{"id":19682,"date":"2021-06-04T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2021-06-03T22:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.siroko.com\/blog\/c\/nutrition-and-cycling-what-and-how-much-should-you-eat-based-on-workout-duration-and-intensity\/"},"modified":"2022-03-10T13:57:58","modified_gmt":"2022-03-10T12:57:58","slug":"nutrition-and-cycling-what-and-how-much-should-you-eat-based-on-workout-duration-and-intensity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.siroko.com\/blog\/c\/nutrition-and-cycling-what-and-how-much-should-you-eat-based-on-workout-duration-and-intensity\/","title":{"rendered":"Nutrition and Cycling: What and how much should you eat based on workout duration and intensity"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/b>Some of the biggest concerns for cyclists, whether they are beginners or not, has to do with nutrition. <\/span>Knowing what we should eat before, during and after cycling is key to enjoy the ride without suffering more than necessary. <\/b>In this article we are going to talk about<\/span> what to eat during the ride<\/b> and shed some light on nutrition while cycling<\/b> so that our performance is not compromised by an incorrect diet.<\/span><\/p>\n

We have divided the article into two parts:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. How many calories we should eat based on the duration and intensity of the bike ride.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Examples of what we can eat during rides with detailed types of food, quantities and calories.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Before we proceed, let’s explain <\/span>how our body works when we perform a physical activity such as cycling <\/b>in order to understand what happens when we\u2019re pedaling and how our body reacts to different types of efforts.<\/span><\/p>\n

    When we\u2019re riding a bike, our metabolism is running like a hybrid car, but in this case it is fueled by fat and glycogen.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

    During hard workouts<\/b>, at high intensity and approaching or exceeding your anaerobic threshold, <\/span>you burn more glycogen than fat.<\/b><\/p>\n

    During gentle workouts<\/b> or going at a moderate pace below your anaerobic threshold, your body uses <\/span>both glycogen and fat in equal proportions.<\/b><\/p>\n

    Our body always uses fat but the harder the workout, the more glycogen “fuels” our engine <\/b>as it is the easiest and most efficient way to supply the muscles with energy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Don’t worry about fat – <\/span>its storage in our body is almost infinite<\/span><\/a>. You would have to go a long time without eating to run out of it;<\/span> a person with a normal body fat percentage (BFP) would have around 80,000-100,000 calories stored as fat in their body.<\/b> Some top athletes have reached extremely low fat percentages (around 5%) and still have more than enough fat stored to complete an Ironman Triathlon.<\/span><\/p>\n

    As for glycogen, <\/span>there can be around 2,400 calories stored in our skeletal muscles and liver.<\/span><\/a> The amount depends on the size of your body, your fitness level, the previous day’s training session and the food you eat during and after the workout to restore energy reserves.<\/span><\/p>\n

    We have already talked about <\/span>protein intake and its importance in this article<\/span><\/a>. As far as our efficiency during exercise is concerned, <\/span>there is no conclusive evidence to suggest that its consumption together with carbohydrates improves our performance compared to the consumption of carbohydrates alone.<\/span><\/a> However, <\/span>it is certainly important to consume the recommended amounts of protein for proper recovery.<\/b> You can eat some protein while cycling, especially when it is a long ride and the training load is high.<\/span><\/p>\n

    That being said, let’s get down to the nitty-gritty:<\/span> how much and how often should we eat while cycling to avoid bonking? The table below shows calorie and carbohydrates intake according to the duration and intensity of the outing or training:\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n