DIY Pre / During / Post Ride Drinks / Snacks

milese
milese Posts: 1,233
edited March 2010 in Training, fitness and health
I'm trying to take my training more seriously, and have just been reading about the importance of pre / during / post nutrition.

The price of sports drinks etc soon mounts up, so any reccommendations for DIY drinks and snacks?

I normally drink water or 'full sugar' squash, and eat a cereal bar / banana during the ride with no specific post ride routine.

Still trying to shed a few lbs as well so dont want anything with any fat.

Comments

  • hugo15
    hugo15 Posts: 1,101
    Pre-ride = porridge with rasins

    During ride = granary bars. Aldi ones are about half the price of Kelloggs.

    Post ride = Banana and a large glass of milk
  • milese
    milese Posts: 1,233
    What purpose does the milk serve?
  • stokepa31
    stokepa31 Posts: 559
    have a read of this thread

    http://www.bikeradar.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12678688
    Burning Fat Not Rubber

    Scott CR1
    Genesis IO ID
    Moda Canon
  • Garz
    Garz Posts: 1,155
    Pre: Porridge
    During: energy drink mix with either flapjack/jaffa cake/soreen
    After: pasta on shorter rides, long rides justifies eating what you like

    :)
  • hugo15
    hugo15 Posts: 1,101
    Milese wrote:
    What purpose does the milk serve?

    Source of protein.
  • jibberjim
    jibberjim Posts: 2,810
    Milese wrote:
    I'm trying to take my training more seriously, and have just been reading about the importance of pre / during / post nutrition.

    It all depends on intensity. If you're doing an intense ride, porridge is a pretty poor choice before hand since it will sit in your stomach and need digesting through the ride.

    Again with an intense ride, going for soreen or flapjacks or similar will not be digested easily and again will neither release the energy quickly or sit well.

    After, the important things are quick to digest calories and some protein, since this has been shown to be very helpful in recovery - it's of more importance when the ride was intense, but it's still good either way.

    If you're doing easy rides, even if they're long you can eat whatever you want, just about nothing will harm your performance - the recovery food after will help though, so that's the most important.

    The relevance of the milk above is that it provides the protein which has been shown to be valuable in recovery.

    So you only need sport food - gels, powders whatever when you're working really hard, otherwise you can eat regular food. You can make your own food easily and very cheaply - a basic sports drink equivalent to the basic commercial foods is as cheap as Aldi bars or flapjacks. http://jibbering.com/sports/ has the recipes I use.

    If you're doing a club run, you don't need these things. If you're riding a 50mile TT, it's going to be well worth it.
    Jibbering Sports Stuff: http://jibbering.com/sports/
  • rake
    rake Posts: 3,204
    eat pleanty of salt at all times.simple.
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    Jibberjim,

    Just read your energy/recovery drink bits and spent a load at MyProtein!

    Get fed up of spending a fortune on energy/recovery stuff :*(
  • doyler78
    doyler78 Posts: 1,951
    I just got my delivery from myprotein a couple of days ago. Forgot to order any flavourings :shock: Any suggestions for ways to get flavour into the drinks from readily available items in a supermarket, health food shop ie bricks and mortar places.
  • jibberjim
    jibberjim Posts: 2,810
    doyler78 wrote:
    I just got my delivery from myprotein a couple of days ago. Forgot to order any flavourings :shock: Any suggestions for ways to get flavour into the drinks from readily available items in a supermarket, health food shop ie bricks and mortar places.

    If you can do it just when you create the drinks, then a liquid one like a squash, or similar can be fine, or just a juice. It will adjust the mix of carbs in the drink, but a fructose/malto mix is no bad thing and quite common so a high fruit "no added ..." squash.

    Powdered I'm not really sure there are any readily available, if you were in the US, KoolAid powders are very common of course.
    Jibbering Sports Stuff: http://jibbering.com/sports/
  • doyler78
    doyler78 Posts: 1,951
    jibberjim wrote:
    doyler78 wrote:
    I just got my delivery from myprotein a couple of days ago. Forgot to order any flavourings :shock: Any suggestions for ways to get flavour into the drinks from readily available items in a supermarket, health food shop ie bricks and mortar places.

    If you can do it just when you create the drinks, then a liquid one like a squash, or similar can be fine, or just a juice. It will adjust the mix of carbs in the drink, but a fructose/malto mix is no bad thing and quite common so a high fruit "no added ..." squash.

    Powdered I'm not really sure there are any readily available, if you were in the US, KoolAid powders are very common of course.

    Ok that's great. Yeah its a mato/fructose combo (got the caffeine and electrolyte powder as well for those occasions when it will be useful). Hate squash so will try pure fruit juice.
  • milese
    milese Posts: 1,233
    Thanks for the replies.

    I'm about to embark on the time crunched training programme, which is high intensity.

    I like the sound of your energy and recovery drinks. For cost / simplicity is there a single protein I can use for both drinks, as they suggest different types (soy protein and whey protein)?

    Your site was pretty much what I was looking for.
  • jibberjim
    jibberjim Posts: 2,810
    Milese wrote:
    I like the sound of your energy and recovery drinks. For cost / simplicity is there a single protein I can use for both drinks, as they suggest different types (soy protein and whey protein)?

    Whey is fine for both, and you don't really need protein for the energy drink anyway, it's likely only useful when doing very long intense events e.g. 100mile TT's+
    Jibbering Sports Stuff: http://jibbering.com/sports/
  • Gav888
    Gav888 Posts: 946
    Pre: Porridge with chocolate powder :)
    During: Used to be Gatorade with nutri-grain bars, but ive just bought some High5 4:1 endurance drink to see if it makes a difference to the Gatorade.
    Post: Protein shake with a banana.
    Cycling never gets any easier, you just go faster - Greg LeMond
  • Dazza2280
    Dazza2280 Posts: 156
    Honestly i'm not crazy here :wink: but the 2 best things i've found for an energy boost while riding, are Jelly Babies and Orange and Lime Tic Tacs :?
  • amck111
    amck111 Posts: 189
    Very interesting stuff there jibberjim, my next order with MyProtein is going to be a big one!

    Has anybody tried Coconut Water for the longer rides? It's great stuff, 100% natural although I tend to mix in a scoop of whey.

    Apparently it has 4 time more electrolytes than most leading sports drinks and more potassium than two bananas...
  • Jellyman
    Jellyman Posts: 1
    Hi guys,

    New to this site but if this subject is anything to go by looks fantastic. Great stuff jibberjim - like your site.
    One question I have (the answer may be there - sorry). What quantities of the mixture do I add to a 500ml/750ml bottle?

    Thanks
  • softlad
    softlad Posts: 3,513
    I got round a 62m/4000ft of ascent ride yesterday on a bowl of porridge with chopped banana for brekkie, followed by a couple of bottles of PSP22 and a pocket full of dates while on the bike. I took a mule bar as well, but never got round to opening it, so ate it when I got home, followed by a couple of slices of granary toast & marmite.. ;)

    I find it best to eat little and often on longer rides - dates are perfect for that...
  • sampras38
    sampras38 Posts: 1,917
    softlad wrote:
    I got round a 62m/4000ft of ascent ride yesterday on a bowl of porridge with chopped banana for brekkie, followed by a couple of bottles of PSP22 and a pocket full of dates while on the bike. I took a mule bar as well, but never got round to opening it, so ate it when I got home, followed by a couple of slices of granary toast & marmite.. ;)

    I find it best to eat little and often on longer rides - dates are perfect for that...

    I did a 70 on my own on Saturday with an 18 average and had a similar breakfast. Porridge with raisens, 1 coffee and about 500ml of ribena sipped. On the ride I had 3 750 bottles, one with watered down hi-5, the other 2 squash and one home made flapjack. Had about 1/2 a bottle left when I got back. That was it.
  • mebake
    mebake Posts: 28
    Pre: Bowl of Porrige / banana / Honey

    During: My own Bottle of Maltodextrin (myprotein) / Juice / a couple of proplus for the caffeine boost!! and Maltloaf / or Asda Oaty type bars.

    After: Banana and milk blasted to a shake.
  • milese
    milese Posts: 1,233
    I ordered enough for a batch of energy and recovery, using your code Jim. Thanks.

    The misses acts like I've just opened a crack house.
    amck111 wrote:
    Very interesting stuff there jibberjim, my next order with MyProtein is going to be a big one!

    Has anybody tried Coconut Water for the longer rides? It's great stuff, 100% natural although I tend to mix in a scoop of whey.

    Apparently it has 4 time more electrolytes than most leading sports drinks and more potassium than two bananas...

    Didn't they give coconut water intravenously during the second world war after suffering major blood loss?
  • amck111
    amck111 Posts: 189
    Milese wrote:
    I ordered enough for a batch of energy and recovery, using your code Jim. Thanks.

    The misses acts like I've just opened a crack house.

    haha I can totally relate to this.

    Milese wrote:
    Didn't they give coconut water intravenously during the second world war after suffering major blood loss?

    Did they really? I've never heard of that before, must be good stuff then. If only it wasn't so expensive.
  • fortytwosixteen
    fortytwosixteen Posts: 261
    Coconut oil is good stuff too, I blend it into my home made energy drinks.

    it's very high in medium chain triglycerides (MCT) which are are extremely easily digested and despite being a fat, give a really good source of energy on long rides. MCT's are used in hospitals to treat malnutrition, i belive.

    I make my energy drinks by blending freshly squeezed lemon and lime juice with dates, agave syrup, diliuted green tea, coconut oil & a pinch of salt.

    this gives a good natural source of fructose, glucose, MCT's, caffine, and electrolytes.

    Powdered enery drinks IMO are highly processed chemical soups which are, not suprisingly, difficult to digest because they are not real food. We have evolved our digestive enzymes over thousands of years to break down real food (e.g. fruits).
  • smithy1.0
    smithy1.0 Posts: 439
    As above, you can't beat fruit on the bike for instant, sustained energy release. For me, they work far better for me than all those energy drinks. I'm always in two minds what to race with, though.
    XC/RR'ing + Training Blog
  • fortytwosixteen
    fortytwosixteen Posts: 261
    I race with my home made drink as above, and have a trek bar in my back pocket also (I pre cut into small pieces to make eating in the bunch easier)
  • sampras38
    sampras38 Posts: 1,917
    smithy1.0 wrote:
    As above, you can't beat fruit on the bike for instant, sustained energy release. For me, they work far better for me than all those energy drinks. I'm always in two minds what to race with, though.

    Fruit is great, but the issue is, your body just cannot convert energy from solid food as quickly as it can from energy/carb drinks, at least not the amount you really need per hour. So a good balance of solids and liquids is probably better/more efficient.

    If you take Sportives as an example.

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