Skratch Labs and the Feed Zone Cookbook

I've been blabbing a lot on Twitter about Skratch Labs and the Feed Zone Cookbook. My body seems to have gone through some pretty big changes during my 5 months of ultra high intensity CX racing. My body is much more dependent on fast fuel now instead of slow burning fat like it had been. I use to be able to leave on a long ride on an empty stomach and be fine, now I'm hungry within an hour if I try to do that.

So let's start with the Skratch Labs Exercise Mix. I've been on a strictly water hydration plan for a couple years now. It's worked well, or as well as I could tell but when Skratch Labs came along I was eager to give the "next big thing" a try. The Skartch Labs mix is a bit different than most because it's designed purely for the sake of hydration, not calorie replacement. The theory is you hydrate from your bottles, and get calories from your pockets. So it mates up well with the Cookbook.

The Feed Zone Cookbook is awesome. It's broken down into 5 main sections, Breakfast, Portables, Apres (after), Dinner and Desserts. Each section is tuned to coincide with the energy requirements surrounding training and it's loaded with the information you need to make it work. I raced the Twin Bing Classic using the drink mix and rice cakes for food and everything agreed with me nicely.

Saturday I gave it a full go. Before the ride I pre-cooked some chicken and rice and stored it in the refrigerator for post ride. For the ride I took a large bottle of drink mix, a baggy of mix for a bottle refill  (you can get single serve packets that might be easier), and a chocalate/almond rice cake (the recipe calls for peanuts but I like the almonds much better).

After 3+ hours on the bike I came home hungry and ready to eat. The plan was to whip up some chicken fried rice, and after pre-cooking the rice and chicken lunch was ready in less than 15 minutes and I was on the way to recovery. Simple as that.

It's a pretty cool system and I'm not the only one digging it right now. Try it, it's good stuff.