Completely wiped out after a 2 hour bike ride?

Long ride or not, you have the same diet as my 5 year old.

Anyway, what was the meal you had after "recovery?" That is just as important. Please tell me there is a vegetable in there somewhere?

What did you do while ON the bike?  If you didn't hydrate at all, that could be your problem.  Any calories while riding?

NM - I see the 20oz.  Probably not NEARLY enough fluids for 2 hours depending on climate or intensity.

I know I'm speculating a little/lot based on the info you gave me, but that's my first guess.

First off remember everyday is different so you need to experminet more than once to get the true effect of your plan. Things like the previous day's caloric as well as fluid intake also come into play. Think of it as abuilding blocks.Each day builds on the next so if you have a defecit one day it will surely effect the next day's ride. Now about your plan; On the surface it seems like a lot of simple sugars with very little protein and no fat. All three(carbs/Pro/Fat) are needed to fuel you long. Next the calorie count seems low for a guy your size.Not to mention activity level.   I used to try different oatmeal combinations in the morning but I found they left me a little flat. I switched to peanut butter and honey on whole wheat  in the morning and it works great. Before Placid I ate a Peanut butter and blueberry gu (roctane) sandwich and a banana  first thing. I washed it down with a serving of heed. I practiced this prior and found the peanut butter adds the fat and protein I needed. I guess the point is try to increase the calories with  a higher quality  of foods. Frosted Flakes taste great but they aren't fuel. On another note I'm not completely sold on the Chocolate Milk as recovery either. Invest in a quality protein powder or recovery supplement and see if that helps. Remember 4 grams of Carb to one gram of Protein is usually a good starting point for a recovery drink.

Good Luck!! 

Are you training for a race or trying to fit in at the dorm? I think you need to clean up the choices a little and start there. I don't remember Friel writing about Cheez its and Mcdonalds but I'll check.

Seriously - A lot of empty food choices there. Think Whole Wheat pastas, brown rice, veggies, and lean protein sources. 

Here's another angle on it - you have probably burned as many calories as you ate.  So there is nothing left "in the tank" as it were.  Unless you are trying to lose weight (and based on your numbers, you shouldn't be), I'd call it at least a 500 calorie deficit going into the ride.. Plus most of the calories are going to be "fast burning" - a lot of simple carbs in that diet; not enough protein or complex carbs to really keep you going.

Plus it looks like you entered your ride on a total of only about 1000 cal intake at that point for the day. You, my friend, have bonked.

Look at it this way. Overnight, your body burns glycogen to keep itself alive.  Breakfast is meant to refill the liver's stores, and bring you back to zero (since you wake up in what is basically a calorie deficit). You probably burned 1000 calories or more on the bike ride, depending on how hard you pushed.  You start at 0; add the 560 calorie banana sandwich, and maybe the 130 cal of gatorade. Total intake - 690. Total used for the ride - 1000+. Now you are in a deficit of at least 300+ cal, which you barely took in at 2 pm. 

And yeah, it looks like a dorm room diet to me.

I would say that there is about a 95% chance that you pushed your limits and as a result you are fatigued.  Unless you have a very high BMR, your caloric intake should be sufficient (probably a little on the high side) and it's just pushing your current fitness level that is causing you to feel wiped out.  (hard to say without anything in your logs but that would be my guess)

Shane

I agree 100% with this and a few others that have hit on your food choices.  I don't believe 300 kcal of frosted flakes will fuel us the same way as 300kcal meal of grilled chicken, broccoli, brown rice & walnuts.  When I first decided to cut out processed foods, it was HARD!  I felt like there was practically nothing I could eat.  The parameters I was given was 'if you can find it on this earth in its natural form so to speak, you can eat it.)  In time it got easier and I got more creative.  So, here are some more ideas for you of unprocessed foods should you decide to go that route...

Protein (lean meats, chicken, steak, seafood, fish, eggs, protein shakes (the shakes are the one 'processed' thing I do and think they are an excellent post workout choice).

 Carbs (brown rice, Ezekiel Bread (usually in an organic freezer section of a grocery store), pasta made from brown rice, oats/oatmeal (not the packets of apple cinnamon oatmeal), baked potatoes, sweet potatoes, fruits, corn

 Fats (olive oil, flax oil, natural pb, walnuts, almonds)

 Veggies (knock yourself out!  I eat about 2 C. of veggies at least 3 meals...this is a TON of veggies!)

Good luck!

I don't agree. Based on the formula you can find here, his BMR is 1968.  That's an "at rest" number.  He hasn't taken in nearly enough calories (he reports a total of 1500) to compensate his BMR plus his 2 hour ride. (Heck, if he was pushing hard enough, he didn't take in enough to cover the ride itself). 

Some of you would be shocked to learn Phelps diet and food choices!!!

Bottom line, yes eating healthier might help (I do for other reasons) but there are many examples around of people with no so good diets (based of what we are been told) yet they are healthier than many folks eating better. It goes back to the whole we are all different thingy and all... I am not saying I am just saying

Okay, here's the numbers as I see them (we'll look at the whole day):

BMR - 1968Cal - 2hr*82Cal/hr = 1804Cal
Cycling (we'll say he has a decent training pace 20mph) - approx 1600Cal
Intake - 3300Cal

So, assuming that all servings were exact, the BMR is correct and that the dietary numbers are 100% accurate, he is running a deficit of 104Cal; meaning my assumption that he might be on the high side was in error - depending on cycling speed) but definitely not running short given that a typical athlete will have approximately 2000Cal of stored glycogen, this is more than enough to have covered the small shortfall.  Considering that you need to be short about 500Cal/day in order to lose a pound a week, I would say that the fueling is probably not the key reason for feeling wiped out.

Shane

Yeah, you should eat better, but I don't think that's why you bonked at the end of the ride.  20 oz of Gatorade isn't going to be enough calories (or fluid for that matter) for that length of time on the bike.  Drink more (maybe mix up the Gatorade with something like Accelerade that has some protein, or add some gels and water), and add some calories during the ride as you can, will help.

Gotta agree with Jorge though, nothing will help like riding more. 

 Completely agree!  We are indeed all different and it's about what will work for you.  Personally, I feel wiped and feel like total crap when I eat crap food, which is every Saturday.  So, for me, I have found how I feel in a workout is very closely linked to the quality of food I have eaten that day and the day before moreso than my caloric intake.  Again, all stuff that is worth playing around with and takes awhile to nail.

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say it wasn't your nutritional choices.  Yeah, everyone is different, but for a two hour ride first thing in the morning I have one water bottle, and maybe a gel if I am feeling peckish.  I recover with other stuff, including chocolate milk, but I think the pre ride and ride calories were at the least sufficient.

I have had 2 hour rides that felt like crap, and I have a pretty big base. There's nothing in your logs to tell me if 2 hours is a short, medium or long ride for you, or how many miles you have on your legs.   Perhaps you just had one of those off days.

OK, so for the whole day, he is OK.  But he has only had about 1500 or so calories at the time of his ride.  At that point, he shifts to using glycogen stores. This can contribute to the feeling of "bonking". But after he replenishes his caloric deficit, he should feel fine (and he comes pretty close to replacement as your math shows).

Although it's probably true that other factors come into play.

Agreed. It's sometimes hard to pinpoint. Sometimes I just have a REALLY crappy workout for seemingly no reason and it could be any number of things (assuming I'd been keeping to my "normal" schedule of food/sleep, etc).