If you've been following along, you'll know that I'm a pretty big skier. I've been a passholder at Sugarloaf for the past few years. This year, I'm holding over at Saddleback instead, just a short trip across the valley. It's a fantastic time, no matter where you are.
However, how many times have you had to bag your day early because you simply had nothing left in the tank? Couldn't make it till last chair, despite arriving on the hill late? More often than not, the answer isn't technique or lack of conditioning. Instead, it's because your nutrition strategy failed you.
We attempt to get by when skiing on a steady diet of...well...nothing besides breakfast and lunch. Would you try that for your next race, whether running, biking, triathlon, etc.? Didn't think so. Why would you try that here? Your body can only store enough glycogen for ninety minutes of exertion, at which point you switch over to burning fat as primary fuel. The problem, of course, is that you have to slow down when that happens so your body can process fat as fuel. Ever wonder why you start to struggle midway through the day?
I've had three ski days so far, all at different mountains, with all different types of terrain and surface conditions. We'll go through each, talking about the quality of the skiing as well as the nutrition presented for both.
Saddleback Mountain, Dec. 20: Amazing what a little bit of snow can do in a short period of time. Saddleback had only been open for three days prior to my 2+ hour venture to the northwest. I wasn't expecting much. After all, not a lot of natural snow had fallen, and a big rain event delayed the opening by a week.
Boy, was I wrong.
Conditions were superb, especially for early season. Glade skiing before Christmas is like finding $100 bill in your jacket that you didn't know was there from last ski season. (Nope, no cash in the jacket this year. Sigh.) It's just something that doesn't happen around these parts.
Considering it was the first day out, and skiing pretty aggressively, it was time to get aggressive with the nutrition. I utilized three products on this day:
- Powerbar Ironman Perform: Think of Gatorade, except by somebody else and in powder form. A solid mix of electrolytes and calories to put fuel back in your system. This is also the official drink of all Ironman races this year, so it's good to be fueling with something that I'll have to use on race day. Overall, it works quite well. The taste isn't fantastic, but it gets the job done in lemon-lime form. Started nursing a bottle of it from the start of the day, all the way till the finish.
- Hammer Gel Apple Cinnamon: I use Hammer instead of other gel products simply because it doesn't upset my stomach. As an added benefit, Hammer's gels use both a short and long chain carbohydrate to keep your fueling consistent across the board. Apple Cinnamon tastes a lot like a store-bought apple pie: not great, but good. Any gel would probably be of decent benefit to people, but this is my particular brand and flavor. Used mid-morning, it helped me push across those last couple of runs.
- Clif Shot Blocks, Tropical Punch: I love these chews. They stay nice and solid the entire time, and you can pop a single one in the mouth and suck on it for a little while. Absolutely delicious. Each little block is 33 calories, so you can dispense them as needed throughout the day. I get them with caffeine for a little extra kick in the rear end when necessary.
Butternut Ski Area, Dec. 31: Gotta burn those calories before taking part in the evening's festivities, right? Going from Saddleback to Butternut was a big change, as it's apples to oranges. Saddleback is a big mountain, with a lot of difficult terrain. Butternut is more of a family-style approach, with a decent amount of pitch. Consistency of their snow was what they make their bread-and-butter on. Really soft, buttery turns all day long that results in some pretty serious GS-style turns. A good cruiser mountain, rather than super challenging.
As such, the nutrition strategy here wasn't so much to keep me on the mountain as long as possible; instead, it was just to keep the tank chugging along. Only one product, along with some good old-fashioned water.
- Honey Stinger Waffle: A word of warning to the addictive personalities in the room: these darn things are awesome. Modeled after the strupwafels of northern Europe, this little gem in the Honey Stinger line has 160 calories and a fair amount of sugar. For those who would normally snack on candy, this would be an excellent organic alternative. Caution: will make you thirsty. Not that this is a bad thing, as it forces you to continue to focus on hydration. I'm using these straight out of T1 this year to force me into my liquid nutrition. Plus, they're delicious.
Shawnee Peak, Jan. 3: Stout little mountain only about an hour from Portland, this is a place that can really sneak up on you. It doesn't look all that imposing, and then you roll off the top and go "whoa! Where'd that come from!"
Conditions didn't help matters much, as the skiing was a bit *cough* firm. The mini-thaw had come and gone, and things had firmed back up. Those not from the northeast may have called it icy. However, because you couldn't see fish beneath it, it could not be ice. Therefore, the following terms are acceptable to describe the conditions: firm, edgeable, carveable, slick, hardpack, boilerplate, or my personal favorite, classic New England skiing. You know it's firm when a snowboarder, sliding with his board perpendicular to the fall line, is not bringing any snow with him.
However, this was also my first day with my new toy: a Garmin Forerunner 305. And seeing as it has a Max Speed function....well, you can imagine what we were trying to do. 35.4 MPH was all we could manage in flat light and conditions. I'm thinking a test at Sugarloaf on Widowmaker-Flume will be in order...
Experimented with the nutrition strategy, as the legs were still a little sore from the 31st.
- Clif Shot Bloks: See above review.
- Hammer Endurolytes Fizz Mango: A new product from the friends at Hammer, this is a low-calorie effervescent drink (read: it makes the bottle fizzy!) It's a solid option for those who already are eating their calories, and just need to get the electrolytes back into the system. The mango flavor wasn't bad, although I could see it needing some water as a backup. However, I did enjoy it, and think it would be a strong addition to a skiing strategy for those who sweat salt, like I do.
Got two more days upcoming in the next week, at which point I'll have some other products reviewed. If you have a particular product you would like to see reviewed, mention it in the comments or shoot me an e-mail, and I'll try to work it in.
Have fun out there!
--Ryan
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