Introduction
RAAM qualifying
During our first qualifying race for RAAM - and my very first attempt at any Ultra Cycling race, the 24 hr race in Denmark called Extreme Melfar 24 it was pretty apparent that there was some fuelling and pacing issues. I had gone off like a rocket, was running in second place and doing really well. However 5 hours into the race and at the first planned stop we all realised something was wrong. I just couldn't eat anything. The effort was just too high. We discovered later that I was essentially running at threshold since the start of the race, this was clearly not sustainable. It was too high and this didn't allow for any fuel to be taken. I felt sick, literally I thought I was going to be sick on the bike. I then battled that for a couple of hours and then the inevitable - hunger knock or some call it The Bonk. This is when your blood sugar drops to the point where you have nothing left. Mind you, this is far better than feeling sick. So that was mistake number 1 - riding too hard. Mistake number 2 was not telling my crew. For a while I just battled on into the wind at the same pace, slowly running my reserves down minute by minute. After telling the crew I had hit the wall hours earlier and was now running on fumes they tried to help but it was essentially too late, it was just a case of how much longer would I last.
The answer was actually quite a long time in fact. Surprisingly so. In the end I rode for 410kms in a time of 13 1/2 hours (Strava link here) Given that we estimated a calorie intake of about 1000 kCals during the race and the typical stores I'd have had of around 2000kCals the 8700kCals that Strava estimated I used shows just how much of a deficit I was in. Back to the drawing board.
After the failure in Denmark, or lets call it lessons learned the team realised that speed on the road is not everything. We needed to figure out what speed and calorie intake would be sustainable so we went along to see a sports nutritionist. Kate Swaine gave me lots of advice about how to change my diet to contain more protein and what sort of intake quantity as well as type of foods I should be looking at during a long race. We started to experiment with that and I made some changes to my diet off the bike. This was mainly to take in more fish and meat, more nuts and berries and such like. I also started to take some food supplements such as B12 etc.
Training
Over the next few months my Crew Chief Steve and I went on many long training rides, I was on the road on the bike and Steve in the car behind. We needed to experiment with quantity and food types. To see what did or did not work on the bike. For example, I found that I loved the hot soup and crisps in the back of the car during the horrible cold and wet rides in Scotland and that individual apple pies disintegrate and fall apart if you try to eat them on the bike (the vibrations make them crumble). We also found that the ideal 400kCals an hour is just too much to consume and made me feel bloated. 300 - 350kCals seemed to be sustainable but meant a little catching up at the end of each day.
Here are some interesting observations that we discovered during our training rides:
Fluid
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| High5 drinks ready to go |
2.50/50 grape juice/water is a great energy drink if you want to have a break from the premixed drinks. We used red grape, white grape, apple juice, mango, pineapple etc. These are great for variety.
3. Milk is a fantastic alternative to traditional energy drinks and we used this when sweet drinks were just getting too much.
4. Hot tea and coffee need a special insulated drinking bottle. This was used countless times during the cold training rides in Scotland and also during RAAM to help keep me awake.
Solid Food
1. Sandwiches were easy to make and can be filled with all sorts of foods high in energy and protein such as tuna, chicken, ham, avacado, humus etc. It was also great to change the roll/sandwich just to keep things interesting. On RAAM I had bagels, rolls (white or brown) burger rolls, traditional bread and so on. This kept things interesting for me.
2. Fruit is also great on the bike, very tasty and full of sugar. A good alternative to "solid" food when its really hot. We used pineapple, red grapes, apples, mango. Usually all cut up into cubes and handed to me in a large plastic cup. Pineapple also helps with mouth ulcers that develop over the fist few days of RAAM due to the excessive eating required. Apples are great to clean your teeth.
3. Rice pudding and porridge were a big favourite of mine on RAAM. They are packed with energy and are not sweet tasting. With added fruit they taste amazing when on the bike. These were warmed up and thinned down with the right amount of milk to make it possible to drink it on the move in a plastic cup.
So when it came to NCOM - the Texas RAAM qualifier in October 2015 we had a far better plan about how food was going to fuel me to the end. However it wasn't perfect. On every long ride there was always one point where I just didn't want to eat. The difference between the Denmark and Texas races was that we knew how to manage those times. It was tough but Steve in particular knew how to get me out of the glycogen hole that I'd sometimes get myself into. And in Texas during the long dark hours during the night we needed to use that knowledge but once back on track I was firing on all cylinders and eating really well. Finishing well means that as you step off the bike you are able to eat immediately, finishing at too high a pace with an empty stomach means it will be hours before you can eat again. This is OK for a single day race but a disaster for a mutli-day ultra race.
Lessons Learned
Our experiences have taught us these lessons:
1. Calorie and fluid intake need to be monitored hourly. Its OK to drift off a little each hour but over the course of 2 or maybe 3 hours the average needs to be correct.
2. During multi-day rides its impossible to go from 2000kCals (normal day not riding) to 8000kCals (daily intake for an ultra race) overnight. The body goes through a phase of adaptation. The first day is OK but towards the end of it trying to get in that last big meal is very difficult. Even though this is the best time to catchup nausea takes over and doesn't allow me to eat. However liquidising an otherwise normal solid meal enabled me to consume what otherwise would have been impossible. This really helped me at the end of day 1 in RAAM. It was a gloopy green liquid that was presented to me but it tasted great and was eaten in about 20 seconds.
3. Fruit is fantastic, tastes great and is full of energy. However it doesn't contain protein so cant be the full diet even on the hottest of days. This is where High5 energy and protein drinks are useful. We also made sure there was lots of protein in the solid food when I was able to eat it.
So over the course of a year between the Denmark qualifier and starting RAAM we had experimented a lot with food types and quantity. We paid a lot of attention to quality and even had a chef with us on RAAM. Lyn made up all the food for the day, the sandwiches and rolls that I would consume plus she prepared a two course meal that I ate every evening for dinner (although it was often 11.30pm when I got this meal.) The evening meal proceeded breakfast by only about 2 hours but the combined intake was circa 2000kCals. We wanted to create a rhythm to the race so an evening meal and a breakfast ensured that mentally I knew where each day finished and a new one began.
Food Diary
During the course of RAAM the first few days were very heavily monitored for food intake. Then after a few days it was apparent that my body had adapted to take on as much fuel as I needed. In essence it was self regulating. After the initial few days the team just wrote down the types of food but didn't bother recording the carb and protein values as we believed they were high enough anyway. Its amusing to look back on the log now and note the food I consumed against the time that it was eaten. For example:
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| No sticky bottles to see here |
19th June
23:00 Evening meal in the RV
2 x recovery drinks (oats, milk, honey, greek yoghurt)
Tuna Salad and white rice
Yoghurt with muesli
Sleep
01:00 am
Breakfast (in the RV)
2 x croissant with jam
500ml Water
2 x croissant with jam
Coffee
03:00
High5 electrolyte drink
5.30 am
Bagel
Fruit
06:00 am
Chicken roll
07:15
Bagel
50/50 fruit drink/water
High5 carb drink
08:30
50/50 fruit drink/water
08:45
Double shot coffee
09:30
Porridge in a cup
09:45
Porridge in a cup with raspberries
10:30
500ml High5 carb drink
11:30
High5 electrolyte drink
12:40
Chicken roll
13.30
Magnum ice cream
500ml coffee
Large chocolate doughnut
500ml water
14:00
500ml 50/50 fruit juice/water
15:00
500ml High5 carb drink
16:00
Porridge, grapes, raspberry, milk in a pot
250ml milk
18:00
500ml coffee
Ice cream
19:30
2 x rolls
20:00
2 x 50/50 fruit juice/water
20:30
Coffee and honey
4 x Shortbread biscuits
21:00
2 x Chicken rolls
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| Eating one of Steve's amazing calorie packed hot porridge and fruit drinks |
This list is likely not complete. I consumed countless drinks during the day. Most water had the High5 electrolyte tablet added and it was rare for me to drink plain water. Especially so during the early part of the race through the desert. I had no issue with dehydration and no signs of sweating salts into my clothing during the entire race.
Its interesting to see that as the race progressed and we settled into a routine, the fact that my breakfast was so soon after my evening meal was not a problem. During the 2 hours of sleep after "dinner" my body absorbed the meal and I was hungry and ready for another upon waking. After about half way across America I was offered cereal instead of yogurt and muesli mainly because it was quicker to eat and was more refreshing. The croissants were then eaten on the bike whilst moving - typically around 2am in the dark. Then usually an hour or so later another couple of croissants were eaten. Then around 5am I was already onto "lunch" type foods, sandwiches etc. It was slightly odd to be eating lunch as the sun came up but thats what my body wanted.
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| Eating breakfast in the RV |
Its one of the myths that RAAM racers start off the race eating high-tech energy foods and end up eating steaks and pizza but that wasn't my experience. Whilst I could eat as much as I liked after a few days of adaptation the food was still within the planned diet that we set out to use. With the exception of the ice cream at the petrol station stops mid afternoon when the humidity got the better of us, my diet was pretty consistent with what we planned. The supplies from High5 were fantastic. Whenever we needed the energy drink (carb drink) the crew broke out another sachet and mixed it with water. The hydration tablets were very well used and I just stuck to citrus flavour as it was my favourite. The support from High5 was fantastic and their products are the only ones I use in all my cycling and have done for several years.
After RAAM
There was clearly a bit of repair and catching up regarding nutrition after the race and for the two weeks following the end of RAAM I essentially eat pretty much non stop. However this allowed me to catch up on lost weight during RAAM. I estimated that I lost around 2kg which we believe is better than gaining it. Sometimes RAAM racers start retaining water, this never happened to me during the race. It can be debilitating and effect your race. Thankfully this only happened to me below the knee after the race and was likely due to the sudden inactivity. I was unable to ride for this time as my saddle sores were healing. If there was one thing I would look into more, it would be better heat management early in the race and the avoidance of water as a cooling mechanism as this leads to wet shorts and saddle sores. This then leads to discomfort and an enforced sedentary period whilst going thourgh the healing process after the race which then promotes fluid retention in the legs.
The process of discovering the "secret" to pacing and fuelling turned out to be a long one. It took Steve and myself a lot of testing to see what I could consume and what the right pace for me was. I needed to change my diet quite a bit off the bike and it took a lot of effort during the race by Lyn to ensure I was eating the right food and that it was tasty. It was incredibly tasty I have to say and sandwiches will never be the same again for me.
Now that we have completed RAAM successfully I feel well prepared to repeat this sort of activity. The knowledge of what is needed to fuel me in particular is not something that can be learned quickly, it takes time. Going out on a 4 hour ride now means I know more about what is needed, what I need to eat before and how I recover better afterwards. I can recommend reading this book as it certainly helped us understand race fuelling.
Sponsor
Many thanks to High5. They are in my view the best cycling nutrition supplier out there and we really appreciated their fantastic support of our RAAM bid.
The full blog on our RAAM race story is available here
