Cyclist Manuel Conrad from the former cycling team Dicolli-Sportbenzin reports on his experiences with catering during the Tortour 2020. The report is supplemented by helpful tips and tricks from Hammer Nutrition. These tips are to be understood as guidelines. Every body reacts differently, which is why the catering must always be adapted to the respective needs.
Since this was supposed to be my first torture tour – or my first race over such a distance at all – I had plenty in advance At a loss when it came to nutrition . The catering during the individual stages was not an issue, as I was only under two hours of stress here, far below what I am used to from the cycling marathons. Here I relied entirely on the supply of liquid carbohydrates using gels and sports drinks, an activator from Sponser provided the kick before the individual stages.
Awesome tip: Instead of caffeine boosters (Sponser Activator) before the start, Fully Charged ingestion: shortens the warm-up time, increases blood circulation, buffers lactate and increases mental sharpness. More performance with less BPM! Not like standard caffeine bombs.
What worried me more was the food intake between the individual uses – after all, it was necessary to last thirty hours without getting into hypoglycaemia or “overfeeding”. I was also unsure how my stomach would cope with the whole thing, since it was already relatively sensitive in longer marathons such as the Ötztaler or Engadiner and often acknowledged the high intake of carbohydrates with nausea towards the end.
Hammer tip: After the stages, optimally fill the glycogen stores and support muscle regeneration with Recoverite (optimal mixing ratio of carbohydrates to protein 3: 1). At best, eat a few easily digestible carbohydrates with a little protein, e.g. Porridge with some vegan protein from Hammer Nutrition.
In my perplexity, I decided to buy as broadly as possible and then simply eat whatever I wanted or whatever I could think of during the race. So I cooked two servings of pasta with plenty of salt and no sauce, bought a large pack of pretzel rolls, two pots of rice pudding, a little dried meat for the protein balance as well as a lot of tartlets, nut rolls and sweet drinks – because I always drink, eat it such a thing …
Awesome tip: ATTENTION! These are all very SIMPLE SUGAR-containing foods. This affects regeneration and the level of performance.
One thing first: I didn’t eat much of all that stuff in the end … My appetite stopped relatively early and I struggled with nausea, a sour stomach and heartburn.
Awesome tip: Possibly. eaten too soon before the race? Did you ignore the three-hour rule? Maybe you ate the wrong thing? So the body was busy with digestion or could no longer digest properly due to the stress and acknowledged it with nausea etc. Recommendation: last meal 300-500 kcal 3 hours before the race. Complex carbohydrates and some protein. Calorie intake during the race per hour: approx. 120-180 kcal, liquid: approx. 600-750 ml, if you are under enormous stress and / or very hot, also take Endurolytes (full-spectrum electrolytes. The body not only needs salt!) Capsules. LESS IS MORE!
The only things that I managed to bring down relatively well were the pretzel rolls as well as some small hazelnut rolls and Linzertartchen. Towards the middle of the race, during a long break, I forced myself to eat one portion of the pasta I had brought with me, the second traveled unused through Switzerland, as did the rice pudding and the dried meat. In the end, the calories came mainly from small snacks such as B. a regeneration drink (Recoverite from Hammer)! SUPER! after each stage and one or two bars (Sponser Salty and Nuts, to have a change from the sweets)
Hammer Tip: The sponsor Salty Nut’s tastes less sweet, but it also has sugar. We recommend the Raw Bars from Hammer Nutrition, made on the basis of nut or date butter. 70-100% prepared raw. Digestive enzymes still present. Supports the acid-base balance positively
and liters of sugary drinks (cola, iced tea …).
Awesome tip: Sweet drinks such as cola, iced tea … are not recommended as they lead to worse Regeneration, more acidity, etc. lead. We recommend HEED. Provides long-lasting energy, buffers lactate, has a complete electrolyte profile or PERPETUEM with additional essential amino acids (protein).
All in all, certainly not optimal, but such loads have their own laws and what the farmers do not want , in the end he doesn’t eat that either …
According to hearsay, the issues of nausea and heartburn weren’t just a problem for me. It would certainly be interesting, also with a view to future marathons, to find out the cause and to find a strategy to prevent or at least alleviate these complaints (which, ironically, are hardly noticeable during exercise, but are all the more noticeable afterwards).
Great tip: LESS IS MORE! Nausea and heartburn are often caused by excessive calorie intake. We recommend between 120 and 180 calories per hour. The principle “as little as possible, as much as necessary” always applies.