Name of the blog | Endurance athletes - is your fueling strategy adequate?

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Endurance athletes - is your fueling strategy adequate?

25 June 2009 04:58 | Posted by: Jayme Mart

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The 2009 Tour de France starts on Saturday 4th of July and finishes on Sunday the 26th of July. The Tour will cover a total of 21 stages over 3500km, which is broken down into; 10 flat stages, 7 mountain stages, 1 medium mountain stage, 2 individual time-trial stages, 1 team time-trial stage.

The physiological demands and changes in climate throughout the different stages mean that it is paramount that these cyclists adhere to a finely tuned nutrition and hydration strategy. On average the cyclists have a high energy intake requirement of 8 – 11g/kg/day. Studies have shown that 30% of their daily energy intake is ingested as liquid carbohydrate (CHO) with the goal of maintaining energy and carbohydrate balance whilst on the bike. It has been noted that riding tactics interfere with the consumption of substantial amounts of fluid and CHO while cycling; therefore nutritional strategies during long stage races favour a greater reliance on pre-stage intake and post-stage recovery meals to achieve nutritional goals.

With such high demands placed on endurance athletes during competition, it is often difficult to ensure an adequate fuelling strategy is adhered to. Are you an endurance cyclist or runner? Does your current dietary strategy fuel you adequately to enable optimal performance?

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