Energy levels lacking on the return journey, tips?

danowat

Currently my commute is 17 miles each way on country roads, I head out at 6am, and the cycle in is as breeze, compared to the cycle home after a 9hr day, on the cycle home I am feeling drained, "empty" legged etc etc, and I can only put this down to a lack of energy.

I cycle predominately for fitness and weight maintainance, so I am loathed to eat anything excessive due to this.

Any tips for what, and when, I can eat (drink?) in the afternoon that will assist on the return journey?, keeping in mind the weight thing?

rjsterry

34 miles a day and a 9hr working day? Not surprising your tired. Have you upped your mileage recently? If so, by how much?

Quite likely to be down to a big gap between your last meal (lunch) and the ride home. Maybe try a banana or similar at about 4 o'clock, and see if this helps. I wouldn't worry about the weight side of it. if you are using up more than you put in, you need to put more in.

Clever Pun

at the very least a banana before you ride out...

RJLJ

Rather than eating the 3 meals a day eat the same over six meals, this way you keep your energy level constant.

Also take regualr break through out the day rather than working for 9 hours straight.

Paul E

I do 25 a day and a 10 hour day at work and eat all during the day generally and yes sometimes I do feel a bit tired leg wise but generally I'm okay, it's just a case of maintaining a pace that leaves you with enough to get home and not going hell for leather in the morning.

cyclingmev

i usually make sure i have a mahooosive bowl of porridge when i get to work, nibble fruit and oatcakes (try the Nairns fruity biccies,..mmmmm) through the morning, baked spud / carby stuff for lunch, then a banananana before setting off home. what also helped for me is smoothie in my water bottle - maybe 3/4 fruit smoothie (not the yog based stuff!) and rest water....i really struggle with energy ups and downs - but do irrelevant whether biking or not....happy bikeling!

danowat

Cheers,

I generally only commute 3 days a week, with a long(ish) (50-60mile) ride at the weekends (or sportive / charity ride, whatever is on), so usual mileage is around 150ish miles a week.

Been doing this sort of mileage for a little while now, although when not commuting (on annual leave etc) I do evening training rides to keep the mileage about the same, so I haven't increased mileage.

Pace is a good point, I am a sod for just trying to go too fast, I guess I need to try and reign in both rides, to and from.

Banana sounds good, I'll give it a go, my history (was 24 stone, now 14) plays on my mind a bit food wise.

The other thing was, my job is pretty stationary (CAD), and I wondered if sitting down all day may have a bearing on it?.

amnezia

It could just be that you have the wind with you on the way in and against you on the way home.

cyclingmev

it's always a headwind!!!!

jonny_trousers

Yeah, it's simple: if you want your body to perform at its best then you need to fuel it properly. It won't hinder your weight loss program if you have a healthy snack an hour or so before your ride home (and it will probably improve your muscle development also).

davis

Dude, eat more.

Edit: Sorry, that's somewhat flippant. But you're doing a fair amount of work. Your body need to fuel that somehow

danowat

cyclingmev wrote:

it's always a headwind!!!!

Nah, its the rotation of the earth, I am going with it on the way in, but against it on the way home!!!.

I'll try some healthy snacks in the afternoon, if I can hold out on them long enough!

Cheers all

dav1

Jonny_Trousers wrote:

Yeah, it's simple: if you want your body to perform at its best then you need to fuel it properly. It won't hinder your weight loss program if you have a healthy snack an hour or so before your ride home (and it will probably improve your muscle development also).

I would definatly agree with this. I find that my energy levels are lower on the days I miss afternoon tea break because I didn't eat in the afternoon.

danowat

I guess the fact that I did the Norwich 50 on Sunday may have a bearing on todays nightmare ride home aswell...........

geordiefella

cyclingmev wrote:

oatcakes (try the Nairns fruity biccies,..mmmmm)

+1 for Nairn Fruit Oatcakes (Waitrose have them)

Sometime in the afternoon, i have some drawer snacks to hand. Graze.com snacks, Nairns, banana, maybe a yghurt on coffee break and try to get a double espresso or americano (3 calories) before the last bit at work.

A big bottle of juice / electrolyte thing is good too so i'm not dehydrated. then recovery is also better.

in desperate time, and depending on your route, dare i say it, some awesome tunes on the ipod shuffle (i know i know, but i use a mirror...)

Dave

danowat

Just added some Nairns fruities to the Tesco delivery, just hope I don't eat them before the afternoon!

cyclingmev

i like them with philadelphia spread thickly on them (Nairns biscuits that is...not anything..oh, and other cream cheese breeds are available!)...the normal oaty biccies are great with honey on...keep a jar of that in your desk drawer...it'll be good for dipping yer banananana into too (that isn't a euphanism for anything, just in case you were wondering....) :P

prawny

I always carry a few jelly babies or a fig roll or two for the ride home just incase. Fridays i sometimes have a gel in my pocket just incase of real dead legs.

HamishD

Not surprised that your history plays on your mind but that was then, this is now mate.

You've done all the hard work - now: eat sensibly and often, keep that sort of mileage up and the job as they say is a good un.

londonbairn

I work anything from 10 hours to 15 hours a day, Monday was 7:30am to 10:30pm for example, coupled with a ~15 mile commute each way.

Perversely, on a day where I say end work at 7pm/8pm, I'll have dinner at home and feel a bit tired. On that Monday, I had dinner at work and flew home. I think having a constant feed of fruit/decent snacks helps a lot.

NormalD

danowat wrote:

my history (was 24 stone, now 14) .

Christ on a bike, I thought I'd done well to lose a stone and a half.

Well done.

+ 1 for the banana before the ride home, it works for me.

essex-commuter

danowat wrote:

Currently my commute is 17 miles each way on country roads, I head out at 6am,

My commute is also 17 miles each way and I also leave at 6am. I used to be 17.5 stone, now I'm under 13...we are quite similar

I don't eat (can't seem to at 5.30am) or drink before I ride in, I have a substantial breakfast when I arrive and then something around midday. Mid-afternoon I tend to have a bowl of cereal to perk me up, I also have fruit including bananas during the day. On occassions I get a bit 'slow' in the afternoon, when that happens I just have a bar of chocolate which perks me up.

I tend to ride in at an average speed (1hr) and go a bit harder on the way home (50 mins)...wind direction permitting. I do this 4 or 5 days a week depending on if I have to go to my other office which is only 4 miles each way...I call that my rest day office!

I struggled at first with the distance and frequency, now I don't even notice it..and I get really annoyed if I have to drive in for a reason!

Play around with a few variables and see what works for you.

essex-commuter

essex-commuter wrote:

a bowl of cereal

Not really that into cereals and was blown away by the choice when I went to the supermarket to buy a box. I saw one with Chris Hoy on the front so bought that, and that's all I've had ever since. I'm a creature of habit I suppose. Oi Hoy, on yer bike mate!

rjsterry

The sitting down all day doesn't help, I find. My legs tend to stiffen up a bit, especially if there's been some SCR action on the way in (I also have 'issues' with riding slowly), so the first bit of the run home is a bit creaky.

danowat

I am an early bird, so getting up a 5 to have brekkie prior to the run is no problem, I generally have a bowl of porridge, and that does the trick.

It seems it must be the amount I eat (or not) during the day, combined with the sitting that is key, so I'll work on them.

I am always cycling "to the clock", I think this comes from my running, where you are always trying to hit "numbers", my pace can range anywhere from 50mins - 1:05mins depending on how I feel, but I really need to just reign that in, and realise that its not always a race, as I am a sod for racing myself, everything is a PB and open to be beaten!!! :roll: , really need to leave my garmin at home, but I am such a stats whore!.

The ride in is lovely, don't notice the distance, can just settle in, switch off, and enjoy it, its just the ride home that can be a chore, although the distance isn't an issue, its just my fatigue.

Robstar24

my commute is c. 23 miles each way, and the way in is usually a fair bit easier than the way back, partly as the route back is a bit more uphill. try eating a bit before you leave work. I find it slightly annoying that the return 23 miles is harder, as usually a 46 mile ride done all in one is no problem.

if you're really feeling knackered, try taking train/car in one day a week, does wonders for the legs to have a bit of recovery time

Kieran_Burns

I'm going to try a banananana and a fruit juice drink 30 mins before I'm due to leave today and see what that does for my energy levels.

If it helps I'll go buy some fruit and juice from the local shops tonight as a permanent feature

Wallace1492

NormalD wrote:

danowat wrote:

my history (was 24 stone, now 14) .

Christ on a bike, I thought I'd done well to lose a stone and a half.

Well done.

+ 1 for the banana before the ride home, it works for me.

You called my son?

mtb-idle

I ride a similar distance. your body is an engine and you need fuel to do that amount of mileage.

I always eat breakfast (cereal) in the morning and a banana or two before i leave the office in the evening and sometimes some malt loaf or a cereal bar as well depending on how 'empty' i feel inside.

you will still lose weight doing that much mileage.

mtb-idle

dunno how long you been doing it but your body will adjust too and require less food after a few months.

I commuted 3 days a week (plus riding for fun at the weekends) for a year before i was ready to increase to 4 days a week (plus weekends).

When i started i was downing every bit of food in sight and drinking a full water bottle of energy drink each way.

Now i have got used to the commute and dont even drink a quarter of a bottle of tap water a day (on the commute, i do drink water during the day). In fact I regularly forget the bottle (as I did this morning) but am fine whereas I would have been dying on my 'arris this time last year without water.

danowat

Been cycling since Feb this year (knee injury stopped me running), commuting since Apr, although been running (half marathons, 10k's etc) for a few years (thats how I lost the weight), so my body is used to doing plenty of miles.

What its not used to is a working day sandwiched with two sessions, when running, keeping fuelled was easier, simply because I didn't have such a big gap in between two seperate hour long sessions.