karen | Living Amped

By now your 14.1 scores should be submitted, no matter how many times you re did it! I am lucky to train with an awesome group of people full of knowledge. A gentleman who trains with the earlier crew posted on our team page and I thought it was too good not to share. Jeremy Ross is a student at UT grad student studying exercise physiology with a goal of becoming a Strength and Conditioning Coach. I had know idea he was full of these knowledge bombs! Thanks for sharing…I look forward to more!

Sport Nutrition Plan: 14.1

I spoke to a few people about creating a sport nutrition/eating plan for the Open workouts. Now that 14.1 is upon us, I’d like to offer my bro-fessional opinion:

Glycogen is the most important energy source for a competitive CrossFit athlete. Any other fuel source burns too slowly to allow you to move at the extremely high intensities required of a competitor. 14.1 should be considered a 10 minute, high intensity interval workout. You’ll be moving from snatches well above your VO2max to double unders which are probably 70-80% VO2max for most of us. In high intensity interval training, glycogen stores can be completely depleted in 12-17 minutes. If you “bonk,” meaning deplete your glycogen stores, you’ll be moving at a snail’s pace for the rest of the workout. Therefore, the most important thing you can do for the 24 hours leading up to 14.1 is make sure you are eating adequate carbohydrate to hit this workout with full glycogen stores. “Adequate” is going to mean something different for every person depending on how well your muscles are already stocked with glycogen. In studies where muscle glycogen was already depleted (which should only be the case for those of you on a consistent low carb diet), about 1g/kg BW/hr is necessary to replenish glycogen in 24 hrs. Obviously, this is a TON of carbs, but remember that’s for people who are already depleted. But definitely don’t’ skimp on the carbs today and think it means you’re “being good.” Eat veggies too, but get good, quality, dense carbs today. There’s no reason at all to worry about high glycemic vs. low glycemic carbs today. You’ve got 24 hours, so eat the carbs that you already know make you feel the best. If you’re following a Kiefer-esque sugary meal before bedtime plan, do what makes you happy but that’s not inherently better (and might be a little worse) than just eating the quality carbs of your choice—sweet potatoes if you’re concerned about being paleo or grain free.

Heats don’t start on Saturday until 12 PM, so chances are you’re going to want to eat breakfast first. I do not recommend eating a high carb breakfast Saturday morning. Eating carbs will shut off fat metabolism for hours even after the meal is digested and insulin levels have returned to normal. Most of us are going to want fat and carbs burning at full strength, so a high fat/high protein meal (I’ll be eating bacon and eggs) will keep your fat burning at fasted levels. If you expect to knock out 9+ rounds, it’s possible that it will be beneficial to have some carbs pre-workout BUT make sure you’re eating enough of them. 1g/kg BW and below has been shown to have detrimental effects by shutting off fat metabolism and not raising blood glucose enough to compensate. The standard recommendation is 1.5g/kg BW (two Power Bars) an hour before exercise, but I wouldn’t experiment with eating this much if you haven’t tried it in training yet.

To recap:
1. Eat enough carbs today, especially if your diet is normally low in carbohydrate.
2. Don’t load up on carbs tomorrow morning.
3. If you choose to eat carbs tomorrow morning, make sure you eat enough. More than 1g/kg bodyweight.