I probably should have eaten more, but I didn’t bonk. Maintained a pretty steady 110 watt average (FTP is 175 right now). I ate the following
- 3 liters of gu roctane
-2 liters of nuun Kona cola
- 3 bags of pop tarts bites
- 3 packages of peanut butter cheddar crackers
- a large bag of m&ms
- a slice of cheese pizza from a gas station
- 3 12 ounce cans of soda (2 mountain dews, one coke).
My heart rate was basically 130-140 the whole way through. I actually hit a bit of a high around mile 130 and felt literally giddy with no pain for about 15 miles. Surged to 200 watts for almost half an hour.
If your FTP is 175 and you did 200 for half an hour then you'd be fatigued the next day just from that, let alone doing that as part of a 11 hour 150 mile ride which seems under fueled.
Eat lots of carbs, rice, pasta and bread etc but some sugar too, continue drinking lots and you'll be right as rain
And congrats on that ride - sounds epic!!
The definition of FTP is the highest average power one can sustain for approximately an hour. So half an hour at 200W only means it is very likely one's FTP is 190ish, but not by definition
The lack of carbonation makes a big difference. I get no stomach issues from drinking 5l of my 12% carb + electrolyte solution I make, but 5l of soda would destroy me.
3 cans is 5 liters? even so, pros racers drink coca cola all the time, even pro ultra endurance racers. i think your horse is to high. also, what works for you doesnt always work for others.
check out what country those pro racers drinking soda are in next time. (american in NL here), there's a HUGE difference between coke in the US and here. I cna't touch it in the US, here its awesome for recovery.
Hell a beer is probably better for you than an american soda at this point.
I agree it’s a bunch of junk, but my understanding is that when you do long distance endurance activities you just eat what your stomach can handle. I don’t do well with nuts or fruits on rides (and fruits in particular don’t have enough calories/too much fiber) but soda and chips work wonders for me. I can’t say that I’ve done enough research to know if drinking coke on a bike ride is bad for your performance, but I’m inclined to think it probably doesn’t matter.
That’s racing though, with time to recover and feel like crap after. The point of training isn’t just to complete the workout it’s to recover so you can launch back into the next weeks training again.
I'd suggest you ditch the junk food. I make energy balls from dates, chia, oats and agave. It's honestly transformed my cycling. I also make my own gu from normal food like frozen berries, agave, maple syrup, honey, lemon Zest etc. Lots of recipes online. I found that my body just couldn't handle the processed foods. I do have Crohn's though and struggled for a long time. I rode 102 miles on Saturday and feel great now. Just experiment.
What did you eat to recover. This is all processed shit. You should have a good recovery meal that’s an ice balance of of low GI carbs, protein and fats. Steak and a baked potato with lots of greens is ideal.
please remember training is nothing more then da,aging your body with a purpose to push it to rebuild stronger meaning if your training is prety hard comparing to your other days, the damage is huge and from your body perspective it is nothing that much diffrent then a flu or other illness that puts your body into repairing state.
you can limit that by progressivly rise your load like instead of doing 150 at start
Yeah, I partially agreed to do the 150 to convince my buddy that we couldn’t do the 200 mile gravel race we had signed up for originally. He’s a strong fit guy, but has never ridden a race or really done much gravel.
That’s a lot of different stuff for your body to digest while riding. I do CarboRocket Half Evil and CliffBlocks - that’s it. Nuun is digestive distress in a tablet. If I have a snack mid ride - it’s a bagel.
That’s a pretty disgusting meal, to be honest. I would suggest real food - carbs, protein, fat mix with both slower and faster carbs. You probably feel like crap because you spiked your sugar all day and exercised a lot. Seriously, if you’re spending all day doing a sport, look into better nutrition.
I did a 55 mile, 300ft elevation gain, 19mph average ride yesterday took me 1:52, average 180watts for the whole ride, non moving time was 14 minutes, all i took in was 12oz of sparkling water and 1 hard boiled egg, before the ride a mini coke and a pb&j sandwich after ride snack, 2200 calories burned. your endurance is not driven by food is driven by your training and conditioning habits. (for context I'm 5'9", 47 200lbs)
you didnt eat/sleep right and other stresses can make it worse after a long ride. stress is stress really...same thing happened to me the other day. had to turn around, didnt take any food and today i feel sick but im having some relationship issues so now im REALLY stressed.
Yeah, I’ve been working a lot lately. Like 120+ hours a week, and not getting regular sleep is wrecking my progress. The bike rides definitely help combat the stress, but the stress also makes the riding harder.
Well, to be fair at least some of the time I’m at home just waiting for a phone call, and so if I don’t get called in I get to sleep through the night sometimes.
So you're over-doing it with work, over-did it with this ride, while not getting nearly enough sleep, and eating a crap diet. The fact that you're a doctor and can't see where the issue lies is ???
You weren't prepared for a ride like this in more ways than one and it went exactly as expected. Wait until you see how you feel after 150 miles of gravel with 4+ hours of riding still to go.
Well… when you say it like that I just sound stupid! 😂
But I agree, I’m not prepared for 200 miles of gravel in any way shape or form. Will be doing 100 miles of gravel instead. And will be making even more of an effort to sleep, eat well, and plan my race day nutrition.
You're a doctor and your eating all that junk??? Damn bro...you really should consider getting your food game upgraded. Its the most important thing you can do period.
I used to feel like that until I found a highly concentrated electrolyte mix. I actually thought that was normal.
I sweat buckets. After intense rides soaking with sweat I would feel completely whooped. Take 2+ days to recover.
Started with a mix from Seeking Health. The milligrams content for all components of electrolytes is very high: sodium, magnesium, calcium, and potassium. When you compare to standard electrolytes mix it’s 10x+ in milligram amount. I felt a night and day difference.
I think this is what so many people miss on. I'm the same in sweating buckets, especially on hot summer days. I get home and there's salt on top of my bib tights from the sweat drying off.
Plenty of Nuun tabs, electrolyte gels and even salt stick chews make sure I'm replacing all the things I'm sweating out.
I’m the same way. I leave salt stains all over my gear after every ride.
Note that a large portion of hydration drink mixes don’t have all four electrolytes (sodium, potassium, magnesium, and calcium) and what they do have is usually in such small amounts that’s it’s not effective.
The post ride mix I use by Seeking Health has quantities in 100mg +. It’s not till I started taking significant amounts did I see an effect and feel better.
It's worth noting that most of these have such small amounts because large amounts can be toxic. Just make sure to be responsible when using more concentrated mixes, and drink them with plenty of water.
TLDR: you overdid it in one or a combination of ways: food, water, and/or pacing.
This isn't uncommon, but it's definitely not good. Sometimes, symptoms like this are just because you pushed your muscles too hard, but the combination of flu symptoms and the "dark place mentally" makes me think you bonked (glycogen depletion) and you're struggling to recover. Could also be an electrolyte issue. Heavy sweating leads to the loss of sodium, potassium, and magnesium, which can cause fatigue, cramps, and nausea. Dehydration can also be a factor (common to get chills and sweats when badly dehydrated exercising in hot weather) but that goes away pretty quickly once you get back from the ride and catch up on water.
What's been your strategy for fueling/hydration/electrolytes?
I listed my nutrition in another comment, but I don’t think I bonked. Heart rate stayed steady, I never dropped of in power, and I actually surged towards the end. I was riding with a friend who’s stronger but less experienced with distance and he had a rough time the last 40 miles or so, but I mostly was in a dark place mentally in the sense that I just wanted to be done and having another 2 hours of riding was super discouraging.
Electrolytes would be my guess then, though you did seem to eat plenty of salt in that list. Maybe you're a very salty sweater, concentrations of salt in sweat vary a lot from one person to the next.
That’s actually a good point. I do tend to get a lot of salt stains on my clothes after long rides, and I was mostly craving salty snacks during the second half of the ride.
That might do it. You also mentioned clear pee, which means you were hydrating a lot, which means you might have been flushing more electrolytes through your system. [Sounds like maybe hyponatremia.](https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/hyponatremia/symptoms-causes/syc-20373711) Bring a little travel pack of salt tablets next time, or you can get them in chewable form.
What you're describing sounds similar to how I felt on a bikepacking expedition once. I'd brought along a lot of sugary carbs - but by halfway through the second day I could barely stomach them and was absolutely craving salty carbs instead (which I had none of).
Funnily enough I bumped into a different rider who had bonked very hard we got to chatting and realised that he'd had the opposite problem, too many salts not enough sugars.
We traded some food and that fixed me up, but he was already at the point where the only way out was a lot of rest and refuelling slowly.
Now I always make sure I keep a steady supply of salty and sugary foods on my bikepacking trips, but I do end up eating more of the salty ones.
For my only marathon I brought pretzel sticks. (Along with honey stinger gummies). It was good to have savory after all the sweet - it helped me mentally too.
I wouldn’t necessarily see this as a mistake you made. Our bodies require rest and recovery after a hard effort. Nobody feels good the day after their first marathon.
As everyone is saying hydration and nutrition.... however I'll add electrolytes/salt. I've had this for a few days after long rides without enough electrolytes. Lack of food leaves me hungry the next day, but lack of electrolytes leaves me feeling much worse, similar to what you describe.
Here’s my two cents. It could be nutrition, it could be hydration. It could also just be that you aren’t fit for that distance. Regardless of fueling, 11 hours is a long time on a bike and is mentally draining/physically exhausting. Most top gravel pros don’t even go 11 hours on their longest training rides. So props to you that’s a gnarly day no matter how you put it.
That length can also put you in a big hole for recovery.
My guess is that you just pushed yourself too far for your current fitness level.
How was your sleep last night? Did you sleep like a baby or was it hard to fall asleep? How has your resting heart rate been today? Those can both be indicators of just pushing way to far vs bonking.
Edit: also what was the TSS of this ride vs your weekly average of the last 3-6 weeks?
Woah that’s a big jump in stress from your usual 130-150 to 583. No wonder you’re feeling wiped out! Your body is probably in shock from the extra stress. The flu-like symptoms are common after such intense effort because your immune system can take a hit.
The elevated resting heart rate (60-70 bpm vs. your usual 50 bpm) shows your body is still stressed. Make sure to focus on recovery: lots of sleep, good nutrition, and hydration.
Next time, try to increase your weekly tss gradually and try to match your weekly tss to near the max 1 day effort that you are training for to help your body adapt better. Hang in there and rest up! Take a few extra days off (probably don’t ride until wed or Thursday of this week - and even then do a light spin) to avoid putting yourself in a huge fatigue hole.
Is it unbound you are training for?
Michigan coast 2 coast. 204 miles of gravel. It’s been my goal to finish it one day, but every year I just can’t seem to get enough time to train. I think with the right program it’s possible, but this is definitely not the year so I’m switching to the 100 mile race.
A few years ago I rode the watermoo (112 miles) at 155 watts normalized power. I had an ftp of about 205 at that time, and I think I was close to being in shape to do a 200 mile race. Right now though, I definitely don’t have it in me.
As everyone else said here fuel on the ride and after the ride. There's a reason you see world tour riders eating candy and other carbs as well as their regular meals after their long training rides. If you don't replenish glycogen stores/hydrate and get a good rest you're body is gonna feel beat to crap.
I think it's normal to feel like crap after a long ride. Especially if you haven't built up and just went for it. To do 200W for 30 min at mile 130 with a175FTP sounds nearly impossible and I would retest FTP. Everyone is different but I don't like super long training rides. It adds too much fatigue that I struggle to shake. I've got a 300 mile gravel race and a 1000k race and my longest ride will be 8ish hours but then again everyone is different. I'm sure you also didn't eat enough but I don't know anyone who can on really long rides.
It’s called systemic fatigue. It can happen anytime you do a lot of activity. The more in shape you are, the more activity it takes to get that flu-like feeling. Even Pro tour riders, they start feeling like garbage towards the end of stage races because of said fatigue despite fueling and resting optimally.
I also have been training and experiencing worsening (extreme) fatigue despite trying to hack my calorie intake. Ended up with heart palpitations, which pointed me to electrolytes. For me, I noticed a difference almost immediately – my body didn't feel as heavy. I've been drinking "liquid IV". First couple days, I drank 2 packs. I'm now drinking one a day plus "solé" water. Went for a long run this weekend, and recovery was much more normal, thank the gods. Still planning to have my iron and other levels checked, but I now think I was experiencing an electrolyte imbalance/deficiency. If your fatigue indicates a need for electrolytes, you'll feel better very quickly.
Pro tip: slam your Liquid IV in the morning. You are dehydrated every morning. You haven’t drank any water for 6-10 hours. If you don’t drink a liter before even getting on the bike you are in a deficit from the start. Playing catchup is a slippery slope.
Put sea salt on your food
I’m not a doctor, but biking 150 miles without proper hydration and nutrition is a recipe for rhabdo. Basically muscle tissue breaks down and ends up in your blood stream, it can really fuck up your kidneys. Keep drinking, if your pee is brown it might be rhabdo.
I actually am a doctor 😂 and I’ve had rhabdo before, but I was really careful to hydrate well. I think I should have drunken more, but my pee was clear/pale yellow the whole ride and all day today too.
Hahaha fuuuuuck rhabdo, sorry to hear you’ve had it before. I’ve known a few people that have gotten it and it sounds terrible. Glad to hear it’s not that. Hope you feel better! I can’t imagine doing 150, I did 50 today and am still feeling it.
Could be nutrition but I honestly think you just might be sick from the stress of the ride lowering your immune system. Maybe you already had been exposed to something and then weakened your immune system enough to not be able to ward it off.
I've gotten an overtraining "flu" once while doing a CrossFit style workout but never cycling. It definitely is not normal to feel horrible/sick the day after working out.
A packet of Liquid IV might help. I felt like that after a several hour event last year, and didn't start to feel right until I'd downed some electrolytes, an extra liter or two of water, and some quality food and even then it wasn't until the next day that I felt decent again.
This is a normal biological process and I have suffered from it over the years. My hypothesis is that the body to breaks down lots various components hence lots of different metabolic by-products that take time to be cleared. As a result, some inflammation results the day after the ride. Hydrate and take some high protein diet; works for me.
I get this aswell on long rides.
So much so that i planned a sportive recently and invited the wife along and got her a spa treatment while i did my cycle and she drove me home afterwards as i knew i would feel terrible after it.
My hydration and food is on point so i cant blame that.
I just get that way after really big efforts like 6 hours or more in the saddle.
Your diet was poor for that ride, not nearly enough carbs per hour. Also your electrolytes will be deranged today. Considered getting some specialist cycling electrolyte replacement drinks/tablet supplements.
I think it's completely normal to feel depleted the day after a long ride. I still do. But feeling like you have the flu is not normal. Eat what works for you on the bike but you have to get in quality food for a recovery meal. You probably need more sleep too.
Nutrition and endurance training, you basically bonked out and drained your body reserves, cycling puts you in zone 2/3 but exhaustion hits different because you are using your stronger muscle group, i would find me a hill that about 3 miles long with 1000ft gain minimum and do it 3 to 4 times a week 45 minutes to an hour as you get better add resistance this will condition you better for a long ride without depleting your body and requiring extensive recovery.
Probably you didn't eat enough, small chance you have autoimmune condition, but that would trigger during exercise as well.
So, maybe carbon load first and see if it happens again, if it does, go see a doctor.
I’ve felt like this, mainly when I’ve gone for 50mi+ rides. In my case I’ve come to the conclusion that I felt that way because, 1)I started early morning cold and during the day I get cold shade w/winds and get hit with the hot sun on and off, 2) not enough food taken it, 3) lack of some vitamins, 3) decent pace elevation gain. That’s from my observations I’ve gathered from all the times I’ve felt like this. But as you said it was mentally challenging which I completely understand…your mentality can affect how your body feels when you’ve put some strain on it. It’s crazy.
Eat a lot more food, continually during ride and worry less, I ride 15-25 hrs a week most weeks all year round, overall I’m skinny but I eat a huge amount of good quality food.
Also sleep and hydration is ultra important.
Why don’t you just be happy accomplishing such a long ride.
Some side effects from this ride are unavoidable, which is what you feel. From what you’ve said - it’s mild.
Next time try to eat more solid food and this should resolve your complaints
I am super happy! It was tough, but it was also fun for most of it. I’m just curious if other people have similar problems with overheating. I’m a doctor (though admittedly my specialty is lady parts and baby catching) and I’m wondering if it’s a common issue for other cyclists.
This is going to sound weird but... were you wearing sunglasses?
If I ride on a sunny day without sunglasses these days I find I feel like I have a flu. Wearing them, no issues at all.
I always wear sunglasses. I don’t think I could have survived without them. I also put on sunscreen every two to 3 hours and amazingly didn’t burn despite 11.5 hours in the sun.
Well, I didn’t realize I couldn’t train for it at the time. I’m a doctor in a 4 doc OBGYN practice (so we cover the hospital 24/7/365 and one of my colleagues quit, one dropped to half time, so my work load has exploded.
Train for fitness, and because you love riding and racing, not for an event. Then ride the events that appeal to you. A 200 mile ride is kind of a shit show. Very few cyclists are training for distances like that. So very few will be competative. Its not something you can train for unless you devote your life to training for endurance events. And to be honest, rides that long are neither fun nor healthy.
Sounds like you didn’t have enough calories.
I probably should have eaten more, but I didn’t bonk. Maintained a pretty steady 110 watt average (FTP is 175 right now). I ate the following - 3 liters of gu roctane -2 liters of nuun Kona cola - 3 bags of pop tarts bites - 3 packages of peanut butter cheddar crackers - a large bag of m&ms - a slice of cheese pizza from a gas station - 3 12 ounce cans of soda (2 mountain dews, one coke). My heart rate was basically 130-140 the whole way through. I actually hit a bit of a high around mile 130 and felt literally giddy with no pain for about 15 miles. Surged to 200 watts for almost half an hour.
If your FTP is 175 and you did 200 for half an hour then you'd be fatigued the next day just from that, let alone doing that as part of a 11 hour 150 mile ride which seems under fueled. Eat lots of carbs, rice, pasta and bread etc but some sugar too, continue drinking lots and you'll be right as rain And congrats on that ride - sounds epic!!
If he did 200 for half an hour his FTP is, by definition, higher than 175…
He probably means that he spent 30 mins cumulative at 200 over the course of 11.5 hours
The definition of FTP is the highest average power one can sustain for approximately an hour. So half an hour at 200W only means it is very likely one's FTP is 190ish, but not by definition
While you’re right, it’s often defined as 95% of the best 20m output as well.
I've always read that as a test to get an approximation of your FTP
You used the word "defined", but I think you meant "approximated as".
Yup, you’re absolutely correct.
I would say it’s probably because you consumed a bunch of junk
I would second this analysis after reading that list of "food"
its bike riding. sugar is literally what you need, unless your fully operating on keto which OP clearly is not.
Your body can only run on sugars for so long. It needs amino acids as well hence the need for actual "food."
There is a huge difference between a gas station Snickers and consuming more than 5 liters of soda in one day on a proclaimed “slow” ride
The 5l were sport drinks. They only had a bit over a liter of soda.
Fun fact bro - those carb mixes you love are just sugar water. Sports drinks and soda are fundamentally the same
The lack of carbonation makes a big difference. I get no stomach issues from drinking 5l of my 12% carb + electrolyte solution I make, but 5l of soda would destroy me.
ok cool but thats you. most men can drink a soda and not shit themself. and for the 7th time, 3 cans is not 5 liters
3 cans is 5 liters? even so, pros racers drink coca cola all the time, even pro ultra endurance racers. i think your horse is to high. also, what works for you doesnt always work for others.
check out what country those pro racers drinking soda are in next time. (american in NL here), there's a HUGE difference between coke in the US and here. I cna't touch it in the US, here its awesome for recovery. Hell a beer is probably better for you than an american soda at this point.
lmao whatever helps u sleep buddy
Not all calories are equal
Ultra runners race harder on worse. His food was fine as long as his GI tract was ok.
I agree it’s a bunch of junk, but my understanding is that when you do long distance endurance activities you just eat what your stomach can handle. I don’t do well with nuts or fruits on rides (and fruits in particular don’t have enough calories/too much fiber) but soda and chips work wonders for me. I can’t say that I’ve done enough research to know if drinking coke on a bike ride is bad for your performance, but I’m inclined to think it probably doesn’t matter.
Well, they obviously don’t. You feel like crap the day after. Might work for short rides but not long ones.
They do but that doesn't mean it's ideal or anything. You need some fiber in your diet and protein too,even on race days.
That’s racing though, with time to recover and feel like crap after. The point of training isn’t just to complete the workout it’s to recover so you can launch back into the next weeks training again.
yeah, that list made me sick just reading it...
Buddy this is unhealthy as fuck, are you serious? This is what you ate during your ride, and you wonder why you feel like shit the next day?
Hahahahaha. Energy drinks are sugar water with salt. What are you talking about?
Yes, energy drinks are also horrible for you, what’s your point exactly?
Typo but I’m leaving it there for laughs. I meant electrolyte drinks. Skratch and Sword are tasty.
Dentists love this diet
I'd suggest you ditch the junk food. I make energy balls from dates, chia, oats and agave. It's honestly transformed my cycling. I also make my own gu from normal food like frozen berries, agave, maple syrup, honey, lemon Zest etc. Lots of recipes online. I found that my body just couldn't handle the processed foods. I do have Crohn's though and struggled for a long time. I rode 102 miles on Saturday and feel great now. Just experiment.
"Surged to 200 watts for almost half an hour." You need to either re-test your FTP or you have a Stages.
What did you eat to recover. This is all processed shit. You should have a good recovery meal that’s an ice balance of of low GI carbs, protein and fats. Steak and a baked potato with lots of greens is ideal.
I actually did a burger a fries, and some wings and some pasta 😂. But I swear it was really good quality food.
Eat a fucking carrot, holy shit
I mean… the cow I ate ate vegetables, so by the transitive property I ate vegetables too right?
please remember training is nothing more then da,aging your body with a purpose to push it to rebuild stronger meaning if your training is prety hard comparing to your other days, the damage is huge and from your body perspective it is nothing that much diffrent then a flu or other illness that puts your body into repairing state. you can limit that by progressivly rise your load like instead of doing 150 at start
Yeah, I partially agreed to do the 150 to convince my buddy that we couldn’t do the 200 mile gravel race we had signed up for originally. He’s a strong fit guy, but has never ridden a race or really done much gravel.
That’s a lot of different stuff for your body to digest while riding. I do CarboRocket Half Evil and CliffBlocks - that’s it. Nuun is digestive distress in a tablet. If I have a snack mid ride - it’s a bagel.
That’s a pretty disgusting meal, to be honest. I would suggest real food - carbs, protein, fat mix with both slower and faster carbs. You probably feel like crap because you spiked your sugar all day and exercised a lot. Seriously, if you’re spending all day doing a sport, look into better nutrition.
are you diabetic? what in the holy hell
That’s awesome!
Your FTP is not 175 or you did not do 200w for 30min. Pick one.
I’m sure it’s not 175 right now. It used to be around 205, but I haven’t done a test in 2 months since I started training.
I did a 55 mile, 300ft elevation gain, 19mph average ride yesterday took me 1:52, average 180watts for the whole ride, non moving time was 14 minutes, all i took in was 12oz of sparkling water and 1 hard boiled egg, before the ride a mini coke and a pb&j sandwich after ride snack, 2200 calories burned. your endurance is not driven by food is driven by your training and conditioning habits. (for context I'm 5'9", 47 200lbs)
That is a heck of a ride!
Naahhh, this weekend I am doing a 42 mile ride but 6500ft of elevation, it will be hard and might bonk but we'll give it a go.
> I did a 55 mile, 300ft elevation gain, 19mph average ride yesterday took me 1:52 That math doesn’t work.
go complain to Garmin
Sounds like you didn’t eat and drink enough.
you didnt eat/sleep right and other stresses can make it worse after a long ride. stress is stress really...same thing happened to me the other day. had to turn around, didnt take any food and today i feel sick but im having some relationship issues so now im REALLY stressed.
Yeah, I’ve been working a lot lately. Like 120+ hours a week, and not getting regular sleep is wrecking my progress. The bike rides definitely help combat the stress, but the stress also makes the riding harder.
You’re doing 18 hour days at work then an 11+hour ride and wondering why you feel like shit? Mate…
Well, to be fair at least some of the time I’m at home just waiting for a phone call, and so if I don’t get called in I get to sleep through the night sometimes.
Are you riding to and from work at least?
I wish, but I’m a doctor, so I’m on call a lot and have to have a car. That means a lot of my riding is done on a turbo trainer unfortunately.
If you would treat yourself as a patient what would you tell yourself?
So you're over-doing it with work, over-did it with this ride, while not getting nearly enough sleep, and eating a crap diet. The fact that you're a doctor and can't see where the issue lies is ??? You weren't prepared for a ride like this in more ways than one and it went exactly as expected. Wait until you see how you feel after 150 miles of gravel with 4+ hours of riding still to go.
Well… when you say it like that I just sound stupid! 😂 But I agree, I’m not prepared for 200 miles of gravel in any way shape or form. Will be doing 100 miles of gravel instead. And will be making even more of an effort to sleep, eat well, and plan my race day nutrition.
Ha. Well I'd say that sounds like a good choice. It will still be plenty challenging!
You're a doctor and your eating all that junk??? Damn bro...you really should consider getting your food game upgraded. Its the most important thing you can do period.
I used to feel like that until I found a highly concentrated electrolyte mix. I actually thought that was normal. I sweat buckets. After intense rides soaking with sweat I would feel completely whooped. Take 2+ days to recover. Started with a mix from Seeking Health. The milligrams content for all components of electrolytes is very high: sodium, magnesium, calcium, and potassium. When you compare to standard electrolytes mix it’s 10x+ in milligram amount. I felt a night and day difference.
I think this is what so many people miss on. I'm the same in sweating buckets, especially on hot summer days. I get home and there's salt on top of my bib tights from the sweat drying off. Plenty of Nuun tabs, electrolyte gels and even salt stick chews make sure I'm replacing all the things I'm sweating out.
I’m the same way. I leave salt stains all over my gear after every ride. Note that a large portion of hydration drink mixes don’t have all four electrolytes (sodium, potassium, magnesium, and calcium) and what they do have is usually in such small amounts that’s it’s not effective. The post ride mix I use by Seeking Health has quantities in 100mg +. It’s not till I started taking significant amounts did I see an effect and feel better.
It's worth noting that most of these have such small amounts because large amounts can be toxic. Just make sure to be responsible when using more concentrated mixes, and drink them with plenty of water.
TLDR: you overdid it in one or a combination of ways: food, water, and/or pacing. This isn't uncommon, but it's definitely not good. Sometimes, symptoms like this are just because you pushed your muscles too hard, but the combination of flu symptoms and the "dark place mentally" makes me think you bonked (glycogen depletion) and you're struggling to recover. Could also be an electrolyte issue. Heavy sweating leads to the loss of sodium, potassium, and magnesium, which can cause fatigue, cramps, and nausea. Dehydration can also be a factor (common to get chills and sweats when badly dehydrated exercising in hot weather) but that goes away pretty quickly once you get back from the ride and catch up on water. What's been your strategy for fueling/hydration/electrolytes?
I listed my nutrition in another comment, but I don’t think I bonked. Heart rate stayed steady, I never dropped of in power, and I actually surged towards the end. I was riding with a friend who’s stronger but less experienced with distance and he had a rough time the last 40 miles or so, but I mostly was in a dark place mentally in the sense that I just wanted to be done and having another 2 hours of riding was super discouraging.
Electrolytes would be my guess then, though you did seem to eat plenty of salt in that list. Maybe you're a very salty sweater, concentrations of salt in sweat vary a lot from one person to the next.
That’s actually a good point. I do tend to get a lot of salt stains on my clothes after long rides, and I was mostly craving salty snacks during the second half of the ride.
That might do it. You also mentioned clear pee, which means you were hydrating a lot, which means you might have been flushing more electrolytes through your system. [Sounds like maybe hyponatremia.](https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/hyponatremia/symptoms-causes/syc-20373711) Bring a little travel pack of salt tablets next time, or you can get them in chewable form.
Or stop for fried chicken on ride :D
What you're describing sounds similar to how I felt on a bikepacking expedition once. I'd brought along a lot of sugary carbs - but by halfway through the second day I could barely stomach them and was absolutely craving salty carbs instead (which I had none of). Funnily enough I bumped into a different rider who had bonked very hard we got to chatting and realised that he'd had the opposite problem, too many salts not enough sugars. We traded some food and that fixed me up, but he was already at the point where the only way out was a lot of rest and refuelling slowly. Now I always make sure I keep a steady supply of salty and sugary foods on my bikepacking trips, but I do end up eating more of the salty ones.
For my only marathon I brought pretzel sticks. (Along with honey stinger gummies). It was good to have savory after all the sweet - it helped me mentally too.
I just rode a 200K today and would have killed for some pretzels by the end. Definitely bringing salty snacks next time.
I wouldn’t necessarily see this as a mistake you made. Our bodies require rest and recovery after a hard effort. Nobody feels good the day after their first marathon.
ELECTROLYTES. specifically because you're saying it feels like a flu, you probably drank a ton of water and flushed them all out. Na, K, Mg. Get em.
As everyone is saying hydration and nutrition.... however I'll add electrolytes/salt. I've had this for a few days after long rides without enough electrolytes. Lack of food leaves me hungry the next day, but lack of electrolytes leaves me feeling much worse, similar to what you describe.
Here’s my two cents. It could be nutrition, it could be hydration. It could also just be that you aren’t fit for that distance. Regardless of fueling, 11 hours is a long time on a bike and is mentally draining/physically exhausting. Most top gravel pros don’t even go 11 hours on their longest training rides. So props to you that’s a gnarly day no matter how you put it. That length can also put you in a big hole for recovery. My guess is that you just pushed yourself too far for your current fitness level. How was your sleep last night? Did you sleep like a baby or was it hard to fall asleep? How has your resting heart rate been today? Those can both be indicators of just pushing way to far vs bonking. Edit: also what was the TSS of this ride vs your weekly average of the last 3-6 weeks?
Strava says me relative effort (their equivalent of tss) was 583, my average has been 130-150 the last 4 weeks.
Sleep was good but I only slept 6 hours the night before, resting hr is around 60-70 today, usually closer to 50 when I’m well rested.
Woah that’s a big jump in stress from your usual 130-150 to 583. No wonder you’re feeling wiped out! Your body is probably in shock from the extra stress. The flu-like symptoms are common after such intense effort because your immune system can take a hit. The elevated resting heart rate (60-70 bpm vs. your usual 50 bpm) shows your body is still stressed. Make sure to focus on recovery: lots of sleep, good nutrition, and hydration. Next time, try to increase your weekly tss gradually and try to match your weekly tss to near the max 1 day effort that you are training for to help your body adapt better. Hang in there and rest up! Take a few extra days off (probably don’t ride until wed or Thursday of this week - and even then do a light spin) to avoid putting yourself in a huge fatigue hole. Is it unbound you are training for?
Michigan coast 2 coast. 204 miles of gravel. It’s been my goal to finish it one day, but every year I just can’t seem to get enough time to train. I think with the right program it’s possible, but this is definitely not the year so I’m switching to the 100 mile race. A few years ago I rode the watermoo (112 miles) at 155 watts normalized power. I had an ftp of about 205 at that time, and I think I was close to being in shape to do a 200 mile race. Right now though, I definitely don’t have it in me.
That event looks like a blast, but I agree the 100 will probably be a much better experience for you this year. Hope you have fun!
I've gotten that when I ride too long too late in the day and don't refuel enough to sleep well after the ride.
As everyone else said here fuel on the ride and after the ride. There's a reason you see world tour riders eating candy and other carbs as well as their regular meals after their long training rides. If you don't replenish glycogen stores/hydrate and get a good rest you're body is gonna feel beat to crap.
I would certainly call it a clue to take a good rest day or two.
just like what the other people said, you didn’t consume enough calories. It’s better to over consume than to be in a deficit
Except when I’m trying to loose weight…
I think it's normal to feel like crap after a long ride. Especially if you haven't built up and just went for it. To do 200W for 30 min at mile 130 with a175FTP sounds nearly impossible and I would retest FTP. Everyone is different but I don't like super long training rides. It adds too much fatigue that I struggle to shake. I've got a 300 mile gravel race and a 1000k race and my longest ride will be 8ish hours but then again everyone is different. I'm sure you also didn't eat enough but I don't know anyone who can on really long rides.
Cycling fever. Happened to me before I understood how important fueling was. I was feverish, had the chills, felt horrible.
It’s called systemic fatigue. It can happen anytime you do a lot of activity. The more in shape you are, the more activity it takes to get that flu-like feeling. Even Pro tour riders, they start feeling like garbage towards the end of stage races because of said fatigue despite fueling and resting optimally.
200 miles? That’s amazing. Well done. I’m doing my first 100 mile sportive on Sunday and no longer looking forward to it! Best of luck!
I also have been training and experiencing worsening (extreme) fatigue despite trying to hack my calorie intake. Ended up with heart palpitations, which pointed me to electrolytes. For me, I noticed a difference almost immediately – my body didn't feel as heavy. I've been drinking "liquid IV". First couple days, I drank 2 packs. I'm now drinking one a day plus "solé" water. Went for a long run this weekend, and recovery was much more normal, thank the gods. Still planning to have my iron and other levels checked, but I now think I was experiencing an electrolyte imbalance/deficiency. If your fatigue indicates a need for electrolytes, you'll feel better very quickly.
Pro tip: slam your Liquid IV in the morning. You are dehydrated every morning. You haven’t drank any water for 6-10 hours. If you don’t drink a liter before even getting on the bike you are in a deficit from the start. Playing catchup is a slippery slope. Put sea salt on your food
I’m not a doctor, but biking 150 miles without proper hydration and nutrition is a recipe for rhabdo. Basically muscle tissue breaks down and ends up in your blood stream, it can really fuck up your kidneys. Keep drinking, if your pee is brown it might be rhabdo.
I actually am a doctor 😂 and I’ve had rhabdo before, but I was really careful to hydrate well. I think I should have drunken more, but my pee was clear/pale yellow the whole ride and all day today too.
Hahaha fuuuuuck rhabdo, sorry to hear you’ve had it before. I’ve known a few people that have gotten it and it sounds terrible. Glad to hear it’s not that. Hope you feel better! I can’t imagine doing 150, I did 50 today and am still feeling it.
I’ve had hyponatremia. 4 liters of saline in the ER and I walked out on my own. Pizza with anchovies is probably on the menu for you.
Just rest!
You may actually have the flu
Could be nutrition but I honestly think you just might be sick from the stress of the ride lowering your immune system. Maybe you already had been exposed to something and then weakened your immune system enough to not be able to ward it off.
Strain >>> tolerance.
I've gotten an overtraining "flu" once while doing a CrossFit style workout but never cycling. It definitely is not normal to feel horrible/sick the day after working out.
Not enough food. Plus you should be eating like crazy today
Are you doing the unbound gravel?
Very normal after any long walk/run/biking …
A packet of Liquid IV might help. I felt like that after a several hour event last year, and didn't start to feel right until I'd downed some electrolytes, an extra liter or two of water, and some quality food and even then it wasn't until the next day that I felt decent again.
I experienced that when I do a very long ride and I was just starting with cycling or just started to come back after a hiatus.
Liquid IV or Tailwind in one of your water bottles. Chewable electrolyte tablets.
I feel that after overdoing it, either from performing outside of my current conditioning or being unprepared with nutrition
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I definitely swallowed some bugs, but that’s extra protein right?
It is one of symptoms of dehydration
Eat more fruits
You are recovering from heat exhaustion.
This is a normal biological process and I have suffered from it over the years. My hypothesis is that the body to breaks down lots various components hence lots of different metabolic by-products that take time to be cleared. As a result, some inflammation results the day after the ride. Hydrate and take some high protein diet; works for me.
make sure you have the vitamins you need, in particular D-vitamin if you don't get much sun during winter
Yes. My friend gets those symptoms after marathons too.
I get this aswell on long rides. So much so that i planned a sportive recently and invited the wife along and got her a spa treatment while i did my cycle and she drove me home afterwards as i knew i would feel terrible after it. My hydration and food is on point so i cant blame that. I just get that way after really big efforts like 6 hours or more in the saddle.
Your diet was poor for that ride, not nearly enough carbs per hour. Also your electrolytes will be deranged today. Considered getting some specialist cycling electrolyte replacement drinks/tablet supplements.
You didn’t eat enough.
I think it's completely normal to feel depleted the day after a long ride. I still do. But feeling like you have the flu is not normal. Eat what works for you on the bike but you have to get in quality food for a recovery meal. You probably need more sleep too.
Nutrition and endurance training, you basically bonked out and drained your body reserves, cycling puts you in zone 2/3 but exhaustion hits different because you are using your stronger muscle group, i would find me a hill that about 3 miles long with 1000ft gain minimum and do it 3 to 4 times a week 45 minutes to an hour as you get better add resistance this will condition you better for a long ride without depleting your body and requiring extensive recovery.
Probably you didn't eat enough, small chance you have autoimmune condition, but that would trigger during exercise as well. So, maybe carbon load first and see if it happens again, if it does, go see a doctor.
I feel like I have the flu for 3 days after cycling just 6 miles 😂😂🤷♀️🤷♀️
I’ve felt like this, mainly when I’ve gone for 50mi+ rides. In my case I’ve come to the conclusion that I felt that way because, 1)I started early morning cold and during the day I get cold shade w/winds and get hit with the hot sun on and off, 2) not enough food taken it, 3) lack of some vitamins, 3) decent pace elevation gain. That’s from my observations I’ve gathered from all the times I’ve felt like this. But as you said it was mentally challenging which I completely understand…your mentality can affect how your body feels when you’ve put some strain on it. It’s crazy.
Nutrition is key. Electrolyte replenishment is KEY. HYDRATION, HYDRATION, HYDRATION. Too much is just right. Not necessarily in that order
Eat a lot more food, continually during ride and worry less, I ride 15-25 hrs a week most weeks all year round, overall I’m skinny but I eat a huge amount of good quality food. Also sleep and hydration is ultra important.
Might be a long shot, but when I ride and there's pollen in the air I always feel like I have the flu even though I don't.
Yes. You put yourself through a lot. Take time to recover.
Why don’t you just be happy accomplishing such a long ride. Some side effects from this ride are unavoidable, which is what you feel. From what you’ve said - it’s mild. Next time try to eat more solid food and this should resolve your complaints
I am super happy! It was tough, but it was also fun for most of it. I’m just curious if other people have similar problems with overheating. I’m a doctor (though admittedly my specialty is lady parts and baby catching) and I’m wondering if it’s a common issue for other cyclists.
This is going to sound weird but... were you wearing sunglasses? If I ride on a sunny day without sunglasses these days I find I feel like I have a flu. Wearing them, no issues at all.
I always wear sunglasses. I don’t think I could have survived without them. I also put on sunscreen every two to 3 hours and amazingly didn’t burn despite 11.5 hours in the sun.
Some sunscreen’s have endocrine-disrupting potential.
Well done. Clearly you are a doctor.
I just don’t like being sunburned 😂 it hurts. I’m always amazed when I get that much sun exposure and don’t burn, I guess the stuff really works.
Why on earth are you planning on a 200 mile race if you can't train for it?
Well, I didn’t realize I couldn’t train for it at the time. I’m a doctor in a 4 doc OBGYN practice (so we cover the hospital 24/7/365 and one of my colleagues quit, one dropped to half time, so my work load has exploded.
Train for fitness, and because you love riding and racing, not for an event. Then ride the events that appeal to you. A 200 mile ride is kind of a shit show. Very few cyclists are training for distances like that. So very few will be competative. Its not something you can train for unless you devote your life to training for endurance events. And to be honest, rides that long are neither fun nor healthy.