Kenal0

In my quest to complete a the century ride before the season is over, I rode the metric century this morning. I ate some oatmeal for breakfast and had a power bar, 2 gel packs and 2 waterbottles full of gatorade during the ride.(Temp was in the low 70's so it was not real hot or jumid) I went at a pretty leasurely pace so I would not kill myself as this would be my longest distance so far. The ride went fine and I think I will be okay for the North Shore Century ride in 2 weeks. (Unless there is an incredibly strong headwind which is very likely in Chicago area!). Anyway back to the question which is what to eat after a long ride? Carbs, protein, combo of both? What is good recovery food?
KL

1955

I eat everything in the house but you do need a good amount of protein to build back up what you broke down. I always keep "Dry Roasted Edamame" from Trader Joe's around to munch on for a good supply of protein. There are also a lot of recovery drinks out there but they only seem to make me even hungrier that I already am.

Also, post this over on the "Training & Nutrition" forum to get some better replies.

If you can do a Metric century, you can to a hundred miles. Don't get let your mind get in your bodies way. Drink more than you need and eat enough, espescially in the last 50 miles when you may not feel like eating or drinking.

Good luck!

johnny99

Unless you're doing another century the next day, you don't need any special recovery food. Just eat your normal meal. Maybe eat a little more protein to help repair any muscle damage. Do drink more water than normal for a couple of days to rehydrate your body.

slvoid

It depends on a combination of everything.
Is this a flat ride? Lots of climbs?
If it's a flat century, I can probably complete it with 3-4 bottles of water 4 clif bars and 4 gels.
If it's hilly, I'll probably need a rest stop somewhere. I don't think I can make it with sufficient speed self supported.
You'll need protein and carbs to recover. But during the ride, I'm thinking you'd probably want 40% slow burning carbs, 40% fast burning, 15% protein, and 5% fat. That's just my guess. I always try to keep 2 bottles, 1 filled with something extremely loaded in sugars and fast burning carbs since I'm going to be sipping that as I ride. The other bottle is clean water to rinse my mouth. I'll sit down and eat the slower burning stuff at rest stops.

Yo-

Ice cold beer!

Preferably an ice cold Guiness.

hi565

actually the trainer/coach/fitting expert reccomended that to my dad. Basically becasue they are complete carbs.

Guillermo

post ride meal = crunchy peanut butter, banana, & honey grilled on wheat bread aka the "Elvis". Bacon is optional. It's impossible to eat without a glass of milk.

puddin' legs

A smoothie first. Banana, blueberry or strawberry, yogurt, ice, a bit of milk.

cheebahmunkey

30 minutes after - Clif Bar
an hour or an hour and half later - something with a fair amount of protein and carbs. Usually that meal has to be around 700-800 calories for me and I only ride 25-26 miles.

johnny99

I hope you're not trying to lose weight. A Clif Bar + 800 calories is likely more calories than you burned in 25 miles.

FIVE ONE SIX

i personally think that carbs are more important than protein for recovery, but that's just my opinion. if you're going for a ride in the morning, a whey protein shake with water 10 minutes before the ride would be fine, then a high carb breakfast after the ride...

more people actually lose fat and gain muscle with a whey protein shake 10 minutes BEFORE a workout than after a workout. then again, make sure your calorie intake is what it should be, expecting to gain muscle mass on a low calorie/low carb diet ISN'T going to happen. you need 500 extra calories per day, every day for a week, to gain ONE pound of muscle mass during that week...

if your trying to lose weight, a balanced nutrition bar like Body For Life is fine for meal replacement. it will help your body recover better than a low carb bar, which are usually packed with sugar alcohols, that will go right through you if you eat too many. if you're trying to gain muscle mass, a high protein bar like Pure Protein would be perfect. just remember that your body needs certian nutrients that can only be found in foods, so don't depend on bars for the best recovery, a real meal is always best...

cheebahmunkey

well no I'm not but that's actually not enough. That meal I mentioned is usually lunch. I burned about 1170 calories today and my lunch and clif bar totalled 880. Now I gotta make up for with healthy snacking.

hi565

Read Food For Fitness by chris carmichael, and some of this will change.

FIVE ONE SIX

it all has to do with opinons, there's no proven right or wrong, because for everyone that says protein is important after a workout i'll show you someone that says it's not. on top of that, every single persons body is different, and what works for me may not work for you and you and you...

and i wasn't saying you should count on meal replacement, i just gave a few examples of things you can eat if it was the only option, which it is for some people some of the time. like i said, a real meal is always best...

also, i've heard that Amino Vital works excellent, i know a long distance runner that uses it with EXCELLENT results...

gcasillo

Summer months: fruit smoothie.
Winter months: hot chocolate

Nothing motivates me to ride in the cold months (think frozen water bottles) like turning on the boiler, putting some cocoa and sugar in a mug, mixing, and sipping it in a hot shower thinking warm thoughts.

slide

Listen to your body. If you are in decent shape, it'll tell you what you need. I used to distance run (new to bikes) but the endurance part is the same. After a long run (now ride) I'd get anything from a BBQ steak to one of my fave sandwiches - bagel, peanut butter, banana and honey. That sandwich is extremely powerful - use with care!

What you really need is water. Others seem to do well with 'sports drinks' like gatorade. That stuff never did much for me.

Oh, a little known but often used drink for runners is de-fizzed Coke (not diet). It goes down very well and supplies a boost.

Boudicca

Doesn't the shower water dilute the cocoa?

I put water on the boil for two ears of corn to be served with lots of salt and lashings of melted butter, and (after reading this post) will follow that with a peanut butter and honey sandwich. Hell, I did 85 hilly kilometers today. I deserve all the calories I want.

viper5dn

A clif bar is 250 calories, 50 from fat.

cheebahmunkey

um, yeah a couple are. But they differ. The one I had today was 230 calories with only 1.5 grams of fat. I have another one that's 240 calories and 4.5 grams of fat.

viper5dn

Yea... I didn't take into account that they all vary, but all I am saying is that they are no where near 800+ calories.... that would just be stupid.

samp02

peanut butter,fig newton and nice cold BEER.

johnny99

1170 calories sounds very high for 25 miles. At a casual pace, I do 25 miles in around 80 minutes or so. At 500 calories/hour, that gives me around 700 calories.

Also, 1 Clif Bar + an 800 calorie lunch is a lot more than 880 calories.

slvoid

According to caloriesperhour, I'm 150lbs, I burn 2177 calories biking at 20mph average for 2 hours (typical saturday or sunday morning ride at the local loop). That's 2177 calories for 40 miles, or around 1360 calories for 25 miles.

johnny99

1100 calories per hour sounds way high for your weight. Is that calculator reliable?

slvoid

Most people say it's within a hundred cals or so of what it actually is.
Of course how YOU figure out just exactly how many calories you're burning w/o being hooked up to a machine, I don't know, but I guarantee whatever you're using, polar meter, etc, is just an approximation too.