meangreen

Hellllllllllllllllo Everyone!

I have been in the process for a while of trying to get faster, and iincrease my endourance on my bike. It seems like no matter how often I ride, I am never improving very much. I got a computer on my bike so I could make sure I was not just "riding faster" and that isn't why the rides aren't getting slower. My speed fluctuates a LOT. Somedays I can ride close to 20 miles per hour for a long time, other days I have trouble getting above 17 (and I usually end up struggling at 13-16 mph). I am wondering if the problem is the kind of food I am eating. I don't eat meat, but I suppliment with whole protiens in every meal. I eat A LOT of peanut butter on bread (IDK if this is bad, but bfast and lunch are generally peanut butter on toast or PBandJ). I also kind of just make up my own training schedule. I ride between 15 and 40 miles a day and I take a day off at MOST every other day, but usually every 3rd day). I try to push myself until I am winded on my rides. I would do interval type thing, but I generally max out really early and then I am too exhausted.

A lot of times when I am riding and I don't feel like I am at my full potential my legs feel like they are full of lead. I am not sure if that helps. It is as if I am trying to move them faster, but my little muscles just can't make them go!

Any suggestions on how I can troubleshoot? I have been riding for 4 years now, but in the past year I have gotten really aggressive about trying to train. I would someday like to race, but I first need to improve my endurance.

Thanks,

Casey

oban_kobi

These guys: https://www.veggieboards.com/newvb/forum.php can help you with that a lot more than anyone here can. There are quite a few cyclists and runners on the forum, including myself.

Briefly, I would suggest eating more whole foods, such as beans, legumes, veggies, and fruit. There are incredibly knowledgeable people on veggieboards who would be able to help you out a great deal.

jmX

The difference between 17mph and 20mph is HUGE....one might be 110watts and the other might be 170w. That is too big to just be diet or feeling "blah", and sounds more like wind direction and intensity variance.

Anyway, If you have the means, get a power meter. If you dont, maybe get a HR monitor and on some of the training rides try to keep a certain HR. Sometimes on a blah day I just have to ignore how I feel and know that I need to put out X watts (since I know that I *can*) or maintain X heartrate. Other blah days I may just turn into a recovery or endurance ride and not worry about speed.

Speed simply varies too much to use it as a hard number to track progress, unless you have very very stable weather and check the wind dir every day.

DataJunkie

I am a vegetarian as well and struggled for the last few years feeling weak. I started eating a wider variety of foods, increased my protein, and kept an eye on my carb\protein\fat percentages. Mainly the protein is what did it for me. That and eating less bread. I also increased the amount of calories I eat each day. However, with each increase I workout more so it all seems to balance out.
Peanut butter and peanuts are good but not in excess, IMHO.
I use a whey protein powder to target protein delivery at specific times of the day along with things like edamame, low fat cottage cheese, yogurt, milk, etc.
My body seems to thrive on variety in foods and workouts.

late

Learn to cook.

____asdfghjkl

combine foods to make complete protein chain.
https://www.bodyforlife2.com/incompletprotein.htm

i hope that was what you were asking. lol

Carbonfiberboy 

Another + for targeted whey protein. I use 15g servings in plain water.

Another thing is to vary it more. The most-used recipe is some days to go much harder than you think is reasonable, and other days to go much easier than you think is reasonable. When you are slow, you are over-cooked. More hard training then just makes it worse. I frequently go at a comfortable pace, without pushing it at all. A couple days/week I go out and do intervals. Hill repeats, or riding a hilly course as hard as you can is good. Then take a day off, and the next day go really easy. Then do a comfortable day, then an interval day. Then a couple more comfortable days. If you feel too tired to do an interval day, you've been pushing it way too hard too consistently. Back it off. Don't obsess about the speed so much. Watch your cadence and HR or RPE. Speed will take care of itself. If you get to watching speed, you'll foul up your routine by pushing too much all the time.

ericm979

Eat different food, and more veggies. I've been vegetarian for over 20 years. I was racing when I went veg, and I didn't get any slower. I don't feel that it's holding me back now. But I do eat a varied diet.

Don't just "ride hard" for every ride. That'll wear you out and won't train you very well. Stop looking at your average speed.
If you want to race, try doing some race-oriented group rides. You'll learn how to ride in a pack and it will show you where you need to improve your conditioning.

the cyclops

Well as a runner,and not a pure cyclist,but a hardcore veggie,I can offer a few things...
1-Dont be a junk food vegetarian.By this I mean eat as much as you want,just not oreos and potato chips!!! (I do and w/proper training as you seem to be doing,you wont gain any bad weight)and make sure you are either eating whole foods as one poster suggested,or protein,be this in form of soy milk,peanut butter occasionally or as I do frequently w/veggie burgers,dogs,fake meat,etc.Also if you are not in conflict w/dairy,get some whey for protein.
Also avoid the white stuff,white bread,rice,pasta,etc and go with whole wheat everything if possible,but DO NOT be afraid of carbs,people who train hard need them and I thrive off of them personally.
As far as getting exhausted early(Again this is from my running background) I use a gel,and hydrate often,period.I make my own gel for CHEAP by mixing honey and blackstrap molasses(also called unsulfered molasses) in a 7tbs to 1tbs ratio and add 1tbs of salt to this mixture.It tastes great and honestly works better for me than other gels.I make a container and keep it in the fridge,refilling my gel flask as needed.On my longruns I hit some gel every 4-5 miles and water or a watered down sports drink as well.
The important thing to remember is being a vegetarian,if you are a healthy type vegetarain,and training like crazy just eat,eat,eat.I dont even bother counting my calories too extensively anymore as I eat so clean,I am always running,cycling,doing INSANITY or some physical activity that no matter how much fruit or veg I eat my body just loves it and asimalates it so quickly anyway.
GO VEGGIE!!! VEGETARAIN 4LIFE!!!

kimolop

Casey, Since you say that you someday hope to race, I would suggest that you pick up a book or two on training and come up with a more structured training program for yourself. I've found that if I rode my bike at a pretty good pace for a couple of hours, that's what I got pretty good at. The right mix of riding, including rest, will gain you big improvements in a relatively short time.

kevvwill

What I've found over the years, particularly as you train really hard, is that there's hardly any such thing as a bad calorie. I'm a vegetarian track sprinter, who lifts/sprints 6 days per week. Protein intake is crucial. The old formula of 1 gram per pound of body weight has been disproved, but when training hard I like a protein shake after hard workouts that gives me about 50g of protein and around 500 calories. The important thing is to find something that works for you, and stick with it. I like shakes because that's easier than doing the meal thing. If not shakes, chocolate milk, Muscle Milk, whatever. Just get that protein in you.

I don't know how old you are, but quality rest is crucial. When I was riding 325-350 miles per week, I was thin, and slower than molasses. Now, once my base period ends, I ride maybe 150 road miles per week. The rest is sprints and intervals, nothing longer than 5 minutes, with plenty of rest in between. Again, find what works for you. So many cyclists worship at the altar of volume, but volume is certainly the answer for pro cyclists. But it's their job. For the average fitness/fun/racing rider, quality training coupled with quality rest/nutrition is the answer.

Wesley36

Two resources that would be helpful:

Brendan Brazier on the Thrive Diet
Joe Friel's The Cyclists Training Bible

DataJunkie

I am unsure whether 1g per lb has been disproved or not. There still seems to be a bit of disagreement regarding that number.
Anyhow, I used to ride crap loads of miles as well. Taking quality over quantity due to having a newborn in the house has resulted in me riding stronger.
Heck I set a new PR on a local hill climb a couple weeks ago and it was my first real climb of the year.

jsharp9242

From what I have read, endurance athletes generally need more protein than bodybuilders and powerlifters as they have a higher protein turnover rate. Most avid weightlifters tend to see results with ~1 gram for every lb of lean body mass so it would be safe to assume that consumption of somewhere between 1-1.5 grams per lb of lean body mass would be the ideal protein intake for an endurance athlete.

Carbonfiberboy 

Yes, but that depends on how many hours one spends at it. I weigh 162, and during an 18 hour ride I will consume about 160g of protein, which seems sufficient for me. Stonger/heavier riders will consume up to 350g in the same time period. That doesn't count food before or after, which might amount to another 60g. So there's a good bit of variation, and it takes a lot of riding to burn a lot of protein. My normal daily is about 100g. Like kevvwill says, you have to find what works for you. Experiment.

koffee brown

First, you can't just wing it if you're training. Making it up as you go along serves very little purpose. You need structure with your training. Train with purpose. +1 for getting Joel Friel's Cyclist Training Bible.

If you can't afford a power meter, at least get a heart rate monitor. A power meter is superior, but expensive. But- it can help identify when you're losing power and you can put your game plan together. If you can't get the power meter, then you'll need the heart rate monitor. In that case, you'll need to get your training zones figured out, make sure you have enough rest/recovery, sleep, and are eating right. Heart rate can be affected by fatigue, dehydration, etc. But once you start training in your zones and put together a full training profile, you'll find you'll be more efficient.

Endurance rides are generally meant to help with working on consistent cadence, base training, and giving your body the chance to develop mitochondria in the muscles, and grow more capillaries. It's not really meant to build for speed. If your base training is lackluster or lacking, you're not really going to have much stamina. But that must be trained before you start training for speed. So- if you're looking to develop your stamina, I'd suggest you drop back to endurance training and see how that goes, and continue to re-test yourself (for a rough estimate of training zones, see the 2X20 anerobic threshold test training in the top of the forum that's a sticky) for improvement.

For getting faster, interval training and tempo training rides work best. You'll need to develop a game plan for those rides also once you feel your base is adequately trained. The interval training rides will help to increase your aerobic capacity, build speed, and build power. These are not done every day either- you'd poop out! You can read more about interval training in the Cyclist Training Bible and get an idea of how to build true intervals. They are difficult to do accurately unless you have either a power meter or heart rate monitor, though, so make sure you have one or the other- or both!

Finally, you should be putting recovery rides in there- also determined based off your training zones. Those are easy spin days with low heart rates. THAT is probably one of the most important training rides a cyclist can take. If you're overdoing it and not allowing yourself 1-2 days to recover (in a 7 day training week), you'll eventually lose power, and you'll see it reflected in your heart rate. You won't gain your power back or get your heart rate under control unless you take those recovery rides. So the best thing you can do for your training is pull back. I know you might think it's your eating, but for me, I feel like all signs point to overtraining and not having a good game plan in place.

koffee