Post 12 hour effort - struggling to replace calories spent

ashleygreen14

I'm heading for my first 24 hour solo in 2 months. I've done many as a member of a 4-person team over the past 15 years.

I've been building my endurance base over the last 9 months with this in mind and my strength and recovery is good for my weekly training load: 1x easy effort long ride around 6-7hrs, 1x 2hr easy effort, 1x 2hr hard effort climbing, 1x turbo 25min hard efforts.

Yesterday I went out on the first of my monthly long efforts at 10 hours, and it extended to 12 hours due to bad weather. Physically today I'm very tired and slow, and very hungry.

What foods can I eat to help replace the calories I used up over the 12 hours? Healthy food makes me smile and keeps me happy.

bennett_346

Lean chicken breast is good, the protein aids replacement of muscle fibres and each gram is equal to 4 calories. Also stay away from starchy foods with a high glycemic index like white potatoes, mashed potatoes, rice, most breakfast cereals and plain pasta. They raise the blood sugar quickly then it drops off fast again leaving you drained. They're bad for you if eaten regularly anyway due to their blood sugar effects.

Sourdough bread, whole grain bread, sprouted bread, steel-cut oats, oatmeal, quinoa, millet and winter squashes are good replacement starches which are healthy.

DCR00

what are you doing in the moments after the ride ? do you use a recovery drink ?

raising blood sugar isn't always a bad thing. Insulin has a major role in nutrient absorption, including protein. A recovery drink that contains simple carbs (to boost insulin) and some protein will help with recovery. With the insulin boost your body will also be likely to absorb more nutrients in the hours following the ride (think the window is about 4 hours)

mcnultycop

Milk.

_HENDO_

For best recovery, do the following:
Within 45 minutes after you stop riding eat/drink ANYTHING!
Your body will be crying out for nutrients to replace what you've worked hard so anything will do.
If possible prepare for after before you start your ride, so could have a banana or something High GI like a protein shake (tub can be kept in the car with empty shaker bottle, just add water).

After 45mins to 2 hours after exercise you need to eat a proper meal. Usual balanced meal, tailored to suit your tastes.

Here is the part which could be essential for you. Drink half pint (roughly) of milk 1 hour before you go to bed. As body does most repairs at night the now solidified milk stays in your system for most of the night when compared to other foods, helping you recover without really doing much.

Commonly people concentrate alot on WHAT they eat but tend to forget WHEN to eat the right foods.

If you've got any further questions fell free to PM me.

styxd

bennett_346 wrote:

potatoes, mashed potatoes, rice, most breakfast cereals and plain pasta. They raise the blood sugar quickly then it drops off fast again leaving you drained. They're bad for you if eaten regularly anyway due to their blood sugar effects.

These are ideal after exercising hard.

mattshrops

Seriously after a 12 hour ride eat whatever the hell you want. Just make sure you eat.

ooermissus

styxd wrote:

bennett_346 wrote:

potatoes, mashed potatoes, rice, most breakfast cereals and plain pasta. They raise the blood sugar quickly then it drops off fast again leaving you drained. They're bad for you if eaten regularly anyway due to their blood sugar effects.

These are ideal after exercising hard.

Yeah exactly. What balls that a rice or pasta based diet is bad for you. Look at all the Japanese, Mediterraneans.

bennett_346

Nope. They're mostly empty calories. Great for energy, bad in the long run. White bread and breakfast cereals have been identified as leading causes of diabetes because they're literally just condensed sugar. There is nothing of nutritional value in any of the above mentioned foods other than the energy contained within (starch, which turns to pure sugar in the intestines).

Brown bread, whole grain pasta etc is far far better. Maybe i did not make myself clear but i listed some alternatives which are better for nutrition but very similar.

ooermissus

Emlty calories is such a ridiculous term.

bennett_346

No it isn't, look it up. What the heck does white pasta have in it that people think is so good for them? It's almost entirely made of refined white flour, which is about as good for you as munching on cardboard covered in sugar. It raises blood sugar quickly which releases insulin in large amounts, and also causes high cholesterol.

These are documented facts, not just some sh!t i'm spouting for the good of my own health.

ooermissus

I have a bag of spaghetti in front of me. 100g portion includes 18g of protein and 3g of fibre. Plus there's all the good stuff you eat it with as well.

AlexJo

I can recommend these http://www.9bar.com/products/, just recommended them to someone else in the forum, they're really different to other bars, as it's basically pure seeds packed into a bar, but there are various flavours, savoury and sweet. They've been designed around people who do a lot of sport, i.e. running, cycling. So they're great for replenishing lost calories but maintaining energy levels. I would also suggest in terms of meals, eggs, brown rice/pasta, steamed veg. I'd be interested in a good energy drink though as I'm yet to find an effective one if anyone has any ideas?

ooermissus

AlexJo - are you paid to promote those bars?

NeXXus

bennett_346 wrote:

No it isn't, look it up. What the heck does white pasta have in it that people think is so good for them? It's almost entirely made of refined white flour, which is about as good for you as munching on cardboard covered in sugar. It raises blood sugar quickly which releases insulin in large amounts, and also causes high cholesterol.

These are documented facts, not just some sh!t i'm spouting for the good of my own health.

Then you won't mind sharing some of these documents

AlexJo

ooermissus - noo by no means it just so happens that i've recently started using them for health reasons and people here seem to be in the same position I was in, so just trying to help! Sorry if it came across like I was a salesperson! I'm just getting back into changing my diet and exercise as 'summer' approaches so looking for as much advice as I can.

ooermissus

It's just weird when most of your posts are about those bars.

AlexJo

No i've been commenting elsewhere in the forum, it was just with these health ones specifically.

BigAirNig

You may find this interesting

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqwvcrA7oe8

About nutritional ketosis and the benefits for endurance sport ...

a good book is - the art and science of low carbohydrate performance.

Nig

Woodmonkey

there are 8 main types of calorie ( alcohol, sucrose, glucose, dextrose, glucose, carb, unsaturated fat, saturated fat) there are sub categories within them but we won't go into that now, you burn them in that order. So if you drink a pint and eat a bag of pork scratching a it's the scratching a that make you fat or so the press love to state, empty calories are referred to calorific foods which have little nutritional value, sweets, energy drinks, some processed carbs (certainly not potatoes or white rice) eating white pasta will not make you diabetic you can eat pretty much anything as part of a balanced diet just not too much of any one thing, if you do 24 hour enduros chances are you won't make yourself diabetic.
But it is true the best things to eat or drink for recovery are proteins and complex carbs as found in brown rice, pasta, whole meal (not brown) bread, milk, even beer (in moderation) as someone else said timing is very important too