Recovery foods

[James Blackwell]

Hi Guys,
I cycle to and from work, which is 35 miles a day, each trip takes about 1 hour with traffic.
At first I suffered with really restless legs and obviously running out of energy as the week went on. Making a few changes to my diet I have solved the restless leg and running out of energy(ish).
I have started:
Chocolate milk when I get home
Banana before I leave work
Good oaty/nutty/fruity breakfast
Lots of water.
I have read Rice Cakes are also good, but for recovery or energy before cycling?
I only ask as I am currently eating my family out of house and home, so would like to find more effective foods. I know each leg of my commute uses about 1000 kals, so would be nice to see what others do and how effective things are?
I prefer to stick with natural food groups, and stay away from energy gels and the like.

Cheers

James

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

Give a better example of daily food intake please. What is your commute like?

Rice cakes would generally be an energy food. Protein intake is the main thing, I can't see from your post where a great deal comes from.

 

[James Blackwell]

Breakfast: Fruit tea, Fruit Juice, nutty/Oaty Cereal.
Packed Lunch at work: Three sandwiches, usually cheese, pork or ham, crisps (I know, but I cant resist), Yogurt, Nutty snack.
Before home: Banana, I prefer NOT Green, so usually the browner side of ripe.
Arrival at home: Chocolate Milk, fruit juice and water.
Dinner: obviously varies, but usually throughout the week its fish twice, beef once/twice, Ham, with a mix of pasta, potatoes and rice depending on the meal. Lots of green vegetables and salad.

The commute has a couple of short sharp hills, two long steady climbs, but otherwise flatish. Its from Clevedon to Filton (Bristol area) so its from a seaside up some hills, down to the basin that is Bristol docks, then back up and out the other side.

Rice cakes good before or during the ride?

James

 

[fossyant]

Sounds quite normal diet to me already.

You will be burning the cals, so need to replace them.

 

[Ningishzidda]

If you slow down and take an hour and a half, you’ll be burning the same number of calories, but at a lower kCals/minute rate. Your HR and VO2 uptake will be lower, so you will be taking the calories from fat instead of carbs down your throat.
You will get less hungry and you will not run the risk of bonking.

Anyway, who ever heard of ‘Rushing to work’??????

 

[James Blackwell]

I love my job, what can I say
Ironically its for a car Club.
I have tried slowing down, but for the life of me, I cant do it, unless of course I'm knackered.

 

[Seamab]

You might be using 1000kcal over 35 miles but not 17.5. Not clear from your post.

 

[amaferanga]

When you say rice cakes do you mean those dry ones you get in the supermarket or ones you make yourself with sushi rice, eggs, ham, etc? The former would be useless as an energy food and the later are a lot of hassle (and you need to be careful with rice - warm rice breeds a nasty bacteria so the rice cakes as an energy food on the bike is only good if you have a support car with a fridge).

Just eat a balanced diet and a little more of everything (e.g. larger portions of rice/potatoes/pasta for dinner and plenty of porridge for breakfast). When you eat is also important when it comes to hunger and in dealing with urge to stuff your face with anything you can find.

You may just be getting tired towards the end of the week due to the miles you're doing and not because you're not eating enough especially if you're eating extra because you think you're burning 2000kCal a day from your cycling. FWIW my commute is about 19 miles each way and I only burn around 750kCal each way (based on the kJ figure from my power meter) and that's averaging 19-20mph so I'd put an upper ceiling on your calorie burn of around 1500kCal for the round trip.

 

[jarlrmai]

I did 58 miles last night at 18 and it was probably around 1700kcal

 

[Ningishzidda]

I did 58 miles last night at 18 and it was probably around 1700kcal

That's probably 'Tractive' power requirement only, ( wind resistance, tyre deformation and gear train stiction ).
Go back to the chalkboard and work out how many calories you lost to windchill. Then work out how many calories you saved due to 'solar gain' cus the sun was shining.

On a 100km Audax, total kCals is probably double 1700. +/- 250.

Over the last twenty five years, I use Audax 100 Calendar events, Perms and DIY perms to shed 3500 kCals, or 1 lb of fat per ride.
It works. Mind you, to do this, the ride must be at really low intensity and done without any extra food intake.

 

[jarlrmai]

I'm already 62KG at 5'9 not looking to lose weight here ride was from around 6:30 to 9:45 (medium stop due to a mechanical)

I tried this distance last week and bonked at around 50 with just water, took 1 gel on last nights ride at around 35 miles and was fine, ride was about 1400 foot of climbing so quite flat but the one hill had some steep bits (10%+)

 

[Ningishzidda]

An average adult can saturate their blood and liver with about 600 - 700 kcals worth of glycogen. Riding at full belt, this is about a 25 mile TT. Riding gently, it could be a 100km Audax, cus fats are used at low/medium intensity levels.

When this has gone, its a slippery downward slope to 'The Bonk'.

 

[James Blackwell]

Sounds quite normal diet to me already.

You will be burning the cals, so need to replace them.

Cheers thank you for that.

Am lost on more of the technical feedback, but thank you for letting me know how much you cycle, makes interesting reading.