, commuting in car, not stretching regularly, I'll go 1 to 2 hours a few times a week and do great on weekend races.  But, as soon as hit the 3 to 4hr plus ride, cramps set in.

[mikepro]

The only exception was this GIANT brownie I got in Silverton to get me home to Durango.  Every few bites sent me scurrying off the trail, until I just quit eating it.  It was too bad, as I adore chocolate... and baked goods...

Maybe it was a pot brownie.  "Legal" as it is in our 2 respective states now.

[joeydurango]

Maybe it was a pot brownie.  "Legal" as it is in our 2 respective states now.

Perhaps, although this was two years back, so not quite yet legal unless you had some kind of fake excuse to get a "card".  I never knew so many 22-year-olds have chronic back pain.

It tasted more like they just used a hellacious amount of not-real-butter - palm oil, margarine, used motor oil, ski wax?

[hjknox]

+1 on the Fritos. Highest calorie to weight ratio of almost any food. Smash 'em down a bit and they fit anywhere. Back-/bikepacking staple food.