by zippetydude » Mon Aug 14, 2006 1:15 pm
I'm with you on the glycogen stores - have you heard the adage, "Fat burns in a carbohydrate fire" ? In other words, metabolism of fat calories happens only if there is sufficient carbohydrate store to sustain the process.
I ran into the problem, typically called "bonking" in trail running, early on. I got some advice from trail runners, and I've never had the problem since. Ultimately, you want to get a steady stream of carbs flowing into the system the whole time you're moving. For most, this is fairly easily done by mixing maltodextrin into a gatorade type drink, and using that as most of your fluid intake. On a run of less than an hour, water is fine. But for 20 to 35 miles, I drink constantly, and only a very little bit is straight water. The result is that I never feel tired, I seldom feel hungry (although I do supplement with gels and the occasional Cliff Bar) and I don't dehydrate. It has made all the difference in the world. You can get maltodextrin at GNC or Vitamin Shoppe, etc.
Incidentally, there's a new finding on nutrition that a few grams of protein seem to help also on sustained energy and metabolism, though the physiological mechanism is not yet known, so for gels I now use Accelgel. It has 5g of protein, and tastes delicious. The only problem with these, as opposed to other gels, is that my kids are constantly trying to get me to let them eat them, because they taste so good. I like the strawberry-kiwi the most.
If you try this out, I think you'll get the result you're looking for, and you may surprise yourself on the second half of the hikes.
One other thing: I'm not really built like a typical runner. I lift weights every other day and do other sports as well, so I'm not of the light, thin build that most runners are. Because of this, I may need more calories than a thinner person would. If you're 130 lbs, you might go with a bit more water. Since I'm 179, I burn a lot of calories and find it really helps to have a significant intake the whole time I'm moving.
z