Copyright © 2015 Levi Bloom www.CoachLevi.com

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7 Sports Nutrition Mistakes Endurance

Athletes Make

And how you can avoid them!

By Levi Bloom

www.CoachLevi.com

Copyright © 2015 Levi Bloom www.CoachLevi.com

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1. Eating Too Much or Too Little During Workouts When going out for a ride or run, you want to provide your body with the fuel it needs – but no more or less. It’s tricky to get it just right, because unlike your car, your body doesn’t have an easy-to-read gauge telling you whether it’s empty or full. There are two ways to screw this up… First, eating too much during workouts. If you eat too much, you’ll probably feel weighted down and sluggish. Your body will devote a lot of energy to digestion that it should be using to power your muscles. Keep it up and you’ll also end up with excess body fat. So your workouts will suffer immediately, and over time, your power-to-weight ratio will decrease. A double whammy! Second, eating too little during workouts. This can actually be worse than eating too much, and with the increasing popularity of low-carb diets and intermittent fasting, it’s becoming way too common. If you eat too little during a workout, you might feel fine for the workout. But once you’re finished, you might go on an eating binge! Then you will most certainly eat more calories than you need, and most of them will come from convenient processed foods full of sugar. As with eating too much during the ride, the post-ride binge might make you fat over time! The other danger is bonking. Too little food could lead to a bonk (if the ride is long enough.) Even if you avoid the bonk, you’ll probably feel lethargic the next day. The solution to all this is to eat enough to fuel your body, but no more than necessary. This will require some testing and tracking, and it will be trial and error for a while. Not sure what to do? Keep a food log. Track everything (calorie intake, how you feel, etc.) Then compare your performances and weight change to this food log.

Copyright © 2015 Levi Bloom www.CoachLevi.com

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2. Too Much or Too Little Fluid Intake This is another situation where it’s usually too much or too little. The goal is to drink enough that you don’t get dehydrated, but not so much that you get overhydrated. If you become too dehydrated, your performance will suffer. If you overhydrate, you’ll have to stop for pee breaks, which is pretty annoying during a workout. During a race, it could be the difference between winning and losing! Worse, if you overhydrate with plain water, and lose tons of salt in your sweat, there is the potential for hyponatremia. This is a condition where there is not enough sodium in the body. While this can have many effects on the body, the big one is swelling of the brain, which can lead to death. So let’s just say, staying properly hydrated is important! To determine your proper fluid intake, you have to test! A good way to start is to go with 16oz of fluid per hour. If it’s super hot outside, you might be looking at 24oz per hour. Then, to get technical, you can perform a sweat rate test to see if you need to alter your fluid intake. Or, go by feel and anecdotal evidence. If you are stopping to pee all the time, you’re probably drinking too much. If you lose weight and feel weak, chances are you aren’t drinking enough. Hyponatremia is a tougher topic. But to be safe, follow this rule of thumb: For workouts longer than 60-90 minutes, especially in hot weather, switch from plain water to something with electrolytes. That could be a high-calorie sports drink or fizzy electrolyte tablets.

Copyright © 2015 Levi Bloom www.CoachLevi.com

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3. Consuming Too Many Energy Bars, Gels, and Sports Drinks (All the Time)

Do you know what the purpose of energy bars and gels is? It is to provide a convenient (e.g. easy to carry and consume, quick to digest) source of calories during workouts. But people like convenience a little too much these days. Many people, whether or not they partake in long runs and bike rides, eat energy bars for snacks. And if they’re thirsty, they might grab a sports drink. Well listen up – energy bars are not snacks nor are they meal replacements. For the most part, they aren’t even healthy! Do not rely on this stuff to meet your daily nutrition needs! Go ahead and eat all the energy bars and gels you want during a bike ride or race. But when you’re sitting at home, eat some real food!! In the hours you spend off the bike, you should be focused on providing your body with the nutrients it needs. The best source of nutrients is, without a doubt, unprocessed, natural foods. And rather than simple carbohydrates like you get with an energy bar, you want complex carbs, protein, healthy fats, vitamins, and minerals. Examples of what to eat normally: Oatmeal, sprouted grain bread, grass-fed beef, chicken and turkey, Greek yogurt, broccoli, spinach, avocado, apples, oranges, squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, walnuts, almonds, coconut oil, olive oil, etc. This will provide you with plenty of energy to exercise, nutrients to rebuild muscles, and the vitamins and minerals to keep your body functioning superbly.

Copyright © 2015 Levi Bloom www.CoachLevi.com

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4. Forgetting the Post-Workout Recovery Window The post-workout recovery window has been getting a lot of press the last few years, but not everyone takes it seriously. There are still people that will go out for a killer run, then get home and forget to eat. Or they wait to eat till after driving home. Or maybe they think, “well, dinner is in two hours, I’ll just wait.” Big mistake! When you’re training six days per week, you need to make the most of every opportunity to stay fueled. And your body is primed and ready to be refueled during and shortly after your workouts, so that means you better be eating when you finish a workout! Studies have shown that your body is most receptive to absorbing nutrients and restocking glycogen stores in the time immediately after a workout. The exact time varies, but I go by “eat within 30 minutes of the end of the workout.” That means, when I finish a workout, I eat! Only once I have eaten do I take a shower or move on to other activities. As an endurance athlete, your main goal is getting some carbs and protein. It can be as simple as a 250 calorie snack (similar to what you might eat per hour on a long bike ride.) Commercial recovery drinks will do the trick, and they are great when you’re away from home. But plenty of other options can be made at home in a few minutes. You might do a banana smoothie in the blender, or mix something up real quick in a Blender Bottle. A good, quick option is to mix skim milk (or almond milk,) chocolate Ovaltine powder, and chocolate whey protein powder in the Blender Bottle. The only thing to watch is to limit fat and fiber intake at this time period. It slows digestion, and you want these calories digested as quickly as possible.

Copyright © 2015 Levi Bloom www.CoachLevi.com

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5. Skipping Out On Supplements If you follow my advice in steps 1-4, you’ll have a pretty darn good diet that should provide plenty of nutrients. But that’s not always enough, especially when you’re putting your body through lots of abuse with this endurance training and racing! And sometimes, you just want that extra bit of insurance. So yes, I do recommend supplements for endurance athletes. But keep in mind, supplements are just that – supplementary to a good diet. Some people overuse supplements and think they are a replacement for healthy eating. But that’s not a supplement problem. It’s a diet problem, and proper diet was discussed earlier. This mistake is when you think “ha, I’m too awesome to need any supplements.” Well, you might be right. But are you sure you’re right? It’s hard to answer yes or no without expensive blood tests. So, I take supplements just to be safe. Here are the four main ones I take and recommend: 1. Fish oil, krill oil, or algae pills. Rather than eating lots of fish, I prefer to get my Omega-3 fatty acids from supplements. I look for the high-potency stuff and usually take 4g of fish oil per day during training. 2. Greens supplements. Even if you get your USDA recommended “five a day,” that’s not enough for an athlete. You’re better off with at least 10 servings per day of fruits and vegetables, which can be tough if you’re always on the go. So I supplement with a greens powder made from whole foods. 3. B-vitamins. These really help you feel energetic. Especially if you don’t eat a ton of red meat, supplement with a “B complex” pill. 4. Probiotics. There is increasing evidence to show just how important gut health is for your overall health. And probiotics are a huge help in that area, so I suggest a probiotics powder or liquid every morning.

Copyright © 2015 Levi Bloom www.CoachLevi.com

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6. Not Eating Properly For Your Body If you regularly read about sports nutrition online, chances are you’ve read many, many different opinions and theories. Some approaches call for lots of food before a workout, some for lots of food post-workout, some say to eat only carbs before a workout, etc. A newer trend is to skip all food and begin your workout on an empty stomach. Then you have the Paleo diet, intermittent fasting, low carb diets, ketogenic diets, and many others which could be considered a bit on the “extreme” side! The problem isn’t that the approaches are bad. On the contrary, each approach probably works for some people. Some approaches could work for lots of people. But that doesn’t mean it will work well for you. Just ask your friends or look in online forums – I don’t think there’s a single strategy that everyone can agree on. There is no such thing as the “best diet.” Yet some athletes will blindly do whatever is recommended, even if it doesn’t feel right to them. What I suggest you do is test out different techniques and see what works best for you. For example, try skipping the pre-ride meal a few times. Or try eating different foods at different times before your workout. Heck, you might even try a low-carb diet if you’re a risk taker! It can take a while to nail down the right strategy, but it’s worth it in the end. Then, once you have found a good one, don’t abandon it just because there’s a new article suggesting some fancy new theory on eating. Sure, you might want to test the new idea, but for the most part, focus on eating in whatever manner works for you!

Copyright © 2015 Levi Bloom www.CoachLevi.com

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7. Trying Something New on Race Day Once race day rolls around, you should be moving like a well-oiled machine. Every aspect of your routine should be planned ahead and honed down to a science from past race experience. This includes having your bike set up and adjusted as usual, the same old race kit in your bag, and of course, already knowing what you will eat for breakfast and during your race. This is not the day to make any sort of change, especially to your nutrition! Whatever you eat and drink on race day, specifically for breakfast, the pre-race snack, and all food and fluids consumed during the race, should be rehearsed. You should have used the exact same foods and at the same time on your hard weekend rides/runs. All those hard training sessions aren’t just training your body to perform. They are also time for your body to practice digesting your chosen energy bars and drinks while under stress. If something new doesn’t work, you can change it before race day. That’s why I cringe whenever I see someone grab a free sample of a new energy bar or gel and then suck it down at the start line! (I’ve experienced that horror first-hand!) Yeah, grab your free samples of neat products, but don’t eat them before the race! You never know when something is not going to sit well, or worse, cause an allergic reaction. Just to reiterate, on race day, don’t eat anything new! Only eat what you have been eating in training that has worked!

Copyright © 2015 Levi Bloom www.CoachLevi.com

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Resources and Further Reading: Proper Hydration Techniques: http://coachlevi.com/nutrition/proper-hydration-endurance-sports/ http://coachlevi.com/nutrition/get-electrolytes-without-gatorade/ How to Perform a Sweat Rate Test: http://coachlevi.com/training/how-to-determine-your-sweat-rate/ How to Keep a Food Log: http://coachlevi.com/training/what-to-do-about-food-and-training-logs/ Suggestions for Pre- and Post-ride Meals: http://coachlevi.com/nutrition/what-to-eat-pre-and-post-ride/ http://coachlevi.com/nutrition/eat-during-bike-ride-or-race/ A Review of the Precision Nutrition System: http://coachlevi.com/product-reviews/precision-nutrition/

Copyright © 2015 Levi Bloom www.CoachLevi.com

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Recommended Products: Here are links to some of the products mentioned earlier. Sports Drinks Hammer Heed http://coachlevi.com/product-reviews/hammer-heed-taste-test-review/ GU Brew http://coachlevi.com/product-reviews/gu-electrolyte-brew/ Accelerade http://coachlevi.com/product-reviews/accelerade-protein-sports-drink-taste-test-review/ Electrolyte Supplements Hammer Endurolytes http://coachlevi.com/product-reviews/hammer-nutrition-endurolytes-test-review/ Nuun Tablets http://coachlevi.com/product-reviews/nuun-active-hydration-tablets/ GU Tablets http://coachlevi.com/product-reviews/gu-electrolyte-tablets/ Accessories BlenderBottle Shaker Cup http://coachlevi.com/product-reviews/blenderbottle/

Copyright © 2015 Levi Bloom www.CoachLevi.com

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Omega-3 Supplements VitaCost Mega EFA Fish Oil http://coachlevi.com/product-reviews/vitacost-mega-efa-omega-3-fish-oil/ EnergyBits http://coachlevi.com/product-reviews/energybits/ Greens Supplements Barlean’s Greens http://coachlevi.com/product-reviews/barleans-greens/ Greens+ http://coachlevi.com/product-reviews/greens-plus/ Probiotics Supplements Renew Life Ultimate Flora http://www.amazon.com/Renew-Life-Ultimate-Formula-Capsules/dp/B0042L1S1S/ Integrative Therapeutics Probiotic Pearls http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0011023KS/ Protein Supplements Optimum Nutrition Whey Gold 100% Natural http://coachlevi.com/product-reviews/optimum-nutrition-whey-gold-natural-protein-powder/ True Nutrition Whey Protein Concentrate http://coachlevi.com/product-reviews/true-protein-whey-protein-concentrate/

Copyright © 2015 Levi Bloom www.CoachLevi.com

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If you have any questions, feel free to email me at levi@coachlevi.com!