When it comes to endurance sports like running and cycling, fueling your body adequately can make all the difference in performance and overall experience. Whether it's a short sprint or a long-distance event, the nutritional needs of your body vary between these two activities. Cyclist and runner Austin Metz delves into the nuanced fueling differences between running and cycling, drawing insights from his personal experiences and strategies that he has been refining over the years. Running: The Under 10K Mark For shorter running events, those under 10 kilometers, the fueling strategy takes a focused yet essential approach. Austin begins the day with a small, balanced breakfast consisting of an English muffin topped with peanut butter, honey, and banana. This combination...
Just recently I was on the other side of this fence... I was reading articles on how to fuel properly for long endurance events / races. I’d read some interesting stuff about how Tour de France riders were fueling or how Olympic Marathon runners were planning their fueling strategy. To be honest, I did not relate to any of that. The people who were at the center of these articles were out of reach, followed by dieticians, had all the resources they wanted and I just couldn’t identify myself with them. But what I did know was that I had to eat a lot more than what I was currently doing. Earlier this summer I had been tackling some of...
July 2023 - Mountain Bike National Championships Written by Casey Hildebrandt "It was a great week at the Mountain Bike National Championships at Bear Creek Mountain Resort in Pennsylvania. The weather was hot and humid from arrival through XCO racing on Saturday. The course was a proper XCO course with ski hill and singletrack climbs paired with technical, rocky descents back down the mountain. With the heat index reaching 105° the nutrition and cooling strategies were out in full effect. Before the start of the pro women’s race, we were notified that the final two races of the day (pro women and men) would be doing four laps instead of the five planned laps. I started with an ice sock...
For 6 years Flow Formulas has allowed me to train and race at a consistency I've never had. And if there’s one thing that everyone in our sport eventually learns it's that the will to race is nothing without the will to train. I first started using Flow (90g!) in the first year Hannah and Caleb got started (early samples in 2017) back when Caleb and I raced on the same team. Before that I was like most endurance athletes mixing a whole combination of ingredients together depending on the day and hoping I'd guessed right. With Flow, I mix the bottles and if it's a warm day add a little extra electrolytes and I'm set. For 2022 I made...
"Stick to the plan" was my motto for the long weekend. Sticking to the plan, trusting gear, and being sure of decisions makes adventures safe and memorable even when the difficulty increases. With record breaking low temperatures, it made for a memorable three days of B-hikepacking. On paper, a fat bike trip through northern Maine in the dead of winter is actually not too crazy of an idea. The plan was to ride around fifty miles a day for two days then finish the trip with a mountain ascent - not just any mountain; it had to be a notable one. Katahdin is one of the east coasts highest and most challenging peaks due to its technical approach and remoteness....
