NUTRITION CYCLING TIPS
In collaboration with Heben Clinic.
Do you know how to improve your sports performance through a good diet for cyclists? We will tell you what a cyclist needs before, during and after competing or when training.
From the Heben Clinic we want to give you some tips that will help you have a good diet while cycling. One of the key factors for a good performance by an athlete and that will help you to have good practices is to know what to eat, when to do it, how to eat it and why to eat it, these three factors are really important to have a good diet. This will help make it possible to be at your best while exercising.
When and what should we eat for a cycling workout?
The cyclists need to have in mind the intensity at which they are going to excercise as well as the hours they are going to do it. They should also have in mind things like the weather, because the wind, the cold, the heat … because this factors affect in the consumption of kcal or mineral salts. The food diet will have to be modified according to these factors and energy consumption will vary depending on one situation or another.
A cyclist needs to eat before, after and while exercising:
BEFORE
It’s fundamental to have in mind the food you need to take before going cycling so that you have the necessary energy to get through the training. The meals you eat before the training should have mainly foods that contain lots of carbohydrates, in addition to being accompanied by some food with protein and fat. This will give you energy and it will prevent you from feeling hungry during the first hours of training.
Depending on the type of training that you are going to do you will need to eat different amounts of food. In case you are going to do an high intensity training, the food with high carbohydrates will help you comply with the established training. Instead, if you are going to do a low intensity training, you should consume food with more fat than carbohydrates.
Examples:
- Yogurt with strawberries, banana and oat flakesTostada de crema de cacahuete
- Tostada de crema de cacahuete
- Rice with vegetables
- Pasta with spinach, ham and pine nuts
- Quinoa salad with tuna, cheese and tomato.
DURING
Eating during the training is optional it always depends on how much time you train and at what intensity. Eating on top of the bike doesn’t affect everyone in the same way, each person has different assimilation capacity and it doesn't sit well with everyone, the good thing is that this is trainable.
Examples for provisioning:
- Nuts
- Gels
- Energy/Protein barss
- Fruits
AFTER
Eating the right way after training is as important as doing it before, this is because what you eat will afect your rehabilitation. The first 30-45 min after the training the body is still active and the assimilation of the food is very responsive. You need to take advantage of this time to feed your body the most optimal food and hydratate it in the most eficient way posible, this way your rehabilitation will be as efficient as possible.
There are many foods that the cyclists can eat after their trainings. We need to have in mind that they need to be foods rich in protein, carbohydrates and also rich in antioxidant.
Examples:
- Berries (Strawberry, blackberrry, blueberry…)
- Meat/fish with mashed potatoes
- Salad with legumes and boiled egg
Another option is to have a rehabilitation shake which mixes proteins and carbohydrates, they are meant to be taken after finishing your training session or race. They areideal to mix with water or milk and really easy to ingest. Their objective is to give the body the necessary nutrients to please the rehabilitation process.
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RICARDO MÁRQUEZ, physiotherapist and personal trainer at the Heben Clinic, passionate about achieving the sports health of his patients.
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