Steve, when you say that not eating before a workout is best, you mean right before a workout, right? It seems that eating would be good to have enough fuel, somewhere between 45 minutes to an hour at least beforehand (probably not much closer to the workout than that, but I'm throwing out numbers that have worked for me - I usually don't eat at least 2 hours beforehand). I'm thinking of Bjorn Daehlie, arguably the best cross-country skier in history, who ate a banana 45 minutes before every race. Maybe it just worked for him and he was used to it, I don't know. It makes sense to me somehow though.
On a similar note, I was re-reading an article from Outside magazine from May 2001 which interviewed Ed Burke, an exercise physiologist and distance biker who worked with some of the greats like Lance Armstrong and Greg Lemond, and he helped to construct a more effective PWO recovery utilizing the glycogen window, which you've probably heard of. The amount of time for this window varies in the recent Googling I've done, but regardless, the idea states that between 45 minutes and 4 hours (depending on who you believe), you should consume one gram of carbs for each pound you weigh, along with one-fourth your body weight in protein. Burke developed an energy drink to help with this, called Endurox R4. Now I'm not huge into all those fancy drinks and such, but I gave this a shot, and personally it has become a staple of my PWO recovery. I rarely feel sore the next day when I take it within one hour after a hard workout. I will qualify this, however, in saying that this worked more effectively when the workout was more cardio-based, like running, biking, or skiing. After rock climbing, it only made me gain weight, and not useful muscle either. I also scaled down on the requirements. I didn't need the full 1g carbs/lb body weight and 1/4xbody weight in protein.
For rounding things out (and spurring future discussion I hope), this was the general diet plan that Burke suggested:
PWO - as I mentioned, including lots of water to rehydrate
1-3 hours after workout - follow-up meal consisting of 65% carbs, 20%fat, 15% protein (and water)
for the rest of the day/night - follow the 65-20-15 plan, adjusting caloric intake to your needs, but don't overdo it. Continue drinking lots of water.
Additionally:
3-4 hours before workout - Pre-race/workout meal following 65-20-15, focusing on low glycemic foods
15-20 min before workout - 6-10 oz. of carb-rich sports drink to spike blood-glucose level
Now, from all the reading I've been doing in the diet forum here, most seem to think that spiking blood-glucose level is bad, and I can see the value in that. All the up and down would logically seem unhealthy, but as a serious athlete on the other hand, it seems intelligent to prepare for the burning of so much energy, so that the downturn of blood sugar levels during the workout isn't as dramatic, particularly so that you don't bonk. That's not fun. Mr. Burke also qualified his theory with the idea that the PWO food should be high-glycemic in order to quickly replenish blood-sugar levels, but after that for the rest of the meals, they should focus on low glycemic foods, particularly from the outer edges of the grocery store (i.e. natural foods like fruits and veggies, whole grains, natural dairy, etc.).
I don't pretend to be a nutritionist or exercise physiologist, but I wanted to relate this, because I find it interesting, and it has worked for me. Now that I've read more on the bread and paleo diet forums, however, I may reassess the whole carb issue.
Any thoughts? How does this idea of 65-20-15 compare to the 40-30-30 research?
