While doing a SSB1 workout (Carson to be exact), I became very shaky and started sweating much more than normal close to the end of the workout. I felt like all the energy had left me and I was extremely hungry.
After the warm down I drank 1.75 servings (3 scoops) of Skratch’s Recovery Shake, I was thinking my body was probably super low on carbs and I needed to get something into my system. 1 hour later I’m still very hungry and I’m trying not to destroy a plate of cookies, but I’m not that interested in the chick fil a in front of me. I have questions:
Is what I experienced on the bike similar to “the bonk”?
Am I craving sugar right now because my glycogen stores have been depleted?
I’m actually trying to control my sugar intake somewhat, so if my body is looking for more carbs (after 3 scoops of sugary recovery shake) what are some other options?
I had a chocolate milk before getting on the trainer, partly because I was slightly hungry and I had just rode home from work. I did not eat anything during the ride.
Everyone is different, but Carson is not intended to be a difficult workout. You posted earlier that Baxter -2 also wiped you out and that’s even easier (by a lot). Something is going on here, I don’t think this is normal.
Immediate questions that come to mind are:
How new is structured training for you?
How are you preparing for your workouts? Nutrition mainly, but sleep and recovery also come into play.
What other activities are you doing? These efforts should be very achievable. Are you doing lots of physical activity during the day that might explain coming into the ride less than fresh?
How did you set your FTP? Did you do the Ramp Test? Can you post a screen shot of the test?
Are you recovering properly? Are you doing workouts on concurrent days?
If TR is new, what was your overall fitness like coming into it?
As others have commented, a ride like Carson I’ll usually do fasted in the morning and then just have my regular breakfast. If I was doing this after work, I’d have my regular lunch, come home do the ride and then have my regular dinner. In short, nothing special. A chocolate milk before the ride and then recovery shake afterward feels like a lot of unnecessary simple carbs. As a general rule post-ride I’m just looking for regular food. Oatmeal in the morning, turkey salad sandwich after a morning group ride and dinner (chicken breast, brown rice, vegetables) for an early evening ride. Just want to give my body good macros from wholesome food.
Baxter -2 was my very first TR workout after doing the ramp test. I admit some hyperbole in that post, I think more accurately is that it was tougher than I expected.
Carson was not physically difficult, it was definitely hard but I got it done. What was difficult was dealing with what I think was hunger during the ride. I felt like I wanted to get off the bike and eat a bag of cookies immediately.
Here are some answers to your questions:
I am new to structured training, I commute by bike 4-5 days week.
I don’t have any restricted diet but I do eat until I am full. Lately, after starting RT and getting back into powerlifting, I’ve been hungrier and therefore eating more. I get about 6 hours of sleep a night.
I weight train and go to a kickboxing gym once a week. I have 4 children under 8 which is exercise in of itself.
I did a ramp test, hopefully this screenshot works
Your “controlling” your sugar intake. Does this mean you’ve made a recent dramatic change in lowering your sugar/carb intake? Is it possible that you’ve lowered your daily caloric intake and or carbs a bit too much too quickly? Your symptoms are exactly what I experience when I get into a calorie deficit too aggresively, no matter which TR workout it is, even easier ones. It sounds like you need to fuel up a bit, until your body says “I’m full”. It takes sufficient carbs to fuel the TR and other workouts you are doing. When I feel that way I go into “binge” mode a bit until I feel satisfied. Make sure you fuel before, during and after workouts.
I would studiously log calories in MyFitnessPal for a least a month, manually inputting calorie estimates for your weight-training and kick-boxing on top of the base calorie needs for someone of your stature and gender, then also add the measured calories from TR workouts and your commuting (assuming you have a power meter on your bike, if not use a heart rate monitor). Compare that to the total amount of calories you are taking in to see if you are even close.
