 |
[RC] Lactic Acid - Bruce Weary DCEd, I appreciate your sense of humor. I can't seem to resist injecting a feeble attempt at humor into most of my posts.Tom did show me a study that demonstrated that water follows glycogen into the cell, and is released back into the bloodstream when that glycogen is burned. He stipulated that a horse that is well fed on carbs will keep all his systems running better and stay better hydrated with better recoveries. He did this by feeding carbs and grain frequently throughout the ride, to keep blood glucose levels UP not DOWN. Yes, higher glucose levels drive insulin levels up, but that's how it's supposed to work. The insulin is necessary to drive glucose into the cell where it can be used. He said the trick is to keep feeding the horse so that the glucose level doesn't drop to levels where the horse becomes work intolerant. Since horses can be unpredicatable in their eating habits during a ride, he accomplished this by using regular carbo supplementation ( which, incidentally, is much different that carbo loading). He acknowledges that the horse isn't actually running his engine on the small amount of carbs that are fed, but rather that maintaining glucose levels sort of tells the body that all is well and enables the physiologic machinery to keep running efficiently for longer periods of time. On the hydration thing, most of us probably think of the bloodstream and the bowel as the primary source of water, but if glycogen releases water when it's burned, then the muscle cells themselves may be an additional source of water to help with hydration. Tom's book, "Optimized Nutrition" explains all this better than I can. I find it all very fascinating. He also said that mechanical injuries are minimized because when muscles are firing strongly, the joints that they move and stabilize are better protected. It's when fatigue sets in that stumbling and other inefficient biomechanical movements can occur that lead to injuries such as bowed tendons, torn ligaments and other strains. I know my horse is less agile and more likely to trip when she is fatigued. So am I, for that matter. Gotta go. Oprah is on. Dr Q =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
|