HOW TO FUEL GUIDE: OPEN WATER SWIMMING

By Steve Born

This step-by-step fueling protocol is exceptionally easy to put together and follow. It requires you and your support crew to carry very little equipment, saves time, and, most importantly, is extraordinarily effective.

Before we get to the fueling protocol, here are some very important and helpful things to know.

5 SIMPLE WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR ATHLETIC PERFORMANCE, STARTING TODAY

There are many steps you can take—and should take—to improve your athletic performance. The following are especially easy to implement. Start doing them immediately and, in a relatively short period, you will experience noticeable improvements in your endurance and overall training performance.

1) Hydrate Properly Throughout The Day

With your body being approximately 60% water, it goes without saying that maintaining optimal hydration levels throughout the day is vital. Unfortunately, many people—perhaps you as well—are living in a constant state of mild dehydration, which adversely affects athletic performance and overall health.

From now on, gradually increase your fluid intake, primarily by consuming clean, high-quality water. Consume approximately 33-39 ml of fluid per kilogram of body weight daily. For an 82 kg athlete, that’s 2.7–3.2 liters of fluid daily, in addition to what is consumed during exercise. During exercise, consume 473–769 ml of fluid per hour, and up to 828 ml per hour in hot weather.

2) Fuel Conservatively

It may be interesting to know how many calories you burn per hour during exercise, but that value does not determine how many calories your body can accept from your fuel. The goal of caloric intake is to consume the least amount possible that will keep your energy levels at your desired and required levels, hour after hour.

For most athletes, this will be in the range of 120–180 calories per hour. Larger athletes, those over 91 kg, may be able to take in 200 or slightly more calories per hour. If you find that this is too little, it’s easy to adjust: simply take in a little more. It is always easier to resolve an under-fueling situation than it is to resolve a situation where you over-fueled and your stomach is in revolt.

3) Eliminate Sugar

Some sports fuels are comprised of a combination of simple sugars—such as glucose, sucrose, and fructose—and complex carbohydrates such as maltodextrin. These are formulated based on the premise that the body can produce more energy per minute by utilizing several different carbohydrate sources than it can from a single carbohydrate source.

It’s important to remember, though, that the subjects in those “multiple carbohydrate source” studies were exercising at such low intensities—recovery pace at best—that they probably could have ingested nearly anything without issue.

Instead, choose products comprised of complex carbohydrates—maltodextrin—such as the Hammer Nutrition fuels Hammer Gel, HEED, Sustained Energy 2.0, or Perpetuem 2.0. Unlike simple sugars, complex carbohydrates provide quick-acting, longer-lasting energy and will not cause stomach distress, even during high-intensity exercise.

4) Do Not Eat For Three Hours Prior To Exercise, Races, And Events

By not consuming any calories for three hours prior to exercise, a race, or other sporting event, your body will be in an ideal physiological state for it to most efficiently utilize its limited muscle glycogen stores. Concurrently, it will more effectively access the vast amounts of energy available from your body’s fat stores.

Implement this practice with all of your workouts, even your early morning ones. In a relatively short period, you will experience a significant improvement in your endurance.

Note: If you absolutely need some calories prior to starting exercise, it is acceptable to consume an easily digestible energy source, such as a serving of Hammer Gel, 5–10 minutes prior to starting. Do not consume it earlier than that.

5) “Refill The Tank” As Soon As Possible After Every Workout

Your body wants to repay you for the work you did in your workout by boosting your immune system, rebuilding muscle tissue, and storing greater amounts of readily available muscle fuel, glycogen. To obtain these endurance-enhancing benefits, all you need to do is to provide your body with the necessary nutrients right away.

Ideally, this will occur within the first 30 minutes after exercise. The sooner, the better. You need complex carbohydrates and high-quality protein, such as what is supplied in Recoverite and Organic Vegan Recoverite.

FUELING RECOMMENDATIONS

1) “In-Swim” Success Begins “Post-Swim”

It is vital to “refill the tank” after every workout. This is one of the keys to noticeably improving your athletic performance. When you begin a workout or a race, your body primarily uses muscle glycogen for fuel for the first 60–90 minutes or so.

The more consistently you replenish your body with immediate post-exercise nutrients—Recoverite or Vegan Recoverite are ideal for this—the more glycogen you will be able to store in your muscles, in addition to numerous other benefits. Muscle glycogen stores can supply up to approximately 60–90 minutes of energy for subsequent workouts and races.

2) Cease All Calorie Intake Three Hours Prior To The Start

See point #4 above in the earlier section regarding the importance of this.

3) Take An “Early Strike” of Endurolytes or Endurolytes Extreme

Consuming a dose of Endurolytes or Endurolytes Extreme 15–30 minutes prior to the start will take care of your electrolyte mineral needs for the first hour of the race. This allows you to focus on establishing your comfortable, rhythmic swimming cadence, and not have to be fumbling with capsules during this time.

The dose for Endurolytes can be between 1–6 capsules. Most athletes use 2–4 capsules per hour, with the exact amount dependent on body weight and temperature conditions. For a race in hot weather—especially if you are not acclimated to those conditions—I recommend taking 1–2 capsules of Endurolytes Extreme prior to the start.

4) Consume 1–2 Servings of Hammer Gel 5–10 Minutes Prior To The Start

The 1–2 servings of Hammer Gel consumed at this time will provide additional calories to your muscle glycogen stores without interfering with how efficiently your body utilizes its finite supply of muscle glycogen for fuel.

5) Fuel Selection While In The Swim

The main thing is to get adequate amounts of calories, fluids, and electrolytes into your body while keeping your fueling as efficient as possible. Keeping everything as simple as possible and spending the least amount of time treading water while adequately fueling is of prime importance.

Workouts And Races Up To Three Hours In Duration

One of our carbohydrate-only sports fuels—Hammer Gel or HEED—will be completely sufficient. If I had my preference, I would opt for Hammer Gel, as it is a more concentrated source of energy than HEED. I can get the calories I need more quickly by consuming a serving every 30–45 minutes. I can drink plain water for my fluid requirements and take Endurolytes or Endurolytes Extreme capsules for my electrolyte mineral needs.

If you choose to use HEED instead of Hammer Gel—which is a perfectly acceptable choice—make sure that you consume the appropriate amount for you. One scoop of HEED contains 110 calories.

I, Steve Born, personally use 1.75 scoops of HEED 2.0 per hour, which yields 192.5 calories. This amount works well for larger athletes like me—my body weight is 91 kg. For lighter athletes, 1 scoop per hour, 110 calories, works well. For medium-sized athletes, 1.25 scoops, 137.5 calories, or 1.5 scoops, 165 calories, may be excellent amounts.

Workouts And Races Greater Than Three Hours In Duration

You will want to use a product that contains both carbohydrates and protein—Perpetuem or Sustained Energy—as your primary, or even sole, sports fuel.

For example, if you are going to be in the water for five hours, you could use Perpetuem or Sustained Energy as your sole energy source from beginning to end. You could also use either one as your primary fuel for three to four of those five hours, and then use Hammer Gel or HEED as a secondary fuel for the remaining one to two hours.

One scoop of Perpetuem contains 90 calories. I, Steve Born, personally use 2.25 scoops per hour, which yields 202.5 calories. This amount works well for larger athletes like me—my body weight is 91 kg. For lighter athletes, 1 scoop per hour, 90 calories, or 1.25 scoops, 112.5 calories, works well. For medium-sized athletes, 1.5 scoops, 135 calories, or 2 scoops, 180 calories, may be excellent amounts.

One scoop of Sustained Energy contains 100 calories. I, Steve Born, personally use 2 scoops per hour, which yields 200 calories. For lighter athletes, 1 scoop per hour, 100 calories, or 1.25 scoops, 125 calories, works well. For medium-sized athletes, 1.5 scoops, 150 calories, or 1.75 scoops, 175 calories, may be excellent amounts.

THE BENEFITS OF A MULTI-HOUR FUEL BOTTLE

When using Perpetuem or Sustained Energy, instead of one bottle of an hour’s worth of fuel, I would make up a multi-hour bottle of fuel in a single bottle. Using one-hour bottles would mean that I would have to drink a full bottle of flavored or lightly flavored fluid every hour, which I would not favor. In addition, I would have to stop periodically to mix up additional bottles, which would consume valuable time.

For example, to make up a four-hour bottle, I would select the smallest bottle I have available, so I will have less flavored drink mixture to consume. I would fill the bottle one-third of the way with water, add several scoops of Perpetuem or Sustained Energy, cap it, and shake it vigorously. I would repeat this until I have the appropriate amount of powder mixed in the single bottle. For me, that’s 9 scoops of Perpetuem and 8 scoops of Sustained Energy.

Because I have four hours of fuel in one bottle, I only need to consume one-quarter of the bottle’s contents per hour. I can supplement my fluid requirements from a hydration pack or with water obtained at aid stations.

To summarize the benefits of using a multi-hour fuel bottle:

You can drink plain water from another bottle, which takes care of your fluid requirements and refreshes your mouth. The multi-hour fuel bottle will naturally have some fluid in it. However, divided over three to four hours, the amount is minimal, so you can consider that bottle to be essentially a calories-only bottle.

By separating calories from fluids, you can keep track of those two areas of your fueling from independent sources. In races in hot weather, your ability to process calories may be diminished, while your fluid and electrolyte requirements may be increased.

When you keep the three components of your fueling—calories, fluids, and electrolytes—independent of one another, you have greater flexibility in how you consume them. This makes it easy to adjust your intake of any or all of them if needed.

6) Electrolytes And Fluid

Continue to consume Endurolytes or Endurolytes Extreme hourly to meet your electrolyte mineral requirements. For hydration, drink plain water only, no sugary sports drinks.

7) As Soon As Possible Post-Race

Immediately after the race, “refill the tank” with Recoverite or Vegan Recoverite. By consuming two scoops of Recoverite within the first 30 minutes after the race, you will take advantage of the period when the enzyme glycogen synthase is most active.

This allows your body to replenish and increase its glycogen stores. It also provides the raw materials—amino acids from protein—needed to rebuild muscle tissue and support the immune system.