# Training camps and load blocks: thinking about carbohydrate across several days

> In a load block it is not the single session that decides but the week's carbohydrate balance. What research shows about glycogen resynthesis and flavour fatigue - and how the WOO® Fast Endurance Waldfrucht Box fits in.

A single long session can almost always be improvised. What cannot be improvised is a week containing six of them. In a training camp, a stage race or a hard load block, it is not the individual feeding that decides but the balance across several days.

## What happens in the muscle between two sessions

After an exhausting endurance session, muscle glycogen stores are partly emptied. Resynthesis runs in two phases: a short, insulin-independent phase straight after exercise, in which glucose uptake into the muscle cell is markedly elevated, and a slower, insulin-dependent phase over the following hours. Ivy and colleagues showed back in 1988 that delaying carbohydrate intake by two hours roughly halves the resynthesis rate in that early phase.

This only becomes practically relevant when the next session is close. With less than eight hours in between, the literature suggests around **1.0 to 1.2 g of carbohydrate per kilogram of body weight per hour** during the first four hours. With a 24-hour gap, timing barely matters - then only the daily total counts.

## The weekly balance instead of the single session

Anyone training two to four hours a day in a block quickly arrives at a daily requirement of 8 to 10 g of carbohydrate per kilogram. At 70 kg that is between 560 and 700 g - amounts hardly reachable through solid food alone without the stomach working constantly. This is exactly where carbohydrate in liquid form has its value: it takes up little volume, needs little digestive work, and can be taken during the session rather than after it.

The cumulative deficit is treacherous because it never shows up as an acute event. It shows up as day-three heaviness, as falling intensity in intervals, as poor sleep. Whoever plans the block plans the carbohydrate with it.

## Flavour fatigue is a real limiter

An underestimated point: across several days the volume people voluntarily drink falls when the flavour is always the same and too sweet. Research on sensory-specific satiety shows that the appeal of a flavour declines with repeated intake - and in endurance sport the volume you drink is directly the energy you take in. A slightly tart fruit note is tolerated better over long efforts by many athletes than a very sweet one. Those working with two flavours in a block drink measurably more on day five than someone with a single one.

## How the WOO® Fast Endurance Waldfrucht Box works in a load block

The box contains ten 60 g sachets - arithmetically enough for a week with one to two long sessions a day. Per serving, **WOO® Fast Endurance** provides 56.1 g of carbohydrate, 230 kcal, 300 mg of sodium and 25 mg of magnesium; magnesium contributes to normal muscle function. The base is high-molecular corn starch combined with maltodextrin, glucose and sucrose - long-chain and short-chain together. The forest-fruit note comes from the flavouring, the colour from anthocyanins.

One sachet per bottle means the same concentration on every day of the block, without scales and without arithmetic in a hotel room. Vegan, gluten- and lactose-free, without artificial additives.

## Frequently asked questions

**How many sachets do I need for a one-week training camp?**
As a guideline one sachet per long session, two on very long days. One box therefore covers a typical camp week.

**Does intake during the session also count towards recovery?**
Yes. Carbohydrate taken during exercise reduces the depletion of stores - resynthesis then starts from a higher level.

**Why not simply eat more instead of drinking?**
Because at 8 to 10 g per kilogram, stomach capacity becomes the limit. Liquid carbohydrate complements solid food where it interferes least.

## Sources

Burke LM, van Loon LJC & Hawley JA (2017), Journal of Applied Physiology - Postexercise muscle glycogen resynthesis in humans.
Ivy JL et al. (1988), Journal of Applied Physiology - Muscle glycogen synthesis after exercise: effect of time of carbohydrate ingestion.
Areta JL & Hopkins WG (2018), Sports Medicine - Skeletal muscle glycogen content at rest and during endurance exercise in humans.
Rolls BJ et al. (1981), Physiology & Behavior - Sensory specific satiety in man.

*[WOO® Fast Endurance Waldfrucht](/en/shop/woo-fast-endurance-mixed-berry-box) Box in our NEMAPO shop.*