Believe you me, It's something that has vexed me for well over ten years.
And I've tried lots of things. Sometimes I hit upon something that works, but that same strategy might fail me in another instance. It's maddening. Rather than muse on what might work, let's see what I know definitely does not work for me. And let's be clear: THIS IS ONLY MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE. Your experiences are yours. We all react differently and are uniquely made. What you do may be great, but it may be the worst thing for me and vice versa. Okay, on with it then........
- Gels: Nope! Don't work after a couple hours. They turn my gut and I won't ever consider them for long rides.
- Processed foods with a lot of sugar/corn syrup, etc. Same. Works maybe up to two hours, but as soon as I have something like this after a few hours, its the end.
- Powdered stuff: Cannot be bothered to mix up stuff in water during a ride. Although it may work for some folks, it seems like a hassle whenever I've tried it in the past. Many times it doesn't have a good effect, or it doesn't have what I need to keep going.
Now, I have had success and some good rides with some other products.
- Protein-rich foods like Epic brand bars, jerky, Almond butter packets, etc.
- Small, prepackaged packets of olives.
- Nuts
- Potato chips, but nothing weirdly flavored.
- Flattened bananas from Trader Joes. Basically dried bananas.
- An occasional full-bore Coca Cola (Typically wakes me up if I get drowsy on the bike)
- Caffeine
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| Another look at that Level B road from my "Ride To Indy" |
And I've been practicing eating on intervals during rides for a long, long time. Someone suggested that I try that. Well, I do this, and have done it regularly since 2015. Now, yes- sometimes I get off-schedule. But I try not to, and last Saturday I was on point but for my missed opportunity at the Vinton Casey's. Had I eaten there? Who knows......
Someone mentioned that I may have gone out too fast. I won't argue that. But also- you don't know if you don't try. We used to have a saying back in the early 90's in regard to mountain biking: "If you don't crash, you aren't riding hard enough". Part of these 'events' I've set up for myself is to test myself out.
I barely finished the Single Speed Century earlier this year. I suffered like a dog the last 30 miles. But that course was flat coming home and despite toasted legs, I was able to hobble home. My guts didn't rise up against me on that ride, but I also did get to eat something a bit more substantial at the last convenience store stop that day. That was why I finished, mostly. Missing eating at Vinton was really what killed last Saturday's ride, from the standpoint of finishing my planned route.
And that's on me. I have a hard time dancing the same steps more than three times, so staying on a very disciplined nutrition strategy is mentally tough for me. Believe it or not, it is very draining on me to keep up with a schedule like that while riding. Probably one of the hardest things I try to do. Religious repetition is not in my DNA. I find that eating regularly, and drinking regularly is challenging for me. Again- you might laugh, but we are all different.
So, there ya go. I keep experimenting. I keep pushing, and as my friend Ari says, "I keep getting out there and throwing punches." I'm a lot better at this than I used to be. Part of that has to do with some big changes in diet I made late in the Winter. I'm more fit now. Things are better that way than ever. But I am not getting any younger either, and my body is changing. What worked ten years ago is not going to work now. So I feel this is an ever changing game. I'm going to keep after it though.
Good thoughts, these. As an example, remember when gasoline changed from regular to unleaded? Our older autos did not seems to run that well on the "newer" fuels. It has been determined that, as we age, our bodies metabolize our "fuel" differently. Yes, one has to work on discovering what works for them as food types and intervals of eating and what the G.I. tract can digest and tolerate.
ReplyDeleteIt seems my comment prompted this post. I agree what particular foods work is very personal. But there are a few guiding principles you can use.
ReplyDeleteOne is that fueling for big rides starts way before. What and how much you eat for a few days prior all has an effect. Especially the previous 24 hours. Complex carbs (grains, not sugars) are ideal for the day before and morning of. Fiber is best avoided the night before and day of.
Eating on the bike has to balance not eating too many carbs (which causes GI upset), keeping hydrated (your body needs water to process food) and not eating too much at once (which causes a lot of blood to transfer to the stomach to absorb the nutrients, robing your legs, lungs and brain). Your headaches and sleepiness might be caused by the blood migration, dehydration or low blood sugar (the brain cannot function without enough blood sugar).
For me, I find that it always works best to time my meals to be 2.5 to 3 hours ahead of when I start riding. That keeps the hunger away and I am done digesting. If I stay hydrated and don’t eat too much, my stomach is happy. Then if I don’t eat enough I might run out of legs, but I feel fine otherwise. If I eat too much, I have GI upset and just generally don’t feel well.
A trick for drink mix on long rides - make one or two bottles with the drink mix, but double the normal concentration. Your other bottles can be pure water. Drink a bit from plain water and mixed bottles to get close to the normal concentration of mix in your stomach. When you refill your bottles always top off the mixed bottle. This will slowly dilute the mix to regular concentration. Late in the ride the mixed bottle will be low concentration, but by then you are probably sick of the flavor and will appreciate the milder mix. (I like Infinit Nutrition Go Far BTW).
It’s taken a LOT of reading and listening to podcasts, then experimenting to figure out what works for me. Your mileage may vary, but I hope this comment helps someone.
One thing that I know helps me a lot is what I eat the night before a big ride. What that is for yourself, only you know. I also found that I very strictly eat something every 10 miles or so (again only rides over 30 miles and just a gel or honey waffle cookie) whether I think I need it or not. For me, small doses more frequently works better than large doses infrequently.
ReplyDeleteYou know what sounds good ‘bout now...a bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich.
ReplyDeleteFor my own thoughts night road is not good
ReplyDelete@Nooge - Thanks for the considered comments. I did stress in my post that this is a very personal- to me- issue. I have done a ton of experimentation with regard to what I eat, ( the night before, during, and after)
ReplyDeleteI’m a lot different than most folks. I was tested years ago for oxygen uptake and peak power. The university I was tested at found that my oxygen uptake is completely unlike most people’s. In fact, they thought their machine was broken! I had to come back two weeks later and test again. In the end, they discovered that my body goes into a hard conservation mode, using about 20% less oxygen, than most people that they tested.
Anyway, I don’t expect many, or anyone, really, to understand this, but I ride best using a a bit different set of rules than most.
For instance, I cannot have a very large amount of food in my system to start or my body shuts down. I ride best on a completely empty stomach, to be honest, but I have learned to eat a minimal meal a hour to an hour and a half before I start. Any big breakfast is a bad, bad idea. For example, I had one serving of yogurt before Saturday’s ride with a 16oz glass of water. That’s it. Any more is complete disaster for me.
Anyway, I am 100% sure missing the Vinton chance to eat was what did me in. My fault.
I have made a few observations over my years of trying to ride hard and maintain a level of energy. Observation one: I know nothing. It's a crap shoot for me. Can't race MTB on Casey's donuts and coffee for sure (Veisha '03) Can't eat a lot or carbo load the night before. (Galena '93-ish) But I did learn one thing you might try. Water and Clif Bars Shot Blocks. Ate miserably poorly before an Iowa Games gravel race but had these two items on board. Dosing and downing as I felt necessary. Got a bronze medal that year. Gatorade equivalent never worked as well for me. FWIW dude.
ReplyDelete@Gravelo - Cliff Bar Shot Bloks are pretty awesome.....for a while. For me, anyway. After a while I grow weary of chewing them. Plus, that chewy-gooey thing they do to your teeth. Meh! But they do go down okay on occasion. These are more about anti-cramping though,right? At least that is what my view of Shot Bloks has been.
ReplyDeleteGenerally I have been a user of Elite water supplement for anti-cramping issues, but I have found that the amount of sodium found in the olive packets I now enjoy has taken the place of that product. Although, I will say that the Elite water additive has been my longest term use product for endurance riding I've yet tried. I still will use it in the future.
Try reading these type of posts/comments through the lens of T1D (type 1 diabetes)! Thankfully, I recently learned some important keys for diet, exercise, dosing insuling and not going low, high. An not having to stuff myself before long rides is great. So thankful I can manage this condition and enjoy life on a bike!!
ReplyDeleteThere is a lot of great info here. Another thing that happens late in a gravel ride is poor decision making. Speaking for myself, late in long rides Centuries or more, my mind just kind of boggles. I wont do things that I should, eat when I should, and I generally become more apathetic and just lack ambition that could have otherwise been used to drop a lot of time. Afterwards I will look back on the ride and ask myself "why did I do that or did not do that?" This seems to be much worse in the heat. IT can happen when its cold too. It would be interesting to know what happens to the brain in those situations. Im sure its a combination of both physical and mental fatigue and other chemical factors.
ReplyDeleteI'd try a different approach GT. To me, it sounds like you're poorly adapted to burning fats. You might have some metabolic syndrome or pre-type 2 diabetes going on, too, and these are all interrelated. No-one should need (in italics) to eat on a century ride - we all store 10's of thousands of fat calories.
ReplyDeleteAs an experiment, see if you can eat less frequently - like one meal in a 2 hr window for a few days in a row, and/or eat zero carbs for a few days (while eating a couple thousand kcal of fat/protein) and see how your body handles it. If it's really hard and makes you feel lousy even just several hours into it, then there's your answer. If doing this experiment isn't difficult at all, then the only other thing that I can think of it that maybe it's your fluids and not your food, i.e. maybe you're a salty sweater and need 1000+mg of Na per liter of water or otherwise you get light headed and nauseous.
@nellborg - I've been going eight hours between a light breakfast and evening meal, (that's it) for five days a week for the last five months. I have no problems not eating. (I get tired whenever I get hungry- been that way all my life)
ReplyDeleteI hardly ever get lightheaded. Nausea was an issue only AFTER I ate the high-sugar content dried cherries last Saturday. Otherwise that is a SUPER rare thing for me.
Also- I have cut WAY back on sugary foods- no deserts, no sodas, no candy, and WAY back on carbs. Eating more fresh vegetables than ever, less on the portions, and lots of water.
@All- Thanks for your consideration. I appreciate all comments here.