What to eat....?

gary29428

I've just got back into cycling after a long, long time. I'm not going to be racing but will train a few times a week and do sponsored leisure cycles during the summer. I am doing my big spin on a Sunday, bout 80-110km, problem is the spins start at 8 or 9am and I am having problems with what to eat before we go out. Last few spins I'm been having porraige, brown toast and peanut butter about an hour before the ride but then feel bloated and full during the ride. I did a long solo hilly cycle last weekend and got the knock 2hrs in. Just wondering what other people are doing....

Appreciate any help.

Wishbone Ash

Try pasta the night before.

Alek

If you do not digest porridge well, try white rice with a fruit yoghurt instead. It should be larger than your normal breakfast but not too big.
Then ~200kcal easily digested high-carbohydrate snack every hour of excercise - every 25km works perfect for me. Fig rolls, bananas, whatever works for you.

Wishbone's advice is good too - you may "load" yourself with carbohydrates the night before. A lunch-sized portion 2h before going to bed should be fine.

MPFG

No one see the Dispatches programme on ride then ??


I am a buckwheat salad & butternut squash kinda person (glutten free) or just potatoes (sweet variety best)

Brown wholemeal bread ( glutten free for me) & bananna with honey or peanut butter for breakfast & a green juice or fruit smoothie for vitamins & health

Alek

buckwheat

wholemeal bread

Delicious, but quite a lot of fiber. I'd avoid it for longer rides ;-)

petethedrummer

Stay in bed an hour longer and don't bother eating anything. Have a cup of tea or coffee while you're getting ready to go out. If you're worried you'll die of starvation while out on the road, bring some food. You won't die though. You'll be fine and you're life will be simpler.

MPFG

MPFG wrote: »

No one see the Dispatches programme on ride then ??

Sorry that should have read The Dispatches programme on RICE .... ( and its high arsenic content unless you buy a very good variety )

As for fibre I suppose I am used to it.......if not it could indeed be tricky on a long ride

07Lapierre

A large bowl of cereal about an hour before I head out...then anything and everything as soon as I get home!


(Seriously I have a bowl of cereal, then bring a Banana or two and some money on your spin)

gary29428

Thanks for the advice folks. Might give the porraige a miss and stick to the wholemeal bread, peanut butter and maybe a banana...

ford2600

petethedrummer wrote: »

Stay in bed an hour longer and don't bother eating anything. Have a cup of tea or coffee while you're getting ready to go out. If you're worried you'll die of starvation while out on the road, bring some food. You won't die though. You'll be fine and you're life will be simpler.

For that distance or anything sub 140km nothing works best for me, and I won't have any food on me, but it does take a little adaption in fairness.

OP don't eat as much porridge, add some seeds and have some coffee. Bring a few bananas with you. If you feel hungry eat.

In the longer term try short fasted cycles, to force your body to switch to an abundant fat source(I've 80,000 fat calories locked and loaded) rather than relying on glycogen(which at best is 2,500, and you don't want to start accessing the 500 or so in your blood, so less than 2000 in reality).

At less than 75% of your max heart rate or so it is very easy to adapt your body to run almost entirely on your abundant fat source, keep the glycogen for your brain:D

jamesd

I have wetabix with a bananna and blueberries.

Alek

petethedrummer wrote: »

don't bother eating anything. .

Really bad advice for somebody not trained in doing so.

ford2600 wrote:

but it does take a little adaption in fairness.

;-) I'd say a lot more that "a little". But certainly can be done.

This morning I cycled a mere 10k without breakfast (having a blood test done) and although I did not hit the wall as I was expecting, I felt sluggish, powerless and generally not well.

If you feel hungry eat.

I can set a clock to this, everytime I start thinking about food while cycling I look down on the GPS and its 25-27k after the last snack

petethedrummer

ford2600 wrote: »

For that distance or anything sub 140km nothing works best for me, and I won't have any food on me, but it does take a little adaption in fairness.

I'm not really talking in terms of being Fat adapted or doing the whole ride fasted. Forget about our fat burning craziness.:) I just meant it in the context of exercising and digesting at the same time.

The OP is trying to digest a reasonable amount of food AND cycle up and down hills and in his own words his body doesn't like it. He obviously isn't digesting that breakfast in under an hour. So wouldn't it be wise to be to reduce the load on the digestive system or reduce the exercise load.

You should have plenty of glycogen in your muscles after a decent night's sleep and a decent meal the evening before. So you don't need to do topping up in the morning, unless you spent the night sleep walking. So just get up and have a cup of coffee or eat something very very light. Then bring a sports drink and whatever food you like to snack on during the ride, as you feel you need it.

ford2600

petethedrummer wrote: »

I just meant it in the context of exercising and digesting at the same time.

Ah no I agree with you 100% on trying to breakdown a lot of food and excercise at one time is not a good idea(a nod to Dr Malcolm of course;))

Just if OP is not used to long distances, the added worry of doing it on empty might be the straw that breaks the camels back. Which is why I suggested less food; he probably is better off without it but will have to learn that for himself.

ford2600

Alek wrote: »

;-) I'd say a lot more that "a little". But certainly can be done.

This morning I cycled a mere 10k without breakfast (having a blood test done) and although I did not hit the wall as I was expecting, I felt sluggish, powerless and generally not well.



I can set a clock to this, everytime I start thinking about food while cycling I look down on the GPS and its 25-27k after the last snack

I went from thinking it was an awful stupid idea to doing 100km fasted in two months. It's almost unrelated to hflc. @Inquitis from here doesn't eat hflc and can do at least what I can do fasted.

If you keep feeding your body carbs while exercising it will keep using them up and look for more. At any one time you have way more fat energy in your blood than sugar, your just choosing to rely more on one fuel system. There is no right or wrong way, that is just your way, the other way is mine.

Wishbone Ash

petethedrummer wrote: »

... If you're worried you'll die of starvation while out on the road, bring some food. You won't die though. You'll be fine and you're life will be simpler.

+1

There far too many cyclists obsessing about what to eat and when to eat. I have often gone out intending to do 50k and end up doing 200k. If I'm hungry, I'll stop at a shop/filling station etc. and I eat what I like - not what's supposed to be good for me.

MPFG wrote: »

Sorry that should have read The Dispatches programme on RICE .... ( and its high arsenic content unless you buy a very good variety )...

If you spend your life worrying about what you see/hear on those type of programmes you'll develop a mental illness - much more debilitating than any supposed damage eating the wrong foods will do (and you could still be wiped out by a truck).

MPFG

If you spend your life worrying about what you see/hear on those type of programmes you'll develop a mental illness - much more debilitating than any supposed damage eating the wrong foods will do (and you could still be wiped out by a truck).

Or maybe I don' t have a mental illnes and just prefer to eat heathly ...just a thought

gary29428

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

+1

There far too many cyclists obsessing about what to eat and when to eat. I have often gone out intending to do 50k and end up doing 200k. If I'm hungry, I'll stop at a shop/filling station etc. and I eat what I like - not what's supposed to be good for me.

If you spend your life worrying about what you see/hear on those type of programmes you'll develop a mental illness - much more debilitating than any supposed damage eating the wrong foods will do (and you could still be wiped out by a truck).

Can't say I'm obsessing about what to eat, just want to feel comfortable while out on the bike. Had a nasty experience last weekend, i had a good breakfast before I headed out but felt bloated and sluggish so i didn't eat on the bike. After about 2hrs I was basically left dead on the road 2hrs from home (about 3.5hrs after the breakfast). I did eat at that stage but never recovered. I guess there might have been something else going on. Some good advise here thou on the smaller breakfast and eating a bit later the night before so thanks for that.

Wishbone Ash

gary29428 wrote: »

Can't say I'm obsessing about what to eat...

Sorry Gary, that wasn't directed at you but a general comment as the topic comes up regularly here.

Alek

prefer to eat heathly

Me too. However over the last 20 years the meaning of this phrase has changed so many times, I took a different approach - I eat as varied as possible. This statistically minimizes the risk of eating unhealthy things. And can be adventurous too

Ole Rodrigo

IMO, the best thing you can do for your diet is learning to cook for yourself. That also includes a system for your kitchen,ie, what to buy from where and when, and having the right utensils for the meals you're making.

Pick seven to ten of your favorite meals for dinner, four or five for both breakfast and lunch, and find the best, simplest recipes for each of these on the web or better still a good cookbook. Write a list of ingredients required. Ingredients for sauces such as stock and flour etc, can be bought and stored for along period of time, meat and veg will be on a different rotation. After a while you get good at picking cuts of meat and vegetables, and even making your own stock. A slow Cooker is a great investment at this time of year ( 25 quid in Argos )

It takes a few weeks to implement and to get it all flowing nicely but its worth it. If you're putting in extra miles just up the portions. I sort of follow an 80/20 rule - 80 % of diet is good leaving 20 for cake/ pastries. I eat out once every week or two (or get a quality take out ) and never buy any prepared foods from supermarkets or Spar/ Centra/ McDonalds etc. Not that there's anything especially wrong with them, but more from the point of view that its easy to develop bad habits and harder to break them.

I'm still a crap cyclist and will drop dead at some stage and the universe wont care

Garzard

I'd second the views on pasta / brown bread / general cereals [Wheetabix in particular]. Usually take an apple and/or a granola bar when I plan on doing over 60k. Also, those €0.50c bags of jellies you can pick up in Spar, Centra and the like, while not the most ideal energy foods are by far the best morale boosters IMO.

Wishbone Ash

MPFG wrote: »

....and just prefer to eat heathly ...just a thought

As Alek says, what is healthy now may be deemed unhealthy in a year's time - hence the reason I don't get too bothered.

ror_74 wrote: »

IMO, the best thing you can do for your diet is learning to cook for yourself....

I'd lose the will to live. I've got to 46 years without needing to cook and I've no intention of starting now!

Garzard wrote: »

.. Also, those €0.50c bags of jellies you can pick up in Spar, Centra and the like, while not the most ideal energy foods are by far the best morale boosters IMO.

I throw a few Oatfield Glucose Barley sweets in the jersey pocket when going for a 200k+ ride. They may seem expensive but the bag seems to last for ages.

gary29428

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Sorry Gary, that wasn't directed at you but a general comment as the topic comes up regularly here.

No bother lad, I am enjoying the fruits of my labor thou....don't feel as guilty downing the odd tub of Ben & Jerry's now....:p

Wishbone Ash

gary29428 wrote: »

No bother lad, I am enjoying the fruits of my labor thou....don't feel as guilty downing the odd tub of Ben & Jerry's now....:p

When Greg Lemond went to France as a young rider, Bernard Hinault was horrified that the young American would eat ice cream (yet he was unbothered by the amount of cheese he and his French colleagues would put away!)

smacl

ror_74 wrote: »

IMO, the best thing you can do for your diet is learning to cook for yourself.

I love cooking, but my style of food doesn't normally appear in the same sentence as diet. Roast leg of lamb on a bed of rosemary and chorizo, with tomatoes, onion, garlic, half a pint of red wine and a pot of cream. Nice tarte au citron to follow, and maybe a couple of bottles of my own home made cider alongside. mmmm.

I'm still a crap cyclist and will drop dead at some stage and the universe wont care

Likewise. And the hills aren't getting easier either

BailMeOut

I have a few slices of McCambridge brown bread with cream cheese and banana and a cup of tea before heading out and am never hungry.

jmrc

all this talk of food and all one will see in the cafe shops around the country of a saturday or sunday morning are lycra warriors.... loading up on scones and jam...:-)
each to their own.

Weetabix bananas before and as few jellies on the trial and plenty of water.

Wishbone Ash

jmrc wrote: »

all this talk of food and all one will see in the cafe shops around the country of a saturday or sunday morning are lycra warriors.... loading up on scones and jam...:-)
each to their own...

That has more to do with the social aspect of cycling than purely to take on fuel. When on a club spin, I do it too even though I'm rarely hungry. Long cafe stops can also make one cold and stiff though.

petethedrummer

gary29428 wrote: »

After about 2hrs I was basically left dead on the road 2hrs from home (about 3.5hrs after the breakfast). I did eat at that stage but never recovered.

Are you going hard straight from the gun? You could start off a fair bit slower than you think you are capable of. Warm the legs up for a good half an hour and finish the cycle strong.

dave_o_brien

I'm starving...

codie

dave_o_brien wrote: »

I'm starving...

Have a bowl of porridge

Daroxtar

As a noob who is still very much in the trial and error process I can only say that I've never come close to the dreaded bonk if I've had a bag of cashew nuts before the spin. I nibble on cereal bars throughout the spin, maybe 1 bar for 90 minutes usually does me fine, only times I've been caught out is when I haven't had my nuts.

Wishbone Ash

Daroxtar wrote: »

As a noob who is still very much in the trial and error process I can only say that I've never come close to the dreaded bonk...

It's a horrible feeling that, thankfully, I rarely encounter. The last time was at the end of August on this ride. I lost the will to live over and over again on the ascent of the Col de L'Iseran.

Daroxtar

You didn't quote the full sentence.... I had one hell of a crash and burn a while back, full blown hypo, jitters, cold sweat sitting pathetically in a ditch in the cold. Last time I was that pale and weak was on a debauched weekend in Amsterdam. Whiteys are no fun:(

Doc07

I didn't eat enough before or during a 160km sportive in The summer. Bonled badly at 90k. Since then I've done any 100k plus cycle with a bowl of instant oats with a few raisins and a banana thrown in. Then 2 fried eggs with some ham and tomatoes and a full cafetiere of coffee. I will eat 2-3 small flapjacks( cheap ones from Lidl or Aldi) and a small snickers throughout the spin. Have never been hungry since. Haven't tried this gel lark yet.

smacl

Doc07 wrote: »

Haven't tried this gel lark yet.

I wouldn't bother, sticky hateful things. Flapjacks rock, I'd use them and bananas when organised, or crushed fruit and nut type energy bars if not. I'd also use a fair bit of energy / electrolyte drink on a long day. Did a 175k last Sunday on two slices of toast, a mug of tea, four energy bars, and three bidons of high 5 4:1, plan on doing the same this Sunday. I find food consumed depends on time on the bike and weather more than distance travelled, and need considerably more fuel on a hilly route, in the cold, and going into the wind.

I'd love to move to a fat burning regime. Currently I find I'm fine for the first two hours on the couple of slices of toast, but need to eat something every 90 minutes or so after that. If I don't, I end up like the bunny in the duracell add with the crap batteries fitted. There's a ton of fat energy hanging around my midriff, but the body just doesn't seem well disposed to use it.

irishrover99

2 Toast with butter and marmalade and 2 Bananas in the blender with some milk. I might also through in some other fruit.
You what the largest amount of energy for the least amount of food intake. Flaxseed and other high energy seeds mixed in work well.
Cornflakes are also very easy to digest.
There is a couple of videos on Youtube with Team Sky's nutritionist that give some good tips.

disco1

Maybe if you have porridge and toast and you bonk after 2 hrs it's just a case that your endurance needs some work.....also were you wrapped up well....or trying to match someone's pace that you are not comfortable with....or again simply having a bad morning due to tiredness, stress,bad sleep...????
General rule of thumb on long spins eat every hour..even after first hour until you know your limatations.

Mr Rubicon Conundrum

I normally eat porridge with a bit of honey before a morning spin, as the planned length of the spin increases, the quantity of food required increases. I have done a few 140km spins and have struggled for the last 20 to 40kms, but I think this is a combination of my fitness level and food intake. I have stopped for skittles, and they do give a temporary boost, as do other sweet treats.

I do find that I get fed up eating sugary foods on long spins, even raisins are too sweet. This whole sports nutrition is quite interesting.

One thing I would say is that we are all different, I know a guy who regularly runs marathon distances on a saturday morning on an empty stomach, having not eaten since the night previously.

gary29428

disco1 wrote: »

Maybe if you have porridge and toast and you bonk after 2 hrs it's just a case that your endurance needs some work.....also were you wrapped up well....or trying to match someone's pace that you are not comfortable with....or again simply having a bad morning due to tiredness, stress,bad sleep...????
General rule of thumb on long spins eat every hour..even after first hour until you know your limatations.

I raced to a fairly decent level back in the early 90's for about 5yrs, got back into it in 2007 for two years and now back again. I'm back at it now since summer 2013, I'd say I'm a fairly experienced rider so know what I'm about. The issue I am having is getting the balance right between feeling too full and uncomfortable and being properly stocked up for the task at hand. It's the early morning rides that are getting me, If I head out at 2pm and do 120k, I'm flying. There has been some great advice here so I'll see how we go Sunday week, heading to Ballyhoura this weekend for some mucky stuff.

Thanks to all the folk that took the time to post and advice...much appreciated.

cdaly_

I ride long-distance and usually carry bananas, figrolls and lidl's imitation mars bars. I'll bring or shop for sandwiches at times.

smacl wrote: »

I love cooking, but my style of food doesn't normally appear in the same sentence as diet. Roast leg of lamb on a bed of rosemary and chorizo, with tomatoes, onion, garlic, half a pint of red wine and a pot of cream.

Sounds lovely. Just lash everything into the roasting tin, lamb on top and into the oven?

a couple of bottles of my own home made cider alongside.

Hope you have suitably sized bidon holders...

MPFG

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

When Greg Lemond went to France as a young rider, Bernard Hinault was horrified that the young American would eat ice cream (yet he was unbothered by the amount of cheese he and his French colleagues would put away!)

And look at them now ?? Cheese while hard to digest is full of protein & calcium while ice cream is full of sugar

Of course everything in moderation but Gregg looks like he may have ate a few tubs too many

smacl

cdaly_ wrote: »

Sounds lovely. Just lash everything into the roasting tin, lamb on top and into the oven?

Just lash it all into the oven, ~250 calories just for looking at it when it comes back out

davmol

http://www.clifbar.com/

I swear by these.Up in the morning ,no messing around.

Chomp one of these bad boys on the way to the cycle or on teh bike and i am set for hours of cycling.Never feel bloated,never get the bunk and convenient beyond words.

always bring an extra 1 or 2 in case.

PS i have no business interest in these bars whatsoever

outfox

One of the most effective changes I found was cutting down, almost eliminating, sugary high-GI crap from the diet. Not just before a cycle, but all thru the week. This, more than anything else, stopped the dreaded bonking, for me at least.