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?
I don't cycle but I run and suffered(still do sometimes) from post run headaches a lot, I found taking a salt stick tablet before my run alongside my usual electrolytes did the trick 99% of the time.
These are the ones I take; https://energy-hydration-recovery.com/products/sal...
Lots of other similar product available.
These are the ones I take; https://energy-hydration-recovery.com/products/sal...
Lots of other similar product available.
I only ride downhill parks, but I used to get the same after a park day.
Now I have a liquid IV with breakfast, and I stash more liquid IV by the lifts... every time I hydrate - which is very frequently due to east coast summer heat & humidity - I chuck one in.
It eliminated the headaches, and also the muscle soreness (DH parks can be brutal).
Only other nutrition on a park day is a peanut butter/almond butter and jam sandwich munched throughout the day, and some gummy bears/haribo munched on the lift.
Now I have a liquid IV with breakfast, and I stash more liquid IV by the lifts... every time I hydrate - which is very frequently due to east coast summer heat & humidity - I chuck one in.
It eliminated the headaches, and also the muscle soreness (DH parks can be brutal).
Only other nutrition on a park day is a peanut butter/almond butter and jam sandwich munched throughout the day, and some gummy bears/haribo munched on the lift.
Edited by GCH on Monday 29th April 20:12
Late 40s 100kg blob here and was doing 40-50 miles daily for LEJOG prep around this time of year but warmer. during ride was using 1 High5 zero electrolyte tablet in 600ml bottle and had 2 bottles during my 4 hr ride with 1 normal water bottle. ingesting 1 carb gel and perhaps a snickers too.
When i finished just water and normal, healthy, food. I sweat a lot whilst exercising too.
When i finished just water and normal, healthy, food. I sweat a lot whilst exercising too.
Edited by TheDrownedApe on Tuesday 30th April 11:15
Correvor said:
but drink well before I ride. What am I doing wrong, does anything here look really wrong from experience others have?
When you mention drinking prior to the ride, is that literally before you go out? It's easy to become dehydrated in the winter mouths, so i'd look at the off days to make sure your consuming enough clear fluid on top of other drinks, you really need to see straw coloured urine all the time. Once properly dehyrated, it will take 2 to 3 days to get fully back to normal.
If that doesn't solve it, in conjunction with electrolytes/salt tablets. A trip to the Doctor for a bloodtest may be in order, to rule out anything else that may be underlying.
Maybe spend 2 mins looking at https://www.precisionhydration.com/planner/ and see if you are getting enough in?
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.
Your body does struggle to take on protein so generally my experience of post workout shakes have been poor with the next days toilet visit being not a great experience for me or the next person in after me. What I do find works very well for protein and more importantly in this situation for hydration is to just drink milk - does a bit of both in a natural way.
OP, when you say training, are you following a structured plan? Just going out and riding will make you fitter in time, but your body also suffers a lot of fatigue if it's not managed.
Usually when people just ride, they go harder than us ideal, and ride in zones 3 and 4 a lot (I know I did).
When I used to train this way I'd feel a satisfying sense of tiredness, but in reality it'd make me sleep very poorly and I'd always feel nakered.
If you're not already, maybe take a more structured approach to training. It'll involve a lot more easy riding that feels like you're not achieving much at first. But stick with it and you gain heaps of fitness without gaining the sleep ruining fatigue too.
(Apologies if you're already doing this and the post came across as patronising.)
Usually when people just ride, they go harder than us ideal, and ride in zones 3 and 4 a lot (I know I did).
When I used to train this way I'd feel a satisfying sense of tiredness, but in reality it'd make me sleep very poorly and I'd always feel nakered.
If you're not already, maybe take a more structured approach to training. It'll involve a lot more easy riding that feels like you're not achieving much at first. But stick with it and you gain heaps of fitness without gaining the sleep ruining fatigue too.
(Apologies if you're already doing this and the post came across as patronising.)
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.
Is 6.2l too much?
I'd be surprised if I had that much for such an effort - water / hydration, that is - not beer, of course.
ETA: Flippancy aside, with other fluid intake the same day, you could be at risk of over hydrating, diluting your natural balance of body salts. 6.2 l. just for the cycling already looks high to me.
I'd be surprised if I had that much for such an effort - water / hydration, that is - not beer, of course.
===
ETA: Flippancy aside, with other fluid intake the same day, you could be at risk of over hydrating, diluting your natural balance of body salts. 6.2 l. just for the cycling already looks high to me.
Edited by RC1807 on Tuesday 7th May 05:56
RC1807 said:
Is 6.2l too much?
I'd be surprised if I had that much for such an effort - water / hydration, that is - not beer, of course.
ETA: Flippancy aside, with other fluid intake the same day, you could be at risk of over hydrating, diluting your natural balance of body salts. 6.2 l. just for the cycling already looks high to me.
It does seem a huge amount - even allowing for everyone being different. I'd be surprised if I had that much for such an effort - water / hydration, that is - not beer, of course.
===
ETA: Flippancy aside, with other fluid intake the same day, you could be at risk of over hydrating, diluting your natural balance of body salts. 6.2 l. just for the cycling already looks high to me.
Edited by RC1807 on Tuesday 7th May 05:56
Everyone is different but my take would be to try to drink more on the bike, and before the ride, and not take on so much hydration afterwards. I suffered the same as you - dull head, like a hangover later in the day. I upped my riding intake and had a drink before riding and it started to help.
General recommendations are for 1 bottle an hour. But that could be 500-700+ ml , so at the very least 1.5L. Try 2L. Also be honest - I used to return after a ride thinking I’ve had two bottles, but in reality there was still 1/2 bottle left.
The other aspect is eating - I think that played a part in my headaches. I’d not eat nearly enough on a ride, and after experimenting did find I’d feel much better at the end if I kept up with eating well, as well as generally being stronger in the bike.
General recommendations are for 1 bottle an hour. But that could be 500-700+ ml , so at the very least 1.5L. Try 2L. Also be honest - I used to return after a ride thinking I’ve had two bottles, but in reality there was still 1/2 bottle left.
The other aspect is eating - I think that played a part in my headaches. I’d not eat nearly enough on a ride, and after experimenting did find I’d feel much better at the end if I kept up with eating well, as well as generally being stronger in the bike.
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.
It sounds as if there's something else going on here. With all due respect to the OP, 40-50 miles (two to three hours?) is not an excessive distance to cycle unless it is in mountainous terrain. That would be a short sportive, for which two water bottles, a banana and a cup of tea or coffee should be adequate.
For context, I am (almost) a pensioner, not in any way an athlete, and regularly ride similar or greater distances with 2000ft of ascent.
The first thing I would do is to stop using electrolytes or protein powders. They simply are not necessary, and the electrolyte drinks in particular may be causing a problem rather than resolving one. Drinking large quantities of fluid before a ride is also unnecessary unless there is a pre-existing medical condition. I would suggest trying tap water (one bottle per 20-30 miles or so), and a couple of bananas. Is there a local club you could ride with occasionally? I have learnt a lot over the years riding with others, both casually and on organised rides.
For context, I am (almost) a pensioner, not in any way an athlete, and regularly ride similar or greater distances with 2000ft of ascent.
The first thing I would do is to stop using electrolytes or protein powders. They simply are not necessary, and the electrolyte drinks in particular may be causing a problem rather than resolving one. Drinking large quantities of fluid before a ride is also unnecessary unless there is a pre-existing medical condition. I would suggest trying tap water (one bottle per 20-30 miles or so), and a couple of bananas. Is there a local club you could ride with occasionally? I have learnt a lot over the years riding with others, both casually and on organised rides.
Late onto this topic, but I'd agree with the last poster.
Headaches can be symptomatic of dehydration and/or low sodium, but not usually occurring 24 hours later.
A 3 hour/90km ride would normally see me drink 500-1000ml, with high-quality electrolyte (not synthetic s
te) if it was warm. I'd be tempted to get some bloodwork done as it doesn't sound normal.
It might even be drinking too much water leading to water intoxication, but you would need to have drunk a LOT the day before to have that effect, worth measuring though.
Headaches can be symptomatic of dehydration and/or low sodium, but not usually occurring 24 hours later.
A 3 hour/90km ride would normally see me drink 500-1000ml, with high-quality electrolyte (not synthetic s
te) if it was warm. I'd be tempted to get some bloodwork done as it doesn't sound normal.It might even be drinking too much water leading to water intoxication, but you would need to have drunk a LOT the day before to have that effect, worth measuring though.
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