Quote: Originally Posted by slowfoot .
sure,
but i wanted to force my body to exhaust it's carbo stores with an overnight fast, a long aerobic ride, and no calories during the ride.
i was thinking this would force utilization of the enzyme systems used in fat metabolism and maybe improve my endurance.
well, assuming that my crash was from carbohydrate depletion, my conclusion is that it is not worth it! it was pretty bad.
as will rogers said, "
“There are three kinds of men. The ones that learn by readin’. The few who learn by observation.
The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves.†i know where i stand among men....
dave
Dave, I'm a big fan of first hand knowledge as well. I don't make the same mistake twice, it takes me four or five times.
Some years back I had read an article from a race oriented bike rag on the supposed benefits of occasionally running down glycogen supplies during longer rides and it got me doing some reading. I'm pasting below from a post I made some time back on this forum which may provide food for thought:
"I6 (Interleukin 6) - which has been termed by some as the "endurance" hormone. This is found in high levels in cancer patients, but also in endurance athletes where it functions slightly differently. Some evidence suggests that riding to glycogen depletion can spur an increase in this hormone. I believe in part this is what Allen was refering to even though he didn't use these terms (I was replying to a thread on Hunter Allen's Next Level). But he did use the term "leg shattering" rides, and that one should get home with legs shaking and exhausted and completely spent on the long days. I6 was measured to be 100 times in greater abundance after these glycogen depleting rides. It is not necessarily how long these rides are but how they are ridden. Completing longer rides with a fuel tank always topped off seemed to minimize the subsequent fitness gain. Getting home with the fuel tank on "E" was the key. Anecdotally this notion is somewhat supported by something I read by Gilbert Duclose Lasalle or some other french hardman that after some long ride where he ran out of food he was absolutely destroyed when arriving home but a week or two later was able to ride like the wind."
It's a priority to make sure we remain as fueled as possible on rides that matter, but aside from finding yourself in a field eating rotten apples off the ground or riding into oncoming traffic from a glycogen depletion induced delirium whats the worst that could go wrong with a little experimentation?
When I tried these workouts (which are pretty much the same as my usual longer ride with the exception of the eating part), my formula was to start with light breakfast, maybe a couple slices of turkey on some toast with a little mayo and a coffee (life is too short to suffer needlessly, plus a little protein has been known to get the brain going, which is especially good when surrounded by traffic), then head out for 3+ hours of L3 with a few 10 and 20 minute segments really hammering thrown in to run down the stores. Just an energy gel at the halfway mark (after all we have to make it home and bonking is something very real) along with plenty of good old fashioned H2O and some salt replacement like Nuun, especially if it's really hot out.
Good luck with that electric fence.
Edit: it's important to mention, after any of these strategies it's recommended to refuel after the ride. No study anywhere has shown fitness to benefit by post ride starvation but I believe there is some evidence to indicate glycogen replenishment within the 30 minute post ride window was beneficial in replenishing depleted stores. My strategy is to slam some sort of sports drink even a soda immediately after a hard ride (it's all about the sugar), shower, and then just have a nice dinner, or whatever meal follows the ride schedule.
