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Biking being an endurance sport, cyclists must adopt a diet that is in line with the practice of this sport, even more so when they want to tackle long distances in training or during a race. After seeing when and what to eat for a long bike race, today we propose to discover what type of diet to adopt for cycling.
Why you should adopt a balanced diet
It is important to know that in the search for sports performance, food is just as important as training to achieve one's goals and one cannot work without the other.
When you are a cyclist or even a sportsman in general, the first thing is to adopt a balanced diet on a daily basis. That's the basics. Then, it is necessary to ensure that this balanced diet is adapted to the level of practice of the cyclist: the diet and meals will not be the same for an amateur cyclist, who takes the start of a few cyclosportives in the year, than for a professional cyclist who must keep a high level of performance throughout the year.
A balanced meal must provide the cyclist with everything the body needs: carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, vitamins, minerals, trace elements, water, etc. without having to resort to food supplements. The meals must then be adapted to each person according to his weight, his level of training (and therefore his level of caloric expenditure), etc. It is important to know that carbohydrates are the body's main source of energy, especially during physical exertion.
Indeed, the cyclist's diet will play both an immediate role (performance during training, racing, recovery after intense exertion, etc.) and a preventive role (a better diet and a good lifestyle in general help to avoid, for example, muscular injuries, to have a better sleep, etc.).
For this, we try to balance our plate in starchy foods and vegetables, and we accompany them with lean meat or fish, limiting fat.
How to eat before exercise.
Before a competition, you should start to constitute glycogen reserves the day before by adopting a more carbohydrate-rich diet than usual, without going overboard because this stock is limited: beyond this famous limit, carbohydrates are transformed into fat (triglycerides).
When the start of the cycling race takes place in the morning, the most important meal is that of the night before which must allow to replenish the stock of glycogen and during which we slightly increase the quantities. For this meal, you should opt for pasta, rice, semolina, quinoa, etc., which you should combine with white meat or lean fish (for protein), cooked vegetables (for vitamins), yogurt or cottage cheese (avoiding cow's milk) and preferably a cooked fruit or fruit compote. Fat should be avoided as well as raw vegetables and raw fruit to avoid slowing down digestion.
Ideally, the last meal before an intense effort should be taken at least three to four hours before the start. In reality, when the start is at seven in the morning, it's more complicated. That's why you have to adapt your breakfast according to the digestion time you have: the minimum delay being two hours. We then opt for a light meal, based on complex carbohydrates with a lower glycemic index (wholemeal bread, wholemeal cereals) to avoid blood sugar spikes, with protein (white ham, turkey ham, omelet, etc.), yogurt with plant milk (for digestion), fruit, compote or pressed fruit juice, tea or coffee.
If you have trouble eating breakfast or this puts you off, you can also opt for a Gatosport or exercise cake which is an energy cake with an optimized nutrient intake and is quite easy to digest. Thus, it can be consumed up to 1h30 before the start.
On non-competition days, a breakfast before training should consist of:
- A hot, low-sugar beverage (tea, coffee):
- Full grain bread with a little jam or whole grain;
- A dairy;
- A fruit or squeezed juice;
- Some dried fruit.
It should be consumed at least 1h30 to 2h before training to avoid digestive disorders and should avoid fatty products (croissants, buns, etc.) which are difficult to digest.
How to eat during exercise.
During exercise, you need to adopt a diet and hydration that will prevent the degradation of muscle and liver glycogen reserves, stay hydrated and stave off fatigue.
To begin with, you need to drink at least one 500ml bottle per hour of running so that you do not become dehydrated. This volume should be adjusted according to the weather conditions and the effort involved. If it can be useful to keep a water-only canister to rinse your mouth or water yourself during the effort, consider filling your main canister with an energy drink that you should drink at regular intervals. This way, in addition to hydration, you'll benefit from a reserve of energy nutrients that slow the decline in carbohydrate stores.
In terms of nutrition, once in the saddle, you should favor sports nutrition items such as cereal bars or energy bars (low-fat), energy gels, fruit pastes. In case of a long distance race, it can also be useful to consume a fruit compote but also salty snacks (quiches, pies) in order to avoid saturation of the brain because of sweet food and thus to vary the pleasures. These salty snacks are easily stored in the jersey pocket wrapped in small pieces in aluminum foil.
On non-competition days, a balanced meal should consist of:
- An entrée (raw vegetables, salad);
- Meat, fish, or eggs cooked without fat (with a preference for lean meat and fish; red meat can be eaten once a week);
- Of various vegetables;
- From dried vegetables or cereals (pasta, rice, semolina, corn, etc.) or whole grain bread;
- A dairy (cottage cheese or plain yogurt preferred);
- Fruit (raw, cooked or stewed).
How to eat after exercise.
Finally, we must not neglect the post-exercise nutrition that allows improving the recovery of the athlete by replenishing glycogen stocks in the muscles and helping to rebuild muscle fibers damaged by the effort. The sooner it starts after the finish, the better it will be assimilated by the body: the metabolic window is considered to be about 15 minutes to 1 hour after the end of the physical activity. During this time, the body accelerates the absorption of glucose.
For this, you should therefore quickly consume proteins (protein powder recovery drink), carbohydrates (mainly in the form of fruit), as well as a sweet drink (soda, fruit juice, etc.). Also remember to drink generously (preferably bicarbonate-rich sparkling water) to rehydrate the body as well, as water losses can be high depending on the effort produced.
Now that you know all about what kind of diet to adopt for cycling, how about finding out what foods to prefer before the start of a race? Do you also know what foods to prefer during exercise?
