Food Questions

TeleVizedPayne said:

I've tried riding after eating a light breakfast twice now prior to long rides and have not had good results. I do better if I go fasting and then eat afterwards. If you eat during your rides, what do yo do? How do you carry your food so that you can get to it easily and eat small portions during the ride?

What do you find works best for recovery after riding?

You might want to try other types of food before deciding to fast before long rides. By fasting, your body is already in a state of delpetion as far as carbohydrates go, and that's never good for long rides.

You might even have to "train" your body to get used to eating something light before a long ride...and it will pay off. It's all about testing everything out in training.
Personally, I use Hammer Nutrition products ranging from a simple carbohydrate drink to a carbohydrate/protein/high calorie drink mix. You can carry it in your water bottles (if it's a mix), or in your jersey pocket (if it's gel packs or small bars like PowerBar or ClifBar). For recovery after riding, a high carbohydrate meal is important...some protein can be added as well. Just be sure to eat a light carbohydrate snack within the first 15-20 minutes after finishing the long ride and then over the next 2-4 hours take in a high carbohydrate diet. That's a very very general recommendation, but hopefully it helps a bit.🙂

It took me a few months before I figured what works for me. When I first started riding, I would get violently ill a few hours after the ride; nausea, cramps and "the runs".
Now I make sure to eat breakfast a good three hours before the ride (yeah, that means up at 5 or 6 am), nibble my snacks during the ride, (bananas, powerbars and gatorade), and make sure I rehydrate immediately after the ride.
An hour or two afterwards I'll eat a good sized meal, usually pasta and a salad or something similar.
Oddly enough, my stomach can no longer handle caffeine, so I now drink mostly de-caf.
Hope that helps.
There's lots of info on the web about this topic. Stomach problems must be pretty common amongst us cyclists.

Here's is what works for me. First depending on how a ride I will load one or two days before. Some breads, pastas, etc. Hiher carb stuff. In the morning coffe, peanut butter and banana sandwich or just a banana. Maybe a non-fat yogurt. On the ride I take a banana, peanut butter and banana sandwich, Power Gels, and plenty of cytomax to mix more of the drink. After the ride some more cytomax and any food I'm craving at the time.

TeleVizedPayne said:

I've tried riding after eating a light breakfast twice now prior to long rides and have not had good results. I do better if I go fasting and then eat afterwards. If you eat during your rides, what do yo do? How do you carry your food so that you can get to it easily and eat small portions during the ride?

What do you find works best for recovery after riding?

Orange Fish said:

You might want to try other types of food before deciding to fast before long rides. By fasting, your body is already in a state of delpetion as far as carbohydrates go, and that's never good for long rides.

You might even have to "train" your body to get used to eating something light before a long ride...and it will pay off. It's all about testing everything out in training.

You have hit the nail on the head, and the others have done well to point out the other half - you will have to do some experimenting to see what works best for you.

I would recomend you read Nancy Clarks, Food for Fitness. It can be a little tedious, but the info is relavent, current, highly useful, and easy to understand. Her guide has been the most useful training aide in my house. Without eating right you cannot hope to have fully effective workouts.

HR

TeleVizedPayne said:

I've tried riding after eating a light breakfast twice now prior to long rides and have not had good results. I do better if I go fasting and then eat afterwards. If you eat during your rides, what do yo do? How do you carry your food so that you can get to it easily and eat small portions during the ride?

What do you find works best for recovery after riding?

Unless you have had an active night and assuming you had a decent feed the night before your ride your carbohydrate levels will be near their maximum. So you don't need to eat for at least an hour.

Take some good, easily digestible carbohydrate (high GI) on your ride. Dried or fresh bananas, other dried fruit, couple of slices of bread or gels and energy drinks if you feel like throwing money away. Start eating them after about an hour, a little at a time to get 1g carbohydrate per kg body weight per hour. Carry these in your jersey pocket so you only have to reach back and grab them.

Carbo loading will give you no advantage if you already have a diet with adequate carbohydrate.

After the ride eat food rich in easily available carbohydrate like rice, potatoes and pasta to quickly replenish depleted muscle glycogen. This depletion and topping up trains the body to store glycogen.

If you want to eat before your ride eat low GI in small amounts. Small amounts to not overwork your digestive system and low GI for slow release.

Most people get used to eating before and during long exercise. If you are planning long rides you will need to.

Light breakfast works for me. Cliff or powerbars in my camelbak's phone pocket (seperately sold accessory that goes on your shoulder strap. I also have an accelerade bottle along with my water bottle and I feel that it helps recovery also since it has some protein in it.

If I get home soon after riding I eat some grilled chicken and whole wheat bread.

For on bike foods, you cant beat gels, bars or sports drinks to keep your energy levels up.

After the ride, it is benefical to drink a liquid recovery drink as soon as possible. I drink biotest surge (you have to scroll down to find it. http://www.t-nation.com/category.jsp?categoryID=34&pageNo=1 but there are many other liquid recovery drinks out there, or you could make your own shake with a little whey protein powder and some fruit juice (dont mix it too thick though) in a blender/shaker. Then eat a meal (simple carbs and protein a little fat is okay too.) within two hours of finishing your ride. You want a liquid recovery drink because it is abosorbed quicker than solid food.

[quote="GIFF07"]For on bike foods, you cant beat gels, bars or sports drinks to keep your energy levels up. snip
QUOTE]


These are great foods but an expensive way to ingest energy. Dried bananas are a great substitute for energy bars and you can mix your own energy drinks yourself at a fraction of the price you pay for the brand name drinks.

Same thing here. I usually carry some granola bars (chewy type), energy gels (just in case), dried fruits (or bars made of dried fruits). I eat a bar during a small break. In the hill top waiting for the rest, before going downhill for example. I carry water (almost never sports drinks) to wash down the bar. Sports bars usually are too dense and difficult to swallow, so I take ordinary granola stuff (Nature Valley Chewy Trail Mix)

For recovery I eat everything. Bannana for shure and some sports drink. A big chunk of cake (apple cobbler - yum).

TeleVizedPayne said:

I've tried riding after eating a light breakfast twice now prior to long rides and have not had good results. I do better if I go fasting and then eat afterwards. If you eat during your rides, what do yo do? How do you carry your food so that you can get to it easily and eat small portions during the ride?

What do you find works best for recovery after riding?

[quote="mitosis"]

GIFF07 said:

For on bike foods, you cant beat gels, bars or sports drinks to keep your energy levels up. snip
QUOTE]

These are great foods but an expensive way to ingest energy. Dried bananas are a great substitute for energy bars and you can mix your own energy drinks yourself at a fraction of the price you pay for the brand name drinks.