Addicted to Gu

[Bill_Simpkins]

I climb with people who NEED Gu packs on climbs to keep up. Like one every hour,even half hour else they get slow. I have noticed that they also stack up and eat a lot of carbs. In fact their diet in general is full of carbs.

I eat very little carbs, and mostly protien. I don't get suger cravings and my energy level on climbs or long hikes is really consistant and steady. I'll sometimes have a candy bar every 6 hours or so, but I mostly just eat hard-boiled eggs, raisins, jerky, and cheese. I'm trying to convince my pals to convert. I used to eat more carbs, but after a withdrawl period, my energy has become longer-lasting and level. I make it back to the car feeling good, my muscles arn't as sore, and I don't have that overwelming urge to scarf down a pizza, but I still do it . Any comments or suggestions?

[Bronco]

maybe you are too manly for your partners. get some tougher guys to climb with or be less gung ho. I tend to get yelled at for being too gung ho sometimes. cutting back on the coffee may help too, that's been a factor for me.

 

Carbs are processed for energy a lot more efficiently than protien. I dont know what to tell you other than maybe you are an alien life form or some sort of bellingham mutant. I love carbo loading before a climb. Hope that helps.

[freeclimb9]

Your diet could be described as "ketogenic". It was demonstrated in a study ('The Human Metabolic Response to Chronic Ketosis without Caloric Restriction: Preservation of Submaximal Exercise Capability with Reduced Carbohydrate Oxidation,' Metabolism, vol. 32 (8), pp. 769-776, 1983) that a low-carb diet increased an athlete's ability to metabolize fat. No increase in performance was noted, however. "In short, high-fat diets conserve carbohydrate, which is good, but lead to little carbohydrate storage, which can be very bad." However, if your exertion load is sub-maximal (about 60% of max VO2, or less), that's not "very bad". Just don't expect to be able to climb at, or near, your lactate threshold for long periods without carbohydrate supplementation.

 

There's no question that the fat fuel tank of the human body is much bigger than the glycogen reserve.

Here are some quotes from pponline.co.uk:

"Various methods have been used to try and make the body more efficient at using fat and therefore boost performance by conserving the body's glycogen and intramuscular triglyceride stores. These have included:

1 extreme diets consisting predominantly of fats, a nutritional strategy which has been successful with rats but has shown no performance benefit in humans

2 increasing the percentage of fat ingested in the diet, which has been recommended in some triathlon magazines. This is not thought to result in an improvement in performance, and it probably has other, negative health implications

3 ingesting fat intravenously. This method has been employed in professional cycling."

 

BTW, a carb-rich diet was first shown to be beneficial to endurance athletes in 1939, and has been repeatedly confirmed. The question becomes one of "at what exertion level to you want to climb"?

 

[Bill_Simpkins]

I already push very hard. Somtimes I'll down that candybar like I said earlier, about 1 every 6 hours, give or take. Maybe I am too manly , but it's nice cause I'll get lot's of breaks waiting for my current partners to catch up . But it's also annoying when you have a good pace and they stop every half-hour to to suck the Gu down. I notice no difference in their performance after they "GU up".

 

Do you think I should tell them to lay off the Gu packs a little? Do you know if over use can make you reliant on them?

 

I personally think there a crutch for some people or a habit. Kind of like chalking up too much.

[freeclimb9]

Do you know if over use can make you reliant on them?

The idea behind GU, Gatorade, Powerbar, etc., and similar products, is that by keeping blood glucose levels elevated, muscle glycogen gets replenished faster. This is supported by many studies. GU is basically just a glucose polymer blend. You don't become physically reliant on such a product, but maybe psychologically so.

If you're doing fine physically, but your partners are hating it unless they're constantly refueling, maybe you're just in much better shape?

[eric8]

Bill

Are you saying that eat nothing for 6 hours on climbs(give or take). If you can keep going strong that long then I'll just have to call you a hardman.

One thing you may try doing is having you partners put there gu packs in there pockets. This way we they need there fix i'll have to do is reach in there pocket pull out a shot and continue. Before heading out I usually put a couple cliff bars in my pockets so I don't have to stop.

 

Thats also kinda weird that you don't get the fast food burger craving I don't think I have ever climb with anyone who hasn't got it on a long summer day or multiday trip.

[Bill_Simpkins]

Or maybe I was born on Mars, or have unhealthy habits. It's weird because I eat like an army at home.

 

Here is a few climbs I remember what I ate and approx. round trip times:

 

North Twin Sister (5.5 hours)- one half PayDay candybar

South Twin SIster(9-10 hr)-one hard boiled egg.

Mt. Hood(South side, 7-8 hrs)- one granola bar at hogsback

Lady and Cheam Pks(5-6 hrs). -one egg, one half Snickers

Whitehorse Mt(9-10 hrs).- One powerbar

Larrabee Mt. (3 hr)-None

Mt. Shasta, Clear Creek(10-11 hrs )2 granola bars

Tomyhoi(7 hr)- One hard boiled egg, chunk of chedder

South Early Winter Spire(5 hr)-one half BIGHUNK.

Eldorado (2 days)-Lots of beef jerky and 2 Paydays .

 

Sahale(all day)- Peanut butter/honey at Glacier.

Mt. Shuksan(Sulfide, 14 hrs)-One BIGHUNK, 5 SlimJims throughout , One powerbar.

 

Hadley(5-6 hrs)-one egg

 

Mt. Watson (5-6 hrs)-one apple

 

After most of them:

 

I am 6'2" and 198 lbs.

 

 

I am very curious what other people eat on climbs and est. RT times, height and weight. So if you remember a couple specific climbs, please tell! We all may learn something from it.

 

[catbirdseat]

I need to eat something substantial every 4 hours or so. I know other people who must constantly nibble on things to keep going. It varies a lot from one person to another.

[nolanr]

Yeah, you must be an alien. I nibble every few hours and usually have a couple of small lunches during the day. I use GU but am not addicted to it, definitely keeping a handful of them in pockets is a good idea so you don't have to stop. That's lucky for you that you can keep going strong all day w/ minimal food intake.

[Bill_Simpkins]

Saves on weight Yeah, I'll tell my buds to keep'em handy, thanks. Or empty them into a platapus and tape the two tubes together.

[glen]

Well, for those of us that are addicted to Gu, clif shots and the like...

 

I've been experimenting with mixing brown rice syrup (main ingredient in Clif Shots) to make my own. A big jar costs 4 bucks. Of course, the stuff is dang nasty straight, but mixing it with a slurry of gatorade powder (citrus flavors cut through the BRS taste better) it ends up being palatable. Not good, but palatable. It also gets the electrolytes up a bit, which is good for those of us that sweat a lot. The main sticking point right now is something reusable to put them in. It seems that nowhere in town carries the 'official' Gu flask, the Ultimate design is stupidly expensive for what it is, and refillable toothpaste-type tubes are surprisingly hard to find in a reasonable size (less than 6" long). If you want to mimic Gu, use maltodextrin (available in bulk) which has a better complex sugars.

[freeclimb9]

Check bike shops for a GU flask. You can get the stuff into a 1/2 liter platypus collapsible bag with a funnel, too.

A pinch of sea salt can add sodium.

A little fructose can aid glucose absorption (and also staves off exhaustion since it's processed into liver glycogen stores. When liver glycogen drops, you feel exhausted).

BTW, I wouldn't classify maltodextrin (which is hydrolyzed corn starch. It's typically 86% polysaccharides) as a better complex carbohydrate than brown rice syrup (a bucket I have is 88% polysaccharides).

[Courtenay]

I've found loading up on carbs/protein the night before and morning of (Thai food is my very favorite) results in my not needing very much on a climb -- I can go 6-8 hours with a few bites of trail mix or chocolate if I've fueled well before hand. That's not necessarily what I recommend to everyone (having more frequent breaks for a drink/bite seems to work for many) but you need to find your own system that works for you. Gu is pretty much pure carbs, in somewhat liquid form, that will be easily and quickly assimilated -- but for more staying power, having snacks with a little fat and protein will mean you can go longer with fewer snacks because you won't be experiencing the sugar highs and crashes from pure carbs.

[glen]

Freeclimb9- any recipies for energy gel that you've found to be particularly good? The comparison of BRS to maltodextrin was based on comments from a friend of mine who used to work for Gu. It seems that maybe the comparison may depend strongly on the batch of BRS. The stuff I have is listed as 'mildly sweet' on a scale of 'mildly sweet' 'very sweet' by the manufacturer- presumably at least a qualitative measure of the carbo type. The sea salt and fructose are good ideas. I'll give them a try.