Mental Exhaustion Post Ride

[mcminn]

Hi,

I've been riding for a couple of months and I've just started cycling longer distances/times. I rode 30-40 minute per session for a month for 3 days a week. Now we've decided to train for a 100 km race and I'm riding 1-3 hours at a go.

I'm finding that the next day or two even if my body is in good shape I'm having a terrible time concentrating on anything. My head feels like it is full of cotton.

I suspect this is a nutritional thing and I need to up something, but what? Protein? Carbs?

Any help appreciated. If I can't get this sorted out, I'll have to pull way back on my training and skip the next race. I'm starting to really enjoy riding, so I don't want to do that!

[ny biker]

To determine if this is a nutritional thing - what are you eating/drinking during the long rides, and what are you eating/drinking afterwards?

[mcminn]

Fair question.

During rides. I've been drinking water and an electrolyte/carb drink mix called Replace that I bought locally (New Zealand.) 14 carbs per 200ml, generally drinking 4 servings of that. I'm also eating gummi bears during the ride.

We typically have a standard meal post ride with a mix of carbs, fat and protein as you'd expect. I haven't been eating anything in particular post-ride.

[Zen]

Drinking lots of water otherwise?

[mcminn]

Yup, lots of water and green tea through the day.

[mcminn]

I started tracking all my foods on Fitday this week. I've only got a couple of days of data, but I seem to be covering all the micronutrients well enough.

It looks like I need to up my protein to keep my lean muscle according to the 0.8g per lb of lean body mass formula but I'm well over the RDA for protein.

My carbs are coming in around 170 g per day, primarily low-GI aside from my ride gummies and drink. Getting plenty of good fats especially as avocados are in season here.

[Grog]

When I suddenly increase my mileage/exercise time, I usually get pretty tired. It's usually a good idea to increase gradually.

Maybe that's what has happened to you?

[mcminn]

Could be, but I was training for a tri with 6 days a week workouts no problem with reasonable swims (500-750 m) followed by running.

I'm still training for the tri, but have dropped the swim and run components down to a couple times a week to focus on the cycling for a 100 km race a month before the tri.

[Grog]

Could be, but I was training for a tri with 6 days a week workouts no problem with reasonable swims (500-750 m) followed by running.

I'm still training for the tri, but have dropped the swim and run components down to a couple times a week to focus on the cycling for a 100 km race a month before the tri.

For me it was the other way around: I was a really fit cyclist one summer and then I started running. It made me SO tired it was unbelievable. It was so frustrating. Different muscles and everything.

How's your iron doing? A running buddy of mine was going through pretty severe fatigue and was pretty much depressed after workouts, and it turns out that her iron was extremely low.

[mcminn]

Good point. My iron has been good the last two or three years, but I haven't had it checked for a while.

I've still got iron pills from the last time it got low, so I'll start taking them again and see if that helps. Iron isn't exactly going to go off.

It can't be *too* low or I wouldn't be able to manage the cycling. But it might be marginal enough to be causing my mental fog.

[ilima]

Have you tried a post-ride nap? Eat & shower (in that order) first. Then nap.

[mcminn]

Most of our rides are in the evening. I finished up tonight's ride at 8pm- it is summer here. So having a post ride nap isn't really doable. I'm also the worst napper, ugh!

[mcminn]

I'm beginning to think I just haven't had enough calories lately. Even after eating well all day according to the Fitday calculations I was still 1500 calories short of my estimated daily expenditure after dinner yesterday. Too much, even with me wanting to drop some body fat.

So I ate a bit more and feel less foggy headed today.

[Grits]

Sorry I can't provide the link or reference, but I recently read about a study that said carbs plus caffeine helped with recovery after strenuous workouts. I believe the article used coffee as an example of the caffeine source, but I had started having some hot tea after rides even before reading this and had noticed an improvement in my recovery.

[mcminn]

Thanks Lori, I actually read that study yesterday :) I haven't tried extra caffeine yet, but will. The study was giving the athletes caffeine doses equivalent to 5-6 cups of coffee- a level that would have me feeling quite paranoid! But I plan to add a bit more caffeine post ride.

[ilima]

Most of our rides are in the evening. I finished up tonight's ride at 8pm- it is summer here. So having a post ride nap isn't really doable. I'm also the worst napper, ugh!

Ah. I guess I agree with the other folks that you may not be eating enough post-ride. Let me also add you may not be drinking enough, either, and your dehydrated state is part of the reason you're groggy-headed.

One reason I like evening workouts is that I go home, eat and then go to bed with no need for a nap to interrupt my day.

[OakLeaf]

I think with the exhaustion happening for an extended period of time after the ride - not during it - nutrition's probably a good angle.

I just happened to read something about magnesium and how much is lost in sweat (a lot). Magnesium deficiency can result in fatigue and confusion (so can a lot of things, of course). A lot of electrolyte replacement beverages, especially the cheaper ones, don't replace magnesium. When you were tracking your minerals, were you taking sweat losses into account? What I read was in the neighborhood of 6 mg per hour/liter of fluid.

If you're like me, when I increase exercise volume, I tend to get the extra calories from calorie-dense foods, when what I really need to be doing is increasing EVERYTHING. If you haven't increased your vegetable intake to match your total calorie increase, that's something to think about.

Just a stab in the dark because I coincidentally happened to read that...

[mcminn]

Thanks everyone for the advice.

I upped my calories yesterday and felt better than I have in a week. It was also a rest day which helped as well. I got the extra calorie hit from calorie dense foods, but I'll be balancing that better in future now that I see how much better I feel.

I take a Calcium and Magnesium supplement, so both of those should be ok.

I've never exercised at a level where I needed to be careful to eat ENOUGH before, so it will take a bit of a mental shift there.