kazanja

anybody have any ideas
i am doing more bike rides but lately after about a 30 mile bike ride i get in and feel great, very strong and feel as though i could go out and do it again, but the following day i feel exhausted and struggle through the day, i do eat healthy but as yet havnt really eaten the energy bars on a bike ride, i have had some of the lucozade energy sweets. i am still trying to loose weight as i put in on very very easy. Has anybody any ideas of why i feel exhausted, i eat carbo's a lot

cheers

Fujitsa

maybe ur bodys just not used to being stressed so much, depending what u did before as well, if u worked hard for 30 miles and ur bodys not used to it, ull probably need to take a rest day from my view, not sure about the whole food thing, but when ur loosing weight, if ur trying to drop it rapidly ud be pretty busted most of the time neways.. hope that kinda helps?

Carbonfiberboy 

Like Fujitsa said, but using more words, your body is just a chemical factory. About all endurance training does is to train that chemical factory to produce and store some chemicals at rates which differ from those in sedentary individuals. It takes time, years really, to get your body to make these changes in the factory, and to make them optimal for your particular goals and physiology.

OK. Thirty miles takes you around 2 hours, maybe. I wouldn't have to eat anything in that time and I usually wouldn't have to drink anything, either. But when I was first starting out, I couldn't ride 30 minutes without eating half a bagel or something. The ability to keep the blood sugar even comes with a lot of miles. So here's what I'd do- on the ride eat a banana or two, a bagel, or a Clif bar - something like that, sort as whole-foody as you easily can. After a 30-mile ride, have a glass of whole milk with about 1/4c sugar mixed into it. Then a meal within the hour.

Try that, see if you feel better the next day. If not, come back and complain!

You're probably burning about 400 cal/hr, so 2 hours is 800. Try to only replace 1/2 of that with extra eaten calories to lose weight.

Jesper T

It depends on your fitness level. If you change on any of the 3 basic parametres (frequency, duration, intensity) you need more recovery than normal. If you haven't changed on any of these parametres and you get enough and proper nutrition, it's difficult to answer your question without getting more info.

slickjolly

I found that when I started riding, I really wanted to go hard all of the time and felt exactly like you describe after a hard day. The way that I go around it is I added a few things into my routine:

1.) Making sure I got around 8 hours of sleep or more after the ride. Rest was the most important thing for me.

2.) Eating and drinking before, during and after the ride. I would down a PowerBar or Snicker's Marathon bar about 30 minutes to an hour before the ride with water. During the ride, I would either use Hammer Gel or their HEED drink. Afterwards, it's really important to use a recovery drink for your muscles to recover (this really alleviates the soreness you probably feel).

3.) Be consistent. Ride hard days consistently at the same time of the week and follow it up with doing something easy the day after like spinning your legs on a trainer or around the block. Take a rest day or two during the week as well.

jdon

What is your age? Older athletes recover slower.

alexiszink

make sure you get proper nutrition after a ride. a lot of people, especially those trying to lose weight, try to limit their intake after riding. yes, this will potentially help you lose a bit more, but you will be pretty tired/weak the next day. try to have some protein, either a protein shake, milk, or lean meat such as chicken, and some carbohydrates. chocolate milk or muscle milk light seem to work pretty well for me.

darkNiGHTS0

I've been experiencing the same thing with my rides. Thanks for all the suggestions guys. Stretching is also an important part of recovery. For some reason it is not more common in bicycle, but a good stretch before and after the ride can really help alleviate your muscles.

ericgu

+10

To lose weight, you need to control hunger, and to control hunger, you need to control your blood sugar. If you don't eat anything on a ride and nothing after, you are going to get really hungry, and it will be hard not to eat back all that you burnt.

However, if you use a good recovery drink and eat well after that, your blood sugar will stay up, and while you will replace the carbs you burnt, you won't replace the fat.

kazanja

some good advice i have taken on board, im 45 to answer a question, i used to do a lot of exercise about 20 years ago but its only been the last couple of months ive been doing longer rides, have commuted on a mountain bike 6 miles each way. on saturday i done a really tough ride in Northumberland where i live 65 miles with lots of hills a real tester and i took on board some of the things you all said, good breakfast about an hour before, enegy drink and bar during the ride and after a protien drink and something to eat within half an of getting back and i felt great on sunday and good today. So hopefully ive cracked it, i think i was getting into the diet thinking use the calories and try to loose weight, not eating after a ride but as someone pointed out i was feeling hungry all the time and i probably picked for the rest of the day with incorrect food. thanks for all the ideas, i have now bought myslef a supply of bars, drinks etc and hopefully feel fit enough to ride more and that in turn will help me loose weight or more inportantly the middle aged spread!! ive got 8 weeks to get the fitness up as i am doing a long ride over 4 days 350 miles.

youcoming

Are you talking northhumberland in Ontario, Canada. If so give a shoot maybe we can get out for a ride.

kazanja

the Northumberland is in North east England near Newcastle Upon Tyne, fantastic area for cycling, its got everything you would want for all sorts of cycling. The after cycling night life is excellent too. I never knew ther was another Northumberland in the world