Hanover ConnectEast Ride for Home – Ridewiser Nutritional Advice
Dual Olympic cycling medalist Rob Crowe has developed the following nutrition information to assist riders in preparing for the Hanover ConnectEast Ride for Home.
It is important that you consult your doctor if you are unsure of any of the recommended nutritional items, experience any unusual sensations while riding or if you are a diabetic commencing a course of heavier physical training.
Using some smart cycling fuels will help you to train well and ride more efficiently over any distance.
Before your ride
Generally Healthy Diet - You need to have a good supply of minerals and vitamins in your body before tackling any ‘physical training session’. Eat a broad mix of different foods from all the food groups in your diet for at least 1 week before training starts, or commence taking vitamin supplements if needed (consult your local doctor if unsure).
Carbohydrates - The best way to load carbs for extended riding energy is to gradually include more carbohydrate foods (e.g. potato, pasta, bread) into your diet 3 or 4 days before a big ride. Just have one extra serving of carbs than your normal intake at one of your main meals each day.
Water - It takes lots of water to digest food, and even more to digest extra carbohydrates, so last minute carbo-loading is difficult and tiring for your body. Sport uses extra water too, so get ahead of the hydration strain and have an extra glass of water every morning before starting your day..
During your ride
Water - Thirst is the body’s signal for ‘dehydration’ - not the time to start drinking, especially if you’re already active.
Aim to develop a habit of drinking by sipping regularly while on the bike – at least once every 20mins. Prevention by topping up is the best way to keep your body’s engine running smoothly.
Carbohydrates - Eating on any ride becomes important after 20mins, and again each 20mins thereafter, especially if you aim to cover an hour or more on the bike. Simple carbohydrates like fruit cake, jam sandwiches or sports carbohydrate food bars with over 60% ‘carbohydrate’ content are ideal on-the-go. Make sure they’re easily accessible (pockets) and you like them so that you’re more likely to actually eat them!
Electrolytes - If you are riding for longer durations (over 2hrs) or sweating a lot, it’s important to include some electrolytes with your fluid intake to replace lost salts. Most sports drinks with potassium and sodium content will work as electrolyte drinks - even a teaspoon of sea salt mixed in with water is effective. Importantly, don’t miss having a balance of pure water entering the body, so one drink bottle of water for each drink bottle of mixed electrolytes is ideal.
Sugars - Feeling jaded, suddenly tired, or is fatigue slowing you down? When in doubt, add jelly beans (or snakes, lollies, jubes, or chocolate). It’s not so much about adding to your muscle’s carbohydrate stores while riding – it’s about keeping the body’s engine furnace running. Feeling ‘hunger flat’ or ‘bonking’ as it’s referred to is simply a drop in the readily available sugars inside your body. Don’t panic, within 5-10mins it can be turned around by adding some sugars, especially if you take 5mins and stop as well.
After your ride
Water - The first thing you need to do after your ride is drink water. The H2O replacement process for rehydrating your body will take much more than double the time you spent exercising, even with constant drinking. Start the H2O re-balancing process straight away. Again, it’s better to sip water every 20mins than gulp a lot of water in one sitting. Dehydration will be the single most performance-damaging issue for riders facing a big ride or hot weather. Remember, most everyday physical complaints can be due to basic dehydration (head-ache, dizziness, fatigue), let alone a drop in riding performance, so look after the body with a regular water top-up before, during and after your rides.
Proteins - The best time to ingest protein is soon after the body has depleted the energy stores and/or had a hard workout. For this reason, you will aid recovery and accelerate your muscle-strength training for cycling by having a protein supplement (sports protein bar), or liquid protein drink immediately after training (i.e. in the first 20mins). High protein can be seen on the nutritional information tag on a sports food product when it consists of 30-40% protein of total ingredients.
Generally Healthy Diet - Recovery is very important in the time between your training rides. Apart from some easy conditioning riding, a good sleep, good hydration and resting away from exercising, the best thing you can do is continue to have a broad and balanced diet. The special in-house chemical laboratory of the human body does a remarkable job at sorting out all of the minerals, vitamins, carbohydrates, proteins and other elements needed – as long as you give it a good array of items to work with.
Important note: On event day, do not use unfamiliar foods or drinks that you have not trialed previously in training rides.
Rob Crowe, two-time Olympic cyclist, is an educator and cycling fitness consultant for Ridewiser. For information on indoor cycling training, written training programs or other cycling services, phone 9534 7785 or visit www.ridewiser.com.au