It’s eight weeks to go to this year’s Makana Brick Grocott’s cycle race. This week we focus on nutrition leading up to, during and after the event.
It’s eight weeks to go to this year’s Makana Brick Grocott’s cycle race. This week we focus on nutrition leading up to, during and after the event.
Last year, the American College of Sports Medicine released its latest research results, stating that physical activity, athletic performance, and recovery from exercise are enhanced by optimal nutrition.
Although a lot of the information is nothing new, this updated position couples a rigorous, systematic, evidence-based analysis with current scientific data related to a variety of athletic needs.
Basically, with respect to endurance (a training/competition session lasting between 90 minutes and three hours) and ultra-endurance (a session lasting longer than three hours) cycling, energy and nutrient needs must be met.
This is in order to maintain your body weight, replenish glycogen stores and provide adequate protein to build and repair tissue.
A natural consequence of heavy exercise is muscle breakdown and protein helps to repair muscle. Fat intake should be sufficient to provide essential fatty acids and fat-soluble vitamins, as well as contribute energy for weight maintenance and performance.
Adequate food and fluid should be consumed before, during, and after exercise to help maintain blood sugar levels, maximise exercise performance and improve recovery time.
Athletes should be well hydrated before exercise and drink enough fluids during and after exercise while at the same time ensuring they do not drink too much which can result in over-hydration, which can be fatal.
Many athletes tend to focus on pre-competition nutrition and during-competition fuel and fluid strategies. However, training takes place over many months and even years while the competition itself is only a few hours.
The training diet should ideally follow the recommendations of the traditional food pyramid, which suggests minimising foods high in saturated fat and sugar and reducing alcohol consumption.
These have been shown to negatively impact body composition, body mass and optimal training and performance.
Athletes are also encouraged to practice their pre- and during-competition nutritional strategies during training as different nutritional strategies work better for different individuals.
For example, while carbohydrate loading has typically been advocated, some athletes perform better when fat-adapted in the days preceding the competition while others perform better when carbohydrate-adapted.
While research on fat adaptation is still inconclusive, carbohydrate loading research is extensive with the basic premise being to maximise carbohydrate intake three to seven days prior to competition.
Cyclists are recommended to consume approximately 8g of carbohydrate for each kilogram of body mass before and during this time.
However, a drawback of carbohydrate loading is that for every 1g of carbohydrate stored, 2g of water is stored too.
Athletes therefore tend to gain weight due to water retention – which is generally not beneficial for athletes!
To negate this affect many athletes prefer to adhere to the shorter time frame of three days carbohydrate loading whereas others opt for fat loading.
During competition, the main goal is to maintain blood glucose levels by consuming carbohydrate drinks or by eating high GI foodstuffs such as jelly beans or baked potatoes periodically during the race.
It is advised to consult a qualified sports dietician who can provide individualised nutrition direction and advice subsequent to a comprehensive nutrition assessment.
The Makana Brick Grocott’s cycle race consists of the 80.4km main event, as well as a 34km ride and a 10km childrens ride.For more information on the race, email ghtcycle@ gmail.com
Dr Candice Christie is a senior lecturer at the Department of Human Kinetics and Ergonomics at Rhodes University.
