Training & Nutrition - "Exercise Headache"

I've found over the last few years that if I ride hard on my trainer (high cadence for 90 min) I experience a throbbing headache about 2 hours later. I typically ride in the late morning after a full (for me) breakfast of two cups of oatmeal. I hydrate well,drinking a liter of water before , and 4 24oz water bottles during the ride. What would cause this? This does not happen on my outdoor rides of up to 60 miles. My wife says that I need more calories before/during training session. While she is almost always right ,I am puzzled by the fact that this only occurs indoors with workouts of shorter duration, albiet greater intensity. Please advise

you sweat a ton riding the trainer. perhaps you're getting overheated? try pointing a fan at yourself.

also,

inside air is often heavy with dust and other particles. you're probably breathing in a lot of particles over the 90 minutes. can you move the bike out to a garage and leave the door open?

I get headaches after sustained, strenuous exercise too.
This link may help you...
http://www.cptips.com/hdache.htm

Usually I find a banana helps if I start getting a headache on a ride.

I agree with the above post... I think you may be getting overheated. Use a fan and see if that helps.

Where in your head does it hurt? Wouldn't happen to be your forehead, would it?

Two things... first, if you're actually drinking 96oz of water, that's gonna cause problems. Switch to a sports drink of some sort. I use gatorade mixed about 1/3 normal strength because it's cheap and easy to get but really any sports drink that tastes good is fine... they're pretty much all the same.

Second, how well ventilated is the room you train in? here's some food for thought.

Let's say that your average VO2 is 4L/min and your RER is .85. That would mean you're producing 3.4L of CO2 per minute. Times 90 minutes that's 306L of CO2 produced. In a sealed room that is 2mx3mx3m there is 18000L of air. 306/18000 is 1.7% CO2... by comparison air outside averages 0.038% CO2 and 5% CO2 is fatal. Breathing air that is 1.7% CO2 will probably give you a headache.

So.... open all the windows and doors you can, or get in the garage, or put the trainer outside on the porch.

There is such a thing as exercise-induced migraine. I suffer from it, unfortunately. Doesn't matter how hydrated I am. If it happens to be one of those days, I get an "attack". For that reason, I always carry paracetamol on longer trips, as that provides quick relief for me (within 20-30 minutes).
That said, I have to say it doesn't happen that often. Maybe on one out of five rides (long rides).

It seems to be triggered by overheating, so I can sometimes thwart it by removing a layer of clothing, helmet cap or simply unzipping my jersey. A couple of times (on warm summer days), I've poured water from my bottles over myself to cool down.

Second, how well ventilated is the room you train in? here's some food for thought.

Let's say that your average VO2 is 4L/min and your RER is .85. That would mean you're producing 3.4L of CO2 per minute. Times 90 minutes that's 306L of CO2 produced. In a sealed room that is 2mx3mx3m there is 18000L of air. 306/18000 is 1.7% CO2... by comparison air outside averages 0.038% CO2 and 5% CO2 is fatal. Breathing air that is 1.7% CO2 will probably give you a headache.

Nice theory, but rooms aren't really that well sealed... :)

I've found over the last few years that if I ride hard on my trainer (high cadence for 90 min) I experience a throbbing headache about 2 hours later. I typically ride in the late morning after a full (for me) breakfast of two cups of oatmeal. I hydrate well,drinking a liter of water before , and 4 24oz water bottles during the ride. What would cause this? This does not happen on my outdoor rides of up to 60 miles. My wife says that I need more calories before/during training session. While she is almost always right ,I am puzzled by the fact that this only occurs indoors with workouts of shorter duration, albiet greater intensity. Please advise

I agree that a fan would be a good idea. And I'm amazed that you can drink that much water - I'm a hydration junkie but I would find it hard to drink half that much water in that time period. I would bet that that's enough to cause some issues.

I'd suggest using a hydration drink to get some extra calories.