Endurance training, hydration and nutrition.

[Surfingringo]

I wanted to see how some of you guys handled these issues. I think I am fairly active for a 50 year old, mainly because of the amount of time I spend kayak fishing, but I don’t think I’m being very smart about hydration and I think it is negatively affecting my performance.

I recently checked out Vivi’s YouTube channel to see some of his knife videos and saw that he had some cycling vids in there too. One of them chronicles a 1000 mile tour he did over the course of 9-10 days. Many of the days he cycled between 100-150 miles, sometimes with significant elevation changes. The daily performance is certainly impressive but what made the biggest impression on me wasn’t that he could turn out that kind of performance over a day but rather that he could maintain that day after day for over a week.

My own experience on the kayak is a bit different. My typical session lasts anywhere from 6-8 hours and I will cover anywhere from 10-20 miles. I can handle that kind of day fine but once I start stacking one day on top of another I start to lose performance...physically and mentally and my coordination even starts to suffer. I believe this is a cumulative effect of dehydration. I am not on top of my hydration protocol at all and I feel like my lack of attention is greatly decreasing my performance levels (and is probably quite unhealty)

I’ve been considering training up for a triathlon but if I’m even considering that then I’ve got to get on point with this issue. I’m looking to any of you who do endurance training to share your experience. Do you Guys preload with salts or electrolytes? Is there any specific product or protocol that you use to maintain hydration? Anything before, after or during your training that works well for you? Any tips or hints would be most welcome.

[VooDooChild]

From what I have heard and experienced, you cant get behind the ball on hydration. You need to be hydrated days before excess activity, and then stay hydrated leading up to and during.

Training for a triathlon. How is your swimming? What I mean is, have you ever actually done or trained for distance swimming? Whats your 500 time?

I know you are a waterman, but I have seen a lot of "good" swimmers realise they didnt actually have the technique for more than a few minutes. Its usually the biggest barrier for people trying to get into triathlons.

[wrdwrght]

I’m long past being fit, but I can say from significant endurance tests in my younger years, that hydration without electrolytes is not hydration, and that hydration must occur before, during, and after.

[RustyIron]

I’m looking to any of you who do endurance training to share your experience. Do you Guys preload with salts or electrolytes? Is there any specific product or protocol that you use to maintain hydration? Anything before, after or during your training that works well for you? Any tips or hints would be most welcome.

I don't do "endurance training." My playtime requires endurance, so "training" is just "everyday living." There is no magic pill you can take on Friday that will make you an athlete on Saturday. The best product for maintaining hydration is this stuff called "water." But you can't just start drinking it the day before the race. It must be part of your lifestyle. What color is your pee? If it's not normally a light color, then you need more water. Frequent? Good. Infrequent? Bad. When your doing strenuous exercise, if you're not sweating, then you need more water. Hydration packs are popular because you can drink frequently and avoid the beginning stages of dehydration. I have a collection of Camelbaks. I like them.

Nutrition is frequently overlooked by the inexperienced, but is always a point of focus for the folks standing on the podium. Your body can probably store about 2000 calories in glycogen. On a typical mountain bike ride, you might burn through just under 1000 calories an hour. You're burning up energy quickly, and if you don't do something, you're gonna bonk. That's not something you can really recover from. You might think the solution is as simple as gobbling chow at the rate of 1000 calories an hour. But unfortunately, your body doesn't process food as quickly as it burns energy. You're always on the road to crashing, and that's why you need to start replenishing long before you start falling apart. For this, I like a product called Gu. It's kind of scientific: essential amino acids, multiple channels, etc. I eat a couple Gu Blocks every half hour. When I know it's going to get tough in the next 20-30 minutes, I'll eat the Gu Gel. When it's an epic adventure, I'll mix Gu drink in a water bottle so I can take care of nutrition while maintaining hydration.

Incidentally, I'm sitting here on the patio after a moderately strenuous ride. Watermelon, cashews, and two cookies. Yeah, I'm a weak slob, but those cookies are so darn delicious. Oh, and I'm 57. My crew is all within a decade of me. Most of the youngsters can't touch us.

[Surfingringo]

From what I have heard and experienced, you cant get behind the ball on hydration. You need to be hydrated days before excess activity, and then stay hydrated leading up to and during.

Training for a triathlon. How is your swimming? What I mean is, have you ever actually done or trained for distance swimming? Whats your 500 time?

I know you are a waterman, but I have seen a lot of "good" swimmers realise they didnt actually have the technique for more than a few minutes. Its usually the biggest barrier for people trying to get into triathlons.

You’re right about the swimming and I’m quite aware that is a weak point. I have spent decades surfing and I remember the moment I realized that thousands of miles of paddling didn’t make me a long distance swimmer. I jumped off a boat in the bay one day and decided to sprint the 200 or so meters to the beach. I made it about half way before I rolled over and came in with a backstroke, haha. My cardio is pretty good though and I’ve got muscles developed in the right places so I hope that if I decide to start actually training for a triathlon that the swimming will improve by leaps and bounds. I know from past swim training that swimming endurance can improve quite quickly with focused training.

[Naperville]

I never did a triathlon. Wish that they were popular when I was a kid in the 70's. What I did do was play ice hockey and ride a bike in a lot of centuries(100 mile rides).

As for cycling, almost everything can be overcome by training on rollers, and the right gear choices. The right tires, and wheels control rolling resistance. The right seat height and handlebars control wind resistance. We always carried bananas, food bars and water too.

Running is training, is mileage.

Swimming is a whole nother beast, and that takes a lot of training to get down. If you don't have the proper form, forgetaboutit.

[EDIT]
What I meant by the following "As for cycling, almost everything can be overcome by training on rollers, and the right gear choices." is the right GEAR choices and the right cadence(crank rotational speed). I forget right now what cadence I held when racing/training, but lets say it was 85 to 90 rpm. Whatever the right cadence is, if you hold it, by changing gears and changing your aerodynamics on the drops, you can easily hit 30MPH to 35MPH. Easily. And you can hold that for 40 miles. To hit 100 miles doing it is just road work.

[The Meat man]

That's pretty hardcore, Gringo! Would be awesome if you competed in a triathlon. I wish you the very best of luck if you do!

I don't do a ton of endurance training. Aside from running a few miles a week, I focus mainly on strength training. Still, I've always been very aware of the importance of hydration.

I used to do construction and in that job I learned to drink water even if I wasn't thirsty. It's become a habit now, and I drink on average between one and two gallons of water a day.

If you're sweating a lot, water won't be enough though; you'll need electrolytes and other vitamins in addition to replenish your system. But of course you know that. I like to drink Gatorade, although I think they put a bit too much sugar in it.

I have never tried it, but I've heard good things about a product called Liquid IV. It's supposed to hydrate you even more fully than water and includes all the other goodies too.

[Wartstein]

I have never participate in competitions (except a few more or less fun races, so called "strong man runs" which are only about 12 miles and 2000 feet vertical distance and include hurdling some obstacles).

But I do some rather strenuous and long endurance activities in the mountains, running, hiking or skitouring, This can be up to 30 miles and 15000 feet vertical distance per day in rough terrain, sometimes for several days in a row.

What I found (rather basic, I know):

- Drink LONG (!) before you´re actually thirsty
- Stuff like Gatorade (isotonic drinks with carbohydrates) actually work when you´re going to the limit, though I generally don´t like such stuff too much.
- IF I only have water I always add some regular salt if possible
- Eat frequently (when sktouring, where the cold burns additional calories, my rule is to eat something after every 1000 meters (3300 feet) of vertical distance).

Actually, when I did a lot of mountain biking in the 90ies, there were month when I tried everything NOT to loose weight, but did not succeed. Just could not bring myself to eat the amount of food worth the calories I burnt... would have needed some sugar infusion, I guess...