Lance Armstrong trivia - calorie burn rate

[Nick Burns]

This has been bugging me for a few days since I read it. I read an article somewhere in which Lance
was complaining that contrary to perception, he could not eat "whatever he wants" because he may
burn plenty of calories on some days but other days during recovery rides he only burns 300 calories
(per hour, I assume). Could that be right? Is this guy that much more efficient than anyone I have
ever seen or heard of? A very small rider (AFAIK) should burn at least 500 calories an hour on a
VERY easy recovery ride. Lance is about 155 I think.

What is going on? Is it possible he is using some kind of inaccurate way to measure this, or that he
can actually burn at that ride while going "easy". The only thing I can think of is that maybe he
goes on some super slow recovery rides every once in a while and was quoting from that. It seems to
me that he would be putting out around 50 watts at that rate. The other possibility (I guess the
most likely) is that he burns 300 calories and then puts out 600 watts at his anaerobic threshold
the next day. All number are rounded for dramatic purposes.

Any ideas?

 

[Mark & Steven B]

Nick Burns wrote:

> This has been bugging me for a few days since I read it. I read an article somewhere in which
> Lance was complaining that contrary to perception, he could not eat "whatever he wants" because he
> may burn plenty of calories on some days but other days during recovery rides he only burns 300
> calories (per hour, I assume). Could that be right? Is this guy that much more efficient than
> anyone I have ever seen or heard of? A very small rider (AFAIK) should burn at least 500 calories
> an hour on a VERY easy recovery ride. Lance is about 155 I think.
>
> What is going on? Is it possible he is using some kind of inaccurate way to measure this, or that
> he can actually burn at that ride while going "easy". The only thing I can think of is that maybe
> he goes on some super slow recovery rides every once in a while and was quoting from that. It
> seems to me that he would be putting out around 50 watts at that rate. The other possibility (I
> guess the most likely) is that he burns 300 calories and then puts out 600 watts at his anaerobic
> threshold the next day. All number are rounded for dramatic purposes.
>
> Any ideas?

I'm sure there's a lot of individual variation on this. I know my brother used to do a tour
yearly that was run like a stage race, average a mere 100
mi/day or so, for eight days. His problem was taking in enough calories without his stomach
rebelling.

Steve

--
Mark & Steven Bornfeld DDS Brooklyn, NY 718-258-5001 http://www.dentaltwins.com