This year’s Prudential RideLondon-Surrey will see around 100,000 amateur cyclists take to the streets of London in the UK’s biggest festival of cycling. It includes a number of road races for professionals but keen riders will also be taking part in the sportive event: a 100-mile ride from London to Surrey on a similar route to that of the London 2012 Olympic Road Cycling race. So how do you fuel your body before, during and after an event like this?
Avoid ‘bonking’
The key is to start the ride with full stores of glycogen (carbohydrate). This will not only help fuel your leg muscles and increase your endurance but will also reduce the chances of you ‘bonking’. This is the cycling term for that terrible feeling when you’ve nothing left in the tank: your legs turn to jelly, you feel weak, dizzy and disorientated and can no longer keep pedalling. It happens when you have depleted your body’s glycogen stores.
It’s hard to get back from a ‘bonk’ so your best protection is to ensure that your glycogen is fully topped up before starting and then to refuel throughout the ride. The former is achieved by carbohydrate loading – tapering your training during pre-ride week and increasing your carbohydrate intake. The ACSM recommend 10 – 12g carbohydrate/ kg of body weight per day in the last 48 hours before the event (700 – 840g/ day for a 70kg cyclist).
That may sound a lot but, in practice, you simply need to ensure you include a decent-sized portion of high-carb foods such as porridge, potatoes, pasta, rice, bread, fruit and pulses in each of your meals. But don’t take it to extremes and eat too much, otherwise you may wake up feeling heavy and bloated on event day. Carb loading doesn’t mean eating as much as you can!
The day before
Stick to the foods you normally eat and don’t experiment with anything new. Eat plain and simple meals, including a portion of carbohydrate and a portion of protein. A simple tip is to eat most of your food at breakfast and lunch rather than a big meal late in the evening. Little and often will help maximise glycogen storage. And keep hydrated – sip on water frequently throughout the day.
Try to minimise fibre (e.g. by swapping wholemeal for white bread) and steer clear of anything that may cause digestive issues and jeopardise your performance. On the other hand, if you’re fine with these foods, then there’s no need to avoid completely. Suitable meals include a chicken or chickpea tagine (stew) with couscous, Pad Thai (noodles) with tofu or chicken, or a simple risotto with butternut squash, beans and peas
The morning of the ride
If you’re doing RideLondon, you’ll have an early start so may not feel like eating breakfast at 3 or 4 o’clock in the morning! However, eating something rather than nothing beforehand will help delay the onset of fatigue and means you’ll feel better during the ride. How much and what you eat before the ride will depend on how much time you have between waking and the start of the ride. The less time you have before your ride, the smaller your meal should be.
Have a breakfast you’re used to. This should contain foods rich in carbs and protein to help keep you satiated. If you are able to eat at least 2 hours before riding, try porridge with fruit and nuts; overnight oats (or Bircher muesli) or granola with fruit and yogurt. If you have less than 2 hours or you simply can’t face a meal, opt for an oat bar, banana or smoothie. It’s important to start the ride hydrated, so sip water frequently and aim to drink 350- 500ml fluid 2 – 3 h before you start riding.
Many cyclists like to include coffee for a pre-ride caffeine boost. But not everyone responds well to caffeine (it may cause trembling and headaches), so don’t try it for the first time before an event. In studies, it’s been proven to increase alertness and lower perception of effort, making cycling feel easier and increasing endurance. The current consensus is approx 1 – 3mg/ kg body weight, that’s equivalent to a double espresso but you may prefer pills, gels or chews.
During the ride
Start refuelling within the first hour or so, and then refuel every 30 – 60 minutes, aiming for a total of 30 – 90g carbohydrate/ hour. The exact amount you need depends on how hard you’re riding. For example, cycling fast or uphill burns proportionally more carbohydrate than fat compared with cycling at a leisurely pace or on the flat, so you’ll need consume more carbs during these stages. You can get 30g carbohydrate in the following:
1 large banana
40g (a small handful) dried fruit
1 Oat bar or 2 Nakd bars
500ml sports drink (6% carbs)
1 energy bar
4 energy chews
1 energy gel
Refuelling during the ride helps maintain blood glucose levels within an optimal range and supply additional fuel to your muscles. This reduces the rate at which your muscles burn glycogen and thus helps stave off fatigue.
Take high-carb snacks that you have trained with, including savoury options (e.g. peanut butter or Marmite sandwiches, rice cakes and pretzels) as well as sweet to reduce flavour fatigue and the risk of tooth damage. You may want to take natural foods (e.g. fruit and nut bars, bananas, flapjacks and dried fruit) as well as energy products (e.g. gels and bars), whatever you’ve trained with. Use natural food nearer the start to give it time to digest, energy products nearer the end when you need a quick boost. Prepare as much as possible e.g. cut bars in half and open wrappers to make them easier to consume, and put them in your pockets. If you wish, you can use caffeine during the ride to make it feel easier, increase focus and reduce fatigue – but only if you’ve used it successfully in training.
Take two refillable bottles: one for water and one for a sports or electrolyte drink (or whatever you used during training). Your aim is to avoid under-drinking (dehydration) as well as over-drinking (hyponatraemia). Drink little and often and to thirst; the amount you need depends on your sweat rate, which will increase during hot humid weather and on climbs. Aim for approximately 400 – 800ml/ h. Drinks containing electrolytes are recommended on long hard rides over 2 hours or when sweat losses are high (especially if you’re a salty sweater).
Check in advance where feeding and drinks stations are on the route. Use the opportunity to re-fill your bottles and stock up with food – but avoid over-eating! Be wary of trying new products – stick to what you’ve trained with.
Recovery
When it’s all over, following a few simple rules for recovery will help you feel better in the following few days. Sip water or a sports or electrolyte drink – rehydration can take up to 24 hours so continue drinking frequently. You’ll need carbs and protein to refuel your glycogen and repair damaged fibres in your muscles. Good options include milk-based drinks, recovery drinks, cheese sandwiches, yogurt, protein bars, flapjacks and bananas. Then go ahead and celebrate! Suitable recovery meals include rice and fish, or sweet potatoes with cheese or hummus and salad.
If you want more advice..
I’ll be on Centre Stage at the 2019 Prudential RideLondon Cycling Show, giving five talks each day with lots of simple, practical tips. The Show is free to enter, open to all and runs from Thursday 1st August until Saturday 3rd August.
More than 100 delicious, easy-to-prepare vegetarian and vegan recipes for healthy breakfasts, main meals, desserts, sweet and savoury snacks and shakes.
Expert advice on how to get the right nutrients to maximise your performance without meat
Stunning food photography
Full nutrition information for each recipe, including calories, carbohydrate, fat, protein and fibre
Nutrition is an important part of your training programme. Eating the right types and amounts of food, as well as drinking enough fluid before, during and after each training session will help you perform better and recover faster between training sessions. It will also help to keep you healthy and reduce your chances of getting colds and other upper respiratory tract illnesses.
Here are some nutritional strategies that can be used to improve your training sessions.
What’s a healthy diet for swimmers?
Swimmers need a nutrient-packed diet to fuel their bodies during training, as well as adequate protein for growth and muscle repair, and (mainly unsaturated) fat for fuel and overall health. A general guideline for training days is to have one third of the plate carbs (pasta, bread, rice, potatoes, or cereal), one third protein (fish, chicken, lean meat, eggs, beans, lentils, tofu) and one third vegetables. You should also include healthy fats (olive oil, oily fish, nuts) and at least 5 portions of fruit and veg a day to ensure you get the omega-3 fats, vitamins, minerals, fibre and other protective nutrients needed to stay healthy and promote recovery.
Eat something before early morning training
A 2-hour training session early in the morning will certainly tax your body’s carbohydrate (glycogen) stores. Without anything you may feel ok for the first half of the session but devoid of energy for the second half. Training on empty may result in low blood glucose levels, early fatigue, light headedness, nausea and a poor performance.
Try to have nutritious high-carb foods, such as porridge, wholegrain toast with honey, a banana (or other fruit), a fruit & nut bar (e.g. Nakd) or granola.
Can’t face any solid food? Try a nutritious drink, such as a smoothie, or a yogurt. Some fuel is better than no fuel at all.
Have plenty of water to rehydrate after the night’s sleep.
Have a big breakfast after morning training
Re-fuelling within 30 minutes after training is especially important if you’ll be training again in the evening. This will help your muscles recover faster.
It should contain plenty of carbohydrate to replenish depleted fuel (glycogen) stores as well as protein to repair and rebuild the muscles
Suitable foods include porridge with fruit and nuts; strained Greek yogurt with fruit and nuts; eggs and toast; wholegrain cereal (e.g. granola, muesli or Weetabix) with milk and yogurt.
Regular snacks and meals throughout the day
Make sure you eat at regular intervals and never skip meals. The more active you are the more fuel you’ll need.
Plan and organise meals and snacks. Take suitable food for snacks to school
Rule of thumb: 3 meals and 2 – 4 snacks
Fuel up 2 hours before evening training
If you train in the evening, your earlier meals and snacks will help to fuel your workout.
The optimal time for the pre-exercise meal is 2 hours before training.
If your training session starts at 7pm, have dinner at 4 – 5pm. Aim for ‘comfortably full’, not stuffed.
If training starts at 5pm, then have a smaller meal or healthy snack 3 or 4pm, with a drink.
If you don’t eat before training, you will lack energy in training.
If you eat too much or too close to training, you will feel uncomfortable, heavy or nauseous.
Eat carbs and protein before training
Of all the foods you could have before a workout, prioritize ones rich in carbohydrates, especially if you will be training for 2 hours. This is the body’s preferred energy source during exercise.
Opt for wholegrain carbs wherever possible, together with a source of protein and some veg – this will provide sustained energy and improve performance.
Pre-and post-training meals (2 -3 h before or immediately after):
Stir-fry with chicken, prawns or tofu with veg + noodles
Rice + fish/ bolognese/ lentils with veg or salad
Pasta + chicken (or beans) + veg
If you don’t have time for a meal (eg early morning training), have a snack 30 min before training.
Pre-training snacks (1/2 – 1 h before) :
Toast (wholegrain) with honey or jam
A banana (or other fresh fruit) & yogurt
A handful of dried fruit (e.g. raisins, apricots) and nuts
Porridge or wholegrain breakfast cereal with milk
Refuel with carbs and protein within 30 min (if you train 2 x day)
Start re-fuelling with carbs and protein within 30 minutes after training, even if it’s late in the evening. This will help your muscles recover faster and you’ll feel better in the morning.
500 ml milk, hot chocolate, milk shake or flavoured milk
Banana; yogurt and nuts
Wholemeal toast/ sandwich with PB/ cheese/ fish/ chicken
If you had only a snack before training, have your dinner when you get home.
Drink plenty before, during and after training
Dehydration slows you down and will make swimming feel much harder. The most important thing is you arrive at your training session properly hydrated, (you can check for dehydration with the ‘pee test’).
Drink plenty during the day, little and often.
Have around 250 – 300 ml 2 hours before the session.
During training, drink little and often e.g. 3 – 4 gulps every 15 minutes (or at convenient intervals), rather than a large volume in one go.
The harder you’re working the more you sweat, so you’ll need to drink more. Generally, the rule is to drink about 125ml of fluid for every kilometre swum. Approx 500ml – 1l per 2 hour session
Drink plenty after training to aid recovery.
How to avoid fatigue during training?
Early fatigue during training can be caused by:
Dehydration – avoid this by making sure you drink enough before and during the session
Low blood sugar levels – avoid this by choosing diluted squash, 1 part squash, 6 parts water (e.g. Robinsons Select) or any ready-made drink containing around 5g sugar/ 100ml
Depleted reserves of carbohydrate in your muscles (glycogen) – avoid this by eating a balanced meal containing carbs and protein (and some fat) about 2 – 3 hours before training; eat consistently during the day; do not skip meals.
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– How to adjust your diet to keep up with your age
Are you finding it harder to hit your PBs, exercise as hard or as long as you once did, or make substantial gains in the gym? Well, that’s perfectly normal! As we go through our 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s and beyond, our bodies change. Typically, most people start to see a drop in their aerobic capacity and peak performance some time in their 30s. It’s also around this time that the body gradually loses its ability to build muscle and strength. Our ability to recover between workouts diminishes, bone mass declines and injuries take longer to heal. Fortunately, a combination of appropriate exercise and nutrition can help reduce age-related declines in performance.
Without resistance exercise, you can expect to lose around 8% of your muscle mass per decade. Without consistent strength training, this will result in a drop in your resting metabolic rate, or the rate at which your body burns calories. Add to this a drop in physical activity – or an increase in sedentary activity – and it becomes more challenging to stay lean.
With age, the muscles become less responsive to the anabolic effects of protein and exercise. This concept is often referred to as anabolic resistance (or anabolic blunting), and explains why it gets harder to build muscle as you get older. You may have noticed that you simply can’t get the same muscle gains as you once did despite doing the same training. Scientists believe the body slowly down-regulates muscle protein synthesis signaling.
Eating more protein will help reduce muscle loss or at least off-set this anabolic resistance. People who do this maintain around 40% more muscle compared with those who eat very little protein. For active people, researchers recommend a daily protein intake of 1.2 – 1.5g/ kg body weight/ day to help preserve muscle mass and strength. It is more practical, though, to work out your protein intake per meal. Studies suggest this should be in the region of 0.4 g/ kg BW per meal (or at least 30g for a 75kg person), which is considerably higher than the recommendation for younger athletes of 0.25g/ kg BW/ day (see below for suggestions).
The type of fat you consume may make a difference to your ability to build muscle. There is convincing evidence that, in terms of preserving muscle mass, omega-3s become more important as we get older. Researchers at Washington University found that daily supplementation of omega-3 fats for 8 weeks increased the rate of muscle building in older adults, while Brazilian researchers measured greater strength gains in older women who consumed a daily omega-3 supplement in conjunction with a 90-day resistance training programme compared with those who didn’t take supplements.
Low blood levels of vitamin D are common across all age groups but is particularly problematic as we get older as the skin’s capacity to produce vitamin D from UV light diminishes. Low levels may reduce muscle function and strength and impair performance. Getting adequate levels of vitamin D whether from sun exposure, diet or supplements becomes more important for optimal performance. Best dietary sources include oily fish, egg yolk and liver. The Government recommend a 10 microgram (400 IU) supplement of vitamin D3 during the autumn and winter months (between October and April in the UK).
As we get older our perception of thirst decreases as does our sweat rate and the ability of kidneys to concentrate urine. All this means that you’re more susceptible to dehydration so it may be prudent to drink to a planned schedule rather than relying totally on thirst.
7 Sports Nutrition Tips for Older Athletes
Eat 30 – 40g protein at each meal. Get this from a medium-sized (125g) chicken or turkey breast, or one (150g) fish fillet, or one small tin (120g) tuna, or 300g strained Greek yogurt, or 4 large eggs, or 400ml whey protein shake.
Boost vitamin D – Adequate levels of this nutrient can help improve your bone health, boost your immune system and improve muscle performance.
Get more omega-3s – As well as protecting heart health, omega-3 fats have been shown to increase blood flow to muscles during exercise, reduce post-exercise inflammation and increase the muscle-building response to a meal. Aim for one portion of salmon, mackerel or sardines a week, or 1tbsp flaxseeds, chia seeds or walnuts daily.
Estimate how much fluid you need to drink during exercise by calculating your sweat rate – the difference between your pre- and post-workout weight. Divide your hourly sweat rate by 4 to give you a guideline for how much to drink every 15 minutes.
Consume polyphenol-rich foods – Researchers believe polyphenols – found in colourful fruit and veg – may help prevent certain age-related diseases, including heart disease, eye problems and cancer.
Don’t eat less than 20% of your calories from fat. Otherwise you risk deficient intakes of fat soluble vitamins and essential fatty acids. Aim for mono-and unsaturated fats (including omega-3s) to be at the forefront of your fat intake: oily fish, avocados, nuts, seeds and olive oil.
Don’t skimp on your recovery nutrition. As you get older, recovery from hard workouts takes longer so refuel with protein and carbohydrate. Good options include 500ml milk, 300ml whey protein shake, or 250ml strained Greek yogurt.
Key points
You may experience a drop in energy requirements as you get older
You’ll need more protein to offset age-related muscle loss and anabolic resistance
Consuming omega-3 fats and vitamin D become more important as you get older
Thirst becomes a less reliable indicator of your fluid needs
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One of the most common questions I get asked by runners is how to fuel during long runs when you don’t feel like eating anything. Many find that drinking a sports drink or eating food makes them feel like throwing it straight back up. Do you also struggle fuelling during races? Well, you’re not alone – fuelling on the move can prove tricky for many. It can make you feel bloated, uncomfortable, queasy and even trigger vomiting or diarrhoea.
As result, many endurance athletes prefer training on ‘empty’, shunning fluid at aid stations and forgoing fuel during races for fear of unplanned toilet stops. But when you’re exercising at high intensities and competing for longer than 60 – 90 minutes, this strategy can quickly lead to dehydration, reduced endurance and perhaps not even finishing the race. Quite a conundrum.
Fortunately, there is a solution: ‘gut training’. Sports scientists say that the gut is very adaptable. This means that it can respond to nutritional training during exercise. In other words, you can literally train your gut – much like any other muscle in your body – to tolerate and absorb more carbohydrate while exercising. There’s not been a great deal of research on the topic but this excellent review by Asker Jeukendrup provides a neat summary.
What’s required is a gradual and consistent approach to fuelling and drinking on the move. The idea is to start with small quantities and increase slowly over time. With practice, your stomach will learn to accommodate a greater volume of fluid and food and empty faster so you start to feel less full and uncomfortable whilst exercising.
By focusing on carb-rich foods and drinks, you’ll also train your gut to absorb carbohydrates more efficiently. This increases the number and activity of glucose transporters in the gut, allowing greater carbohydrate absorption and utilisation during exercise.
Normally the gut can only absorb a maximum of 60g per hour. Any more than this just sits ‘heavy’ in the stomach. But by gradually increasing the amount of carbs you consume during exercise and by consuming a mixture of glucose (or maltodextrin) and fructose (such as an energy drink), you can train your gut to absorb up to 90g per hour. This would be beneficial when you’re exercising at high intensities for longer than 2 hours.
How long will it take to train your gut? Like most things in nutrition, it’s very individual. Some people adapt quicker than others but you can expect a significant improvement within a few weeks. Here’s how to train your gut for workouts longer than 60 – 90 minutes
Gradually increase the amount of fluid you consume during exercise – little and often works best. Start with just a couple of sips pre- and mid-workout, then increase gradually as you become accustomed to the sensation of fluid in your stomach.
Experiment with different food options to discover which foods or products your body can tolerate. Try a couple of bites of banana, a Medjool date, an energy ball (such as these Energy Balls) or a bite of energy bar. Other options include fruit bars, jelly babies, energy gels, plain biscuits, rice cakes or fig rolls.
Begin refuelling after 30 or 60 minutes, then aim for 10 – 15g carbs every 30 minutes. Do this for each long workout (> 90 minutes). Once this feels okay, up the quantity or add another mid-workout ‘feed’. Over time your stomach will learn to accept bigger volumes and empty faster, so instead of feeling full and bloated, you’ll feel comfortable.
When preparing for a big race, it’s important to practise your fuelling plan during training. Take the same foods and drinks that you plan to use in the race. It may take quite a bit of trial and error so try to do this early in your race preparation programme. Don’t leave it to race day!
Being able to train your gut this way will give you a huge advantage for training and races longer than two hours. It means that you’ll be able to stay fuelled, cut the risk of getting gut problems and ultimately improve your performance.
More than 100 delicious, easy-to-prepare vegetarian and vegan recipes for healthy breakfasts, main meals, desserts, sweet and savoury snacks and shakes.
Expert advice on how to get the right nutrients to maximise your performance without meat
Stunning food photography
Full nutrition information for each recipe, including calories, carbohydrate, fat, protein and fibre
If you enjoyed this post and want to find out more about food and nutrition, as well as some easy and tasty meal inspiration, then The Vegetarian Athlete’s Cookbook – More than 100 recipes for active living (Bloomsbury, 2016) is a great place to start. It features:
If you enjoyed this post and want to find out more about sports nutrition, then check out my brand new book, 