Barely time to text much less plan a 7-day carboload?  Your body does not tweet or text, but it is capable of loading up energy stores of glycogen in just 24 hours.  But, you have to do it by Mother Nature’s carbo-loading rules.  Here goes:

For a 24-hour glycogen load, start with a short, 15-20 minute, near maximum intensity workout,  designed to deplete glycogen stores.  This can be done 1-3 days prior to the race. High intensity is essential, otherwise go for the traditional longer workout to deplete stores, and follow with a traditional carbo-load regimen.  For the 24-hour, high GI approach simply use a “this for that” game plan- i.e., swapping whole grain, high fiber carbs for high GI carbs.  Avoid breakfast cereals based on oats, barley and bran. Sub cornflakes, rice chex, corn chex, puffed rice cereal. Use breads without whole grains, stone-ground flour, or sourdough.  White bread, rice crackers, or white bagels must be on the 24-hour load menu.  Consume potatoes without added butter or margarine, and no french fries. Enjoy canned fruit in heavy syrup  and cooked vegetables.  Avoid whole grains such as quinoa, wild rice, or pasta cooked al a dente.   Pasta cooked until very soft has a higher glycemic index. Drink high GI sport drinks such as Pure Sport Recovery or fruit drinks instead of 100% juice. Use high GI snacks between meals: Clif Bar Bloks, Jelly beans, hard candy, top toast with jelly or jam, snack on Clif bar Cookies ‘n Crème, or Powerbars.  REST after loading essential to maintain stores!  Just go to work and sit at your computer, or drive to your favorite race.  Naturally, you want to stay limber, so easy walking and stretching is A-OK.

DOWN WIND SPORTS – COUNTDOWN TO NOQUE! PRE-RACE CLINIC:  Join Jeff Stasser, Down Wind Sports expert wax clinician, and Donna Marlor Sports Nutrition for the first of 2 clinics to get your Noque training full speed ahead. Learn easy nutrition tips to: • Boost Energy • Build Stamina • Stay Healthy • Get Leaner!      

Try Jeff’s expert waxing tips at Monday nite DWS ski lessons before the race.     

Time: 6 pm, Thursday, Jan 5th, Cost: $10.00 Price includes nutrition tip sheets and raffle prizes.  FREE Clif Bar and PureSport hydration and recovery drink samples!

 Make this Noquemanon your best race ever!

 If you were to wear your favorite pair of running shoes and run for 6 minutes at 6 minutes per mile, and then repeat the same course the next day using “barefoot” shoes at the same pace, which would burn more calories?  When a group of 10 recreational runners, 5 males and 5 females were asked to run at a 70%VO2max pace, heart rate and rating of perceived exertion were higher wearing regular shoes.  While the difference between barefoot vs. shoes was only 2% on a treadmill, when tested on ground, to run the same pace VO2max was 5.7% higher with shoes.  What does this mean?  If you want to use less effort and win a race, go barefoot.  For the calorie burn, work harder and wear shoes.   Think about it: would you ride a mountain bike during a road race?

I admit it. I wear my heart rate monitor and check the calorie count for my workout as much as I follow heart rate.  Seeing the calorie burn keeps me motivated to keep cranking up hills and staying on pace.   Research has proven without question that carbohydrate feeds during endurance exercise improve time to exhaustion and decrease muscle breakdown.  But all that extra sugar can take away from overall calorie expenditure.  Over a 1 hour ride, 24 oz of a typical 6% carbohydrate sport drink will add 150 calories, and it is all sugar.  Recently researchers at the University of Texas tested a new formulation of sport drink in female athletes and found that a protein plus mixed-carb supplement could improve performance despite containing 50 percent less carbohydrate.  The protein plus carb blend was also 30 percent lower in calories, and important consideration for many athletes.   Better performance, less sugar, and more calorie burn.  That’s my kind of sport drink.

 Donna Marlor Sports Nutrition will be at the Sports Rack in Marquette on April 6th at 6 pm – 7:30 pm.  Featured topics will be sport nutrition products and  ”Flat Fix” and easy road mechanics.  Great prizes and free Clif bar samples. Read More

The basic technique for eating a one-day high GI load is simply a “this for that” approach – i.e., swapping whole grain, high fiber low GI carbs for high GI carbs.  Notice that many of these food choices will work for someone on a gluten free diet, which I have indicated with a GF symbol. [ Read More

Elite racers always advice inexperienced competitors to have a well practiced race day routine.  Lay out clothes and equipment the night before, eat foods that are familiar, and know the course.  Race day nervousness can lead to disastrous consequences like lost car keys, or simply forgetting equipment.  Why? Because mental stress creates an energy pull on the most important muscle of your body: the brain.

The brain relies on a steady supply of glucose, derived from carbohydrates for fuel.  Research has shown that during acute mental stress the demand for energy by the brain increases by 12%. When male subjects in a laboratory setting were exposed to just a 10-minute-mental stress period, they required an additional 34 grams of carbohydrate to correct a glucose deficit in the brain.  Failure to take in additional carbohydrate resulted in prolonged symptoms related to low brain energy supply, such as mental confusion, depressed mood, and feeling tense and strained.

The brain’s priority on energy from glucose (carbohydrates) makes it essential for athletes to eat enough carbohydrate before and during a competitive event in order to have a focused, successful effort.

Murphy’s Law says if something can go wrong, it will. When it comes to a race, problems with delivering a carefully chosen sports drink, gel, or blok are common. This is not a laughing matter when you’re in the middle of a 100- mile bike race, or a half-Ironman tri.

Here are a few of the bloopers I heard about from athletes who thought they were well prepared: 1) new camelback, used only once during training. Turned out this camelbak was longer, and made it impossible to strap a waist-pack that was going to hold liquid gels. Bad mistake, and cost this 100 mile mountain back rider a bad bonk.  2)  Switching from a sqeezable gel, to a blok for quick energy. Different packaging made it very slow to access the bloks, which were great, once opened.

Choosing the right sport product is only the first step in race day nutrition support. Consuming it is the next. Don’t get caught unprepared.  Have a plan, test it out, and have a back-up plan. That’s what makes a successful and fun race.

Fructose has been getting a lot of bad press recently, with excessive amounts linked to rising obesity rates and cardiovascular disease in the general population.  Current opinion by health experts suggests that athletes may be protected from the adverse effects of fructose because it is used for energy during exercise by working muscles. Avoiding fructose by using a glucose-only sports drink may be one way to eliminate the negative effects of fructose.  When this idea was tested with nine well-trained cyclists performing a 100-km time trial using a glucose-fructose drink, and then a glucose-only drink, the results were clear.   All 9 cyclists completed the 100-km time trial significantly faster using the glucose-fructose drink.

Want to perform better without using the Floyd Landish approach?  Try the cheap, simple, safe – and legal method.  Timed carbohydrate supplements.  Carbohydrate, a.k.a. sugar.  And nooo…..you’re not going to get fat.  There is a right time for carbs.  Doubters can lay their fears to rest.  The benefits are not just in your head, and the extra calories are totally worth it.  Here’s proof. 

In a study where cyclists were given a 6% carbohydrate sports drink or a placebo of non-caloric flavored sports drink, the performance difference was amazing.  After a 120 minute ride, followed by a time trial of approximately 60 minutes, cyclist performed 10.6% better with carbohydrate compared with the placebo, and 11.3% compared to water.   
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