Has anybody heard not to eat while riding, I read somewhere that your body becomes more efficent when you don't eat. Is this true.
Eating while riding
- Thread starter the holster
- Start date
On a 40 mile training ride, no, I don't eat anything.the holster said:
A 60+ mile RR, hell yes, I eat.
There are a bunch of different factors that you have to include in this. Pace, distance, time since last meal, personal metabolic rates, geography, pack size (drafting)...
I do morning rides on water only quite often (no food since the night before). Mostly a steady aerobic effort up to 3 hours. I find my body really starts getting efficient after just a few rides like this and can usually even start doing a few jumps and TT efforts as I get fitter.the holster said:
I would not recommend doing a hard group ride, intervals, or a race without your glycogen levels topped though.
I actually did 3:45 last week, but was doing too much effort and bonked badly. My body pretty much shut down at 3 hours and I struggled back to the house with chills and the shakes. Not smart, but you can't learn your limits, if you don't frick it up sometimes!
And to all the naysayers who'll talk about how bonking can do bad damage that takes weeks to come back from, I call BS. Just take the next day off after a major bonk and refuel all day. You'll be good to go the day after. I've been through it many times on extra long days or tough races and always come back strong a couple days later.
Try a couple hours at a time for a while and then try 3 hours, but do your best not too bonk. It sucks having to recover and eat the next 48 hours.
yeah that's true, kind of like how my car runs better when I don't put gas in itthe holster said:
I guess you need to clarify what you mean by "more efficient". Obviously one can build up a tolerance to riding without eating i.e. it gets easier the more you do it a la YMCA but in the true sense being more efficient would mean burning less energy and that would be undesirable for most.
JS
more efficient as in your metabolic rate, isn't using less energy better? especially for racing, isn't it best to be able to do high intensity races using less energy, i always thought one of the reasons that protour riders were so good was because of their "metabolic efficiency"--doesn't that increase your perfromance in a way?jrstevens said:yeah that's true, kind of like how my car runs better when I don't put gas in it
I guess you need to clarify what you mean by "more efficient". Obviously one can build up a tolerance to riding without eating i.e. it gets easier the more you do it a la YMCA but in the true sense being more efficient would mean burning less energy and that would be undesirable for most.
JS
the holster said:
The theory behind this practice is that if your body has no glycogen to burn, it will learn to burn fat instead.
I'm not convinced it really works that way, but some people think so. I think Bicycling Magazine ran a story about it a while ago. Although, just because "Bicycling" says something, that doesn't mean you can bank on it.
Bob
Nonsense.the holster said:
Efficiency is the ratio of how much oxygen is required per amount of work. Fat/lypid actually requires more oxygen per unit of work, which subsequently means you are actually more efficient at higher workloads where carbohydrate is fuel of choice.
As for the benefits of training w/o eating...well, at this point we must be up to 50+ years of research showing that you are only reducing the quality and quantity of your training.
There is a lot more to bonking than just running low on blood sugar and restoring muscle glycogen.YMCA said:
Whenever your body becomes hypoglycemic/starts to go into a fasted state, it is going to do what is necessary to generate some glucose. When liver glycogen levels are low, the liver turns to gluconeogenesis: the 'creation' of glucose from non-carbohyrdate sources; primarily lactate when it's available, but then increasingly from protein When you bonk, lactate levels will be similar to resting levels; i.e.: not a significant source of glucose.
There is no significant difference between the efficiencies of world class and recreational cyclists.the holster said:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=15241718&query_hl=1&itool=pubmed_docsum
What is different between the groups is the higher VO2max/max aerobic power and their lactate threshold as a percentage of their max.
is bonking really really bad for your body? and is it hard to fully recover from itSmartt/RST said:
I haven't tried going without food on my long rides I go on the trainer at 70% MHR have a pbj at 75 minutes then a bannana at 110 and another pbj at 150 minutes as my heart rate and pace drops a little to 65% MHR and then down to 50% at about 165 minutes this wall seems insurmountable so I stop there. I'm looking for the perfect fuel to get over it I think raw honey in water might do it.
If you look I would bet you'll find all sides of the argument. I just came across an case for eating while riding. Its not backed up with any evidence, but here is one take on it:
"(Dr. Brooks) suspects that gastric emptying may improve with training. In other words, the more you ride while eating and drinking the more efficient your digestive system becomes"
From Nutrition for Peak Performance - Edited by Ed Pavelka
so the idea is that you won't become nauseous from eating/drinking on the bike and you'll be able to access the food you've eaten and turn it into energy quicker.
"(Dr. Brooks) suspects that gastric emptying may improve with training. In other words, the more you ride while eating and drinking the more efficient your digestive system becomes"
From Nutrition for Peak Performance - Edited by Ed Pavelka
so the idea is that you won't become nauseous from eating/drinking on the bike and you'll be able to access the food you've eaten and turn it into energy quicker.
Aside from what I mentioned above, you are also depriving your brain of its fuel source. We're starting to get more into medical physiology, but once you start to deprive the brain of glucose, the potential cascade of events (regulation of hormal control, neurological feedback loops, etc) is endless; the extent of which would depend on how long you go without ingesting carbohydrate and what demands you put on your body once you have bonked: ...things related to the Central Nervous System in general.the holster said:
