Some Days I'm a rocket, some days I'm plain beat and Struggle with SST.

Hey , guys. Quick question. There are some days in my training when I have incredible amounts of energy. I just feel like I'm going to blow up. I do sprints for the fun of it. However, this does not happen often. Even stranger is that I have this energy after a long night of drinking. . .

Is this just ridiculous?

Is my diet the culprit?

Breakfasts include either cereal or waffles. Dinner- pasta and chicken.

Any ideas? Normal variation? Thanks

 

Could it be that after a night of drinking your perception of effort is a little skewed.

 

Uh, surely that can't be safe?? I'm no professional, but still... drinking heavily and then riding the next day?

I'll say...

 

Well, beer is carbs, right? Maybe I just carb-loaded really well. haha

I don't think my perception was skewed. I was noticebly faster on certain climbs and on the flats. And it was timed.

 

Actually no, beer is made from carbs but that dang OH on the end makes it metabolize like fats. Bummer....

 

A couple of comments... there are obvious factors that affect your ability to comfortably work SST/L4 and harder intensities. Things like sleep, nutrition, recovery. I have also found personally that one of the primary determinants of perceived exertion is less obvious: psychological stress and well being. When I am worked up or distracted by something, I can't workout anywhere near as effectively as when I am relaxed. Could it be that you enjoy kicking back with beers and this leads to a better mental state on the bike and an easier workout? And could it be that you would benefit more from relaxing in a less physiologically negative way and then feeling good on the bike?

Just ideas...

 

I will give you a scientific explanation:

Alcohol has to be converted to acetalehyde in order to be metabolized by the liver. Then Acetaldehyde will be converted finally to acetic acid. Both processes require important amounts (depending on how drunk you are) of NAD+ which will then oxidize the mentioned compounds above and will produce NADH + H+.
NAD (Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide) is essential for the continuation of the glycolitic pathway (degradation of glucose in the cell) since NAD+ reduces glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate into 1,3 Biphosphoglycerate producing NADH + H+. Therefore by utilising so much NAD+ to metabolize alcohol we can deplenish or at least lower at a large extend NAD+ levels at a cellular level and therefore decrease glycolysis (degradation of glucose in the cell), thus decreasing the glucose utilisation by cells. That is why after a hangover we are hypoglycemic (low blood glucose) and headache, deasy..etc...(on top of the dehydration caused by the inhibition of the Antidiuretic Hormone (ADH)) and we crave for glucose. The fact that you will be depraved from glucose utilisation added to the fact that probably you will eat/drink more CHO´s because you will be craving it, could cause an indirect " rapid carbohydrate loading" which could explain your burst of energy.

It is not the 1st time you will hear about someone getting drunk and next day flaying on the bike...

 

I've got a short hillclimb tomorrow. Should I get drunk tonight?

 

You should get drunk tonight regardless of what you're doing tomorrow.

 

I'll tell you something. I drank a lot of beer one time with my friend, the next day I had a race. I never had my legs feel so "full", I was flying. This is the type of feeling that you wish you had everyday. You have so much energy, you can really hurt yourself if you lay down the power.

I've found that heavy drinking doesn't negatively affect my riding at all the next day. I never drink so much that I get sick though. Maybe 6-8 beers or the equivalent.

Man, I just wish I had that 'full of energy' feeling everyday on the bike. Kind of like when you were 7 years old and would sprint down the hall at school at every chance you got. Nowadays, people think I climb stairs too slow...I'm only 22.

 

I thought it was just me! Our club evening series is held on a Wednesday night. One tuesday I went out for an impromptu session, got totally smashed and didn't get home 'til 2am. I was up at 5.30 am for work, got home shattered at about 6:15 pm with no time to put the aero bars on as I had to get ready and ride the 10 miles to the start which was at 7pm. I rode a PB by nearly a minute, and didn't beat it on any subsequent attempt when I'd prepared myself much better. I'm off to order a keg!