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Cycling Nutrition with Monique Ryan: Eating for high intensity training

  • By Monique Ryan
  • Published Apr. 13, 2005
  • Updated Sep. 7, 2011 at 2:49 PM UTC

As your training program progresses to a build phase and your training rides increase in time and especially intensity for development of speed and strength, your nutritional requirements also move up a notch. Harder training burns more fuel, and the amount of carbohydrate you consume has a direct impact on your muscle glycogen levels and recovery. Hard training days and heavy training weeks, also require a step-up in your protein intake to build and repair muscle tissue. Putting it all together nutritionally during a build week in your training cycle, means not only consuming adequate calories, carbohydrates, and protein that day, but also timing your meals and snacks properly around training for both energy and recovery.

Optimal hydration and fueling strategies during hard rides are also important as you sweat to cool your body and burn through muscle glycogen stores for fuel. Most cyclists train once a day, and chances are that some long and hard rides are on your evening weekday schedule, along with the demanding group weekend rides. Let’s take a look at the nutritional requirement for botha 170 lb. male cyclist and a 135 lb. female cyclist.

The amounts of nutrients required per pound of body weight are also provided so that you can estimate your own nutritional requirements. Of course every cyclist has their own unique nutritional prescription based on their body weight, metabolic rate, and training intensity- but take a look at the sample menu provided for further guidance. The sample menu provided is designed to fuel the cyclist for a three hour training ride.

Riders: 170 lb. (77 kg) male cyclist 135 lb.(61 kg) female cyclist
Energy requirements
23 calories/lb.
(50 calories/kg)
3900 calories 3450 calories
Carbohydrate
4 gm/lb. (8-9 g/kg)
 680 g total 600 g total
Protein requirements
0.7-0.8 g/lb.
(1.5-1.7 g/kg)
 115-130 g 105-120 g
Carbs 2 hrs Pre-Training
0.7-0.9 g/lb. (1.5-2 g/kg)
 115-150 g 102-135 g
Carbs During Training
0.45 g/lb. (1 g/kg) per hour		 77 g 68 g
After Training
Carbs- 0.54 g/lb.
(1.2 g/kg)Protein- 10-20 gFluid- 20 ounces (600 ml) for every pound weightloss		 92 g 81 g

Sample Menu (3-hour evening ride) This menu reflects nutritional preparation for a hard evening ride and the fact that the cyclist is hungry from plenty of high intensity training during a build week. The female cyclist could trim 500 calories to stay within her estimated energy needs by reducing the granola to one half cup at breakfast, reducing the rice portion at dinner to two-thirds a cup, reducing the fish portion slightly at dinner, and consuming just the sports drink and one gel during the three hour ride.

Breakfast
Granola, one cup (240 ml)
Wheat germ, 3 Tbsp. (60 ml)
Milk, soy or dairy, 8 ounces (240 ml)
Banana, 1 large
Egg, 1 or egg whites, 3

Snack
Yogurt, 12 ounces (360 ml)
Orange, 1 medium

Lunch
Turkey, 4 ounces (120 g)
Bread, whole grain, 2 slices
Avocado, 2 slices
Lentil salad mix, 1 cup (240 ml)
Apple, 1 medium

Pre-ride snack
Granola bar, 1
Grapes, 30
Juice, 8 ounces (240 ml)

During ride
Sports drink, 24 ounces per hour (720 ml)
Total: 72 ounces per hour (2160 ml)
(goal is to match sweat rate as closely as possible)
Gel packet: 2 during ride

Recovery snack
Smoothie: Milk, soy or dairy, 12 ounces (360 ml)
Yogurt, 6 ounces (180 ml)
Frozen berries, 1 cup (240 ml)
(20 ounces of fluid for every pound of weight loss)

Dinner
Fish, 7 ounces (210 g)
Brown rice, cooked, 1.5 cups (360 ml)
Streamed broccoli, 1 cup
Salad, 2 cups Salad dressing, 4 Tsp. (120 ml)

Monique Ryan

Monique Ryan, MS, RD, LDN is a nationally recognized nutritionist with over twenty-two years of experience and is owner of Personal Nutrition Designs, a Chicago based nutrition consulting company that provides nutrition programs for endurance athletes across North America. Monique consults with the Chicago Fire Soccer Team, and was the nutritionist for Saturn Cycling from 1994 to 2000. She has also consulted with the Volvo-Cannondale Mountain Bike Team, the Gary Fisher Mountain Bike Team, and the Rollerblade Racing Team. Monique has consulted with USA Cycling, and was a member of the Performance Enhancement Team for the Women’s Road Team leading to the 2004 Athens Olympics. She has also provided nutrition consultation services to USA Triathlon for coaching clinics, athlete clinics, and for the resident athlete team and was a member of the USAT Performance Enhancement Team for the 2004 Athens Olympics. Monique is the author of “SportsNutrition for Endurance Athletes,” 2nd edition (March 2007), from VeloPress,which provides sports specific nutrition for road cycling, mountain biking, running, triathlon, swimming, rowing, and adventure racing. She is also author of “PerformanceNutrition for Winter Sports” (PeakSports Press), “Performance Nutritionfor Team Sports” (PeakSports Press), and “Complete Guide to Sports Nutrition. Monique is a regular contributor to VeloNews, Inside Triathlon, Outside, and ACE Fitness Matters. Please send your questions to velonewssteve@competitorgroup.com.

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