What to eat after a long ride?

meanredspider

As I up the training I'm doing for AD6, I'm putting in the miles to build my endurance. The question is, though, after a century ride, I've burned around 4000kCals (calculated from power meter numbers around 4000kJ). Trouble is, I don't then know what to eat. I feel like it's the one day I could treat/reward myself to help keep myself on track but I also feel a bit guilty doing so. I don't know whether I should. I could murder a top-quality pizza since I'm probably 5000kCals short of my daily allowance. Thoughts?

asprilla

I always go for pork pies, but that's generally my answer to everything.

pollys_bott

Recovery drink followed by three or four scrambled eggs on toast with a tin of tuna or mackerel. Always fills me up after a long ride. Boring I know, but nice... not really got a sweet tooth so rarely feel the need to treat myself like that.

meanredspider

Pollys Bott wrote:

Recovery drink followed by three or four scrambled eggs on toast with a tin of tuna or mackerel. Always fills me up after a long ride. Boring I know, but nice... not really got a sweet tooth so rarely feel the need to treat myself like that.

I'm not looking to eat anything sweet - just be nice to have some variety (eat plenty of eggs and fish anyway)

itboffin

try eating nothing for a while, train hard and eat less oh and dare i say it dont touch the booze at all.

of course i'm doing the polar opposite as training for the LBL :roll:

first time back on a bike in 18 days today and it hurt like a bitch

pollys_bott

ah, sorry, wrong assumption of what treating yourself meant. In that case have the pizza - one every now and then's
not going to torpedo your training, surely?

EKE_38BPM

Pollys Bott wrote:

...have the pizza - one every now and then's not going to torpedo your training, surely?

That is the sort of attitude which would make Dave Brailsford kick you out of the squad.

meanredspider

EKE_38BPM wrote:

Pollys Bott wrote:

...have the pizza - one every now and then's not going to torpedo your training, surely?

That is the sort of attitude which would make Dave Brailsford kick you out of the squad.

Fortunately I'm a 49 year old bloke who cycles for fun 8) . I did another 42 miles today so I'm looking at 150 miles for the weekend (an extra 6000kcals burnt over that time). Today I had scrambled eggs, avocado and smoked salmon

itboffin

last night i had a masshoof double helping of meatballs and pasta
this morning i had the extra full English breakfast
and this afternoon a traditional Sunday roast chicken

i'm starving still

rick_chasey

Meaty pasta is always good for that stuff. Load it up with garlic.


It's basically lots of carbs, protein and vitamins/minerals that you need, isn't it?

meanredspider

Rick Chasey wrote:

Meaty pasta is always good for that stuff. Load it up with garlic.


It's basically lots of carbs, protein and vitamins/minerals that you need, isn't it?

Yup - I'm just trying to figure out the balance of recovery and weight loss. Saturday I did 105 miles and it's OK to eat more calories (from carbs and protein) than Sunday when I did just 42 miles at recovery pace when I ate mostly protein. 6 weeks in and I'm 6kg to the good - nearly a stone - and I'm now into the 80's on the scales which is a good feeling.

goonz

I usually cal the missus up along the way and tell her to get a full fry up going. Protein shakes once home then breakfast with a big coffee and some vitamin tablets. Can of coke. Some rest, a nice long soak and then more meat for lunch and dinner.

meanredspider

goonz wrote:

I usually cal the missus up along the way and tell her to get a full fry up going. Protein shakes once home then breakfast with a big coffee and some vitamin tablets. Can of coke. Some rest, a nice long soak and then more meat for lunch and dinner.

Getting a century in before breakfast is impressive!

bigmat

I'd just eat what you'd normally eat, unless you are planning to ride hard again the next day then maybe you need to think harder about recovery. I raced 65 miles on Saturday, when I finished I had a banana. Another 8 miles home and I guess I was a bit peckish, but managed to hang on until dinner time. If you're trying to lose weight you really need to get out of the mindset of "I've burnt X calories so I can gorge myself now".

jspash

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned pickle juice. (Or beetroot juice). I'm not sure what the miracle ingredient is, but it certainly works a treat to stop muscle soreness - if you can choke it down.

Runners have been drinking it for years for it's supposed properties which mean you need less oxygen to do the same amount of work. I've never drunk it before exercising, so I can't attest to that. But the after effects are most definitely there for me (or maybe in my head).

Anyone else on "the juice"?

meanredspider

BigMat wrote:

I'd just eat what you'd normally eat, unless you are planning to ride hard again the next day then maybe you need to think harder about recovery. I raced 65 miles on Saturday, when I finished I had a banana. Another 8 miles home and I guess I was a bit peckish, but managed to hang on until dinner time. If you're trying to lose weight you really need to get out of the mindset of "I've burnt X calories so I can gorge myself now".

I'm certainly not in that gorging mindset (6kg in 6 weeks shows that) but burning 6500kcals in a day and only eating my current target of 2000-ish then doing a 4500kcals day and only eating 2000 again would leave me in a 7000kcal deficit over 2 days - that doesn't sound sensible to me. I want to be able to exercise during the week too. Whilst I'm focusing on weight loss at the moment, I want to build some fundamental base endurance on which I can train hard during April and May.

meanredspider

jspash wrote:

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned pickle juice. (Or beetroot juice). I'm not sure what the miracle ingredient is, but it certainly works a treat to stop muscle soreness - if you can choke it down.

Runners have been drinking it for years for it's supposed properties which mean you need less oxygen to do the same amount of work. I've never drunk it before exercising, so I can't attest to that. But the after effects are most definitely there for me (or maybe in my head).

Anyone else on "the juice"?

I have some in my fridge right now though my understanding is that it builds your oxygen-carrying capacity so it's not high on my list right now. I've discovered that you can make it more palatable by mixing with apple juice. Maybe in the run up to AD6 I'll start properly on the juice. :?

goonz

Interesting, may need to get on the juice this summer.

I am not planning any sort of weight loss (65kg) already so need to gorge myself as much as possible once home. With a fast metabolism this means eating more than usual!

Coach H

Beans on toast with cheese on top. End of discussion

daxplusplus

On work days, when I don't have much time\materials or cooking kit I'll go for:

Choc Milkshake, or
Bagel and peanut butter.

As cheap recovery food. If I had the time\cooking kit I'd probably go for; eggs, tinned fish, cottage cheese.

daxplusplus

.. not necessarily all together.

wandsworth

meanredspider wrote:

BigMat wrote:

I'd just eat what you'd normally eat, unless you are planning to ride hard again the next day then maybe you need to think harder about recovery. I raced 65 miles on Saturday, when I finished I had a banana. Another 8 miles home and I guess I was a bit peckish, but managed to hang on until dinner time. If you're trying to lose weight you really need to get out of the mindset of "I've burnt X calories so I can gorge myself now".

I'm certainly not in that gorging mindset (6kg in 6 weeks shows that) but burning 6500kcals in a day and only eating my current target of 2000-ish then doing a 4500kcals day and only eating 2000 again would leave me in a 7000kcal deficit over 2 days - that doesn't sound sensible to me. I want to be able to exercise during the week too. Whilst I'm focusing on weight loss at the moment, I want to build some fundamental base endurance on which I can train hard during April and May.

You certainly don't want that kind of deficit. I think something protein-rich right after the ride (and definitely within an hour of it) is best for recovery. Also make sure you're eating right before and during the ride.

meanredspider

wandsworth wrote:

You certainly don't want that kind of deficit. I think something protein-rich right after the ride (and definitely within an hour of it) is best for recovery. Also make sure you're eating right before and during the ride.

Yup - I eat a good bowl of porridge with a banana in it before the ride (in fact, what I have on a normal day but a larger amount), take a banana and a couple of protein-rich energy bars with me (along with some emergency energy gels but I haven't needed them) and then stop once or twice for a coffee and something light to eat. On the short (70k) rides I just have a banana on the ride and a normal breakfast. On getting back from both, I have a small bowl of (properly healthy) granola with milk - or just lunch after the shorter rides.

itboffin

for lunch i had a chicken kebab salad

http://t.co/PhQ5Sfz807

meanredspider

itboffin wrote:

for lunch i had a chicken kebab salad

http://t.co/PhQ5Sfz807

Eating at your desk is a bad habit...

goonz

DaxPlusPlus wrote:

.. not necessarily all together.

Good thing you cleared that up!

meanredspider

Well I don't think I ate quite enough. This afternoon I had the same cold tired feeling I've had on the few occasions I've tried 5-2 fasting. Eating some dinner (grilled salmon and avocado) has fixed it.

stu-bim

I read your post yesterday and thought if you could get out and do 42 miles on Sunday then maybe you had had enough food on the Saturday or would have felt it on Sunday.

But it seems like it caught up with you today. I find if I do a long ride on a Sunday that I am not usually that hungry but it catches up with me on a Monday and I do feel rubbish if I had not eaten a fair bit on Sunday.

I find carbs, rather than protein, immediately after a ride more beneficial to help me avoid feeling rubbish the following day. Protein is more beneficial if you have been grinding and your muscles are sore rather than drained from spinning for a long time.

meanredspider

stu-bim wrote:

I read your post yesterday and thought if you could get out and do 42 miles on Sunday then maybe you had had enough food on the Saturday or would have felt it on Sunday.

But it seems like it caught up with you today. I find if I do a long ride on a Sunday that I am not usually that hungry but it catches up with me on a Monday and I do feel rubbish if I had not eaten a fair bit on Sunday.

I find carbs, rather than protein, immediately after a ride more beneficial to help me avoid feeling rubbish the following day. Protein is more beneficial if you have been grinding and your muscles are sore rather than drained from spinning for a long time.

Sunday was real recovery ride pace (HR <70%) (well, until I got caught up in a bit of a wind-assisted race towards the end )(and then racked up 4th place on a city centre segment into the wind :shock: ) and that made my legs feel better. But they didn't have a lot for the commute this morning (my heart sank a bit at every red right I met on the SS) And it definitely caught up with me this afternoon.

MonkeyMonster

Asprilla wrote:

I always go for pork pies, but that's generally my answer to everything.

It was cake or pie as a "first" answer. Well played sir, well played.

stu-bim

meanredspider wrote:

Sunday was real recovery ride pace (HR <70%) (well, until I got caught up in a bit of a wind-assisted race towards the end )(and then racked up 4th place on a city centre segment into the wind :shock: ) and that made my legs feel better. But they didn't have a lot for the commute this morning (my heart sank a bit at every red right I met on the SS) And it definitely caught up with me this afternoon.

142 miles over a weekend is a huge deficit of calories if not replenished. If you felt wasted, legs tired (but not sore) and leg muscles look soft/flat rather than pumped it is likely glycogen stores just reduced. Carbs will go straight back there and you should be back to normal quickly. Probably already by now.

I found for most of last year that I would finish Sunday ride pretty dehydrated and about 5/6 lbs then when I started but it would go back on once drinking enough water. But legs would be flat until Tuesday. But I also found Tuesday morning to be my lightest day if the week (excluding being dehydrated Sunday). Ignoring all the pseudoscience above I always felt like everything I ate on Sunday and Monday was replenishing what I had used up Sunday and my body was dieting on those days because of that replenishing, even though I was eating.