Mastering the art of fuelling to train effectively isn’t always easy to get your head around. When you are working hard and nailing those sessions day in, day out; the success of your training shouldn’t come down to chance.
We’ve teamed up with Spoked.ai - a cycling coaching app that makes personalised training simple through the power of tech, coaches and community. We’ve taken some key sessions you’ll experience on the app and provided you with the best outlook on how to combat those all-important sessions from a nutrition front.
Interval session
The interval session on the graphic runs for a total of 2 hours and comprises short and sharp high-intensity intervals, ideal for developing power for punchy hills and sprint finishes. There are two key things we have to take note of:
- The duration of the session is 2 hours long and will require a level of fuelling regardless of the intensity set
- The high-intensity intervals will naturally be fuelled from the glycogen stores in your muscles, of which we have a limited supply
In order to get the best results from the session, we need to ensure we meet the energy input to execute the output.
Firstly, we should take a look at hydration. As a minimum we would look to consume one 500ml bottle of fluid every hour, this may increase a little if you are on the turbo trainer or in warm conditions. Supplementing water with the award-winning Rawvelo Hydration Drink Mix is a must, especially for those that sweat more than others. According to the TEKKERZ team, try mixing the flavours half and half for a winning combination that tastes like Refreshers.
Fuelling for a session that is over 90 minutes long requires ‘little and often’ fuelling. As mentioned in our first journal entry with Spoked.ai, we noted the optimal quantity of carbohydrates you should be consuming is around 60-80g per hour of exercise. The Spoked.ai interval session has a nice steady warm-up with some short bursts, to get the legs fired up and ready to go. After the warm-up where you have some steady state riding, we would suggest taking a Rawvelo Organic Energy Gel, maybe even a caffeine gel to give you that little extra boost as you start the intervals.
Next, we would recommend having a second energy gel about halfway through the set of intervals to maintain glycogen levels in the blood, helping to reduce the impact of fatigue at the back end of the session. If you are getting to the end of this session feeling hungry then you may want to replace the initial gel with a bar to make it more substantial, something you will need to work on for your personal preferences.
Aerobic Endurance Ride
The purpose of an aerobic endurance ride is to build the foundations for what high-intensity training can sit on, like a pyramid. An endurance ride of around 4 hours is a good way to achieve this. Typically, for those working full time, we would look to do this over a weekend where we get up and have a solid breakfast, such as porridge to fuel a long period of time in the saddle. Fuelling for long steady rides, we would take the same hydration approach as we would for Interval training, a minimum of one 500ml bottle of fluid every hour.
Having started the day with a good breakfast we wouldn’t expect to start fuelling on the bike until about 75 minutes in. For this, we would recommend mixing up how we are getting the energy into our system. Having different sources of carbohydrate as food rather than all gels makes consuming food easier and less repetitive.
We would suggest taking a Rawvelo Organic Energy gel around 2 hours and around 3 hours 15 minutes into the ride but also supplemented with snacking on Rawvelo Organic Energy bars 75 minutes and at 2 and a half hours in to add some solid food for digestion. While these suggestions are approximate, hillier rides or rides at the more intense end of your aerobic capacity will require more fuelling to support the output of effort.
Top tip: always carry a backup gel or bar to help you out if you get lost or are more fatigued than normal.
Head over to the Spoked.ai app to kick start your journey to becoming the fittest version of yourself, with access to daily sessions tailored to your progress, weekly group sessions and newsletters, you’ll have everything you need to set you on the path to success. Powered by nature, the Rawvelo Sample Pack is the best place to start to support your next athletic adventure. Best of luck and don’t forget to share your journey on social.
