Alpenbrevet 2024: How to optimize your nutrition before and during the cycling marathon
Whether on long road bike tours or the Alpenbrevet 2024 – the right nutrition is the key to successfully conquering the steep Alpine passes.
Discover how you can get the most out of your performance with clever carboloading and targeted nutrition.
Alpenbrevet 2024
You, your racing bike and the Alpine passes
Nutrition
before and during long road bike tours
Carboloading
The right instructions are crucial
Helmet on, cycling shoes strapped on and off you go?
It’s that time again in September 2024.
The Swiss Cycling Alpenbrevet, a highlight among cycling marathons, is calling for a big challenge through the majestic Swiss Alpine passes. Platinum, gold, silver or the bronze route?
It’s all about the personal experience and your own performance limits.
Whether you want to tackle the platinum route with 5 passes and 267 kilometers or the gold route with 4 passes and 214 kilometers, each route offers an unforgettable adventure. The challenging routes of the Alpenbrevet attract both ambitious athletes who are chasing their best times and those who simply want to reach the finish line.
Helmet on, bike shoes strapped on and off you go?
Not quite.
With the Alpenbrevet, the right nutrition is just as important as physical preparation.
In an event that can last up to 15 hours depending on the level of difficulty, a well-thought-out nutrition strategy is essential to maximize your performance and successfully master the challenging passes.
That’s why today we’re looking at how you can best prepare for the Alpenbrevet and how you can keep your energy levels up and delay exhaustion during the ride to get the most out of your adventure.
Before the Alpenbrevet: Carboloading – the key to optimum performance
Carboloading is a proven method of replenishing glycogen stores before a competition and thus improving endurance performance.
This technique, which has been known since the 1960s, can increase performance by around 2-3% during endurance sessions lasting over 90 minutes.
This seemingly small difference can make all the difference over long distances.
What exactly is carboloading?
The principle of carboloading is to drastically increase your carbohydrate intake in the last 1-3 days before the race, while greatly reducing the amount of training.
The aim is to replenish glycogen stores to the maximum in order to prevent a drop in performance during the race.
During this phase, you should also make sure you drink enough fluids.
In the past, it was common practice to precede carboloading with a depletion phase.
During this phase, the glycogen stores were deliberately emptied through a diet very low in carbohydrates in order to replenish them afterwards.
It was assumed that this would increase the efficiency of carboloading.
Today, however, this method is no longer recommended as it often leads to unpleasant side effects such as weakness, irritability, cravings and an increased risk of infection.
These risks and inconveniences are not worth it, especially before an important event.
How do I implement carboloading effectively?
Although it sounds simple, carboloading can be challenging in practice.
To optimally replenish glycogen stores, you should consume around 10 grams of carbohydrates per kilogram of body weight per day.
For a person weighing 70 kilograms, this means around 700 grams of carbohydrates a day – about 7-10 plates of spaghetti.
Achieving this amount is no easy task, even for pasta lovers.
At some point, the stomach simply has no more room.
Even cyclists who are intensively involved in carboloading often only manage half of the recommended 10 grams of carbohydrates per kilogram of body weight.
This shows that carboloading is more than just a buzzword – it requires targeted planning and conscious implementation in order to achieve the desired results.
When carboloading, you can throw your usual diet overboard for once.
Take the opportunity to stock up on sweet drinks, fruit juices, sports drinks, toast with a generous layer of honey or jam and snacks such as jelly babies, Biberli, Basler Läckerli and dried bananas or figs.
During this phase, carbohydrates are your best friend – and you can enjoy them as long as they are good for you (even if an overdose of jelly babies could put your stomach to the test).
The principle is: anything that is high in carbohydrates and low in fat is perfect.
The additional calorie surplus will not have a major impact on your weight in this short period of time.
During carboloading, you can give up your regular whole grain products, vegetables and salads.
The focus here is not on healthy eating, but on maximizing your performance.
Whole grains and vegetables have their benefits, but they are filling and could make you feel full before you have consumed enough carbohydrates.
Use the three days of carboloading to replenish your energy stores and prepare yourself optimally for the competition.
If, at the end of carboloading, you no longer have an eye for sugar and almost loathe it, then you have implemented your carboloading perfectly.
During the Alpenbrevet
Well thought-out nutrition during training and competition is crucial for peak performance and improved performance.
It is essential to make sure you eat the right food, especially during intense exercise.
Basically, the longer and more intense the exercise, the more important a continuous supply of energy is.
Strategic nutrition is essential for the Alpenbrevet, which stretches over up to 15 hours and challenging mountain passes.
Ideally, you should eat 60 to 90 grams of carbohydrates per hour to support your performance.
The body can process up to 60 grams of carbohydrates per hour in the form of glucose.
For higher quantities, fructose should be added to bypass the limited absorption capacity of the glucose transporters.
Carbohydrate gels: your constant companions
It’s hard to imagine endurance sports without gels.
Their concentrated source of carbohydrates has already saved many athletes from the dreaded hunger pangs.
For the Alpenbrevet, it is advisable to consume 1 to 2 gels per hour.
Note the differences in portion size and carbohydrate content.
In order to calculate your carbohydrate intake precisely, it is helpful to study the contents of the gels.
In most cases, you take ½ to 1 gel per 30 minutes, depending on the pack size.
Many gels have a 2:1 ratio of glucose to fructose.
This ratio optimizes energy absorption and helps to maximize the limited absorption capacity of the glucose transporters.
Make sure to always consume gels with water to improve absorption; many newer gels already contain water.
Carbohydrate-fat gels: the role of fat in races over 3 hours
Carbohydrate-fat gels are an excellent choice for particularly long efforts, such as the Alpenbrevet.
While traditional gels mainly provide carbohydrates, carbohydrate-fat gels combine fast carbohydrates with slowly digestible fats.
This combination offers several advantages:
- Fast energy: Carbohydrates provide the immediate energy you need at the start of the ride.
- Long-term energy: Fats ensure that you have a steady supply of energy over long periods of time, which protects your glycogen stores and keeps your blood sugar levels stable.
It is best to start your bike race with pure carbohydrate gels for quick energy.
After around 2 to 3 hours, when your glycogen stores are depleted, switch to carbohydrate-fat gels to ensure a continuous supply of energy and keep your performance constant.
This way, you are ideally equipped to tackle the Alpenbrevet with full energy and achieve your personal best performance.
Conclusion
A well thought-out diet is essential for long bike races such as the Alpenbrevet and can make all the difference.
Targeted carbo-loading and strategic nutrition during the ride will maximize your performance and effectively delay fatigue.
Whether you’re preparing for the Alpenbrevet or other long rides, a well-planned nutrition strategy will help you keep your energy levels high and get the most out of your adventure.
We wish all participants every success and an unforgettable experience in the Swiss Alps.
