On 29 Oct 2003 at 19:41, PeterO wrote: As a former marathon cross-country skier, my $0.02 > What to eat and drink seems to be the key issue after training - only > managed to finish last year by eating caramels the last 10km - > seriously! Whatever works! I've found little candies are useful in long distance events - sucking on them produces a slow sugar trickle rather than a sudden hit. Hard sugar candies are good for this too. > This year expect to alternate a > banana with a power bar every hour Warning - bananas are laxatives as well! If you eat a lot of bananas on a regular basis, it might have less effect. Power bars (name brand or clones) are not really all that they're cracked up to be, based on tests of athletes. They are no more (or less) effective than other foods. They are convenient, however. I find the more cookie-like, the easier to eat and digest. My preferences used to be for things like oatmeal-raisin cookies (the chewy kind), chocolate covered raisins, dried fruit (papaya, pineapple...). Nibble stuff rather than meal stuff. I used to pace myself and set time limits for specific sections. If I was faster than my set pace, I'd rest and eat a more substantial "meal". I'd also schedule rests to recover a bit and catch up on food and water. It took discipline to stop and linger, but it payed off at the end - I was much stronger at the finish than in previous years where I didn't schedule stops or force a steady pace. > and continuous sips of water from a > camel bag. A lot of people have told me continuous sips are better > than drinking evry hour. Regular intake is better than periodic. Get a healthy intake _before_ you start (~20 min or so), too. However, I'd suggest two sources - alternate between water and an electrolyte type drink (Gatorade or clones). In fact, if cold is a potential problem, also carrying a thermos bottle with hot Gatorade can really give you a boost (emotional if not physical). That's what they serve at ski marathons. In the old days, honey-lemon tea (which actually doesn't contain tea) was the hot drink of choice and for the real Scandinavians, blueberry soup! Hot cassis is also great (non-alcoholic). > Hope to finish the last 1km on Godiva chocolate when the caramels run > out:~) I'd stick to caramels and use the Godiva chocolate as a finish line incentive. Drool all the way in... Mike *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Wed Oct 29 2003 - 14:49:14 PST
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