Gerard Donnelly for a few will bring back Memories of the 1988 Australian Ironman at Forster.

He won it and continued to race successfully around the country for the next few years competing in over 100 Triathlons.

He retired in the early 1990’s and did nothing much until 2004 when he decided to take up bike racing. The major race on his calender was the Baw Baw Classic, a 100 km race, described as one of the most gruelling road races in Australia with average speeds less than 30km for the elite. To finish the race they have a 6km climb at 12%. The Sun Tour raced there once and never came back.

Gerard raced this for 3 years on really bad nutrition, with a phone call coming to me in late 2006 to discuss nutrition. In 2007 & 8 Gerard totally changed his nutrition with great success finishing 2nd and 3rd in the Masters Category.

He described his changes;

” I decided to re enter the 2007 Baw Baw classic, but this time I was armed with what I thought was the missing link, my nutrition! The result was AMAZING. Although I only finished second, the contrast in the way I felt and performed was truly miraculous. My overall ride time was over 40 min quicker and the time for the climb alone was 28 min quicker than in 2004.I carried no food in my pockets, only 2 hammer gels.I used 2 biddons of Heed and Perpetuem for the entire 4 hour race. Since that day I have been training and racing with all the hammer products, including Recoverite as post race recovery drink and endurolyte tablets which have fixed my cramping issue. I took our training group to listen to Steve Born when he came to Melbourne and it was the best 2 hours of information that any one of them had ever heard regarding nutrition and sport.

Many of my training partners are all now using the hammer products and on some of our longer training rides we often comment, when we see riders reaching into their pockets( for who knows what), that within the next half hour they will be hitting the wall and we are generally right.”

It’s great to see Gerard back racing after years off, and just goes to show how important nutrition can be !

Cheers

David

Check this clothing out !

We have just landed the latest Hammer Cycling and Tri Suits, which is some of the best quality and comfortable gear I have ever used. The new seasons colours are fantastic.

What’s even better, is that what would normally cost $100 + is being sold for $55.00

Only while stocks last.

Enjoy

David

Jon Hitchens almost pulled off a great win in the Freycinet Lodge Challenge in Tasmania

After 2 days of Cycling, running and Kayaking he came up 60 seconds short of eventual winner

Luke Haines of Victoria. Having up to a 4 minute lead in the last leg, his fitness level not being quiet as good as he wanted Luke eventually passed him. But a great result and more than enough motivation to come back next year, bigger and better.

Jon was fuelled by Perpetuem and Hammergels.

This a great story about a brand new MTB and Trail Running Venue. Read about it here

Brothers Leigh and Tony Oloman and their wives Helena and Justine have been riding MTB for the past 20 years, so they decided to create a purpose built course on their property.

They put in the hours on their own back hoe, with the fruits of their labor being a great new venue.

Their 1 st event will be a 6 hr trail running event on the 27th September, followed by a 6 hr MTB event onthe 18th October.

People are going to be hearing and competing at this great venue for years to come.

We would suggest that those who would like to get on the inaugural event get in soon, as entries will be limited.

Good luck to the Oloman families !

H.E.E.D. was selected to be the race drink for the Gold Coast 1/2 Ironman.

Race conditions are likely to be near or above 30c with humidity around the 80% +.

It becomes extremely vital for competitors to have the best energy/electrolyte drink available for the tough conditions.

HEED is specially formulated to contain no simples sugars, using only complex carbohydrates and a full cross section of electrolytes. It uses a very mild natural sweetener.

As athletes know, most sports drinks contain sugar making them sickly sweet and very hard to consume under race conditions. This is a severe disadvantage and stops athletes from consuming the one thing they need.

HEED’s mild taste makes it easy to consume, combining this with all the right ingredients, it’s the perfect race drink.

Good luck to all those entering the race and remember to keep up the fluids !

Cheers

David

Steve Born as many of you may know, is one of the World’s leading experts of “Endurance Fuelling”.

Steve is known for his ability to talk the walk, but also has years of experience of walking the talk.

Steve is available to answer anyone’s questions on Nutrition.

“How should I fuel for running events under and over 3 hours?”

Steve wrote;

First, if you’re doing workouts or races in the 3-hour range or under – and especially if they are running races – you can go with a “carbohydrate only” fuel like Hammer Gel or HEED.

The reason I specifically mention running is because it is a “digestively challenging” type of exercise, especially when compared to a less-impactive type of exercise like cycling.

OK To Go Carbs Only

So if you’re doing purely running workouts/races that are in the 3-hour-and-under range I believe it’s perfectly acceptable to go “carbs only.”

Yes, by not having a little protein in your fuel (such as in Perpetuem), you will break down a little lean muscle tissue to make fuel (about 5-15% of your energy requirements will be fulfilled from protein around the 90-120-minute-mark and beyond).

Main Issue Of Muscle Breakdown

The main issue with muscle tissue breakdown is that ammonia is a by-product, ammonia being a primary culprit in premature fatigue.

That said, if the workout or race is in the two-to-three-hour range, the problems associated with ammonia buildup are not really much of an issue at all… by the time they would be your workout or race will be long over.

Therefore, I give deference to the fuel that is going to digest the quickest – especially when I’m doing a type of exercise that makes digesting food/fuel a challenge – and that means Hammer Gel or HEED instead of Perpetuem.

So if you are doing just running workouts or races that would be my recommendation. A full flask of Hammer Gel should provide you with two hours worth of fuel so if you carried two full flasks in a three-hour workout/race that would be more than sufficient.

Take Care Of Electrolytes

You’d then just drink plain water to take care of hydration needs and consume Endurolytes to take care of electrolyte requirements. Now, if the workout or race is over three hours you will want to use a “carb + protein” fuel (Perpetuem).

You can use it from beginning to end as your sole fuel, or you can use it as your primary fuel, fulfilling 2/3 – 3/4 of your energy requirements, with Hammer Gel used to cover the other 1/4 – 1/3 of your energy needs.

Just as an example of the many fueling possibilities you can explore, when I go for a long bike ride – five hours for example – sometimes I will make a 3-hour bottle of Perpetuem and carry a full flask of Hammer Gel.

….Start With Perpetuem

I usually start with the Perpetuem right away and I don’t have any issues with it because I’m not doing a high-impact type of exercise (I’m just cruising along on my bike). I’ll use Perpetuem to cover three hours worth of fueling, with two hours covered by Hammer Gel.

Other times I will make a five-hour bottle of Perpetuem and use that as my sole fuel from beginning to end. So you see, there are a couple options that you can do when your workouts and races go beyond three hours… you can use Perpetuem as your sole source of fuel or you can use it as your primary fuel source, covering 2/3 – 3/4 of your energy needs.

What’s Easiest On Your Stomach

When your workouts or races are in the three-hour-and-under range – and especially if they’re higher-impact types of exercise (like running) or when you’re going at a very high exertion rate, I think it’s best to go with the fuel that’s going to be the easiest on your stomach, and that would mean Hammer Gel or HEED.

Will you burn a little muscle tissue and produce ammonia? Yes.

But in the medium-duration workouts/races (two to three hours), the issue attached with ammonia accumulation is really not problematic… your workout or race will be over by the time it is. In these medium-duration workouts or races there is a trade off and my vote always goes to the fuel that digests the quickest.

You are indeed correct in that you can use a “carb only” fuel (Hammer Gel or HEED) for the first 90-120 minutes.

Note, however, that it’s not absolutely essential but it is perfectly acceptable.

Many athletes do that because they don’t want to use a concentrated “meal in a bottle” fuel like Perpetuem right from the start… they’ll start with Hammer Gel for the first hour or so, then switch to Perpetuem.

Again, this is not a requirement, though it is perfectly acceptable. The only other thing I would mention is that you can increase your fluid intake a bit if you find it necessary. 500 ml is the low end of what is generally recommended to fulfill hydration requirements.

Weather Considerations

If you’re finding that amount works for you that’s fine; however, you can increase that to 750 ml, perhaps even 800 ml, if the weather is hot.

I hope this information is helpful to you, but if I’ve not fully addressed your question, or if you have additional questions, please feel free to email me directly at sborn@hammernutrition.com“

Here To Help

As always, at Hammer we are here to help solve your Nutritional fueling problems in any event.

Our services are free and we normally respond within 24 hours. So if you have any questions please email us at david@hammernutrition.com.au