Friday, September 29, 2006

Food log

I'm going to keep a food log for the next week at least to track food intake. The metrics I'm really interested in is carb intake, timing of the carb intake related to training, and how I feel. Specifically, I'm concerned about my excercise induced hypoglycemia

This is basically a situation where I feel lightheaded/dizzy pretty much like bonking right at the beginning of a ride. I'm very susceptible to it in early afternoon and evening riding/commuting. It's one thing to be 3hrs into a hard ride and start to bonk. But to be lightheaded within minutes of just tooling around a parking lot praticing trackstands/wheelies isn't right. It is starting to really piss me off and it affects any training not done in the morning. Here are some specific examples and observations.

I used to have 2 bowls of cereal then ride into work. By the end of a 1/2hr commute I'd be dizzy. Solved this by intaking some protein such as an egg white.

Good breakfast, snacks at 10, lunch at 12, snacks again at 1. Go outside to practice some skills for a break at like 2pm. Within minutes I'd be dizzy

Riding at 1pm, thought I'd eaten enough earlier in the day. Bonked from the start. Started to slam my energy drink. Took about 45mins for it to kick in then felt fine.

Commuting home at 5. light headed. It seems like I graze all day and have a good lunch.

If I have just coffee and then jump on the trainer, I'm fine and can do a pretty hard workout. As long as I am intaking energy drink from the start of the workout, I'm pretty good. If I were to eat something small first then ride 1/2hr later I'd be dizzy.

From observation, if I take in a small amount of carbs (30-50g) in the hour prior to exercising, I'll feel light headed at the start of the workout. Sometimes it goes away in like 15 mins, other times not.

If I intake 70g of carb w/in the hour preceding the workout I don't feel lightheaded.

Potential problems.
1) not intaking enough carbs during the day preceding exercise. (general daily recommendations range from 6-10g/lg body weight: 340-570g/day)
2) taking 70g or less 1hr before that triggers a hypoglycemic reaction
3) Not taking enough protein/fat to help balance the carb. When I added some protein to breakast it help significantly with feeling light headed on my commute

I've lost a significant amount of weight over the last 5 weeks. I think this has exacerbated the condition. I'm also just doing more riding in the afternoons/evenings which naturally has brought more attention to the issue.

My pre-race preparation has been working well and has induced no hypoglycemic reactions.

Pre race prep:
-4-5g carb/kg body weight 3hours prior to race
-70g carb liquid form 45mins before event
-40g carb/hr liquid for during race

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