Slept 7h 20m, HRV 44 against your 41, yesterday 62 km on about 45 g of carbohydrate an hour.
Power held to the last 10 km and the stomach stayed quiet, so yesterday’s fuelling was right. Tonight is 5 × 5 min at threshold: repeated hard efforts, the kind where buffering earns its place. Your last two sessions with bicarbonate showed 3% more power in the final rep.
Per Lewis, get the basics to the session first: carbohydrate and fluid. Then the aids with evidence, dosed and timed to you. Sodium bicarbonate works when the timing is yours, not the packet’s.
About 60 g of carbohydrate to open the day’s load. The session is at 6 PM, so fuel builds through the day.
With Lewis Gough · supplement timingTonight is 5 × 5 min at threshold: repeated high-intensity efforts of one to ten minutes, which is exactly where buffering helps. Your last two sessions with it showed about 3% more power in the final rep and no stomach trouble at 0.3 g/kg.
Lewis Gough, Sports Nutrition ResearcherBicarbonate helps in repeated efforts of one to ten minutes. The dose and the timing have to be yours: time to peak blood bicarbonate varies from 60 to 180 minutes between people, which is why a fixed ‘one hour before’ fails for half of them.
You tested at 180 minutes. So 3 PM for a 6 PM start, taken with food and fluid to keep the stomach quiet.
What to do today
Take 0.3 g/kg at 3 PM with lunch carbohydrate and 500 ml of water. Caffeine at 5:15, 3 mg/kg. Gels from 30 minutes in, not before. Then judge the last rep, not the first.
With Lewis Gough · ergogenic aids
I had this for breakfast plus a large strong coffeeAvocado toast with 2 eggs + strong coffee logged
A good breakfast before an evening session: protein and fat now, about 480 kcal and 30 g of carbohydrate. The carbohydrate load builds through lunch.
Coffee now is fine. Keep the caffeine for the session: 3 mg/kg at 5:15 is where it counts, so make this the last one before 11.
Lewis Gough, Sports Nutrition ResearcherCaffeine works best when it is timed to the effort and the daily total stays moderate. A morning coffee plus 3 mg/kg before the intervals keeps you inside the range where it helps, and clear of tonight’s sleep.
Noted. Last coffee by 11 AM, and I’ll remind you at 5:10 for the session dose.
Plan for Today
Oats, fruit, yoghurt. About 60 g of carbohydrate opens the day’s load for a 6 PM session.
With Lewis Gough · carbohydrate to the sessionWith Lewis Gough · carbohydrate to the sessionRice or pasta, about 100 g. Muscle glycogen for a 6 PM session is built at lunch, not at 5.
Three hours out, your tested time to peak blood bicarbonate. With food and 500 ml of water to keep the stomach quiet.
With Lewis Gough · individualised timingWith Lewis Gough · individualised timingForty five minutes before the start. Enough to lift power in the last reps, not enough to reach tonight’s sleep.
With Lewis Gough · caffeine doseWith Lewis Gough · caffeine doseFive efforts at threshold, three minutes easy between. The session everything today was timed for.
About 1.2 g/kg of carbohydrate and 25 g of protein within the hour. Tomorrow’s endurance ride starts refilled.
With Lewis Gough · recovery fuellingWith Lewis Gough · recovery fuellingCaffeine was timed to be clear by now. Sleep is where the session lands.
With Lewis Gough · recoveryWith Lewis Gough · recovery