Well done Steve, incredible. Can I ask about your current diet?
It seems as if you are still on a high fat diet. Its something my partner and I have committed to in recent months and I am wondering if you are finding any tangible benefits from that... ie, less need to feed and fat loss?
I intend to do some films about the month and year records for a You tube channel and go into equipment etc to answer questions that I keep getting asked.
the diet basically was about reducing insulin. The adaption trained me to not produce so much insulin so that when I take in carbs, they don't get wiped out by insulin spikes. I basically ran on extremely low carbs for a fortnight, which had me very close to the bonk all the time. I was getting strong cravings for carb rich foods. In theory I shouldn't have been doing any exercise because my blood sugar was so low. I was also carrying flapjacks in my saddlebag incase I got the bonk, so I was riding very close to the bonk with very strong cravings for carb rich foods and not eating them! Those 2 weeks were harder than riding in sub zero temperatures in January!
The next week, I added olive oil to my vegetables. We knew I could add oil because my weight stableized.
What happened was that at the start of the 1st 2 weeks I was running near enough entirely on body fat and losing 500g a day. My weight stableized after about 10 days, so we knew that I wasn't burning so much body fat, I must have been getting those calories from somewhere and I wasn't eating anymore, so the diet was starting to work. My insulin must have reduced and instead of insulin robbing me of the carbs I was getting from my vegetables, I was using it for energy. Adding olive oil reduces the release of carbs further. If I'd have done that in the 1st 2 weeks, I'd have got the bonk.
I also started adding small amounts of (the right kind of) starch on the 3rd or 4th week. No wheat! The GI is too high. Only oats (porridge) potatoes with skins, brown rice or rye. Thats because of the GI (Glycaemic Index, the release of carbs) is slow and keeps the insulin low. I also always start each meal with a few mouthfuls of protein first. That's because as soon as you put food into your mouth, the digestive system starts up and if you taste something sweet, your insulin spikes immediately. That's why diet drinks don;t work. Aspartine tastes 10 times sweeter than sugar so if you drink diet coke, your insulin will skyrocket. You're better off with a sugary drink!
I also eat a small amount of fruit, so I'm not on zero carb and do take in some relatively high GI foods.
I was also allowed one "cheat meal" a week where I broke all the rules, except for the eating protein first.
Once I was better adapted, I was told that I would be OK so long as I ate well 70% of the time.
When I started training with Emily Cox, she put me into the high intensity riding steadily because we didn't know that I could handle it. Mainly because I hadn't done anything high intensity for so long. She was also unsure that I would have enough glycogen because of my diet and advised me to carry a few gels just in case I bonked but she did have an open mind.
What did happen in training was that almost every time I hit the top end of what she set me to do without any problems. She was surprised at how little I was eating during rides.
When I rode the 12 hour TTs I ate mostly cheese and oatcakes. I couldn't stick strictly to the diet for practical reasons, but I had the 70% rule in my favour, so cheese was my protein and fat. I think I also ate carrots for my veg and oatcakes were my starch.
I did grab a few gels at the end as well to give a boost.
Similar for the 24 hour.
My 100 didn't go so well. I underestimated how long it would take me (it turned out to be hillier than I expected) I planned on a 4hr 30 min ride and reckoned I could get through the event without a feed. It was at around 4:20 that my energy ran low and I struggled and slowed down for the last 40 mins. Lessons learned!
In training I started using a Nutri Bullet so that I could take in vegetables very quickly with minimal preparation. I only used it at home in the end. I intended to carry liquidised veg with me but the temperatures got quite high in September and I didn't want to risk drinking rotting veg. I assumed it would rot faster in a liquidised state. I did eat carrots on the go sometimes.
I mostly stuck to my diet at first but after about a week I started to eat a lot more. I had lost body fat.
I ended up eating a lot of nuts. I don't know how they are on the GI scale. But I stayed with the diet basics as much as I could. I ate protein first, usually cheese or meat. Vegetables were usually eaten for breakfast and supper but I ended up having supper on the road so I could afford to ride a bit slower. This also meant I didn't need as big a breakfast because I was eating a lot on the road. I even skipped breakfast in favour of getting out earlier a few times because I was so well fed.
The diet went to pot on the last day (and on the sportive) I was celebrating my record ride and mostly eating cake
I did have a carvery on my way home from the sportive.
I interestingly, my taste changed once I adapted to my diet. My sugar addiction was killed. Sweet treats don't taste as good (but are still enjoyable) but my veg tastes a lot better. I always liked veg, but I like it much more now and after the end of my record when it would have slowed me down to get vegetables, I was really looking forward to some good veg to eat.
I'll get back to it now.
I think I need to eat more fat (of the right kind, such as olive oil) because I lost a few kilos of fat.
So, I do think it is working very well. I did cheat it now and then for time saving practical reasons and will be very strict on it for the next week or so. According to conventional wisdom, I couldn't have done my training rides on what I ate. If you try to do the same, you won't be able to, unless you do the adaption.
Even so, I still had to fill my jersey pockets twice for each feed because of the sheer volume of calories I needed. I was spending about an hour a day not moving because of traffic (I lost 8 mins in 60 miles one day from traffic!) toilet stops, filling bottles and preparing food to be eaten on the road from my pockets and zipped up my jersey.
After about a week or two, I made a point of slowing down to recovery ride and eat, treating a day as 4 interval sessions with 3 feeds/recoveries. Then I added a recovery/feed at the end of some days, which saved time when I got home.
