Headache/lethargy the day after a good ride

milleman

Been cycling for two years now and have got progressively fitter and stronger, can now comfortably go for 60-70 mile trips on hilly terrain and feel great whilst riding and immediately afterwards.

The problem is sometimes after a ride out, the next day I can sometimes feel quite tired and have a low level headache for most of the day-this does not happen all the time but probably after 50% of the rides now.

I use High 5 powder in the drink bottles (started to use this shortly into my cycling career as I was getting cramps on hot days, which this has sorted) and we stop every 20-25 miles for a cuppa/cake when out riding-one has to enjoy life!

Any ideas as to why this happens, is it a diet thing for example?

Thanks

Bobbinogs

Hi milleman, the obvious things I can think of are post ride fuelling and/or dehydration but you do seem on top of those. However, just to check, are you drinking at least 0.5L per hour and making sure you eat something with a decent protein/carb mix within 30 minutes of finishing your ride?

danowat

First thoughts, it sounds like de-hydration, how much are you drinking?, also the "cuppa" every 20/25mins, is this tea/coffee?, if so, thats not a great idea as they are a diaretic.

milleman

Thanks for your replies

I drink probably 1.75 litres on a 50 mile ride in warmish weather, plus the cup(s) of tea.

Post ride fuelling is whatever takes my fancy after I've showered, possibly a bit of toast and another cupps-I tend to eat my main meat around 8pm so there can be a few hours gap between finishing the ride and having a "meal" as such.

I suspect that I need to reconsider my diet.

danowat

How many cups of tea are you drinking?, too many will dehydrate you.

milleman

Probably two/three-tend to stop once on a 50 mile run, maybe twice if its towards 70miles-so in total it could be 5/6 cups per longer run out.

Think I need to change to a soft drink to increase fluid intake and maybe sugar as well?

danowat

I'd stick with water personally, maybe with a hydration tablet / power like Nuun or similar, I prefer to get my carbs with food, rather than drinks.

AidanR

Don't forget to keep drinking after the ride. You could also weigh yourself before/after the ride to check you're drinking enough. If it's not dehydration then I'm stumped, to be honest.

neeb

milleman wrote:

Probably two/three-tend to stop once on a 50 mile run, maybe twice if its towards 70miles-so in total it could be 5/6 cups per longer run out.

Think I need to change to a soft drink to increase fluid intake and maybe sugar as well?

Err... do you ever drink water? All that tea and sugar needs bulking up with nature's own solvent!

I'm sometimes not the best at keeping optimally hydrated on longer rides, but the first thing I do when I get home is down a pint of water, and then often two or three more at subsequent intervals during the next few hours. I always feel that even if I've been keeping reasonably well hydrated during the ride, there is always a metabolic debt that needs paying off and that the body needs water to do this. Your metabolism is still running at a higher rate for several hours after a long session, you are repairing muscles, flushing out toxins etc. Everything works better if your body has plenty of water. Of course you can overdo it and flush out electrolytes if you drink too much water, but if you are also having a proper meal during this period this is much less likely.

dru

danowat wrote:

I'd stick with water personally, maybe with a hydration tablet / power like Nuun or similar, I prefer to get my carbs with food, rather than drinks.

+1

I used to suffer from this as well.

I've changed to Nunn tabelets in my water bottles (1 per 750ml) and don't get dehydrated anymore.

Did 106 miles on Monday.

0.5 litres before the ride, then over the 7 hours drank 5 x 750ml water with nunn.
Got my carbs in from taking bananna, flapjacks, hot cross buns etc

After ride, got pasta down me and then another 2 litres of water in the evenings.

Best thing I have done is cut out the coffee and tea on and after rides.

I know that I'm hydrated well becasue being frank, when I go it's completely colourless where as before when I wasn't it would be yellow during after and even the next morning!

mikeq

quick test for dehydration, what colour is your pee?

If its light/straw coloured then not dehydrated

If its dark yellow/orangey then dehydrated

dgstewart

danowat wrote:

How many cups of tea are you drinking?, too many will dehydrate you.

Caffeine is not believed to be a diuretic in moderate doses, and tea/coffee will hydrate almost as good as if not the same as water. Maybe 5 or 6 cups of coffee on a single run is a bit extreme and may have a slight dehydrating effect.

I would maybe cut down a little on the caffeine and make sure you hydrate well after the ride. It's better to take regular small drinks than to gulp down a huge glass of water less often - the body can only absorb so much in a given time.

Also, if you are going to wait several hours for your main meal, at least have something to eat when you get back in. My preference would be some chocolate milk and a banana, as this covers the key requirements of carbs (mixture of fast/slow release), protien, hydration and salts/minerals.

Simon Notley

As others have said, it could well be dehydration. Try changing what you drink on the bike, but also think about drinking more when you get home - it's easy to just sit down and vegetate after a ride and forget about recovery.

As mentioned above, you could try weighing yourself. If you have lost weight, aim to drink the same weight of water over the course of the rest of the day. This could be far more than you think.

Velonutter

I never drink enough and sometimes feel like you, however when I am disciplined then will drink a minimum of 500ml per hour, on long 100 mile rides I carb and fluid load a couple of days beforehand, now the key thing that a lot forget is the fluid load, essential for long rides.

Prior to club rides I have a large cuppa, then down a pint of water before leaving, as soon as I get in and this is critical I drink a pint of High 5 Protein Recovery if it is after a long ride or a pint of SIS Rego if just a 60 miler, but I drink this within 15 mins of stopping, if that is not possible then get at least a pinto of milk in you, then within 90 mins a protein rich meal and don't stop the drinking of fluids, at least 2-3 litres until you finally get to bed.

Buckled_Rims

I think dehydration is a bit of a red herring. Most probably it's a few other factors thrown in. On a 60-70 mile run even in hot weather a normal fit person would rarely get "bad" dehydration. At that distance it's a short training run for crying out loud

I reckon it's a factor of 2 things. Do you wear proper tinted cycling glasses? The suns rays can cause mild form of migraine type headaches if exposed for a long period. The other factor is a chill from cool or cold air on the neck of upper torso.

On hilly routes, you usually sweat a lot going up and then a downhill section it's a rush of cold air on your neck, back and chest. The lying sweat is then literally blasted off your body causing a chill effect.

danowat

Buckled_Rims wrote:

I think dehydration is a bit of a red herring. Most probably it's a few other factors thrown in. On a 60-70 mile run even in hot weather a normal fit person would rarely get "bad" dehydration. At that distance it's a short training run for crying out loud

Depends how up-to-scratch your "general" hydration is, good hydration starts way, way before any ride.

ShutUpLegs

I find it helps if you haven't had 5 pints of stella the night before

giant_man

danowat wrote:

I'd stick with water personally, maybe with a hydration tablet / power like Nuun or similar, I prefer to get my carbs with food, rather than drinks.

+2 - I only ever drink water on any ride and I would never drink tea or eat cake come to that. Cut out the stops and refreshments and then see how you feel the day after.

Buckled_Rims

danowat wrote:

Buckled_Rims wrote:

I think dehydration is a bit of a red herring. Most probably it's a few other factors thrown in. On a 60-70 mile run even in hot weather a normal fit person would rarely get "bad" dehydration. At that distance it's a short training run for crying out loud

Depends how up-to-scratch your "general" hydration is, good hydration starts way, way before any ride.

Yes, but if you re-read the OP, he's drinking well in my opinion and he's taking plenty of rest. He doesn't tell how fit he is or if he's overweight by much.

But I still say, in training runs of around 60-70 miles, it's very difficult to be dehydrated unless it's an extremely hot day and he's going at top pace. I only drink 1 bottle of water for a hilly 65 mile run and I'm not even a club racer or very fit.

He mentions he's doing hilly routes, so the obvious is that he's sweating then cooling, sweating and then cooling....etc. Chances are he's opening his shirt to cool down on the descents and getting a chill.

milleman

Well, lots of replies.....!

I am a "big" lad but like to think of myself as reasonably fit-no problems matching the pace of lighter mates that I ride with.

I don't feel dehydrated on rides, although saying that my urine is darker afterwards than normal and I almost never have to urinate whenever we stop during a ride.

The high5 tablets I use are only for electrolyte replacement, they have no carbohydrates in them as far as I am aware.

My feeling is that I need to look into some recovery drinks/powders and try those

Thanks for your input.