# Newb crit question - Do you carry a water bottle & drink during the race?



## petalpower (Aug 10, 2009)

You you carry a water bottle and drink from it during the race?

My first two, I've carried one, but just haven't felt like I had the break to drink from it, and I was wondering what you guys thought I should do for a 35minn + 2lap crit?

Thanks guys

John


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## Undecided (Apr 2, 2007)

petalpower said:


> You you carry a water bottle and drink from it during the race?
> 
> My first two, I've carried one, but just haven't felt like I had the break to drink from it, and I was wondering what you guys thought I should do for a 35minn + 2lap crit?
> 
> ...


Learn to drink while racing, because the crits will get longer if you move up.


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## petalpower (Aug 10, 2009)

Undecided said:


> Learn to drink while racing, because the crits will get longer if you move up.



Thanks. Are you drinking water only, or water and a recovery/energy type drink also?


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## sdeeer (Aug 12, 2008)

I drink both water and a bit of sports drink durring warm ups. Then I leave the sports drink at the car and just take a bit more water than I think I will need. Usually about 1/2 a bottle or less. My crits last from 35 min to just over about an hour.


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## tom_h (May 6, 2008)

35-40 minute race is borderline for no fluids ... I choose to drink, Maybe about 10-12 ounces consumed during a race.  

I prefer a diluted sports drink (GU "electrolyte brew"), but for short races water would be fine. I also eat 1 GU gel (100 calories) plus a little water, about 10 minutes before race.

At first, it seems a challenge to drink in a crit; easiest for me has been during a slight downhill or downwind, when I'm not working as hard. 

Definitely don't be fumbling with water bottles just before a turn, do it on the straights!


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## petalpower (Aug 10, 2009)

Thanks guys.

Tonight's crit is my third - I've been finishing mid pack the last two, but last week was in 2nd on the final lap, but just had nothing on the final sprint - mainly becuase I'm weak as a cyclist, but I'm sure some of that is due to not drinking enough fluids.

Shooting for a top 5-10 tonight. Ate a peanut butter and Jelly on whole wheat about 3 hours before start time, and I'll down a gel right before the race ( been doing this ).

Thanks again!!

John


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## Andrea138 (Mar 10, 2008)

tom_h said:


> 35-40 minute race is borderline for no fluids ... I choose to drink, Maybe about 10-12 ounces consumed during a race.
> 
> I prefer a diluted sports drink (GU "electrolyte brew"), but for short races water would be fine. I also eat 1 GU gel (100 calories) plus a little water, about 10 minutes before race.
> 
> ...


Exactly what I do, though I've been reading a couple of articles that suggest a lower GI carb + medium chain triglyceride taken in before exercise is better, so I might look in to changing my routine.


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## tom_h (May 6, 2008)

Andrea138 said:


> Exactly what I do, though I've been reading a couple of articles that suggest a lower GI carb + medium chain triglyceride taken in before exercise is better, so I might look in to changing my routine.


What would be specific examples of "_lower GI carb + medium chain triglyceride_" ?? I'm pretty new to all this.


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## Andrea138 (Mar 10, 2008)

I just found an article about this product that looks promising, but I've got to do a lot more research, because the stuff in the link is incredibly expensive.


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## EDUC8-or (Jan 2, 2009)

petalpower said:


> Thanks guys.
> 
> Tonight's crit is my third - I've been finishing mid pack the last two, but last week was in 2nd on the final lap, but just had nothing on the final sprint - mainly becuase I'm weak as a cyclist, but I'm sure some of that is due to not drinking enough fluids.
> 
> ...


If there's a lull in the pace take a drink, even if you're not thirsty because once things pick up they might not slow down. You should be fine in a 30 minute crit if you don't drink much, but I always feel better when I take on some fluid even if I'm not thirsty.

If you do intervals, at the end of each interval pick something 100 or so meters up the road and sprint for it. If you do that for a while you'll have more gas in the tank for the sprint.


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## Alex_Simmons/RST (Jan 12, 2008)

Andrea138 said:


> I just found an article about this product that looks promising, *but I've got to do a lot more research, because the stuff in the link is incredibly expensive*.


This isn't a bad start for your research:
http://www.ausport.gov.au/__data/as...ments_Sold_by_Network_Marketing_Companies.pdf


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## Andrea138 (Mar 10, 2008)

Yes, I realize that most supplements are bunk. The article I read was in a peer reviewed journal... I'll see if I can track down a link to the abstract.

Edit: Here are links to a couple of articles- 
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2129156/
http://www.jissn.com/content/7/1/12


I think the glaring weakness is that they didn't compare it to any other form of pre-exercise drink (other than a placebo). It'd also be nice if they used highly trained subjects instead of just "college students" or "recreationally active college students" (which they didn't operationally define). I'm not about to pay $ for the Em-Pact stuff, but I would be interested in hunting down the main ingredients to formulate something myself for a fraction of the $.


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## Kerry Irons (Feb 25, 2002)

*Study comparison*



Andrea138 said:


> I think the glaring weakness is that they didn't compare it to any other form of pre-exercise drink (other than a placebo).


And then there's the "famous" study done by one of the drink companies where their product gave a longer lasting performance than Gatorade, but their product also had more calories in it. Duh! I wonder if these folks do poor quality work on purpose so they can fudge the analysis in their marketing materials, or if they are collectively just that incompetent? What really stuns me is when an academic does this kind of apples and oranges comparison


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## tom_h (May 6, 2008)

I'm finding much of the whole "exercise physiology" field is far too "hand-wavy", compared to bonafide "hard" sciences, or even most medical clinical studies. Small sample sizes of athletes is just one of the concerns ... not unusual to see N = 7 - 10.


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## Andrea138 (Mar 10, 2008)

Nature of the beast. You can't breed human subjects to respond consistently to experimental treatments, so it takes a lot of research on various samples of the population to reach any conclusions.
It helps to look at better journals, too- Medicine and Science in Sport and Exercise is one of my favorites.


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## nOOky (Mar 20, 2009)

I will have a bottle with Grape Gatorade in it. Better to have it there and not need it than to want a swig and not have it. The weight of a bottle and fluid will probably not decide your race as much as what you ate the day before. If you can't take a sip without worrying about crashing then you don't belong there in the first place, that type of stuff should be automatic and ingrained.
Don't read too much into it


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## petalpower (Aug 10, 2009)

Thanks for all the suggestions guys!!

This week didn't go as well as last week. The pace was certainly faster - I think the winners averaged about 26.4 mph.

Last week I was able to hang the whole crit - this week I got dropped after about 10 minutes.

I think part of the problem is that we only have two groups - Mens A and Mens B. I'm pretty certain that my group - Men's B - is comprised of CAT 3,4,5. I don't mind though. If I get used to racing with them, perhaps a real CAT 5 will be a bit easier.


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## spade2you (May 12, 2009)

petalpower said:


> If I get used to racing with them, perhaps a real CAT 5 will be a bit easier.


Yes and no. Shorter duration generally means much harder pace and the challenge of 5 is responding to all sorts of (pointless?) attacks and unorganized riding. You tend to work a lot harder for the same given speed.


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## pretender (Sep 18, 2007)

petalpower said:


> My first two, I've carried one, but just haven't felt like I had the break to drink from it, and I was wondering what you guys thought I should do for a 35minn + 2lap crit?


In hot weather I think it's good to have access to some water, if only for a psychological boost. There's no good reason not to carry at least a half-full bottle, even if you never drink from it.


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## Wookiebiker (Sep 5, 2005)

When I do crits...I like to carry a small 1/2 filled, water bottle...if for no other reason to eleviate the "Cotton Mouth/Dry Mouth" that takes place during such hard efforts. For short crits you really don't need to drink, but a sip every now and then can be a good thing.

Usually, I'll take off the 2nd cage just for aero reasons though...not that it really makes much of a difference.

Also, on hot days...having some extra water to throw over year head mid race to cool down can be a very good thing


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## MarshallH1987 (Jun 17, 2009)

anybody tried the camelbak undershirt that holds water? I was thinking about picking one up so that i could just stick the tube in my mouth real quick, suck as much down as i felt like, even through hard turns and just let go without worrying about a bottle at all. Might be great for tt's as well.


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