Endurance training

[RidetheRAAM4]

So with a few races under my belt now I have some sort of idea what I need to work on. My main problem is that after like 2 laps I start to cramp up. I always just bonk. Is there any book or anything like that that any of you have read that give you tips on avoiding this? like any endurace trianing books that would include something like nutrition for endurance athletes and training and race tips or anything like that would be very helpful.

[ocrider]

u should be eating around 300 calories an a hour and about a liter of water an hour. Are you takeing in enough salt? try ecaps. They will help you with your cramping.
www.hammernut.com

[RidetheRAAM4]

Originally Posted by ocrider

u should be eating around 300 calories an a hour and about a liter of water an hour. Are you takeing in enough salt? try ecaps. They will help you with your cramping.
www.hammernut.com

i did it with a 3 man team and between laps i would have like 600 calories, so that would have been 600 calories for 3 hours so that probably wasnt enough? or because i wasnt riding the whole time is that good enough? I made sure to have at least 1 gel per lap. i don't know how much salt i was getting but i had some tortilla chips so that had a lot of salt.

We should do some more rides again.

[ocrider]

1 gel is like 100 calories. But dont eat to much. If you eat too much alot of your blood is gonna go to your stomach so your muscles wont be getting as much blood which will make the burn worse and can cause cramping.

[RidetheRAAM4]

Originally Posted by ocrider

1 gel is like 100 calories. But dont eat to much. If you eat too much alot of your blood is gonna go to your stomach so your muscles wont be getting as much blood which will make the burn worse and can cause cramping.

yeah i wouldnt have just one gel, but when i was eating i would have like some granola bars and a gel and a sandwhich, stuff like that. Maybe i ate too much. Does strength training play any role into cramping? Maybe I am pushing too hard in the beginning and my legs can't handle it for too long? Or as long as I am riding a lot should I be fine?

[SAR_boats]

Strength doesn't play as big a role as one might think. typically if your muscles will fail before they cramp if the load is too high. You may want to consider upping your potassium intake. Potassium aids a lot in the prevention of cramps.

[Evel Knievel]

Bananas with breakfast. Go down, digest, and if need be come up easy.

Every other bottle of water , use gatorade of something like that. Sweat and urine wash out the salts and other stuff. You need to replace.

If you are racing a six hour period, train for eight hours at a time.

Heart rate go up with excitement. Wasting energy and focus. Relax or meditate for the hour before start time.

At the race start go out at 80% effort. Way less chance to cramp at this pace. Longer it goes on the more 100%r's you will pass. 110%r's are increasing the chances of crash/mech/blowup, don't fall into that for an endurance race. At the half way point you'll get a measure of where you are in the race. Form there you can decide if this paced effort will get you to the finish or even finish first. Or if there is a chance for the all out effort to get a win will do. By not going all out to this point your tank should have the reserve to win the sprint.

good luck and post a RR.