The science behind the challenge of RAAM: Introduction

For the last 8 months Chris has been attending the Human Performance Unit for regular fitness assessments, body composition measures, and to have some in-depth nutrition discussions in order to ensure as many details were planned for before arriving in Oceanside, California.

Fitness testing consisted of cycling on a mechanically braked cycle ergometer for prolonged stages of incremental intensities. During this process, his oxygen utilization, blood lactate, HR and rating of perceived exertion were constantly measured. This data was used for a number of beneficial reasons such as identifying his optimal power output, and the appropriate heart rate to stick to during the race. This will give Chris a direct way to ensure he maintains an appropriate pacing strategy, based upon his physiological response, thus reducing the risk of burning out early in the race.

Bike testing

The fitness testing also looks at the amount of oxygen utilization in Chris’s body  at various intensities and enables us to further understand the amount of carbohydrate and fat (and kcal) used; paramount when trying to identify not only the ideal power/HR to ride at, but also to aid in designing his nutrition strategy and how best to achieve the huge daily intake of calories. (A separate blog will discuss the nutrition challenge in more depth!)

We have also been interested in Chris’s body composition (BF%, lean body mass etc). It will be impossible to match Chris’s energy expenditure (15-25,000 kcal per day) with his energy intake; therefore a daily energy deficit will occur. Limiting this deficit is important but a slight reduction in weight is expected, therefore we are interested to see to what extent Chris  will reduce his body fat vs. lean muscle mass. A previous paper investigating this in a RAAM rider reports a 5kg drop, however we don’t really know what this 5kg comprised of...

Body composition measures

And finally, planning Chris’s nutrition strategy has required numerous discussions with Chris; practicing and trialling supplements; finding out which foods he can tolerate, and (crucially) enjoy after extended periods of cycling; and building this into a daily nutrition plan....more details and photos of Chris’s daily food intake will be provided soon!!

 CM