Fuelling workouts in recovery weeks

Training
1

I am currently in the recovery week in the middle of short power build and am interested in how people fuel the workouts while on the bike.

For context, I train first thing in the morning (c.530) so don’t eat beforehand and when it is a regular SS /threshold/VO2 session I take on board a combo of drinks, gels etc to get up near the 100g of carbs per hour. (am 83kg, 309 FTP)

I don’t have any problem completing the workouts fasted but just don’t want to negate the recuperative benefits of the recovery week. I have been taking a recovery shake immediately afterwards to mitigate this and remain relatively carb centric in other meals.

Any thoughts on what has worked well for others welcomed, otherwise I will probably experiment with taking some carbs on board about halfway through the longer weekend rides, with a gel or a couple of chews.

Thanks,

2

Obviously this is different for everyone and maybe even more different because you are doing these first thing in the morning without eating before hand. But I will usually eat about half of what I normally do on recovery week rides vs actual workout rides and I’ll normally tend toward more whole foods vs gels. I find I get tired of eating gels and other super sweet things so the recovery week is a good reset for me.

So I’ll eat bananas, Nature’s Bakery Fig Bars, or other more solid foods.

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3

good shout, might try a flapjack or similar - this week my wife has fed all the bananas to my daughter!

4

I think that it’s personal preference mainly. So long as you ingest some Carbs immediately after I can’t see many negative repercussions.

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