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Wonder if anyone can give some advice -
Whenever I'm out on the bike the first 45mins for me are really horrible, I feel sick and generally really rubbish and have trouble keeping up with my mates. This tends to end up with me having to have a 10min or so sit down to feel a bit better.
From then on I seem to be absolutely fine, as my mates tire out I still feel ok, better than when I started.
For example I went to afan a month or so back and did whites level twice back to back with no rest in between. I had to have a little stop on the first climb. No need on the second, and both times were within 5 mins of each other (1hr50 odd)
I'm looking to start some XC races for fun & fitness this year so would like to know if it's just a fitness thing or if anyone else has similar issues and what they did about it.
First thought is nutrition - what are you eating before a ride, and how long before you start?
I'd look at diet first too. If you're not having a big high carb meal the night before and a good breaksfast I'd start there.
You need to warm up.
Normally have 3 weetabix and some sugar before the ride in the morning (so depending on where we go 1-2hrs before hand)
Evening meals are generally stirfry as I'm trying to lose a bit of weight I put on when I broke my wrists in May.
I bought some energy bars/shots to use during rides but I don't feel hungry at all when I'm on the bike so haven#t really tried them yet
>You need to man up.
+1
Sometimes if you eat too close to starting riding I find it can be detrimental because too many carbs can cause blood sugar to fall. I think this is why it's recommended to eat 3 hours before. On some enduros if I can't eat three hours or more before I will not bother and just make sure I eat enough on the ride itself starting with a gel on the line. Sounds daft but worked fine for me.
So my thinking was along the same lines as TexWade has explained - you might not have left enough time between the weetabix/sugar and riding, so you've got a load of insulin in your system that has caused your blood sugar to drop, leading to feeling crap.
I need about 2 hours between eating and riding, otherwise I get a bit dizzy for the first 30 minutes or so which can only be cured by a gel/bar/MTFU.
Try a gel 10 mins before you start - that's what most XC racers do, it hits your system just as you get going.
(Edit - Weetabix has a GI of 75, fairly high, so will probably cause a good insulin spike to deal with it. Try porridge instead)
You need to warm up.
You just take longer than your mates to warm up
They go off at a rate you can't sustain
Wot uplink said- weetabix isn't substantial enough to mess up your guts.
Appears also that they go off at a rate they cant sustain too.
My Mrs says I've got that problem
I find the same - not quite so bad / long (for me it's about 20 mins) but I definitely feel the benefits of going easy to start with.
I put it down to taking time for the oxygen carrying systems to get up to operating conditions properly - heart, lungs, etc. I am mild asthmatic and it's in this 20 mins that if I'm going to get wheezy, it'll be now and I think it's the shock of sudenly having to access and open up all of your lungs that causes my issues.
In fact - if I don't take it easy to start with while I do recover mid ride I then struggle again at the end - probably because if I don't get properly warmed up I'm more likely to be running anaerobically even though the effort level doesn't strictly need it, because I'm 'artifically' in oxygen debt to start with. As a result I then have less available later on in the way of reserves and I suffer as consequence.
Glad I asked this question, I'll try getting up and eating a bit earlier (afraid I dont like porridge), dizzy is another word that describes how I feel. To date I've only been sick once when I pushed through it as I was racing someone up the cwmcarn climb.
Re going out to fast, it tends not to matter fast or slow I feel rubbish, today I went to my local spot on my own which is about 7 miles on the road with a slight incline, on the SS so was just spinning away. Still was feeling sick by the time I got to the woods and certainly wasn't going fast!
wot age are you