Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Brad Lackey's mp· training program ip By Dean Miller and Len Weed Th is and future ins tallments au excer p ted from Championship Train ing, featuring Brad Lack ey, by Brad 's persona l train er, Dean M iller, and L en Wud. A /I first person co m men ts are by Dean M iller. Be awar e that man y areas of sp orts medicin e, train in g , and n u trition do not offer black-and-wh ite answers. T rain in g is as m uch an art fo rm as it is a science. In m any ways, prep arin g an athlete is si milar to tun in g a racing engine. It's part study , pa rt ex periment, part dream ing up new approach es, par t tryin g diffeunt combinations. It 's p utting past resu lts and present ideas together, searching for something that wo rks better. R esearch often suggests ansuiers bu t conclusive evidence ma y be lacki ng. A n d con ti n uing research someti mes quest ion s or invalidates pr in ciples and ap proach es previ ously accepted. Diff erin g views, w h ere applicable, w ill be f!lenti on ed along with indicat ion s of n ew research that ma y change preoail in g uieuis. 24 Pre-Competition mea ls The pre-game meal really doesn't help performance much. The food yo u ea t 24 to 48 hours prior to co mpetiti on provid es most of yo ur fu el su p p ly. Use the pre-competition meal to a void probl em s: o Ea t enough to prevent feeling hungry or weak during co mpetition . (A nearl y em p ty stomach a llows th e diaphragm to expand more, a n a id to deep breath in g. ) o Finish yo ur p re-game mea l at least three h ours before competition. Don ' t overload your system. You can't cram last-minute energy. o An y eating within three hours of exertion should be no more than light toast or a small glass of mi lk. Avoid eati ng less than an hour before exertion. o Avoid a high protein, h igh fat, bulky, spicy mea l th at wi ll tax digestion . o Dr ink enough fl u ids to prevent de hydra tio n. Dr inking shou ld co n tin ue a fter the pre-game meal. o Limit refined sugar intake to avoid low blood sugar response. Sugar concent ra tes can al so upset th e stoma ch or cause fatigue to set in soo ner. Eat fruit instead; its fru ctose co ntent takes longer to break down. o Reduce roughage. Some authorities sugges t eliminat in g salads for two da ys prior to competiri on to a llow grea ter co ns u m p tio n o f energy-filled foods. Other authorities feel that salads act as fillers for athletes with nervous stomachs. Roughage should definitely not be reduced if it affects regularity. o o o o o Avoid foods th at are more likel y to cause food poisoning. This list includes tu rk ey, gra vy, crea m , a nd pastry. Eat what you' re familiar with. Eat wh at yo u think will help yo u better. Consider skip p ing vitamin and mineral su p p leme n ta tio n. Some studies sugges t tha t n iacin m a y inhibit free fatty ac ids in th e bl ood, thus fo rcing the body to burn more carbohydrate fuel. Snac k light ly, if at a ll , during a lon g competition day. Snacks shou ld be easily digestible and low in sugar and fat co nt en t. Complex carbohydrates ma ke good snacks because they won 't upset the blood's sugar level or retard absorption of body fI uids fro m the stomach. Triarhletes who swim, bicycle and run a marathon generally favor fruits (such as bananas and oranges) and grai n p rod ucts (such as whole wheat bread o r Fig Newtons). Their abili ty to go 10 hours n onstop, snacki ng o n the move, dem ons tra tes th at n orm al ea ting is not necessa ry on a co mpe tition day. Fluid intak e is more im portant. N utritional ma nipulation Two aspect s of ca r bo hy d ra te fueling have attrac ted considerable research: improving glycogen storage a nd retarding the burning of glycogen. Two different loading programs have emerged from this research: o Gl ycogen (or carboh ydrat e) load ing. This increases the body's storage of carbohydr at es. o Caffein e loading. Th is man ipulates the body to burn more fat and less gl ycogen. Carbohydrate loading Carbohydrate loading, at least a modified version of the concept first developed, is now generally accepted for energizing endurance athletes. Carbohydrate loading research in Sweden in the 1960s indicated that the body could store more glycogen fuel if its supply was first depleted by strenuous exercise and a low carbohydrate diet a nd then replenished with a h igh-carbohydrate in take for several da ys before competition. A glycogen-depleted body tends to overcompensate when a high carbohydrate diet is resumed, increasing its gl ycogen storage beyond its previous level. In a controlled study (by scien tists Per-Olof Astra nd and Eri c Hultman ), . su bjects were tested on sta tio nary exercise bi cycles. They rode to exhausti on whil e working at 75 percent o f their max imum oxygen uptake capacity. This stress load, beyond aero bic ca paci ty, for ced th e su bjects to deplete th eir gl ycogen fuel. The subj ects were pl aced o n th e three different di ets in th ree day interva ls: Normal (50 percent ca rbo hy dra te, 32 percent fat , 18 pe rcen t protein). High Protein a nd Fat (55 percent protein, 45 percent fat ). H igh Carbohydr at e (82 percent carbohydrate, 18 p ercent protein ). Diet Grama of glycogen per Ave r.ge minute. 100 g rems of w et tiuue until e . he uatio n Norma l Prote in & Fat High Carbohydrate. 1.93 126 0 .69 59 3.70 189 T he study revealed tha t the hi gh ca r bo hy dra te su bjects were ab le to store about twice as m uch g lycogen fuel and use tha t fuel to perform about 50% lo nger than subjects on a normal diet. The high-carbohydrate group lasted about three times longer than the protein-and-fat group. Original loading programs recommended a three-day lo w-carbohydra te diet to keep the system de p rived fo llowi ng a stren uous g lycogen-dep icting workout. This was th en foll ow ed by th ree mi ld -exercise days o n a hi ghca rbohy dra te d iet to replen ish a nd increase th e g lycogen stores. This form of carbo hydra te loading has been used successfu lly with proper su pervisio n . It sh ould not be practiced o n a regular basis because carbohydrat e deprivari on is not nutritionally desirable. In recent years many athletes have del eted the three days o f low -carbohydrate intake from the program. A strenuous workout is still used to deplete the stores, but a steady highca rbohy d ra te d iet is maintained. The athlete reduces h is workouts as the competition approaches so he doesn't burn his stored gl ycogen. Resea rch has shown that this approach offers almost the same glycogen boost while eliminating possible problems asso- ciated with carbohydrate deprivation. It is important to understand that the term carbohydrate loading does not mean stuffing in extra carbohydrates. Nutritional intake isn't necessarily increased, it's just rearranged. Q ua lity carbohydrates (the complex type found in vegetables, fruits, and grains) should be favored while sugar calories are avoided. The average body can store about 350 grams of gl ycogen. (Ap p ro ximatel y one-third as liver glycogen, with less th an five percent as glucose in body tissue.) This gly cogen offers about 1400 calories (four calories per gram ). Runningata five-minute-mile pace bums about 1200 calories per an hour, but a significant portion of that is fat fuel. Marathoners tend to deplete gly cogen sto ra ge in th eir legs at about th e 20-mile mark. Mild ca r bo hy dra te loading sho u ld be begun at least 48 hours before co m petition. Switching toa high-carbohydrate di et th e day before com pe titio n will not off er much advantage. Also be aware that carbohydrate loading is best su ited for athletes who pe rfo rm a t least on e an d a half hours. Caffeine loading In creasing gl ycogen storage is one wa y to improve performance. Retarding th e use of gly cogen is another. In creasing th e level of free fatt y acids in th e blood a llows th e bod y to conserve its limited g lycogen supply by burnin g th e extra fa t. In resea rch ing how to preserve gl ycogen, Dr. David Cos till o f Ball State Uni versity lik en ed the bod y to a motor with two gas ta n ks contai ni ng hi gh octane (glycogen) fuel a nd regular (fa t) fuel. He searched for a wa y to r un the regu lar fuel longer to save the premium. His research found that caffeine (fo un d in coffee) increases the blood 's fat level. (Heparin also has th e sa me effect. ) Two cups of black coffee (o r one cup, double-s trength ) taken 30 to 60 mi n u tes before exe rt ion was fo u nd effective. After publ ica tion of a n a rticle o n ca ffeine loading in a nati on al running magazi ne, Cos till la ter reveal ed (in a p rof essional journal ) th at h e had second th ou ghts a bo ut th e su bject. H e was co nce rned th at h is findi ngs were con sidered a n endorsem ent of th e use of a st imulant to improve performance rather than th e reporting of physiological research. Di stance runners, especially marathoners who deplete th eir ca rbo h ydrate fuel during competition, have had promising results with caffeine loading. (R esearch indicates that increasing caffeine intake above recommended levels produces n egative results. ) Still, many experts are not ready to accept caffeine loading without additional research.

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