
Originally Posted by
Times Roman
I've never been much of a bicyclist, but I was a competitive distance runner, competing internationally at distances between 10k and 26.2 miles. So, different application, but more or less the same concerns I believe?
There are things you can do besides steroids that you need to start doing up to two weeks prior to the race. And it's all controlled by diet, and if you don't do this, you will most certainly experience cardio fatigue (or hitting the wall) towards the end of the race. I've written about this in a couple of threads, but it's been at least a year, so I need to regather my thoughts.
Obviously, a diet rich in carbohydrates is mandatory while training. But what some don't realize, is that several days prior to the race, you need to increase your carbohydrate intake up to about 90% of the total calories you consume. Why is this? Well, because your body, when you eat carbohydrate, most of it is stored as glycogen in your muscles and liver. But it takes several days to fully saturate your body with glycogen. And it is these reserves that will help you from hitting the proverbial wall towards the end of the race. This, more than anything else, is critically important for your endurance. Experienced runners all know this, and this is why you see so many consuming big bowls of spaghetti days before the race.
If you are not carb loading, then I'd highly recommend doing so.
I'm not going into hydration at this point, as I think it's fairly obvious you need to consume large quantities pre race time (I used to drink up to a half gallon the last couple of hours leading up to the race), and there is also something called rehydration salts you can google on the internet that you can put in your drinking water while you race.
In my humble opinion, if you really dug into the best ways to prepare for a race, I think you'd find taking steroids is pretty low on the list. And there's a reason for this. Because it doesn't have nearly the impact on your performance as it would for a powerlifter or a bodylifter.
let me know if you have any questions?
---Roman