I just finished my peak training week in preparation for my first century (not my first attempt, but I’m going to make it this time!). In the last two days, I put over 100 miles on my bike. This morning, I learned that doubling my usual serving of oatmeal was a bad idea. It might have aided my mostly really good during-ride BG’s, but I was too full starting out. Duly noted for event day.
All that time on the bike had my mind wandering to food. I’ve been struggling to figure out what to eat and how much to make sure I have the stores I need as well as a fueling plan for the big ride. I have mostly sorted out on bike fuel and hydration. I am using the interval feature on my cheap sports watch to remind me every 30 min to check that I’ve downed at least 1/2 a bottle of water (some w/electrolytes) and every hour to check and eat something. That routine may be modified to coincide with rest stops, but the hydration reminders will stick – I’ve definitely gotten better at that this weekend.
General food, though, that’s been tough. I’ve been saying for about a month that I need a soigneur. Since that’s not likely, I’m juggling training, work, work, (minimal) household chores, and eating. Without a plan, I have a hard time really cooking for myself, but I’ve stocked up on relatively healthy things so I don’t starve or eat low nutrition valued food too often.
Last week, I bought a four-week meal plan for athletes online. The carb counts on some of the meals are insane. I realized that in order to make the plan work for me, I’d have to rewrite it. Well, that doesn’t really remove the work from my shoulders, does it? And there were a lot of clams in that plan. I can’t say clams are a staple in my diet.
Back to my stand-bys and more research.
I started following Skratch Labs on Facebook recently and noticed that they’ve been posting some recipes. In addition to sharing some of what they are cooking up for Levi Leipheimer’s Omega Pharma-Quick Step team at Velo News, there are recipes and interesting nutritional experiments on the Feed Zone Cookbook website. Based on the few things I skimmed on the website, I’ve requested the cookbook from the library. We’ll see how it works for me.
How do you plan your food and make sure you are getting enough of the good stuff while you’re training? Do you have any favorite resources or recommendations?
Ok Heather I will come out and cook for you. I wish that would be possible. I have the same problem and this is what I have done to make my life a little easier. I have to plan and cook on the weekends. If I don’t I end up not eating enough. The one problem with cooking on the weekend is that during the week what sounded good on Sunday doesn’t sound so good on Thursday. So, I make 2-4 entrees and portion them into single serving sizes and freeze a portion of what I made. That way I can just pull something out of the freezer if I don’t feel like eating what is in the refrigerator. I also calculate the nutritional info for my meals and snacks. I try to plan this out for the week to make sure I have everything I need. There are certain things I eat all the time so it makes it easier to calculate my calories, protein, fat, carbohydrates and fiber. It takes a little work but I have gotten used to the routine. If I am missing protein, carbohydrates. etc. for the day I have a favorites list of what I can choose from. My other problem is eating so much, so I eat every 2-3 hours, much easier for me. My old stand by is if I can’t chew it, I will drink what I need (smoothies).
You are almost at your goal, keep up the good work.