So, I've bonked on my ride, puked up the next day and nursed myself through
a power-headache, all for the love of cycling. So why did it happen and how can
I stop it happening again? Well, the Internet is a wonderful place, and there
are plenty of resources for folks like me who have never real thought about
this stuff before. Some are more authoritative and scientific; others are discussions
on forums, where folks like me have asked these questions before. That's where
I started. Here's what I learned.
Any physical activity burns calories. We all know that, right, but what
exactly does it mean? Well, it means that if you burn more calories you need to
eat more. Not rocket science, no, but what the heck should we eat and when? Is
it okay to burn 1500 calories on Saturday then binge drink your way through the
week to make up the loss? See, not so silly to ask these questions after all...
Now before I get all geeky about this I just want to say one more thing. The
food/miles issue has never ever come up before on social rides. On a ride with
friends I know there will be cafe stops (at least one) and then there are the
rest stops en route -- the ones at the tops and bottoms of hills, where we all
regroup, providing ample time for a refuel if needed. I have no problem feeding
myself on rides like these; in fact the frequent snack stops are my favourite
parts of the ride. No, the problem is when I'm on my own, because then I get it
in my head there's no time to stop, no point in stopping. Maybe it's a security
thing? I don't know. Whatever the reason, when I'm on my own I m on a mission
and that's the end of it. So the other part of this lesson is educating myself
about ways to eat that don't involved lengthy, social chat stops -- the lesson
for those rides is learning about food as fuel.
So, what do we need when there's no time for a cake and butty stop but you
still have many miles ahead of you?
Well, the first thing is you need to know how much fuel you need to keep
going. To figure this out you need to find a way to log the mileage you're doing
and perform the necessary calculations for your age, height, and weight. If you
have a GPS and use this to track your rides, the chances are you have this
information to hand already. Use it. Study it. Try and figure out a rough
guestimate for the different types of rides you do, considering terrain,
distance, speed, etc. All those things affect how much fuel you need. When you
have this you should end up with a figure for the number of calories you need
per hour of activity. So far so good. For me I'm looking at about 300 calories
per hour on a "regular" ride. Anything above "normal"
levels of activity (races, etc.) I will need more than this.
Second, figure out what you can actually manage to eat while riding. It's one
thing sitting down for a butty and swilling it all down with a cup of tea, but
if you're pushing yourself hard you need to embrace food as fuel and keep it
simple. There are a tonne of products out there to help with this: gels, energy
bars (usually dried fruit mixtures, some with oats, etc.) and also energy
drinks. When you start looking at these the wide range and different
definitions will blow your mind. I haven't figured out what I like yet, so have
bought a stack of different products and will just try them out as a ride. Some
I'll like, some I won't. I'm hoping that I end up finding one that I can make
really cheaply for myself. The products don't need to be specialist sport bars
either. Products like Nakd fruit bars and others are available from
most whole food shops. Basically what you want are slow release carbs, from
dried fruit, oats, etc., and
it also helps to have a stash of simple sugars for a speedy fuel injection;
jelly babies are as good as a fancy energy gel -- think of this
as your get out of jail food.
Then you do need to actually keep track of what you eat, not just during the
ride but before and after. I've started doing this because I was worried I
wasn't eating enough. My weight was stable but my body fat % was increasing,
which suggested that maybe I was in "starvation mode" and my body was
storing fat to get me through periods of exertion because I couldn't be relied
upon to feed myself properly. I've been using My Fitness Pal, on the
recommendation of a Breeze participant, for a couple of weeks now, and it makes
pretty interesting reading. Basically, I haven't been eating enough for the
riding I'm doing, so now I have a chance to rectify that, which will make me a
stronger, healthier, happier rider. Plus I to get to eat more -- marvellous!
Saying that, *when* I eat more needs to change too. I still don't eat enough on
ride days. Refuelling after is important, and one way to do this is to include
a protein shake of some sort into your day. Again, there are a tonne of
products out there, some of which are very much aimed at blokes, so lots of
focus on muscle gain, others of which are for muscle repair. The products I'm
trying (again, trial and error is the way forward) are to assist repair and
contain a balance of carbs and protein plus some other vitamins and minerals.
I've been trying a few products out after all my recent rides and they have
really helped me up my calorie intake to a level that matches my activity
level.
So is there any more to say on this? Well, yes, actually there is! But
that's enough for now... More to follow.
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