Nutrition - train low, race high

[andyw]

Interesting link: daily-erg-workout.blogspot.com/2006/08/rowing-nutrition-train-low-compete.html

and more here (PDF): www.nutrifit.co.uk/Conference_bham_2008/articles/Baar_Train%20low%20compete%20high.pdf

The idea is to train regularly in a carbohydrate depleted state - before breakfast / 2 sessions in a day / no energy drink on a long ride. It's based on research and actually seems to corroborate what most cyclists have known for years - bonking every now and again is no bad thing, it really does make you stronger.

This is a quote from Stephen Seiler - sportsci.org/2006/ss.htm

I have introduced the findings from Hansen et al. (2005) by asking this question: is part of the reason that modern elite athletes "need" so much training volume that they "eat so well? Antioxidants, glycogen loading, carbohydrate drinks, etc. all may dampen the cellular signalling impact of the exercise stimulus and perhaps lengthen the exercise duration necessary for an optimal signalling effect. Since we often seem to chase the elusive "Kenyan performance secrets", the published findings that Kenyan runners are vitamin deficient and undernourished are interesting in this context.

[Deleted]

Interesting - thanks for the links. Does that mean that my 30 mile bonk yesterday on my way back from Ashdown forest will work wonders : )

[Nigel Wood]

Feb 23, 2009 12:45:08 GMT @andyw said:

most cyclists have known for years - bonking every now and again is no bad thing, it really does make you stronger.].

I'm trying hard to avoid a childish Carry On reply ...

I get the logic behind it but I'm not totally convinced although I read recently that Steve Cummings has been following a similar regime & he seems to be doing ok judging by recent results

[Deleted]

Rob Hayles told me otherwise today...

[chamoniards]

But he's fat.

[Deleted]

and old. Personally, I always train and race until I've cramped up both calves big-time. It's never over until I've cramped.
R.

[andyw]

Rob Hayles isn't a sports scientist either.

I don't think the intention is to do this all the time. Much like altitude training, the quality of your training will suffer if you're training in a carb depleted state all the time.
So it might make you more efficient, but you'll struggle to do proper high intensity workouts while you're carb depleted, and if you push it too far, you'll probably end up slower.

But as the blog suggests, the idea isn't to do this every day.

[brian B]

We did this back in the 70's when it was big - the Russians and some pro teams did it - its awful, you feel crap for 4 days out of five in a week, dizzy and sick, then load with bananas dipped golden syrup, i can tell you how to do it properly if you want but holding down a full time job and doing it, will be near impossible.
It was suggested for big, one day events only, but the idea was dropped after a couple of years.
i suggest you just train hard, eat sensibly and race, with as much rest as you can manage!

[andyw]

Brian, I think you have this confused with carbo loading (albeit, in its primitive form).

Carb-loading is a short term method of increasing the body's storage capacity for carbs. By doing a carb-free fast for a few days, you reduce the body's store of carbs to zero. You keep training and exercising but you don't replace any of those expended carbs = TOUGH!!!!! Then a day or two before your event, you start stuffing your face with carbs. Having been carb free for a few days your body hyper compensates by storing more carbs than normal.
Bernard Hinault claims to have used this technique to win the Grande Prix des Nations in the 80's. By the late 80's however, this technique was losing popularity and had been adapted to the degree that carb-loading meant just eating loads of pasta the day before a race - not quite the same thing...

The train low, race high protocol described in the links is more of a long-term plan. It merely involves training occasionally (not every day) in a carb deprived state - eg before breakfast. The intention is that by doing so you will make metabollic changes, maintaining or increasing the enzymes in your body that are involved with using fat as a fuel.

As I said above, the way I read the research, the idea isn't to this every day, as training quality will siffer; rather, do it every now and again. What I take from the Robert Seiler quote above is that your long ride doesn't have to be AS long if you're doing it in a carb-deprived state. A 3hr before breakfast with just water for fuel may well produce the same metabollic training effect as a 6hour ride for which you've prepared by eating a big breakfast, and refuelled during the ride by eating and drinking a sports drink.

Apparently Garmin-Slipstream are incorporating this technique into their pre-season training this year too.

I wouldn't suggest everyone jump on this bandwagon, but read the links and see if you want to try it. It might work, it might not - you won't know until you try it.

[Deleted]

I remember reading an article about Barry Hoban describing his training in the seventies, when they used to bonk on purpose in order to force the body to scavenge for all available glycogen (making it more 'efficient' so the theory went), before the body started to eat itself. Come race day, with muscles/liver replete with glycogen, he would fly. Basically, extreme carb-loading.

Not sure whether Andy's links mention this (can't be arsed to trawl through them all), but training early morning soon after rising and before breakfast, is said to be doubly beneficial in depleting glycogen stores, because the brain has a large requirement for the stuff first thing after waking, so it gets first dibs for any that's knocking around. Add a bit of cycling to the mix and the body will crying out for its fix of WeetyFlakes and Hovis,

[chamoniards]

There's more of a similar vein here: www.cyclingnews.com/fitness.php?id=fitness/2009/glycogen_training

It sounds like it makes sense to me. Which isn't saying much!

[andyw]

You heard it here first!