Supplements for daily cycle commuters

You’ve done 70 miles a day 5/7 for six months? Good effort etc, but it’s not supplements you need, it’s a rest.

I am neither a nutritionist, doctor or athlete.

Edit.

Is an ebike a supplement?

I was going to suggest cake and coffee as a supplement. Sounds like your commute both allows and deserves at least one day a week of something with whipped cream and/or Nutella on.

Also, stretch. When I was doing commuting in town, my hamstrings really started to feel it and I had to force myself to both stretch _and_ do something a few times a week that was for strength.

Now I think about it, cycle commuting was how I justified soooo many kanelbullar. Damn. I miss that easy excuse.

You’ve done 70 miles a day 5/7 for six months?

HELL NO! edited to be specific that it's a total 70 miles a week. I know it's not a high mileage, I used to frequently do more distance when my commute was less, but the forced extra distance every day seems to be having an effect.

E-bike not an option financially, and bike is locked to railings on street.

Vit D. Active folk need more. If you have a decent diet you shouldn't need owt else but I bet you are Vit D short

Bike set up correctly?
Using your gears efficiently?

14 miles a day isn't exactly punishing if it's pretty flat and you go at an easy/steady pace rather than pushing the envelope, remember it's a commute, not a race.

Maybe just increase your calorific intake a bit in a balanced way?

I don't cycle every day, less so in winter too.
I find a regular week of commute (I too am 6miles/110m of climbing each way so 60miles/550m a week) I can feel tired.
I take a general multivitamin, without iron due to my Haemachromatosis, and that helps a lot. I started taking it at the last outdoor centre - I was cycle commuting 7miles/210m each way and climbing a Munro or paddling a loch all day. Vitamin D really helped, but I moved to a multivitamin and I could feel the help, even though I've a good (I think) diet.

Might I suggest Zwift. I do 22 miles a day 5 days a week. And have done for 5 years. It is hard to push myself hard by myself, especially through the woods in the winter. I find a couple of very short, say 30 minutes, of hammering myself on Zwift works. Also get a packet of vitamin tabs with iron in. See what that does.

You could take a multivitamin that includes iron, an extra Vit C tablet to help iron absorbtion, plus a high dose (~4000 IU) Vit D supplement for at least Sept-Mar inclusive.

But the first thing I'd look at is the effort you are putting in on your cycle commutes, providing you are having some sort of breakfast before heading off in the morning. If the commutes are the only cycling you do most weeks, two days could involve efforts beyond Z2, if you typically do other rides indoors or outdoors involving z4+ efforts you need to make the commutes super-easy and allow extra time.

I typically used to commute ~4.5 miles in ~20mins with a downhill on way in, ~5.5 miles 30-35mins on way home on a hybrid, three times a week. I then had energy to Zwift races or road rides with z4+ efforts up 250-600 foot hills on a 20-40 mile ride after work 2/3 times a week, plus do other easy effort days.

As above, intensity is important. If you're going too hard no amount of supplements are going to fix it. Most of it should be Z2 at most. 2 days at higher intensity, maybe 3 if you're not riding at weekends. Although all Z1-2 might be sensible until you're feeling fit again.

You could add things like B12, Zinc, and Magnesium. Really you want to be focusing on getting these into your diet, with plenty of fruit and veg.

I did 15 miles each way but I couldn't do it every day, it was simply too much and I'd end up getting to the weekend and not wanting to even look at a bike!

Also, I was doing a lot of track riding at the time so that needed factoring in.

Sounds to me like you're just exhausted and no amount of supplement is going to fix that, you need a rest or at the very least to cut back dramatically. Is there any option to do something like drive in/ride home one day, ride in/drive home the next? Or use bike and train?
Or even just ditch the bike for a week entirely and when you get back to it, do 3 days riding and 2 days some other method of commuting.

What's happening is your body is now trained to do that distance and that distance only at that speed. I reckon if you tried to do a longer ride, you'd really be feeling it. You've had no recovery whatsoever. It's the exercise equivalent of being at work without a single day off for 6 months!

Healthy diet, maybe try a sports massage to help flush out the build up of lactic acid, drink lots of water and lay off the bike for a bit.

Multi vitamin, stretching, more carbs and/or protein.

Pace yourself, don't push it.

More rest days

I do cumulatively around 100-150mls a week and find you can take all the pills you want but 3 things work for me.
1) make sure you eat enough food during the day. First and foremost you need to eat to fuel. I think active energy is about 600cals an hour. But you can google and find out for certain. So if you arent eating a little more then you need to. I use a calorie counter occasionally so i get an idea of cals in / cals out. If i dont eat enough fatigue sets in rapidly. That goes for dehydration too.
2) after a big commuter day (40mls to the orifice and back) I use SIs rego. Makes a huge difference to recovery.
3) Vary routes / vary intensity. Monotony makes you tired.

Other than that vitamins and supplements are mostly snake oil if you have a balanced diet.

All good advice above. You shouldn't be fatigued doing 70 miles over a 5 day working week unless you are hammering it.
If there is an alt way to get to work take a day off cycling midweek.

Only issue I ever got commuting was if I had an early lunch and didn't get a snack a hour or so before finishing.

I think I'll give the multi-vitamins a go.

Re pacing, I find it difficult to keep the pace easy and have to make deliberate conscious effort to not get caught up in maintaining speed/cadence when hitting an incline or headwind for instance. I also have cut out any proper high intensity from my riding, so probably am mostly doing what is termed 'junk miles'.

Also I've noticed in the past when I took a break from regular high intensity rides it seemed like my legs could feel tired but after an intense ride they'd feel better for it. I wondered if by cutting out the high intensity rides I'd done myself a disservice which has lead to my fitness slowly decreasing. Could that be a factor perhaps?

Perhaps I should try starting with one ride home per week really pushing it, (on a monday or tuesday) and two days per week (thursday & friday) at the easiest possible effort, with the rest easy/moderate/z2 level (ie the sustainable long distance effort).

Not really an alternatives, OH needs the one car we have for her business/children. Public transport would probably take double the time of a bike ride!

How's your weight doing over that time?

If you're not losing weight (and not already very skinny) then your macros at least are probably fine. You could try switching some protein and/or fats for carbs, or at least substitute things like meat for beans and pulses which naturally have a balance of proteins and carbs.

How's your sleep? I found the one downside to a long-ish commute (25miles each way) was that by the time everything was sorted it was time for bed, and then getting up an hour earlier. And if you're doing more exercise, you need more sleep.

I did myself in trying an 8 mile each way commute, 5 days a week. The problem is I always NEED to go as fast as I can. In the morning its getting the kids out the house and to the childminder, then getting to the commute, getting to work and then getting changed and ready for work. I am on the go all day and sometimes don't eat or drink or pee, then bolting home at the last miniute to get kids and take to Judo or swimming or Cubs etc. I felt I was going to have a heart attack, die in a car crash (part car, part bike commute), or get fired.

I was getting dizzy spells with retina burn type blotches in my vision, particularly riding home, knackered.

An ebike has helped a lot, but I haven't been able to do it since November - illness, wheels rebuilt, other stressors, school being inspected, etc.

I am going to try again from 1 March. I won't be putting the studded tyres on!

7 miles is a tick over 10km. Not excessive or mega miles.

Erdinger alkoholfreies Weißbier is what I would recommend.... Although if you're like me get the full day stuff. Full of electrolytes and minerals.

I was feeling pretty fatigued/sore muscles from exercise some time ago and did some research and ended up opting for these, due to the quercetin and
Magnesium, which I rate: https://www.naturesbest.co.uk/multivitamins/multis-for-all-adults/multimax-sport-for-men-and-women-to-support-an-active-lifestyle/

The vitamin D only works out at 600 IU so I do supplement that with a further 1000 IU after mine came back consistently low when I had long covid. My Mum has to take various supplements and done a lot of research/advice from doctors and Nature Best are recommended for their quality but not being stupidly expensive (note they are more than your supermarket tablet but the amounts in them are better).

Nature Best are recommended for their quality but not being stupidly expensive

Thanks, sounds good to me 🙂

If your Hamstrings are feeling it you need to stretch them more!
Downward Dogs are your friend here - a couple of minutes after every ride, getting your heels towards the floor, alternately pedalling the legs - will get them feeling sweeter.

I'm doing 10 miles each way 3 to 4 days a week with WFH. I have found by just easing off the boil you'll only get to work or back home only a couple of minutes slower. I tend to ease up going home as I'm knackered.

Done three days this week followed by another two rides of 33 and 16 this weekend. Just have the odd easy day and make sure you are eating well.

This was recommended to me by cycling PT:

> Vitamin D 1000 + K2 (2000 in winter)
> Magnesium (Try different types until you find one that makes a noticeable difference, my preference is bisglycinate chelate).
> Zinc (Optional)
> Water + natural hydration aid.

Multi vitamins are not great, quantities of what you need are too low, with a lot of stuff you don’t.

Take the D and Magnesium before you go to sleep every night. They will improve sleep in addition to aid muscle repair.

You will feel the difference very quickly over winter. D for energy, mag for muscle repair.

Also make sure you're eating properly. Just a banana 30 mins before you ride will make a big difference and bump up your magnesium.

Don't buy cheap vitamins on Amazon, you won't notice any difference.

Let us all know how you feel after 2 weeks.

Be careful of some of the high does of stuff being recommended - some of them are high enough to get into the harmful range

Edit:  However I do take more than recommended of Vit D  I take 1000iu.  thats a safe dose

^^ +1 Defo speak to Dr or coach. Most will take urine / bloods on request if you tell them you are training / feeling tired and give you other complementary advice too. I was lucky enough to have everything tied to gym when starting out.

Outside of the supplements my biggest issue was not eating / drinking properly pre / post ride and resting.

If you’re commuting 5x days a week, make sure 3 of the 5 are pootles or in zone 2. Then have fun on the others. It can be very hard to keep energy down and consistent on commute which basically ends up as wasted exercise if you are trying to get faster.

Dehydration can be a factor that makes you feel lethargic. If you don't currently drink water during the day try doing so. Maybe have a snack kust after your commute - a banana or handful of nuts would be good.

I'm trying the Nature's Best 'sport' multi-vitamin as recommended by Ahsat. While browsing the site I remembered a thread about Ashwagandha on here so decided to give that a go too. Probably too early to say anything about either of these.

Activity wise, doing a 5 mile run on a Saturday is a much better option than on Sunday!  It meant I was able to properly hammer it home last Monday (then taking it easy for the rest of the week, with some off road messing about Friday), but definitely didn't feel capable of that yesterday or today.

For my hamstrings I think they may have been aggravated by the saddle I was using. The nose is quite narrow before rapidly  changing to quite a wide shape. It was the saddle off my old commuter. Maybe the extra 4 miles a day was just enough to make it an issue. Anyway, I've swapped it for a Brand-X saddle (similar shape to a charge spoon) which does feel better although needs getting used to again.

Supplements 🤣

just eat a balanced diet.

edit. Unless you’re in Scotland. In which case probably some vitamin D

edit edit. Back in the day ~15-20 years ago. I commuted ~30 miles per day. Modest by some standards. And probably why since stopping I’ve gotten a lot slower.

Vitamin D, Iron (you lose iron through sweat), and Omega 3 supplements should see you right. However I expect sleep and sufficient carbs are probably more important

I've just caught up on the Matt Stephens podcast with Stevie Williams. It would appear what you need is a Greggs Steak Bake or a Curry and pint of Cobra.

Back in the day ~15-20 years ago. I commuted ~30 miles per day. Modest by some standards.

Awesome. How many years did you do that for five days a week?

.

I’m commuting about 40 miles a day, 4 days a week and have been for 6 years.  I take vitamin supplements, but I’d also recommend a walk at lunch whilst it’s daylight (I commute in the dark at both ends for 4 months of the year) along with drinking more water through the day.  Dehydration isn’t always obvious in terms of being thirsty.  If you use a smart watch or HRM, check your recovery rates through the week.  A telltale sign for me is that my HR will drop quickly to 80-90bpm, but will then stay there for an hour.  If I’m not dehydrated, it’ll go back down to active resting (55) within 15mins.

Also agree with what others have said about effort.  That top 10% takes about 30% more sustained effort to achieve, especially in varied conditions.   You get used to doing a certain speed (29-30kph av in my case) and even if there’s a headwind, you unconsciously aim for this.  Heart rate or a power meter will average this out better than speed and leave you far less fatigued.

How many years did you do that for five days a week

constantly from 1998 to 2004. Then decreasingly until ~2010. Then very occasionally until 2017. Children, work demands, and family needs forced changes.

I'd be more thinking about nutrition and hydration than vitamins tbh, assuming you have a decent balanced diet otherwise. Mostly eating something snack-ish when you get to the office / get home that's a classic mix of carbs and some protein, staying hydrated generally, that and riding easy rather than hammering yourself.

It's really tempting to hope that a pill is going to have a huge impact, but unless you have a deficiency, it's probably not going to do much, though it likely won't hurt either. It's 'magic bullet' territory really. You're only riding 10 miles a day in blocks of five miles, so unless you're treating commutes as an impromptu time trial or your office is in the Himalayas/Alps, it shouldn't be a massive load.

If you think you genuinely do have some sort of vitamin/mineral issue, see your GP and get some blood tests and act on those would be my take.

I run 70 miles per week and take a generic multivitamin once a day and that’s it.
Just eat well, make sure your diet is balanced and you’ll be fine.

That's really not a high mileage unless theres a lot of hills in it.  I did 18+ miles a day for years without issues and I used to ride it as fast as I could.  But I did end up with very short hamstrings and generally inflexible.  I'd really recommend yoga or a proper hour of stretching at least once a week.

Supplements 🤣

just eat a balanced diet.

edit. Unless you’re in Scotland. In which case probably some vitamin D

edit edit. Back in the day ~15-20 years ago. I commuted ~30 miles per day. Modest by some standards. And probably why since stopping I’ve gotten a lot slower.

I used to do about the same to a different job and TBH it was about the optimum commute IMO, long enough to make some real fitness gains, short enough that the difference to the car really was negligible and not so much that it felt like too much come the evening/weekend.

The only "supplement" I took was an extra bowl of pasta on the side with dinner when required (bit of pesto, chili oil, herb oil, just parmesan, olive oil and black pepper) in the evening and keeping an eye on the rest of the meal. I could feel the difference the next day between for example a dinner with chips or pizza and a dinner with rice or pasta, clearly not all carbs are equal so I'd have a small portion of whatever anyone else was having, and my pasta.

Breakfast and lunch seemed to have negligible impact within reason. Anything cereal based as long as it was a big portion, and lunch was either a pasta salad or a baguette (Friday Fish and Chips was a bit heavy).

I think it's calories maybe rather than supplements.  When I've ridden in (30miles give or take) I normally get a bit of a drop in energy just before lunch and having something that's not biscuits to eat so you don't start a sugar high/low yoyo is really useful. When I ride home (rarely do in and out on the same day) I often bonk on the way home and either have a swing by a the one shop on the route or if I've been organised have something to eat on me. And then I get the munchies in the evening if I'm not careful.

You are talking a 7 mile ride each way - that's not massive. It's also short enough that the time taken between a steady and relaxed approach and a caning it really does not make a big difference. 30mins steady - 20mins on the rivet? I'd retrain your brain to think of it as what it is - a shortish commute that you are doing on a bike and just chill. I'll make a massive difference to how you feel by the end of the week.

I only do 50km over 3 days and personally I think it's a bit reductive for people to tell you you're not biking far enough to have tired legs. The wider picture counts, all the quick trips to the shops, any other activities in the evening, weekend rides, living in a hilly/windy place. It all adds up to my legs being pretty tired all the time. My point is, don't let those comments make you feel rubbish.

Anyway, I would suggest eating something with a degree of carb and protein straight after you arrive at work and same again at home. There is a short window immediately after exercise where recovery is much stronger if fuelled properly.