Originally posted by tex
Hey, I am training for an MS 150 right now... anyway, I did one back in April on a month of training. During that month, I dropped about 13 pounds and got to pace very fast. I hadn't ridden prior to this for about four years. Anyway, I was able to average 20mph for 180 miles (over two days). The one I am training for now is in two weeks and I was wondering. How bad is it that I am on a STRICT protein only diet (to shed lbs. for the ride) and how bad is it that I am riding centuries on the weekends and 2 hours a night? THanks for the imput. My tendons hurt.
Tex
OK Tex I did 2 weeks of touring in Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana last year. It was about 70 miles per day with lots of climbing (I love passes). I did the opposite of what you did, I ate primarily complex carbs, not much fat and enough protein to get by. Shoot I only lost 10 lbs in 2 weeks without trying and felt great and rode just fine. I suppose I was burning up around 7000 calories per day and only eating about 4000. I ate plenty - at 100 cal for a medium baked potato without toppings, 4000 calories is a bunch of baked potatos (40) but I was not on a baked potato diet (I just used the potato as a sort of illustration). Losing weight is simply a matter of burning more calories then you ingest. Interestingly enough some people on this tour GAINED weight - it might have had something to do with all those hot fudge sundaes they gobbled up. Whenever I do high mileages, I go more more to complex carbs because it just feels better. Going low carbs and high protein sounds nauseating to me and I don't think I could do it. You sound as if you are different. I think though, if you read the literature most high mileage cyclists are high carbo cyclists.