Post 12 hour effort – struggling to replace calories spent

I’m heading for my first 24 hour solo in 2 months. I’ve done many as a member of a 4-person team over the past 15 years.

I’ve been building my endurance base over the last 9 months with this in mind and my strength and recovery is good for my weekly training load: 1x easy effort long ride around 6-7hrs, 1x 2hr easy effort, 1x 2hr hard effort climbing, 1x turbo 25min hard efforts.

Yesterday I went out on the first of my monthly long efforts at 10 hours, and it extended to 12 hours due to bad weather. Physically today I’m very tired and slow, and very hungry.

What foods can I eat to help replace the calories I used up over the 12 hours? Healthy stuff makes me smile a lot.

Some pointers here for nutrition:

Julia’s nutrition tips #5: Nutrition after riding

*slightly flippant answer*

Ten hours riding is 6000 calories. Body fat has 9 calories per gram. So, you’ll be about 700g lighter than before your ride.

You can only store 90 minutes worth of carbs, which is about 900 calories worth, or about 225g. A Mars bar an hour for three or 4 hours would sort that.

You might need to eat some extra protein to help recovery.

*/slightly flippant answer*

Drink water. Lots of it. Thirst often masquerades as hunger and you may end up overeating.

you went for a 12 hour ride and now you feel tired? Who’d have thought it ;p

Seriously: don’t forget that the weather can make a big difference. 12 hours freezing your nuts off will likely be a lot harder than the event itself*

*assuming we don’t end up with continuing silly weather

My strategy includes staying firmly in Z2 heart rate. Regular pit stops to fuel. Go slower to extend endurance. I eat regularly throughout the ride. You can get to a point where if you stay within Z2 and fuel more or less equals fuel spent. Want to go faster? Improve Z2 endurance, strength training in gym, more miles. Try back to back to improve endurance. Very cold weather does have an affect. I find I perform much better in mild weather.