guides

Design Your Own Fuelling Guide

Super Gel is a great addition to any fuelling guide

Want to know how to design your own fuelling guide? Well, did you know that OTE products are designed around a 20g carbohydrates unit system? The idea being that this makes it incredibly easy for you to design your own fuelling strategy, and know exactly how much energy you’re putting in!

How Many Carbs Per Hour?

When planning your fuelling guide for an event or training session, you firstly need to work out  roughly at what intensity you’ll be exercising at.  This will determine how quickly you’ll burn through your energy stores.

Easy Intensity:
40-60g carbs per hour
Moderate Intensity:
60-80g carbs per hour
High Intensity (or ultra-endurance events):
80-100g carbs per hour

Lighter athletes can aim for the lower end of the range.

Fuelling guides are important for events such as Ironman

How Many Hours Of Activity?

Next up in the fuelling guide planning comes working out how long you’ll take to complete an event or training session. No egos here, it’s better to over estimate and carry more fuel with you then under estimate and risk the dreaded ‘bonk’.

If exercising for under 90 minutes and you won’t exceed an easy-moderate intensity, then you may not require fuelling during.

Athlete Running Up A Picturesque Hill
Design Your Own Fuelling Guide — OTE Sports
Super Gel is a great addition to any fuelling guide
Design Your Own Fuelling Guide — OTE Sports

– TIME TO

PICK YOUR PRODUCTS

Now we’ve worked out time and intensity, we can start to decide which products will fit into our fuelling guide.

 

Let’s break down our products options into 20g Carbs Units:


Standard Energy Gel = 1 x 20g Unit
Super Gel = 2 x 20g Units

Standard Energy Drink = 2 x 20g Units
Super Carbs Energy Drink = 4 x 20g Units
Hydro Tabs = 0 x 20g Unit

Anytime Bar = 2 x 20g Unit
Duo Bar = 2 x 20g Units

Remember!

Hydration is important for performance too, so always incorporate drinks into your strategy. One 500ml bottle per hour is a great aim, even if this doesn’t include carbohydrates.

Learn more about hydration
Design Your Own Fuelling Guide — OTE Sports

Example Fuelling Strategy

Now let’s look at how to fuel a 3 HOUR RIDE at a MODERATE INTENSITY

You’d need to take on 3 X 60G CARBS PER HOUR

And remember 60G = 3 x 20G OTE CARB UNITS

Design Your Own Fuelling Guide — OTE Sports

HOUR 1
1 x 500ml Bottle of Hydro Tabs
1 x Anytime Bar
1 x Energy Gel

HOUR 2
1 X 500ml Bottle of Energy Drink
1 x Energy Gel

HOUR 3
1 x Super Gel
1 x Caffeine Gel
1 x 500ml of Hydro Tabs