Mental Exhaustion 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.