Food and Sleep

It won’t come as any surprise that food and sleep are critically important for endurance athletes. The surprise is that some people still more or less ignore them.

And by some people, I mean me. I’ve applied the food and sleep rules to myself in ways that are wildly inconsistent and illogical (cue the circus music). I was eating a lot on my rides and almost nothing on my runs. As for sleep…huh? Why?

On my long rides, I eat a lot. I refuse to consume gels. They might take up less space, but they’re gross and I feel like they’re responsible for most gut issues in a race. Load up on those and no wonder you feel like crap after a couple of hours.

Instead, I eat real food: mini potatoes rolled in salt; peanut butter and jam sandwiches; baby food; rice krispie squares; gummies; quinoa bars. A friend suggested salted pasta. I tried it last Saturday and it was so great that I’ve made it a permanent addition to the list.

50g of carbs per hour is what my coach says I need. She made me list out what I eat on my rides and check the number of carbs each item contains. I was certain I was eating enough. But I was wrong.

On my long runs, I wasn’t even coming close to consuming 50g of carbs per hour, nor was I hydrating enough. I’d bring a little packet of Welch’s gummies and some salt and vinegar chips and call it a day. However, on my last few runs, I made sure to consume what I was supposed to, and—no surprise—I felt so much better.

I now force myself to eat a proper breakfast before a long workout, even if it’s six a.m. and a bowl of Cream of Wheat is the last thing I feel like having.

The night before a particularly long workout, I make sure to get to bed early. I can’t overemphasize the difference a good night’s sleep makes to the quality of your training. This is something I have really neglected in the past. But Garmin being Garmin, it tracks everything, so I started paying attention. That was when I realized I wasn’t sleeping enough.

I also guard my rest days religiously and take regular recovery weeks that are actually recovery weeks and not just pretend. Whether I feel like I need them or not. I used to be an expert at pretend recovery, because how can doing less be a good idea? But of course, it is. Rest is where the gains are made. It’s one of those counter-intuitive things, like running slow to get fast.

Yes, these things are obvious now that I know them.

Yes, I’m a slow learner. 

I tended to operate on the “exception” basis, i.e. what’s true for other people couldn’t also be true for me. But no: five hours of sleep is not enough, not for me or anyone else. Scarfing down a piece of toast before a long ride is not enough. Maybe I was able to get by on doing this for a while, but I’m getting older, and my body is becoming less generous about cutting corners. If I don’t get enough food or sleep, I feel it.

These are easy, solvable problems, so I figured…why not solve them?

Happy training!