Nutrition before and after cycling trips and races

Nutrition before and after cycling trips and races

Nutrition before and after cycling trips and races

Have you also had the situation of not knowing how to adjust yourself to the best condition before the game? Here I will talk about some simple nutritional supplements. They are very simple and common in daily life some food or supplements, you can easily get these things, to serve as everyone travel and competition process, a strong energy supplement!

Let's start with the human body's energy supply. In low intensity riding, the body mainly burns fat to provide energy, at this time the rate of lactic acid decomposition and the same rate of production, the body does not produce lactic acid buildup, so will not feel muscle soreness. If the intensity increases, the body will begin to anaerobic respiration, direct decomposition of carbohydrates in the body, at this time will produce a large amount of lactic acid, accelerating muscle fatigue.

The most stored carbohydrate in the body is liver glycogen, and when the intensity of exercise increases, blood sugar is broken down, and liver glycogen can be quickly hydrolyzed to form glucose, thus providing the body with rapid energy. But liver glycogen stores in the body are generally very low, an hour of intense exercise is basically depleted. When liver glycogen is depleted, it can only return to fat for energy, but the anaerobic breakdown of fat to produce lactic acid will be very fast, far faster than the body to break down lactic acid, so at this point you will quickly feel fatigue and can not maintain the intensity of the previous exercise. As you can see, the role of liver glycogen for the race is obvious, so what about the long-distance role? When long distance in fact inevitably has to rush the situation, at this time body will use the liver glycogen.

So how do you increase the liver glycogen stores in your body?

When a tree is cut with a gash, that gash will grow into a scab that will not only stick out but will be much harder than the rest of the trunk. This is a self-recovery ability of the organism after a trauma or high-intensity exercise, and this is the principle used to increase liver glycogen. First, start with a big intensity ride, it must be very intense and last long, the best way is to have a small long distance! After that, go back and eat more food like rice and noodles to quickly replenish glucose, and the excess glucose will be synthesized by the body into liver glycogen and stored. Don't do any exercise for the next 2-4 days while eating lots of sugary foods.

This will allow liver glycogen to recover in excess, improving athletic performance and enhancing endurance on long trips to catch up. Of course this approach, with a few adjustments, can be a way to get yourself into the best shape before the race. First, high intensity training for 3-7 days, the last day, must be large intensity, a little longer, but ever be careful not to strain the muscles. Next, eat more sugary foods every day, about 2-4 days after the body can be in the best competitive condition. This is because the muscles will be stronger after the initial high-intensity training and the liver glycogen stores will be at a higher level.

Long distance process, the most important is also the most easily ignored, in fact, is salt! More accurately, sodium ion! Especially in the summer when it is very hot, sweating increases, the body loses water and salt very quickly, and at this time, if you only pay attention to replenish water without sufficient Na intake, there will be many symptoms of low sodium (hypotonic dehydration), depending on the degree of sodium deficiency, common symptoms include dizziness, blurred vision, weakness, fine and rapid pulse, confusion in severe cases, muscle spasmodic pain, tendon reflexes The common symptoms include dizziness, blurred vision, weakness, rapid pulse, confusion in severe cases, muscle spasm pain, weakened tendon reflex, coma, etc. According to the degree of sodium deficiency, hypotonic dehydration is clinically classified into three degrees.

  • Mild: fatigue, dizziness, numbness in hands and feet, and insignificant thirst. Serum sodium is below 135mmol/L, and sodium in urine is reduced.   
  • Moderate: In addition to the above symptoms, there is often nausea, vomiting, fine and rapid pulse, unstable blood pressure, blurred vision, and low urine output. Serum sodium is below 130mmol/L.   
  • Severe: confusion, diminished or absent tendon reflexes, xerosis, and even coma. Shock often occurs. Serum sodium is below 120mmol/L.

So when you notice the above symptoms while cycling, especially when you feel very tired, a little dizzy, have trouble seeing and don't want to eat, you must consider if it is a case of low sodium! I have had two cases of low sodium symptoms, and as soon as I noticed, I drank very salty soup and ate salty crackers, and the symptoms subsided immediately after a little rest. So how to prevent the emergence of low sodium symptoms? Long-distance riding students, the conditions can bring their own salt, the deployment of light salt water to drink (salty sports drinks can also be.), according to the physiological saline deployment concentration, which can also accelerate the absorption of water cells, if too salty, not only can not play a role in hydration, but will be because the body to metabolize the excess salt and loss of more body fluids. In addition, some salty soup when eating is also a good choice, such as eating noodles in the morning drink a little more salty noodle soup, noon and evening meal drink some vegetable soup and so on, are effective ways to prevent low sodium symptoms.

Finally, some of the necessary nutritional supplements after the end of the campaign. We will consume a lot of vitamins, minerals after exercise, at the same time, the body's recovery also needs a variety of vitamins, proteins and other nutrients, therefore, after long-distance and training competition, nutritional supplementation is very important, otherwise, the body will appear slow recovery and a variety of discomfort.

The body's vitamins are divided into fat-soluble and water-soluble ones. Fat-soluble ones are represented by vitamin A. Overdosing on fat-soluble vitamins can lead to toxic symptoms, while overdosing on water-soluble vitamins does not, because excess vitamins can be excreted quickly in urine.

Supplementation explains the importance of vitamin c.

1. Our body is made up of cells, which are linked together by an intercellular matrix, the key component of which is collagen. Collagen accounts for 1/3 of the body's protein, generating connective tissue and forming the body's skeleton. Such as bones, blood vessels, ligaments, etc., determines the elasticity of the skin, protects the brain, and helps the body heal from wounds. And vitamin c is an essential ingredient in the body's synthesis of collagen.
2. Vitamin c is a water-soluble and powerful antioxidant. It can protect other antioxidants, such as vitamin A, vitamin E, unsaturated fatty acids, to prevent free radical damage to the body.
3. Vitamin c can also reduce trivalent iron, which is difficult to absorb and utilize, to divalent iron, promote the absorption of iron in the intestine, improve the utilization of iron in the liver, and help treat iron deficiency anemia.

4. Cancer prevention, rich in collagen helps prevent the spread of cancer cells. The antioxidant effect of VC can resist the damage of free radicals on cells to prevent cell mutation; block nitrite and secondary amines to form strong carcinogenic nitrosamines. Some people have autopsied patients who died of cancer and found that the VC content in the patients was almost zero.
 
5. Protect the cells, detoxify and protect the liver. In human life activities, it is vital to ensure the integrity of cells and proper metabolism. For this purpose, glutathione and enzymes play an important role.

Glutathione is a short peptide composed of glutamic acid, cystine and glycine, which has a redox effect in the body. It exists in two forms, oxidized and reduced, with the reduced form playing an important role in ensuring the integrity of cell membranes. VC is a strong antioxidant that is oxidized by itself and reduces oxidized glutathione to reduced glutathione, thus exerting an antioxidant effect.

VC can reduce disulfide bond (-S-S) to -SH, which can improve the activity of related enzymes and play the role of antioxidant.

In summary, as long as VC is sufficient, then VC, glutathione and -SH form a powerful antioxidant combination to scavenge free radicals, stop the toxic effects of lipid peroxidation and certain chemicals, and protect the detoxification capacity of the liver and normal cell metabolism.

6. Improve the immunity of the body. VC can enhance the chemotaxis and deformation ability of neutrophils and improve bactericidal ability. It promotes the production of lymphocytes and improves the body's recognition and killing of foreign and malignant cells. Participate in the synthesis of immunoglobulins. Improve CI complement esterase activity and increase the production of the complement CI. Promote the production of interferon, interferes with the transcription of viral mRNA, and inhibits viral proliferation.
7. Improve the body's emergency response capacity. Abnormal stimulation of the body, such as severe pain, a cold, hypoxia, and strong mental stimulation, triggers a state of stress to resist the abnormal stimulus. This state is accompanied by a series of physical, including sympathetic excitation, increased secretion of adrenal medulla and corticosteroids. The adrenaline and noradrenaline secreted by the adrenal medulla are produced with the conversion of tyrosine, which requires the participation of VC in the sub-process.

There is still controversy in the medical community about the overdose of vitamin C. Therefore, it is recommended that you use vitamin C in the recommended dosage when you are not normally riding and your body does not need to recover.

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