Post Ride Recovery
Discussion
My training has increased in the last year or so and I'm noticing an increasing struggle with recovery. The issue isn't my legs, it's my head, I get headaches and really poor sleep after a good ride. I'm doing approx 40 / 50 mile rides.
Overnight / next day I feel dehydrated / hungover but drink well before I ride, drink around 1.5l during the ride with electrolyte solution, after rides I normally eat within 30 mins and find I drink like a fish the rest of the day - typically another 3-5 litres of water / squash. I have a white tongue the next day and my mouth feels gacky, which all suggests dehydration.
I'm wondering if I should buy some recovery specific drink / powder but I think they're more carb / protein focused and I'm assuming the problem is hydration.
What am I doing wrong, does anything here look really wrong from experience others have?
Overnight / next day I feel dehydrated / hungover but drink well before I ride, drink around 1.5l during the ride with electrolyte solution, after rides I normally eat within 30 mins and find I drink like a fish the rest of the day - typically another 3-5 litres of water / squash. I have a white tongue the next day and my mouth feels gacky, which all suggests dehydration.
I'm wondering if I should buy some recovery specific drink / powder but I think they're more carb / protein focused and I'm assuming the problem is hydration.
What am I doing wrong, does anything here look really wrong from experience others have?
Thanks for the responses all.
I did see the precision hydration thing after watching a GCN video a while ago, tempted to take a salt test. As I understand it, it's how salty your sweat is which causes dehydration issues and that isn't tied to how much you sweat.
It could indeed be an issue with position or something else, I'm kind of thinking the gacky mouth it more pointing towards hydration though.
I'm going to order some additional salts for the ride this weekend, make sure I drink plenty and probably have something before I go out too.
I did see the precision hydration thing after watching a GCN video a while ago, tempted to take a salt test. As I understand it, it's how salty your sweat is which causes dehydration issues and that isn't tied to how much you sweat.
It could indeed be an issue with position or something else, I'm kind of thinking the gacky mouth it more pointing towards hydration though.
I'm going to order some additional salts for the ride this weekend, make sure I drink plenty and probably have something before I go out too.
Update after yesterday's ride.
Pre-ride I had an extra electrolyte mix (700ml), normal strong electrolyte mix of 1.5l on the bike and another 700ml electrolyte drink as soon as I got back (around midday). After that throughout the day I had 3l of water or squash over the next 6 hours then about 1l further in the next 4 hours before bed.
I should've had more to drink in those last 4 hours but how I feel today compared to the previous few weeks is night and day.
The ride was solo, 51miles, 3,600ft in a tad over 3hr. For me, that's quick and my legs were feeling it by the end so I think I can conclude the problem is my hydration / salty sweat.
To answer the other questions, my training is 1 or 2 zone 2 rides (1h) in the week then long ride with hills at the weekend.
Looking forwards to next weekend to try another couple of tweaks and how I can further improve recovery.
Pre-ride I had an extra electrolyte mix (700ml), normal strong electrolyte mix of 1.5l on the bike and another 700ml electrolyte drink as soon as I got back (around midday). After that throughout the day I had 3l of water or squash over the next 6 hours then about 1l further in the next 4 hours before bed.
I should've had more to drink in those last 4 hours but how I feel today compared to the previous few weeks is night and day.
The ride was solo, 51miles, 3,600ft in a tad over 3hr. For me, that's quick and my legs were feeling it by the end so I think I can conclude the problem is my hydration / salty sweat.
To answer the other questions, my training is 1 or 2 zone 2 rides (1h) in the week then long ride with hills at the weekend.
Looking forwards to next weekend to try another couple of tweaks and how I can further improve recovery.
I used to drink a lot more (2.5l+) when I had a hydration backpack but ditched that when I started doing a lot more road.
I had a look at recommended fluid intake which seems to be anywhere between 2.5l and 3.7l, but that's without cycling. You then sweat 1l to 1.5l per hour so 6.2 isn't too wild for a 3h ride. Looking back I think I'd comfortably drink 6l a day when doing similar rides 6-7 years ago, seems obvious that hydration was likely the problem.
This week I'm going to drink more in the days before a ride and see how that impacts things. I don't think I'm getting seriously dehydrated but I'm probably not getting the full amount of water on board.
Food I'm generally OK with and my muscles seem to recover fairly well, even after a hard ride but I do make sure to eat when I'm riding and up my intake the day before and the day of the ride.
I had a look at recommended fluid intake which seems to be anywhere between 2.5l and 3.7l, but that's without cycling. You then sweat 1l to 1.5l per hour so 6.2 isn't too wild for a 3h ride. Looking back I think I'd comfortably drink 6l a day when doing similar rides 6-7 years ago, seems obvious that hydration was likely the problem.
This week I'm going to drink more in the days before a ride and see how that impacts things. I don't think I'm getting seriously dehydrated but I'm probably not getting the full amount of water on board.
Food I'm generally OK with and my muscles seem to recover fairly well, even after a hard ride but I do make sure to eat when I'm riding and up my intake the day before and the day of the ride.
Two more weekend rides done over the last couple of weeks and I've had two of the best nights' sleep post-ride in a long time with no headaches.
Thought I'd push myself the last two weeks and rode harder than normal, my average speed was up by around 1mph last weekend and 2mph this weekend gone but the most recent ride was a bit shorter and around 1,500ft less climbing than I normally do.
I'm still probably drinking around 6l - 7l on the day. Appreciate the concern about fluid intake but I'm not too worried. Recommended intake is anywhere from 2.5l to 3.5l per day and from what I've read you lose 1l to 1.5l of sweat per hour during a ride. I'm riding for around 2.5h to 3h.
Main problem I've found is my 4 year old bib-shorts are almost certainly past their best, the increased effort has led to some good chafing. Time for new shorts!
Thought I'd push myself the last two weeks and rode harder than normal, my average speed was up by around 1mph last weekend and 2mph this weekend gone but the most recent ride was a bit shorter and around 1,500ft less climbing than I normally do.
I'm still probably drinking around 6l - 7l on the day. Appreciate the concern about fluid intake but I'm not too worried. Recommended intake is anywhere from 2.5l to 3.5l per day and from what I've read you lose 1l to 1.5l of sweat per hour during a ride. I'm riding for around 2.5h to 3h.
Main problem I've found is my 4 year old bib-shorts are almost certainly past their best, the increased effort has led to some good chafing. Time for new shorts!
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