The 3M Blend...An Absolute Must Have

When I first began competing in 12- and 24-hour mountain bike races, I thought I had my nutrition dialed in...man was I wrong.  I was taking advice from people who really had no formal education in nutrition or human performance.  Their advice was purely anecdotal, and was based on what had worked for them in the past (maybe only once, as I would come to find out later!), what they had read in some magazine, or what someone else had sworn was the end-all, be-all method for improving performance.

This kind of advice included things like eating potato chips, cookies, candy, and the like...both before and during the race.  I tried these methods to no avail...I still had problems with fatigue and severe muscle cramping.  I decided I needed to use my education regarding performance fueling, and step up my game...er, my race, actually.

I began to employ high performance eating strategies, staying away from junk foods, and fueling solely with high quality, high nutrient, and calorie dense fuels.  I would love to tell you that my knowledge prevailed, and I was able to take my racing to the next level...but I'd be lying to you.

My defining moment came in January of 2011, when I agreed to be part of a 4-man team at a 12-hour mountain bike race...The 12-Hours in the Papago.  Keep in mind, that this race takes place in January...in Arizona...where the climate is perfect for riding.  Somewhat cold in the morning, and warming slightly as the day wears on...topping out around 72 degrees.  Perfect!

The course is pretty short, but with a number of back to back steep ascents, which over time, can really take their toll on you.  Our team alternated laps, which meant that each of us would ride for about 35-minutes, then get a little over an hour and a half rest.  After my second lap, I was cramping so badly in my hamstrings and calves, that I wasn't sure I'd be able to complete my remaining laps.  

Long story short...I sucked it up, finished my laps, and cramped like crazy on each and every one of them!  Something had to done.  My fueling techniques just weren't working for me.

My education is in Exercise Physiology, so I decided it was time to do some extensive research into fueling for endurance events.  What I quickly realized is that I really needed to be fueling like an ultra endurance athlete.  That was part of the problem.

I broke out the old textbooks, and began diving back into my notes...hoping to uncover something that may have gone unnoticed during my graduate studies.  I was able to learn a great deal more about endurance training, and the physiological demands placed on the human body...more than I had learned while in school, as my course of study focused more on power-sport athletes.  

Throughout my research I kept coming across one product that endurance athletes, both elite and not-so elite (like me), raved about.  CarboPro.

What I had found during my research, and from my education, was that muscle cramping and fatigue can occur as a result of a number of things....not just electrolyte loss through sweat.  Fluid loss, and the resulting minerals that are depleted, are often thought to be the only culprit behind the dreaded condition of muscle cramping.  What most people fail to realize however, is that fatigue is also a major cause of skeletal muscle cramping.  Do endurance athletes get fatigued?  Of course we do!  Can we do something about it?  

Absolutely!

I have addressed nutrition numerous times, throughout a number of different posts within my blog, so I'm not going to go back through and re-cover all of that...well, maybe just a little.

If you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you are familiar with my love of carbohydrates (CHO), and how they fuel performance.  Keeping the muscles stored with glycogen is one method of decreasing fatigue levels, so it goes without saying that consuming CHO during endurance exercise can improve performance.  CHO consumption can also help to reduce or eliminate muscle cramping by staving off fatigue levels.

Unfortunately however, it's not always as simple as just eating some carbs.  What you eat or drink, can be very specific to what your body is capable of tolerating.  I am a great example of this.  I cannot consume solid foods during endurance activities such as cycling.  You see, when you consume solid foods, blood is shunted from your periphery, and routed to the gut so that digestion can occur.  This affects each of us a little different.  If you are like a lot of the guys I ride with, you could consume a four-course meal while on your bike, and be completely fine with it.  If you are like me however, you will feel the effects of peripheral shunting...very quickly.  

When blood flow is limited to the extremities during exercise...specifically endurance-based activities, the delivery of oxygen and nutrient rich blood is reduced.  This is somewhat counterproductive, as skeletal muscle is highly dependent upon oxygen rich blood for sustaining exercise of long durations.

What does this mean for a guy like me?  It means I need to drink my calories.  Yep, that's right...nothing solid for me...and no, I'm not talking about downing a few cocktails while on the bike!  Avoiding solid food however,  becomes a little tricky when competing in events such as 12- and 24-hour races...especially when you are a member of a team, as you will be resting between laps, rather than riding continuously.  It is during these rest periods that our bodies begin to crave food.  

Another no-no for me...and it should become one for you as well...is the consumption of fats in the hours just prior to, and during your training or competition.  While fats pack more of a caloric punch than their CHO or PRO counterparts, it is important to understand that fat slows gastric emptying rates.  In plain english...please!  This means that fat will slow down how quickly fluids leave your gut.  Optimally, we want the fluids we consume to act like those friends or relatives who come to visit, and just stay too long (DISCLAIMER ALERT!!! I don't have any friends or relatives like that)...you know the type right?  You like having them around, but you want them to leave quickly, and restore your life to normal.  Fluids in your gut are just like that...you don't want them hanging around.  You want them to be transported out of your gut and into your cells where they do what they do...restore your life to normal again....through the process of hydration.

So what does this mean for those of you who consume fats (because they contain 9 kcal per gram...over double what CHO and PRO have to offer)?  I've talked with endurance athletes who swear by the ingestion of fats, and say that they have no issues whatsoever.  To them I say you are either an anomaly, or you are not performing at your highest level...yet.  

Okay, it's time to step off the fat pedestal, and move on to something else!

Let's talk about what I consume when I am cycling.  I call it the 3M Blend - Metzger's Magical Mix.  I mentioned earlier that I kept running across a product called CarboPro.  I decided to give it a go, after dissecting their website, and pulling as much information as possible from it.  I even called the company and spoke with them about the problems I was having with cramping.  The guy I spoke with spent a great deal of time talking with me, and assured me that he too had experienced similar issues in the past, but that his life had been forever changed by using the CarboPro nutrition and hydration protocols.  CarboPro has a comprehensive line-up of supplements, that when used together, battle cramping quite effectively by reducing fatigue at the skeletal muscle level, providing easily digestible sources of both CHO and PRO, as well as improving endurance through the use of a proprietary blend which includes beta alanine, a supplement that has been found to be very effective at staving off fatigue, thus allowing higher exercise intensities to be held for longer periods of time.  

CarboPro

In January of 2012 I decided to register as a solo rider for the 12-Hours in the Papago...the same race I had suffered through the year before, as a member of a four-man team.  The results were amazing!  I completed 11 laps for a total of 83 miles...not bad for my first solo effort.  The year prior, I had only turned five laps, each of which was horrible due to cramping.  This time around...not a single cramp.  I had tons of energy, and felt great for the entire race...other than the normal wear and tear of riding a mountain bike for 12-hours!

That was it...I was sold!  I became a believer in the CarboPro system that day, and haven't turned back since.  I know a number of athletes who use CarboPro, but not the system in it's entirety.  My suggestion to you is to give it a try...get on the website, type in your event, and then order the products that they recommend, and use them exactly as the suggest.

So...what then is the 3M Blend, you ask?

Recently I began playing around with the mixture that I use for my bottles while on the bike.  Normally, I would use anywhere between 3-4 scoops of CarboPro powder (100 kcal/scoop),  and 2 scoops of their proprietary Interphase protein powder (100 kcal/2 scoops), which resulted in roughly 500 kcal per bottle.  Lately however, I have been adding some other great products to that mixture.  These products come from a company called Genesis Pure. I have been testing them for about three months now, and have found them to be extremely effective.  So to round out my 3M Blend, I add one scoop of Genesis Pure Hydration to each bottle, and one scoop of Genesis Pure E2 to each bottle.

The Genesis Pure Hydration product contains a blend of antioxidants, B-complex vitamins,  amino acids, and a proprietary electrolyte blend...all of which is designed to speed up gastric emptying, thus improving the hydration process.

The E2 product by Genesis Pure is designed to provide a little blast of energy through the delivery of vitamins, minerals, amino acids, glyconutrients, and a splash (110 mg) of caffeine...which has been shown to have significant performance benefits.

I don't always put the E2 product in my bottles...it all depends on whether or not I have had coffee prior to my ride.  If I have consumed an espresso or two (yum!) in the morning before my ride, I will wait until later into my ride...if I begin feeling like I need a little boost.

The other benefit to the addition of the Genesis Pure products, is that they add some flavor to my bottles.  CarboPro has almost no flavor whatsoever, which for many athletes is preferred.  There are times when I like my fluids to be tasteless, but for the most part I like some flavor.  Not the kind of flavor you get from Gatorade or Powerade...those are far too sweet!  

In addition to my 3M Blend, I also use the following CarboPro products...which are part of their comprehensive training and competition protocols...

 As mentioned above, Vantage VO2 Max capsules help to increase stamina and boost the VO2 Max energy system.  The capsules contain a proprietary, unique blend of vitamins and minerals...including Beta Alanine (Carnosyn).

   The Recovery Amino Power product is great for fighting off fatigue while training or competing.  Recovery Amino Power contains Branched Chain Amino Acids (BCAA)...Leucine, Isoleucine, and Valine.  BCAA are metabolized directly within skeletal muscle, rather than through the liver.  This means that the fatigue fighting effects of BCAA are realized much quicker than other fatigue fighting supplements. 

MetaSalt (100 Capsules)  "COOL the CORE"SODIUM (SALT) - ELECTROLYTE/ANTIOXIDANT ComplexSodium as Sodium Chloride, TriSodium Phosphate, Sodium R-Lipoate, with Potassium, Calcium, Magnesium as Krebs Cycle Minerals
with OptiZinc and Selenium as antioxidants, and Vitamin D3: To prevent heat fatigue and muscle cramps, by optimizing fluid replacement
COMPARISON: MetaSalt  is the only sodium supplement which provides sodium as Sodium Chloride, TriSodium Phosphate and Sodium R-Lipoate, which work together to maintain the optimal metabolism of sodium to prevent dehydration (a decrease in total body water without an equal reduction in total body sodium) and prevent volume depletion (a loss of body water and sodium resulting in decreased extracellular fluid volume).
MetaSalt is the best SALT supplement and goes beyond salt capsules and salt tablets. It is more than just a salt capsule it is a high-performance ELECTROLYTE complex with Potassium, Calcium and Magnesium as Krebs Cycle Minerals. It is also a potent anti-oxidant complex with Selenium and OptiZinc. Before you buy any other product for ELECTROLYTE replacement or for heat fatigue and muscle cramps, compare the ingredients and their amounts -- and the price Its the only one and the best, the most effective and most efficient
SODIUM - Electrolyte/Anti-Oxidant complex. And that's a fact
- See more at: http://www.carbopro.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=5&products_id=9&zenid=7b193007581773f7e3de15b37dc9d59b#sthash.kGwydVYN.dpuf

If you train or compete in hot environments, replenishment of sodium is necessary to maintain electrolyte balance.  Thermolyte Metasalt capsules are the only electrolyte replacement product on the market that provides sodium replacement in the form of sodium choride, tri-sodium phospate, and Sodium R-Lipoate.  Metasalt also contains potassium, calcium, and magnesium...three crucial electrolytes which serve to fuel the Kreb's Cycle, a process of ATP production within the body...of which I encourage you to research.

I am not compensated by CarboPro however, they are supporting my efforts to train for the upcoming Ride 430 Challenge by providing me wholesale pricing on my purchases...therefore, I do what I can to promote their amazing products.  

Trust me...I wouldn't use them if I didn't believe in them!

I am a true believer in the power of whole foods, and eating clean to fuel high performance...but we're talking real life here.  I drink highly nutritious, power-packed smoothies each morning, and I fuel with very clean fuels...which make up about 80% of my diet.  

I am also a realist, and I understand that my performance is highly dependent upon supplementation to 'fill in the gaps'...so to speak.

I would encourage you to click on the links above to learn more about these great products...and even give them a try.  They truly changed my life!

 As always...

Thanks for reading!

Yours in Health and Performance!

John