Did I not eat enough ?

RandG

Had the road bike out for only the second time this year (it's been too cold) and was hoping to do 50 miles, however, I only managed 43, and was pedaling squares for the last 15 miles.

Now I had a decent breakfast, but only had a single flapjack bar while out. So did I not eat enough or do I just need to get more mileage in ??

Just to add, I had been mountain biking every tues/thurs night thru the Winter, so it's not like I have done nothing for 6 months.

smoggysteve

What was your breakfast? Did you take on plenty of water too?

edten

seems quite obvious you dont have enough miles in your legs unless of course you do similar mileage on the mtb. if so then probably more to do with nutrition.

Grill

How much did you drink? It will take time for you to figure out what works best and as your cycling fitness improves you'll find you don't necessarily need to eat as much. Flapjack isn't the best choice when out riding as they're generally high in fat and low in quick-release carbs (oats take time). Best bet is bananas or dates. If you don't like those options there's always energy bars (not protein bars) or even a jam sandwich on white bread.

I'm a fan of fasted rides to push myself. I did 66 miles this morning on no breakie and 1 banana without any trouble. Had I tried that when I started cycling I'd probably have ended up in the hospital.

RandG

SmoggySteve wrote:

What was your breakfast? Did you take on plenty of water too?

Cereal, then a bowl of porridge. Just one 750 bottle of water.

In regards not having enough mileage in my legs, I agree to a degree, but having done circa 12 miles three times a week on the mtb, I'd have thought it would have given me some back-up mileage.

smoggysteve

You could just of had an off day. I have had days where I feel great but then after a about an hour i'm hanging. Don't judge a one off bad day as being your norm. Next time you may do better on the same food and water intake.

duckson

How much climbing was there on the ride?

RandG

3400 ft, with miles 30 to 40 all up hill.

pinkteapot

What did you have for dinner last night? I'm finding that cals the night before makes a huge difference to morning rides.

daviegb

3 nights of riding hard for 12 miles is better than doing nothing, but isn't great training for a 40+ miler. You seem to have eaten the right stuff, so looks like a case of pushing yourself harder than your body wanted! Unfortunately the only way to do long rides without painful side effects is to build up the miles over a few rides. If you do the same route next week, it shouldn't feel as bad.

RandG

Ok folks, thanks for the replies. Gonna take this on board and do the same route next Sat, but also try and get in some midweek mileage now the temps are up a bit.

chris_bass

pinkteapot wrote:

What did you have for dinner last night? I'm finding that cals the night before makes a huge difference to morning rides.

I completely agree with this, as long as i eat a decent dinner the night before i'm fine for 30+ miles with just a banana in the morning (I have a proper breakfast once i get to work)

pinkteapot

My two easiest rides so far (only been biking since March) came after eating a large Dominos by myself the night before, and eating a mountain of pasta the night before. Sadly it seems being Dominos-powered isn't the healthiest training regimen so I'll be sticking with pasta-power from now on. Ate twice my usual portion last night and powered round a 40 mile ride this morning.