On my long ride of the year yesterday I had to put down a full on hamstring mutiny. A buddy told me he uses Endurolyte to help with this and it works for him, does it work for you?
Over 4 hours of low effort pedalling I had 48 oz of Skratch mix, one orange, one banana, a bit of plain water, and one snickers bar. I had some Hammer gel packets with me, perhaps I should have opted for those instead of the regular food? Perhaps I should train more (who here says they train too much anyway)?
I was at a stop light and the light turned green and the hams cramped as I was getting back into the pedals. Weather was on the cool side so I wasn’t sweating a ton and there isn’t much climbing in my locale. I’m chalking this up to being at the edge of my conditioning instead of nutrition, what do you think?
Hi
Even low effort, uses fuel and liquid. Breathing out looses moisture. It depends how you prepared the night before too, any alcohol can mean you are dehydrated a bit before even starting event. Even low effort is 500-600 cals an hour. And you still need to drink 500ml per hour even if you are a low sweater.
I have my long event this weekend 307km with 2700m of climbing. All my thoughts have been on Tapering and fueling. Have made my own rice cakes (Old team Sky recipe) and Salt replacement Performance hydration electrolytes all help with preventing cramping.
Although I have no problem recommending Endurolyte it looks like you took in ~2 bottles of fluid for a 4 hour ride? Even if you’re riding in cooler temps I would try to get in one bottle per hour. Also, you said this was your long ride of the year…what length rides have you been riding leading up to this?
Previous, my long was 52miles, this ride was 67 miles. I’ve logged 2-3 40+ mile rides but most are in the 25-30 mile range. As I’ve said my volume and intensity is way down this year. I ran an hour FTP test about 3 weeks ago but that and a few stravabation sessions intensity has been kept down too.
It’s possible that your cramps were due to lack of conditioning. No supplement really cures that.
On the question of how to avoid cramps, it’s better to have the full context. For a discussion with sources, Hammer has a paper. Generally my impression of Hammer Nutrition is that everything I’ve tried is high quality. I have noticed that Endurolytes (esp. Endurolytes Extreme) work well in situations where I am in peril of dehydration. In hot, humid conditions or at altitude a lot of water is lost in respiration and perspiration or some combination, the danger is more pronounced. Taking on some electrolytes with my nutrition and water seems to work for me. I think it’s just a part of the puzzle.