Marathon You Can Do It

They say the most important meal of the day is breakfast. This is even more important for cyclist who need plenty of energy to power their rides.

A breakfast for a cyclist should be a feast. A large breakfast raises liver glycogen stores and blood glucose levels.

Many experts recommend the meal to be eaten at least three hours before you go out for your morning ride. The three hour period is enough time to allow ingestion.

Breakfast food types for cyclist

Food type should be easy to digest foods. Breakfast meal can consist of mainly of energy giving foods, cereal, dairy or soy milk, juice, and toast with plenty of carbohydrate rich jam. For the days when a rider does his long runs and hills he may add in some protein from eggs and egg whites, protein powder, and even add in a large bowl of rice and pasta.

Breakfast Drink for Riders

A fresh fruit juice will provide much needed energy. Caffein is the drink of choice for many Tour De France riders. Many Tour De France riders start the day with plenty of coffee to lift their brain power and energy levels. Moderate doses of caffeine should be well tolerated and provide a legal performance boost.

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Best Energy, Blood Glucose Levels, Bowl Of Rice, Brain Power, Breakfast Food, Caffein, Carbohydrate, Egg Whites Protein, Energy Giving Foods, Energy Levels, Food Type, Food Types, Fresh Fruit Juice, Ingestion, Least Three Hours, Legal Performance, Liver Glycogen, Moderate Doses, Power And Energy, Protein Powder, Tour De France

Watching tour de france every year I have always wondered how much calories do these riders consume.

These super fit riders are on a bike for 3 weeks, cycling for over four hours a day. With such a grueling schedule the energy demands must be astronomical.

Daily amount of calories consumed by a rider.

According to Velo News tour article,

Researchers have actually quantified the nutritional consumption of riders in the Tour de France (1991 Tour), and the Tour of Spain (1998 Tour), and measured that riders average a daily food intake of 4,000 to 8,000 calorie

Daily carbohydrates consumed by a Tour De France rider

It is estimated that the Tour de France requires a carbohydrate intake of 13 g/kg (6 g/lb.) of body weight, and they need to intake these amounts day after day.

Another interesting analysis is from sports scientists.They have a neat anaylsis on how much a 78Kg rider will need to consume to avoid fatigue and remain competitive. Read it at sports scientist

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Amount Of Calories, Calories Intake, Carbohydrate Intake, Carbohydrates, Consumption, Daily Calories, Daily Food Intake, Energy Demands, fatigue, Food Calories, France Tour, Grueling Schedule, Kg, Scientist, Scientists, Spain Tour, Tour De France, Tour France, Tour Of Spain, Tour Spain

Lindsey Vonn is the top draw athlete at 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, British Columbia.Thats sports illustrated did the unusual and put her on the cover page on the 2010 Winter games edition.

Controversy! What controversy?

Lindsey Vonn Ski Training

In a Wall street journal interview the American skier disclosed how she trains to win gold (s).

Lindsey Vonn trains six to eight hours a day, six days a week. Most days she gets in three hours of cardio, usually on a bike. In Austria her trainers have her do Tour de France–style hill rides up the Alps. Her strength workouts are heavily focused on building her core. Perhaps the most challenging requires her to balance on a tightrope in a squat position while throwing a medicine ball at different angles against a wall.

Read the rest of the interview at wsj magazine

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Chris Carmichael was Lance Armstrong coach since 1990 and he is the one who designed his nutritional program that powered the Texan to eight Tour De France victories.

The goal of the nutritional program was to ensure Lance Armstrong remained lean and powerful.

The coach looked at the demands of his training and lifestyle and used that information to design his nutrition program.

Off season training diet

During the fall and winter Lance trained at moderate intensity. To fuel this level of training, he didnt need as many calories as he does at the height of the racing season. He ate less food during this time. 60% of his calories came from carbohydrates. Protein was added into the mix

Training for The Tour De France.

AS the tour neared, the coach altered the nutritional program. Lance ate more food and 70% of his calories came from carbohydrates because he needed the fast-burning fuel to power his aerobic and anaerobic energy systems. Protein intake was reduced.

As adopted from NBC article to read the full article click the link.

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Burning Fuel, Calories, Chris Carmichael, Coach, Diet Program, Energy Systems, Fall And Winter, France Victories, Lance Armstrong, Lifestyle, Moderate Intensity, Nbc, Nutrition Program, Nutritional Diet, Protein Intake, Tour De France