Home Current News News Archive Shop/Advertise Ridecamp Classified Events Learn/AERC
Endurance.Net Home Ridecamp Archives
ridecamp@endurance.net
[Archives Index]   [Date Index]   [Thread Index]   [Author Index]   [Subject Index]

[RC] GL/Insulin - Ridecamp Guest

Please Reply to: ti tivers@xxxxxxx or ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
==========================================

thought that I had read some stuff about glycogen loading before so I went and 
dug it up on another group. What about the insulin response? Susan Garlinghouse 
recommends a high fiber diet for endurance horses because it gives a steady 
stream of dependable energy when the horse?s body converts the fiber into VFA?s 
and those into glucose. When you switch to carb loading for the race, does the 
horse?s body then switch from using VFA?s to using straight glucose? And if the 
body then has no more glucose, as in, you stop the carb loading, is that what 
triggers the crash? Is that why you have to continue the carb loading after the 
race until the horse?s body gets back into the mode of converting VFA?s to 
glucose? It seems to me that it would be much safer for the horse if his body 
continued with the VFA?s, instead of switching to ready processed glucose.

Linda>

Susan has her views and they differ somewhat from mine. There are two purposes 
for using a GL-like product during, and after, a race. During a race you want 
to maintain an elevated blood glucose throughout. This is explained fully in my 
Optimal Nutrition book and I'm not going to write it again here.

It is true that once you start supplementing GL during a ride, you have to 
continue to do so or you will just be setting up a bigger glucose crash than 
you'll get without its use. And that means a dose 15 minutes before going out 
on a loop and midway through any loop of 15 miles or more.

Insulin is produced in response to any carbohydrate's digestion. It is not 
public enemy number one--it's what drives the glucose into the tissues that 
need it. Without insulin you die of hyperglycemia. What you're looking for in a 
race is to maintain a blood glucose above 100 throughout--110 to 135 is the 
norm using GL as above. At the end of the race, the glucose will drop back to a 
norm of 90 and sit there.

BUT, you want to bounce it once again to avoid the catabolic reaction to 
depleted glycogen and damaged tissue, as explained in earlier posts.

Now, don't take my word, or anyone else's word. Just get a glucometer and 
monitor the blood glucose as you go through a mock race. Or talk to someone 
else who has actually used the above protocol. Those who have not, don't know. 
They may think they know, but they don't.

The final option for you is just to forget it. Go on doing what you're doing if 
you're happy with the results. But if you want to know anything for sure, you 
have to do the explorations yourself. That's what the whole "changing minds" 
thing was about. Think and act for yourself. No way you're going to kill a 
horse, or even hurt a horse, with the above protocol. Just try it and, as best 
you can, measure the results.

If Susan ever gets around to actually doing the experiment, she's going to 
agree with me. Because it's reproducible. happens every time.

ti


=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.
Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp
Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp

Ride Long and Ride Safe!!

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-