What is a "Healthy" Carb?

As endurance sports athletes, we hear a lot about good and bad carbohydrates (CHO). So what the heck does that mean and what exactly does CHO do for us?

Carbohydrates are the foundation of any diet for an endurance sports athlete- they provide a rapid source of energy to support your daily activity and training, in addition to replenishing your muscle and liver glycogen stores. Failure to replenish your CHO stores WILL compromise your training, making it harder and harder to recover until you reach a state of burnout. 60% of your daily diet should be carbohydrates.

There are two main types of CHO: simple CHO or sugars (one or two molecules) or complex CHO or starches which can contain thousands of molecules. The old rule of thumb was: simple carbs are bad, complex carbs are good is an outdated concept. The current scientific data suggests we should be far more concerned with the quality of the CHO we ingest, placing an emphasis on wholesome CHO instead of refined CHO.

Wholesome CHO contains vitamins, minerals and fiber where refined CHO in processed food have a much poorer nutrient content, leading to empty carbs. The main thing that we want to be concerned with how the CHO affect our blood sugar and blood glucose levels. Current research indicates that each carb has it own blood glucose profile, based off a ranking system that describes the blood glucose profile- the Glycemic Index (scale is 0-100).

In general, CHO that his high on the glycemic index is >70, medium glycemic index CHO between 50-70 and low glycemic index CHO being <50. style="font-style: italic;">High Glycemic Index:
Instant rice, baked potato, wheat bread, waffle, watermelon, white bagel, pinto beans and black beans

Medium Glycemic Index:
Pineapple, couscous, raisins, brown rice, sweet potato

Low Glycemic Index:
Grapefruit, peaches, apple, whole wheat spaghetti, kidney beans, yogurt, skim milk,

To check the glycemic index of a food that you like, please go to:
http://www.glycemicindex.com/
And click on the “GI Database” tab on the left.

If you can slowly switch the majority of your carbohydrates to low and medium glycemic index CHO, you will see your energy levels increase dramatically during the day and the quality of your training sessions increase dramatically.

The Road to Kona; Chicago Edition #5

I have to admit that this year’s Tour de France has captivated me. After we get up and take our dogs out, I turn on Versus to catch the live action. You can see all the top professional riders sail up the mountains with grace and speed. Who wasn’t amazed to see Alberto Contador climb the Pyrenees? I of course was rooting for Lance to follow Alberto, but those days will come in the Alps.

I often think of myself on those rides. Then you actually look at course profiles. The 112-mile Ironman leg seems like a warm up to most days on the Tour. Even the famous 12 mile climb to Hawi would be a nothing to the pro teams. Of course, I am not 120 lbs like Alberto or even the 160 lbs of Lance. As you can see from the photo, I am more like 5’9” and185lbs. Not exactly the body type of a climber. But I do have a love of riding at my speed and my abilities. The past few weeks we’ve been riding 3 to 3 1/2 hours on the weekends for my personal tour. While I might not fly up the hills, I make it up all the same. My overall goal for Kona is to finish, and getting through 112 miles on my bike will be a great accomplishment.

This past week I also started to focus on my swim with Break Through's Triathlon Swim Program. Mostly I have been swimming by myself at the West Loop Athletic Club, While they have a nice pool, there really is no substitute for group swims. I particularly value Ryan’s individual attention and small group sizes. Hopefully I can see a big improvement from my 1 hour 20 minute Ironman Arizona swim time…

Till next week - Go Lance!

Nutrition for a 3+ Hour Brick in Hot and Humid Weather

An athlete I coach who is preparing for her first Ironman in Arizona this year asked me this question earlier today: "How should my nutrition be for tomorrow...should I just drink water and have GU...do I drink water with that nuun or that other thing with gu? Do I try and eat a bar while out there?" The workout she is referring to is a 3000 meter swim, 2.5 hour bike and 30 minute run off the bike in St. Louis where the heat index is supposed to be around 96 degrees with the humidity in the upper 50% area. My reply is below.

For nutrition, you want to start out with a bottle full of carbohydrate solution per hour- something like Infinit's Ironman Distance Formula. You can get 20% off your order on Infinit if you click the Infinit logo on the
Break Through Multisport homepage. You can supplement your fluid intake with water or water with Nuun or Zym. I prefer the Nuun or Zym since it gets some extra electrolytes into your system. If you like the gels, pop one 45' into the bike and chase it with at least 6-8 ounces of water (not sports drink) and then again at 1:30 and again at 2:15 (every 45'. Make sure you are drinking water with each gel to prevent dehydration.

Once you get off the bike, you can carry a water bottle or if you have a Fuel Belt, that is good too. Load the FB with half the bottles with water and the other half with a sports drink. If you go with the water bottle only, I would go with water since the run is only 30'.

So another key issue is what you eat and drink AFTER the workout to set you up for success on Sunday. You NEED to drink a LOT of water and eat some healthy food all day after the workout to make sure you get rehydrated and refueled. Chocolate milk is a great recovery drink prior to hopping in the shower after the workout. After that, healthy carbs, lean protein and more water all day.

There are three main goals that you want to accomplish nutritionally immediately afterwards (within 30 minutes):
1. Replace your glycogen stores (carbs stored in the body): There are two types of carbs that we are going to want you to ingest:
a. High Glycemic Index (glucose based; sugars in potatoes, rice, grains, Corn Flakes, Cheerios, waffles and bagels): these will get into you system quickly
b. Low Glycemic Index (fructose based; fruit, fruit juices, milk, yogurt, apples, peaches, beans): provides a steady release of glucose into your system over a longer period of time. Make sure at least one serving of fruit is available, this will also help to re-equilibrate your bodies pH level.
We want you to get at least 3/4 of a gram of carbs per pound of body weight. The initial source should be in a liquid form (Infinit Recovery formula), the liquid version gets into you system faster.
2. Rehydrate and replace electrolytes after the workout: On average, endurance athletes will sweat out 1.5 liters of fluid per hour. It is difficult at best to replace all the fluids you lost in the first 30 minutes. You should try to replace 150% of the fluid that you lost during the workout over the first 2-3 hours post-exercise. Start out with 16 ounces of water (with Nuun) for each pound of fluid you lost.
3. Branched Chain Amino Acid support (BCAA's): BCAA's will assist in muscle repair. I would recommend some BCAA supplement pills, they are relatively inexpensive.

To determine your own sweat rate, click here to read an article by Assistant Coach Laura Koerner on calculating your sweat rate.