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Real food or gels?
Posted by:
John Garner
When:
1/31/2010 6:38:18 PM
Views:
595
As always: it depends :-) First: Ascent or marathon? More importantly, how long are you going to be out there? Second: How fast are you going? What is your effort level relative to your max Heart Rate? Third: Most importantly, what do you train with? For the Ascent last year, my only on trail fuel came from two gel's and two 20oz bottles of gatorade (started w/ one and had a bag of powder for a refill at barr camp). My only error was in not taking the first gel soon enough. Note that I make selective use of the water at the aid stations for hydration, so its not like I got to the summit on only 40oz. For the marathon this year I'll play a similar game except I'll have an extra bag of gatorade powder for a refill at the summit and an extra gel to pop just before I hit the top. Note that I do not trust any fuel that they provide on the course. See #3 above (learned that the hard way). In general, it is hard for the body to handle real food at high altitude _and_ keep moving at a good speed. If you are hiking with your HR around 60% then go ahead and go for the pizza and burgers. But if you are actually running or going at a solid walk where your HR is above 75% of your max then I'd avoid the solids. Now this gets back to the first item: PPA vs PPM or more importantly your total time on course. The longer you are out there the slower you are going and the lower your overall effort level (relative to max HR) will be. Thus the more likely you will be able to eat a burger and get away with it. But no matter what you do, make sure you do it in training. Race day is not the day to try new things.
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Real food or gels?
By Laura Davis - 1/31/2010 2:19:56 PM - 792 views
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