Training & Nutrition - Seeing Stars

Sunday I rode in a local event. Decent hills, great weather except for that massive downpour near the end...

I did the 50 mile ride. I have been riding since late April and really felt like this would be easy for me. When I got home my legs felt like crap, I can't seem to get enough to eat and when I stand up too quickly I'm dizzy and seeing stars.

Do you think the hills got the best of me, or should I be thinking there's something else wrong?

FYI - I had a good bowl of oatmeal/raisins, bananna and orange for breakfast. I had another bananna before the ride, I had a bar at mile 10, pbj and bar at mile 20, I think I had an orange and bananna at 30, 40 we sat and talked and when I got home I had some more fruit and a big dinner...and I drank plenty along the way as well as once at home...

Any thoughts?

Well, if you feel pain after such an activity, that means that the work muscles had to performed is more intense than usual and they are recovering now, by building more muscle tissue...

The pain should be pleasurable. If not, there is a chance you damages something... Fruits - are right food before excercizes like that.
So, if you were doing exact same trips ocasionally onece or twice a week before this event, there would not be any unusual soreness in the muscles...

If the dizzyness continues, you might want to have your blood sugar checked.

Do not mess with dizzyness.

Get yourself checked out!!!

Lotta carbs in that list. Might want to get more protein just to keep some balance. But if it keeps happening, it's worth talking to a dr. about, just to keep from freaking out over it. He/She may have some nutritional suggestions.

I take antioxidant vitamin supplements after each workout. 1000IU of C, Zinc supplement, 400IU of E and a multivitamin. I eat two bananas a day, tons of protein after workouts and steady carbs all around the clock (less in the evening). On rides more than 1.5 hours I eat each 1/2 hour. This dietary structure keeps me from having any major issues.

I got dizzy once on a long training ride. I think I had bonked. Had eaten 2 cliff bars over 80 miles. Not enough. Sounds like you ate enough too.

HEAD RUSH!!!! I have had this happen to me after a hard workout. In most cases I find it to be dehydration. The way I cure this is to take my camelback, fill it all the way up (2 litres) and drink the whole thing. You'll pee a ton, but your stars and headrushes will be gone.

Another reason for headrushes is if you are in extremely good physical condition, and your heart does not beat very fast. Standing up can cause the blood pressure to change before the heart can pump again, and you end up with little blood in your head, so you get dizziness.

"Another reason for headrushes is if you are in extremely good physical condition, and your heart does not beat very fast. "

Wish I could say extremely good condition... More like the other end of the spectrum... Too many beers:beer:

Thanks for th thoughts. I'm leaning toward blood sugar, but have had some other issues with dizziness so I can't rule anything out. Just thought I'd see if this was a common occurance.

Richard

Well, I wonder how you rode the hills. Attacking hills can beat you up really quickly. I managed to trash myself attacking hills just 50 miles into a century and I was cranking out centuries routinely at the time. On a longer ride, don't attack hills and don't sprint. Your legs need to last all day.

As for the seeing stars, I think this has to do with something else. I think I get what you are referring to sometimes. I stand up and the blood drains from my head causing dizziness, disorientation. It passes quickly but sometimes I just put my hand against something and wait for it to stop. Never could correlate this with anything. Just happens every now and then (maybe once per month).

If you feel beaten up, you just had a really good ride. If you want to avoid something this severe, just back off a bit. You should be able to handle the 50 miles (if you have the base miles in). It is just a matter of pacing. It is really easy to get all excited at an event and go far too hard and then pay for it later.

I think what got to me was the hills. I have been doing some decent 40 mile rrides anlong a creek out to a local lake and back with absolutly no trouble. And there are a few hills on that trip as well. But this ride had the first ten miles of some good leg burners. I have a triple so I sit and spin as much as I can to aviod trashing the legs as you mentioned. The first ten miles took alot out of me, but when we hit the flats of the next ten, we were doing it at 19-22mph pace. Then back to hills for the next ten and then flat again.... you get the picture. It was the last few hills that I really felt like I was having trouble. It's likely I bonked and simply refused to not finish...

I know the good feeling of a workout. Later that day the legs just felt jittery and spent. Perhaps it should have been a good feeling, just felt weird. And on top of that the star and dizziness made me a little nervous.

Feeling better now. Going out after some hill training this weekend.
Figure I need some more work against the enemy!