Originally Posted by
rachel120
I've been on a medical leave of absence from my job for two weeks now. So no biking 6 miles a day and no walking 4-7 miles a day. Today I had to go somewhere which meant riding the bike. I just never feel like cooking for myself now, so this morning was a bowl of cornflakes, a couple handfuls of monster trail mix and a lot of water.
I was dying on the ride, some areas it was hard to keep going. When I got to my destination I was so nauseous that I thought for several minutes I was going to get sick. I blamed it all on no exercise for 2 weeks.
When it came time to go home I decided to eat at a nearby Italian restaurant first. Just me, no rudeness in playing with the phone, so I took a lot of time eating my meal, which is a dieter's nightmare with tons of carbs and meats and probably an entire day's calories.
And I was quite surprised that I had no difficulty going home and I didn't feel sick after. Only differences were what I ate before jumping on the bike and that I was slightly overdressed on the ride home (2-2½ miles, I was too lazy to stop and fuss with my clothes).
So.....obviously I need to eat better, but I have no clue what is best to eat before going on a ride. What does everyone else eat that has them hopping off the bike feeling great? I also know that I need more iron in my diet, does anyone know how to combine the best thing to eat with high iron?
I used to do a 35 km commute (one way) on ... nothing. Maybe a small glass of orange juice on warmer days, and water, of course, but other than that, nothing.
If you're doing a ride less than 2 hours, you probably don't need anything. You've probably go enough in storage ... especially if there's any chance you need to lose weight. But bring a granola bar, just in case, and if it is first thing in the morning you might have a glass of orange juice and a banana or similar.
If you're doing a ride of, say 2-4 hours, approximately, you might want to have something small to eat before you ride, and then aim for about 100 calories per hour on the bicycles.
If you're doing a ride over 4 hours, you've got to plan your eating. Ideally, you will have experimented with various things to find out what works and what doesn't work for you. But generally, aim to have a 500 calorie breakfast, and then aim to eat about 200 calories per hour while you ride. As you get fitter, you may be able to get away with less ... but then again, if the route is hilly, windy, or if you put in some extra effort, 200 might be work for you.
When the ride gets up and over the 6-7 hour point, you might want to start thinking about stopping for a meal somewhere in the middle.
In your situation, the first thing I wonder is what you had to drink with your breakfast. Next time, try a decent glass of water. And don't forget to bring water on the bicycle. There's a chance you were simply dehydrated.
The second thing I wonder is ... is there any chance you're pregnant?
And thirdly, were there nuts in the "couple handfuls of monster trail mix" ... nuts can sometimes leave me feeling a little queasy.