V-Club Training Corner

We’ve teamed up with Marilyn Trout, certified USA Cycling Elite Coach to answer V-Club members’ training questions.

Send your cycling inquiries to Marilyn, and for a limited time, if yours is selected to be answered in our V-Club column, VeloWear will send you a $20 gift certificate that can be used towards any purchase on VeloWear.com. To submit your inquiry, visit her website at http://www.bicyclecoach.com/profile.php?id=358, click on the “Click to Email” link, and type “V-Club Training Question” in the subject line of the e-mail.

V-Club member Annie Rodriguez is our first winner of a $20 VeloWear gift certificate!

"Riding Strong With Hypoglycemia"
Question from V-Club member Glenn Stephenson

I am 57-year-old male road/mtn rider. I treat Hypoglycemia by eating small meals throughout the day as much as possible. On Saturday rides (65-90 miles) and on centuries I have not found a way to eat enough to stay strong. The heat zaps me terribly.

Is there anything I can do to combat the effects of low blood sugar? Is hypoglycemia causing the bonk in the heat?

Notes: I eat 1/2 peanut butter and honey on raisin bread every hour. Drink at least 1 bottle of MyoGenisis every hour.

Live in a very hilly area.

Usually average 17+ on rides w/ 3-4K climbing and ~20 on relatively flat rides.

Thanks,
Glenn

 

Glenn,

There are three areas I'll address in answer to your question. Firstly, the training aspect, then the ride food and supplements, and finally your eating habits.

The training you describe has you riding long only on Saturdays. While you'll see slight training progress with once a week stimulus, you'll improve more if you can get another ride of at least two hours a second time some weeks. Your shorter, hilly rides and indoor spin classes tend to focus on short intervals that increase speed. To improve your endurance, a longer, steady pace session would be better.

On long ride days you say you use Myogenisis drink, Hammer Gels, Powerbars, and peanut butter with honey on raisin bread. Nix the PB with honey first. Honey is a very simple sugar and would give you an insulin spike, followed by the fatigue feelings. In my experience, peanut butter has too much fat to be metabolized on a ride and can sit in your stomach, bogging you down. Try sticking to the other items, testing on a two-hour ride before you go longer. I think you feel fatigued more in the heat as it raises your heart rate, taxing your system more. You could also try alternating your drink with sips of just plain water to help your body sweat to cool down.

In general, it's great that you are managing hypoglycemia by diet alone. Your meals should focus on vegetables, lean protein, and whole grains. It's interesting that you switch from processed cereal to oatmeal on Saturdays - why not try steel cut oats everyday? It has the beneficial oat germ, while rolled oats and cereals processed with sugar do not.

As with anything in cycling, it's best to make small changes and note how your body responds over a few weeks, before changing again. To summarize, I believe it's safe for you to add a ½ hour to one of your 1.5-hour rides to work on endurance, and to stop using the PB and honey right away. We could all use more vegetables, less fat and processed foods, so thanks for the reminder.

Peg Labiuk

Peg Labiuk (nee Peggy Maass) is a certified NCCP level 3 coach with a career in international road and track racing. She is a World Championship medalist, World Record holder, U.S. Olympic Team member, former British national team coach and Kreb's Cycle co-founder (British Columbia, Canada).