What do you eat when you train?

Question

Hi, I'm beginning to cycle distance and I'm wondering what is best to take with me to eat/drink when I'm riding and if it's not a daft question, when to take it?

I normally take Lucozade, a banana or a Mars bar????.......

Thanks in advance

Answer 1

Cereal bars are great inventions. I find taking something like a mars bar just makes me feel a bit gross, especially if you let yourself get a bit dehydrated...

Answer 2

Bananas are my favourite. I wouldn't personally have chocolate because of the other unhealthy ingredients.

One tip for drinking, is to drink regularly small amounts of liquid throughout your riding, as when you are thirsty, you are 5-10% de-hydrated.

Answer 3

nut bars , water , bananas . lunch and emergency food like sardine tin or similar .

Answer 4

Boost choclate bar includes a great deal of glucose which gives you energy which means you will cycle alot furthur and for drink try Lucozade sports drink.

Answer 5

I do not eat when I ride.

I eat before a ride.

No exceptions.

Only liquids,with added salt.

Answer 6

As a general rule, your body can absorb roughly 200 calories per hour.  During an intense ride, depending on your size, you may burn 500 or more calories per hour.

Your body can absorb about 26-30 ounces of water per hour.  On a hot day, you may lose 48 or more ounces per hour.

So, you see the problem here...  You can burn many more calories than your body can absorb.  Likewise, you will lose much more water than you can absorb.  If you try to take in more water or food than your body is capable of absorbing you are likely to have GI upset.

So, a trick of endurance riding is learning how to eat and drink to stay fueled and hydrated.  The good news is your body is somewhat of a resovoir.  It stores energy in your muscles and liver that can be released during a ride.  Thus, you don't have to replace every calorie you expend during a ride while on the bike.  You do want to take in as much as your body can absorb though to avoid bonking or dehydration.

As far as specific foods go, the important thing is you have a good handle on the caloric content of the food and you know you can digest it without undue GI upset.  To this end, I experiment during training rides with foods I've never eaten to see I can tolerate them.  During a race, I never mess around, though.  If I haven't tested a food previously, I will not eat it during an event.  

I can tolerate and enjoy having bananas, Lara Banana Bars, Cliff's Shot Blocks, bagels, Cliff's goo packs, Peanut Brittle, Rice Krispy Treats, Marathon Bars and Ensure.  (My son likes Boost better than Ensure.)  There was this one race in which they had shortbread cookies.  I don't think I've ever had a better cookie - I just wish I knew what brand it was...  I also like Heed and Gatoraide sports drinks.  

Hope this helps.

Answer 7

I PROMISE YOU that red grapes work

they work fr me and loads of others that eat them in sports.

only red grapes though. i've pretty much lived on them for the past 3 days at my athletics competitions and training. *I'm a sprinter so that can be pretty damned intense.

they work wonders. just try them insteada the other shizz you have. you'll see. and of course water.

should keep you going through intense sport, but yer have something like pasta afterwards to keep you going if you get hungry.

Answer 8

Before hard rides you should carb-load (spaghetti potatoes etc.) during rides eat things like muesli bars or figs (before starting ride you should try and ensure all your food is in bitesize pieces..just makes it more convienient and safe). Either drink water or sports drinks it doesnt really matter what because they are both absorbed into the bloodstream at the same time. Drinks with isotonics in them are good for rehydration. Also if you put a powdered formula into your drinks remember that something that will taste nice and sweet at the start will start tasting sickly after a few hours. which means if you have a few bottles put less formula in for the ones you will drink last. as for when to drink or eat the number one rule is : drink before you are thirsty, eat before you are hungry. Its harder to keep going if you have become dehydrated and exhausted so take a swig about every 10 mins.

hope this helps