Recovery from Riding

I am struggling a bit with recovery from a longer ride (for me).

I am a newbie rider. I have only been at this for about a month. My past two rides were 23 miles and 28 miles. I am struggling with recovery after my rides. I feel good while I am riding and actually feel like I could ride longer. I come home normally tired. The next day is a waste for me. I am really tired. Not body ache tired, but I need to sleep tired. Is this normal when you are a newbie?

I am diabetic and I struggle a bit with lows for the rest of the day after I ride. However, this isn't unusual for me to have lows in the daytime and I don't feel that exhaustion unless it is a debilitating low.

Anyone else struggle with next day recovery? Does this get better over time?

maybe take this to the diabetic thread someone started? (you?) Maybe you're dehydrated? It takes me a day or three (depending on the intensity of the ride) to get rehydrated. I drink NUUN (no sugar), water, and a whole lot of other stuff until i find myself feeling normal again.

Dehydration huh? I am a bit of a camel when I ride. I will try hydrating better tomorrow when I ride.

I am the one that started the "Diabetic" thread. I am not sure this has anything to do with diabetes, so I didn't put it in that thread.

Thanks for the suggestion. I never thought about dehydratation.

IMO, it has almost nothing to do with diabetes and everything to do with nutrition, dehydration, and electrolyte balance.

It takes some time to figure those things out, even without diabetes. Everyone is different. I would start with the what/how much/how often of eating and drink, factoring in your unique circumstances, and go from there....

is..."it depends."

Do you have an athletic background or are you basically getting off the couch? How fast are you going? Any idea what your heart rate is during your rides?

Well done you. It took me months, nearly a year infact, to reach those distances. That I'm no spring chicken and have lung disease my have been a factor; I still struggle to recover from long rides. Maybe you should consider gradually building up to those distances.

You need to make sure you're hydrating and eating enough carbs and protein. Very important. Before I ride (25-30 miles like you...) I eat a bar that is high in carbs and protein. Then follow up about 15 minutes before I ride with a gel pack. I also drink a bottle of water before I go to (16 ounces). You need to make sure you get the water in. Then about 15 miles in I take a break and eat another gel pack with half a bar of some sort. Again, taking in carbs and calories. Also drink a decent amount of water. You don't want to wait until you're thirsty as it's too late then. Your body is already dehydrated. Finally, when finished, eat protein. Eat some tuna, fish or chicken or protein bar. I even eat the turkey jerky as that's high in protein too. Protein shakes will work too. You need to give your muscles the protein to recover. The rest of the day I drink lots of water and eat a healthy lunch and dinner. Eating right is important and of course being diabetic you need to really watch your sugars. Good luck!

Another vote for checking out your hydration, nutrition, general "fueling." here is why I do for my forty mile rides (I seem to have plateaued at fifty miles ... But I have only been riding since April - yes, I have been a member here much longer):

Two hours out from ride I start drinking as much water as I can stand. I also fix myself a cheese and egg sandwich on toast. I stop drinking heavily an hour before the ride. Go potty before your ride. ;)

During the ride I have one bottle half Gatorade and half water OR an endurance specific shake. Other bottle is only water. I drink from both every ten to 15 minutes.

Post ride I drink a recovery shake and make sure I eat some sort of protein within two hours of completing the ride. Beer and homemade tacos are a favorite of mine.


If I were you I would keep your mileage at this level and start figuring out what works for you. I can tell you now that I fuel/drink/eat less now for my standard twenty mile rides than what I used to need when twenty miles was my long rides. Once I am able to get past my fifty mile hump I wonder if it will change my needs for the forty miles rides but at the moment I just haven't had time to put the mileage down that I need (if I don't I have knee issues when I try to jump my mileage too much).

I initially pushed beyond my limits when I was riding and recovery was tough. Like you I was wiped out the next day. I backed off slowly worked up to rides of 25 to 35 miles. I don't know how old you are, if you are younger you can push harder, or what kind of fitness base you have. But I had to back off. Now I have no problem at all doing a 25 mile ride and having energy to spare, feel fine and ready to ride the next day. I was able to do a 37 mile ride a week ago, my longest for me ever, and ride 9 miles the next day. I've been at this since spring. I started with next to no fitness as well as being overweight. It took me five months to get to riding 25 miles.

Zippinalong, that is a lot of food for a 25 mile ride. I agree that hydration and eating, especially protein make a huge difference, but I might add that eating real food (of whatever type you can do before/after a ride) is a lot better. Sometimes people wonder why they are gaining weight when they ride a lot; those bars and gels add up and have a lot of sugar. I use bars as a snack during a ride, but generally only use Shot Blocks (like gel) when i am seriously tired or on a ride longer than 50 miles.

Crankin: I agree about the sugar which is why I'm careful that the bars and gels I eat are not real high sugar :)
Besides considering I'm burning about 1000 calories it's not much of a concern. I've actually lost weight since starting to bike. I watch what I eat pretty well too.
Everyone is different in terms of their metabolism so what works for me of course may not work for other people.

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Originally Posted by Crankin

Zippinalong, that is a lot of food for a 25 mile ride. I agree that hydration and eating, especially protein make a huge difference, but I might add that eating real food (of whatever type you can do before/after a ride) is a lot better. Sometimes people wonder why they are gaining weight when they ride a lot; those bars and gels add up and have a lot of sugar. I use bars as a snack during a ride, but generally only use Shot Blocks (like gel) when i am seriously tired or on a ride longer than 50 miles.

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+1 on real food. Even protein bars that are home made are better nutritionally and taste-wise. Energy bars made with dried fruit are great. Protein bars can be made with whey protein. I just don't like ingesting something that has a shelf life longer than Mick Jagger.

I thought that sounded like a lot of food too for a 25-35 mile ride. I'll typically just ride it without stopping. But like you, a 50+ mile ride requires a stop for fuel. I do carry cytomax in a water bottle for electrolytes & fast energy if I'm doing a 25+ mile ride. So maybe that isn't "real food" but I haven't been able to duplicate it in terms of results.

My hunger tends to vary on rides, depending on the mileage, intensity, time spent on the bike, and even the weather. Sometimes, I can end up being very hungry and taking in more calories, on a shorter (30-50 miles) but more intense ride. Then there are days such as today, where we did just over 100 miles (at a more casual pace) and all I had for food on the entire ride was 1 mini Luna bar (80 cal) at stop 1, and then a PB & honey sandwich (210 cal) and 1/2 banana (50 cal) at stop 2...and I was perfectly fine. I don't think fueling for endurance activities is an exact science. I think it's a lot of trial & error to figure out what works for you.

How are you calculating the number of calories you are burning? HR monitors and Garmins often over estimate by a lot.
Of course, you might be * a lot* younger than me, and most people are bigger than me, so they burn more calories. But, at 5 foot 1 inch and 106 pounds, I don't count on burning more than 300-400 calories an hour, doing hilly riding at an average of 14-16. For me, I make sure I've eaten/hydrated right before a ride and I use only Nuun (electrolytes) in my water bottle, plus one bottle of plain water. I take the Nuun tabs with me, if I need to refill. I think i've used the lower cal Accelerade once this season and have bought 1-2 G2O drinks en route. If it's 25 or under, I don't need to eat. Above that, one bar suffices for 50 miles, with sometimes a Shot Block near the end. I have to eat a lot right when I'm done, though. If I do a metric, I might add in a banana,or another bar, preferably, real food. The one century I did, I ate every hour, small amounts. I brought my own whole wheat bagels and soy nut butter, along with the bars.
Weather does affect all of this. I eat more when it's cold.

nscrbug: Exactly. It may seem like I'm eating a lot, but then if I don't eat something on my break I start getting hungry on the way back and start to feel lethargic. This is what works for me. I used to just eat one bar and do a 30 mile ride but then I found myself flagging and hungry half-way back. Like anything else, you keep making adjustments until you find what works for you.

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Originally Posted by goldfinch

I initially pushed beyond my limits when I was riding and recovery was tough. Like you I was wiped out the next day. I backed off slowly worked up to rides of 25 to 35 miles. I don't know how old you are, if you are younger you can push harder, or what kind of fitness base you have. But I had to back off. Now I have no problem at all doing a 25 mile ride and having energy to spare, feel fine and ready to ride the next day. I was able to do a 37 mile ride a week ago, my longest for me ever, and ride 9 miles the next day. I've been at this since spring. I started with next to no fitness as well as being overweight. It took me five months to get to riding 25 miles.

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how did you get to the 25 mile point in 5 months? did you have a plan. i.e. a certain amount of miles per week/day?

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Originally Posted by tytbody

how did you get to the 25 mile point in 5 months? did you have a plan. i.e. a certain amount of miles per week/day?

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I started only able to ride three, four miles. My plan was to increase my riding by 10% a week. But it turned out that I was not that methodical. Instead, I just kept riding a bit more all the time, with some big leaps when things were going well. I knew that I was weak to start, that I have very little muscle mass. So, I worked on spinning. I pedaled fast and rode slow. I am still a very slow rider and now am working on strength which may help me more with speed. But I am not as slow as I was. Three months ago I averaged 8.5mph. Now 10 to 11 mph. I want my average to be 12mph by September. I am walking a lot more now. I also am doing core exercises, and exercises to help an old rotator cuff injury after I ended up having lots of neck and shoulder pain from riding, which was limiting my ability to ride far. I also have arthritis in the neck so the exercises help with that. I worked with a physical therapist for a month.

I am retired so I can be somewhat religious about my fitness.

I am also on a weight loss journey, moving from obese down to overweight and now I am closer to normal weight. My bmi is right on the edge of "normal" weight. However, I know I still have too much fat in proportion to muscle but it is dramatically improved. The weight loss has had to help my riding, I am carrying along so much less mass. But the extra riding and other exercise I have been doing lately is wreaking havoc with my appetite. :)

So, key for me in no particular order:

--concentrating on spinning fast
--losing weight slowly, at a pound a week
--adding weight bearing exercises, like walking
--addressing my neck and shoulder problems
--doing my core and shoulder exercises daily
--getting good bike fit

thank you. I guess I will need to sit down with paper and pen and see what I think needs some attention. I just came back from a walk in the park. Anticipating when my bike gets here I'll be a bit ready. Probably not all ready but, at least I'll be moving. I did buy Body BodyLastics so I can do some resistance exercise in the house without having to purchase a lot of free weights or benches.

I'll plan on right now to walk every day, even for 15 minutes. This will take some pushing on my part so I better get ready with some good affirmations before bedtime.. lol

I don't know what spinning fast is so I can't do what I don't know what that means.

I did purchase the magazine, Eating Clean. The goal there is to at least try one new recipe a week. One good one.. lol

I'm unemployed at the moment so I at least can work with myself on a plan for say a month at least and see how it does.

i will purchase a Cyclometer today as I do some research on which I think may be good for me. I did get recommendations on this in a previous posting so it's just a matter of ordering it. i only am getting this for my help to see how I'm doing, track it and all.

And I'm trusting my bike shop to fit me well.

Thank you.

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Originally Posted by tytbody

t
I don't know what spinning fast is so I can't do what I don't know what that means.


Thank you.

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It is how many revolutions your pedals do a minute, your cadance. Instead of mashing on the pedals to go forward, if the work of biking is too hard you shift down. I shift down a lot. Especially when going up hills. My pedal revolutions are pretty fast, my cadence is often 100 to 120 per minute. Inexperienced riders plodding along without thinking might do 60 a minute. Many people here know a lot more about cadence that I do, after all I am a beginner too. You can search for posts about cadence. When I did my longest ride of 37 miles I really concentrated on not pushing hard on the pedals but spinning fast. I often practice by going to as low a gear as I can without bouncing around on the seat.

It really helps with cardiovascular fitness.

I've heard it can take a year to improve cardiac fitness. That can be discouraging but, hey, it's better then being a couch potato.

I do one 100-120 mile ride per week and I find that if I can go for a 30 minute ride either later that day or first thing the next day then I feel like a rock star. It works for me. Just a suggestion.

I also (6' and 160lbs) have high requirements for calories and fluid. I have gone through metabolic and VO2 testing as well as had sweat analysis. I need 1 L of water an hour and about 400 calories - plus I take electrolyte tablets if it is hot.

So this likely is not the case for you but DO experiment and don't be afraid to try different things. Weight yourself before and after to ensure you are getting enough fluid. A 2% loss may be ok for some but too much for others. Statistics are guidelines not strict rules to follow. Hope that helps!

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Originally Posted by tytbody

I've heard it can take a year to improve cardiac fitness. That can be discouraging but, hey, it's better then being a couch potato.

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I am actually amazed at how I have improved. My resting heart rate was in the upper 70s when I started. It is now 58. Big difference!