Well, that was interesting.
The other day, when I rode to Hawi and back, about 106 miles,
I did my usual fueling, hydration, etc and things seemed to go well until about Waikoloa, on the way back.
I found I was getting a bit tired, after 80 miles, that's to be expected, but several things were a bit unusual:
Then, that night, every hour on the hour, I deposited water in the toidy.
My weight, at the end of the ride was X, my weight in the morning was X-4%! That's a huge amount of water to "deposit".
So,
WTF? Why wasn't the water be absorbed?
Were my bowels "plugged" so the water didn't more far enough to be absorbed well?
This experience shed new illumination and perspective on the well know BKM of "carb loading".
Doing a bit of web search from a "keeping the bowels open" and remembering my colonoscopy experiences :-(, I found a couple of interesting quotes:
" The last day of your carbo loading will be centered on simple carbohydrates,.."
"If you’re prone to stomach issues on race day, you may consider staying away
from high fiber meals (salads) within 48 hours of your race day."
" Loading is usually done starting 3 days prior to the event."
".. she never ate a very big meal the night before a marathon, as it usually
would give her trouble the next day. She preferred to eat a bigger lunch..."
".. Be sure that you carbo-load, not fat-load..."
" Minimize fibre-rich food.."
" It’s also a good idea to wake 3 hours before your race to eat a high carb breakfast..
This allows your body time to process your fuel, excrete any unused portion,..."
"<<<make up/recite your own personal experience on the wonderfulness of carb loading>>>"
When I think about the body and fuel storage, it is very clear that
So, what is with this "carb loading" thing for events longer than 6 hours?
So, what if the actual value/effect of "carb loading" is about the same as the bowel cleaning for a colonoscopy? (by the way, the Doc let me eat Gu and Gatoraide the day before, it has little to no residue! Could have gone for a bike ride :-)
That would explain a number of my experiences:
Bottom line:
with clear digestion: 200 miles OK, with non-empty: 100 miles is pushing it!
The certainly explains why Carb Loading is so popular and why the "research" is so fragmented.
They are doing something, with good effect but the rationalization is garbage!
So, for my next long rides, I will make sure that my food the day before is:
OK, it seems pretty straight forward: