I'm a 46 year old intermediate cyclist. I ride 150-170 miles per week. On Saturday morning my group does a pretty hard ride (for me, anyway) - 65 miles at a good clip. I normally try to eat healthy afterwards -- lean protein, whole grains, vegetables, plenty of water. But I often feel flat on my Sunday morning group ride, which is just as fast and about 45 miles. Last night my friend came over to celebrate his new job. We drank a couple of Blue Moons and ate lots of pita chips, then went out and ate jalapeno cheeseburgers and french fries and washed them down with a 24 oz Guinness draught. Not exactly health food. But this morning on my ride I felt terrific and had more energy than usual. I'm thinking that maybe the healthy food I'm eating on Saturday is not giving me the replenishment and energy I need to prepare for Sunday's ride. Thoughts?
Beer, cheeseburgers and fries as recovery foods?
RichardT
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I'm a 46 year old intermediate cyclist. I ride 150-170 miles per week. On Saturday morning my group does a pretty hard ride (for me, anyway) - 65 miles at a good clip. I normally try to eat healthy afterwards -- lean protein, whole grains, vegetables, plenty of water. But I often feel flat on my Sunday morning group ride, which is just as fast and about 45 miles. Last night my friend came over to celebrate his new job. We drank a couple of Blue Moons and ate lots of pita chips, then went out and ate jalapeno cheeseburgers and french fries and washed them down with a 24 oz Guinness draught. Not exactly health food. But this morning on my ride I felt terrific and had more energy than usual. I'm thinking that maybe the healthy food I'm eating on Saturday is not giving me the replenishment and energy I need to prepare for Sunday's ride. Thoughts?
I've seen good performance and body composition changed via eating a super clean diet. The changes didn't happen over night though. I'd estimated it took a good 6 months before I noticed changes in the mirror and then much longer to notice or appreciate changes on the bike. I was already at a fairly high level for a dude my age but, I attribute a fair amount of my ability to recover well to diet; climbing better to diet and being leaner to diet.
What is interesting is that I too have had slips where I tie one on the night before a race or huge, tough group event and do really well. No way I would say it was due to the alcohol or other junk I ate the night before. Performance for me, in general, is on a much more meso scale. I think your n=1 observation is much the same. Eat clean if you want long term performance gains is my advise.
Make sure you're eating enough is the only other advise I have. While losing some weight I really saw my power drop. When I started eating more (enough) power came back up. JMO!
What is interesting is that I too have had slips where I tie one on the night before a race or huge, tough group event and do really well. No way I would say it was due to the alcohol or other junk I ate the night before. Performance for me, in general, is on a much more meso scale. I think your n=1 observation is much the same. Eat clean if you want long term performance gains is my advise.
Make sure you're eating enough is the only other advise I have. While losing some weight I really saw my power drop. When I started eating more (enough) power came back up. JMO!
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Agree. Health foods are fine...in moderation. Beer, buggers, fries on occasion won't hurt IMO.
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how about about a nice steak?
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[/Quote] Make sure you're eating enough is the only other advise I have. While losing some weight I really saw my power drop. When I started eating more (enough) power came back up. JMO![/QUOTE]
I think this is the key factor. Eating really clean can be difficult to get in enough calories when you are eating grilled chicken and vegetables unless you are constantly eating. Allen Lim's cookbook has alot of good biking food and discusses nutrition at the pro tour level. Also Friel and Matt Fitzgerald discuss periodization of diet as well as training, when you are going hard difficult to lose weight (fat) as burning higher percentage of carbs for fuel vs base when burning more fat. I would suggest tracking calories burned vs eaten for awhile to see, it might be revealing... It was or me.
I think this is the key factor. Eating really clean can be difficult to get in enough calories when you are eating grilled chicken and vegetables unless you are constantly eating. Allen Lim's cookbook has alot of good biking food and discusses nutrition at the pro tour level. Also Friel and Matt Fitzgerald discuss periodization of diet as well as training, when you are going hard difficult to lose weight (fat) as burning higher percentage of carbs for fuel vs base when burning more fat. I would suggest tracking calories burned vs eaten for awhile to see, it might be revealing... It was or me.
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You need carbs after the workout for starters. Somewhere on the order of 4 grams of carbs per 1 gram of protein.
During weeks and days where you're putting in a lot of hours on the bike you got to pack in the calories.
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since when do vegetables and whole grains not contain carbs?
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Beer has carbs!
Don't forget the timing of the food you eat too, eat very soon after your ride while your muscles are still charged up.
Also check your macro's or mix of carbs and protein as said above.
Another thing that will help you recover is to eat while you ride, this will not let your muscles deplete as much and you won't have that extra bit to cover after the ride.
Also check your macro's or mix of carbs and protein as said above.
Another thing that will help you recover is to eat while you ride, this will not let your muscles deplete as much and you won't have that extra bit to cover after the ride.
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Agree with the others that you might be low on calories for the recharge or maybe you just had a good day that Sunday.
For historical perspective Lon Haldeman set the double US transcontinental record (and the record in both directions too) basically eating at McDonald's and similar fast food joints.
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A good lapse from healthy eating now and then is good for your morale. That can play a factor.
After a really hard ride I enjoy a healthy meal. But when I get hungry again I like homemade trail mix. The nuts contain protein, good fats, and replenish calories. Some chocolate in it gets some carbs, as well as the dried cranberries and corn chex I put in as well. I usually put some wasabi peas in as well for some zip. Very tasty, and a healthy source of calories.
After a really hard ride I enjoy a healthy meal. But when I get hungry again I like homemade trail mix. The nuts contain protein, good fats, and replenish calories. Some chocolate in it gets some carbs, as well as the dried cranberries and corn chex I put in as well. I usually put some wasabi peas in as well for some zip. Very tasty, and a healthy source of calories.
I didn't do that today.... left the recovery drink at home... seat bag at home...
somehow, I had a Cliff bar in the car... so that was my recovery food after some mountain biking today...
I think you're feeling flat on Sunday because of the hard workout on Saturday. Eating right isn't going to provide 100% of your recovery. Your muscles need more than 24 hrs of rest even with the best food in the world to be in prime condition.
A single experience of eating an unhealthy meal and then having a good ride isn't really evidence that you've discovered the new super diet (though I wish it were).
I would guess that you're pretty healthy to begin with, so a single bad meal didn't do all that much damage to your training regimen. Also, you probably had a little extra adrenaline from:
a. being in a good mood about partying with your friend, and
b. worrying that you wouldn't be able to keep up with the ride.
The adrenaline probably gave you that extra push.
A single experience of eating an unhealthy meal and then having a good ride isn't really evidence that you've discovered the new super diet (though I wish it were).
I would guess that you're pretty healthy to begin with, so a single bad meal didn't do all that much damage to your training regimen. Also, you probably had a little extra adrenaline from:
a. being in a good mood about partying with your friend, and
b. worrying that you wouldn't be able to keep up with the ride.
The adrenaline probably gave you that extra push.
Thanks
Thank you all for the thoughtful replies! Not surprisingly, there's a range of opinion on the question I raised. I suspect I'm not fully replenishing my energy on Saturday after a 3-hour ride (plus I do some light weightlifting and crunches after my ride), and that this may contribute to my feeling flat on Sunday. Then again, I'm not sure I can expect to feel 100 percent on Sunday even if I do fully replenish my energy with beer and calorie-rich food. But, to continue my research, I'm going to force myself to have 2 or 3 Blue Moons next Saturday and see what happens.
Thank you all for the thoughtful replies! Not surprisingly, there's a range of opinion on the question I raised. I suspect I'm not fully replenishing my energy on Saturday after a 3-hour ride (plus I do some light weightlifting and crunches after my ride), and that this may contribute to my feeling flat on Sunday. Then again, I'm not sure I can expect to feel 100 percent on Sunday even if I do fully replenish my energy with beer and calorie-rich food. But, to continue my research, I'm going to force myself to have 2 or 3 Blue Moons next Saturday and see what happens.
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I am sure you will be happy with the results of your research no matter what the outcome is! For scientific sake I would stay with Guiness though as it could make proper comparisons difficult.:thumbsup:Thank you all for the thoughtful replies! Not surprisingly, there's a range of opinion on the question I raised. I suspect I'm not fully replenishing my energy on Saturday after a 3-hour ride (plus I do some light weightlifting and crunches after my ride), and that this may contribute to my feeling flat on Sunday. Then again, I'm not sure I can expect to feel 100 percent on Sunday even if I do fully replenish my energy with beer and calorie-rich food. But, to continue my research, I'm going to force myself to have 2 or 3 Blue Moons next Saturday and see what happens.
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Actually this whole post should not be about recovery. It is about fueling and loading up on food prior to a race (or high performance ride).
I always eat a bit more (often a pizza or some other less-than-healthy food is involved) before a race and it is certainly not to recover, since I am already recovered from a week of ramping down to peak for the race.
And all my personal best performances on the spin bike (CP6, CP20, CP60) have been achieved after "pigging out" the night before.
I always eat a bit more (often a pizza or some other less-than-healthy food is involved) before a race and it is certainly not to recover, since I am already recovered from a week of ramping down to peak for the race.
And all my personal best performances on the spin bike (CP6, CP20, CP60) have been achieved after "pigging out" the night before.
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I eat healthy most of the time and rigorously track my calories. However, I occasionally splurge and eat burgers, fries, pizza, beer, etc. Personally, I think it's good for morale if nothing else. Eg, yesterday I had fast commute rides in the morning and afternoon. I was really hungry when I got home and way under my calorie budget, so I went to the local diner and got a big cheeseburger, fries and a chocolate shake. It was good for a change of pace, and I was still under my calorie budget for the day. My weight was 0.8 lb lighter this morning, so it apparently didn't hurt me in that respect.
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