What's wrong with me??

[mill4six]

I have a problem, I keep running out of oomph. I ride a 30 mile round trip to work and back each day, 4 days a week. It used to be only twice a week but after my LEJOG, 80 miles a day for 13 days I figured I could handle the extra 2 days in my sleep. Had the same thing on days 1 and 2 of the trip but eating an awful lot solved it for me (7500 calories a day, still lost 8lb). I wake up in the morning, have a bowl of muesli and ride 15 miles to work no probs. During the day I eat elevenses, coffee + cake, lunch 2 sarnies, crisps, fruit, yoghurt and afternoon snack, snickers or flapjack followed by lucozade sport for the journey home. A lot you might agree. But every now and then I come over a bit funny on the ride home, I break out in a cold sweat, my legs turn to jelly and I get the shakes. It's much worse if I omit the flapjack or lucozade. Happened again today not as bad but I felt a bit out of myself for a while. The only thing that sorts it is sugar but surely my body should be replenishing glycogen with the amount I eat. I've plenty of fat stores if needed so what is going on. How can I get this sorted? It's a fairly fast ride so I'm putting in some effort but it's not like I'm breathless and god knows I'm fit enough by now.

[patricktaylor]

My first thought is that there's perhaps nothing really wrong with you. Apart from your occasional turns, you sound pretty fit to me, and certainly eating enough. So, without wishing to sound glib, could the cause be in your mind? People can come over a bit funny sometimes precisely because they expect to. I would have a try at putting it completely out of your mind as you cycle home, and think about something else, and see what happens. Imagine you're Greg LeMonde (or something).

[jimmynoboat]

How old are you mill4six? I'm serious, I'm 49 and I find that generally run out of steam in the afternoons. I love to ride early in the morning not just because there's less traffic but because I feel stronger. I usually do up to 25 miles on a cup of tea and the water in my bottles then I have to start eating in order to carry on. If I go out in the afternoon I often feel very weak for the first half hour or so and even when I get going I don't feel nearly as strong as I do in the mornings.

[PW]

I used to get that. It turned out that the culprit was a Kitkat with the afternoon tea, maybe an hour before going home. No chocolate, no problem. My father and grandfather both became type 2 diabetics in late old age, so I'm assuming it's an insulin reaction to the sugar content. I still can't tolerate chocolate until 1/2 an hour before the end of a ride, 20 years later.

[emergency_pants]

Maybe it's the type of food. Would this help? (googled for healthy energy foods).

I must remind myself to avoid the really full-on sugary stuff. I dislike the sickly lucozade drinks and I thnik they give you energy spikes - with dips when they wear off (relatively quickly). My favourite at the moment is those scrummy fruit and nut mixes - the ones with cashews, almonds, cherries and fat raisins, etc.

[eileithyia]

My thought was energy spikes and lows. Is there a history of diabetes in the family. It might be a good idea to be checked out. There is a lot of sugary food in your diet.

[Mick F]

Are you hungry when you get home?

When I used to commute, I'd eat like a horse at lunch, and snack in the afternoon. I was starving by the time I got home. Part of my route was past the Ginsters factory, I would pass it at about 5pm, and the smell would make me drool!

I would need food within a few minutes when I got home, and if tea wasn't ready, I'd have to have a sandwich or something.

Maybe you're not eating enough.

[squeaker]

My thought was energy spikes and lows. Is there a history of diabetes in the family. It might be a good idea to be checked out. There is a lot of sugary food in your diet.

My thoughts too: not enough 'slow burn' complex carbohydrate?

[Wildduck]

Ditto avoiding the simple sugars and try sticking to complex carbs. A sudden influx of sugar can trigger an equally high release of insulin which will in effect drop your blood sugars (and could be the cause of the symptoms you are experiencing).

More importantly, if you continue to get these symptoms, especially if there is a history of late onset diabetes in your family (type 2), it might be worth getting checked over by your GP to see whether this may be the cause of your problems.

[mill4six]

Out with the white bread and bring on the rye bread then. If that don't work, one glucose tolerance test coming up! Thanks...

[paulah]

If it's more on the way home in the early evening then it could be somthing as simple as hayfever. I don't get itchy eyes or sneezing but sometimes I do suddenly loose energy or get a kind of mild migraine although the latter seems to be better with wrap-around cycling sunglasses. Try keeping track of the pollen count on the BBC weather page and and see if it matches your bad days.

[caldini]

How much water are you drinking? You should be getting through a litre to one and a half litres throughout the day before your ride home. You might want to swap that drink of lucozade for a cup of coffee and a banana.

[Ivor Tingting]

First thought like previous poster was dehyrdration. You need to be drinking alot. Have a drink of water before you start riding 6-10 gulps not too much and make sure your bottles are full. Eat more for breakfast, preferably yoghurt, banananas, berries, variety of nuts, dried fruit and some brown sugar. Cut out the crisps, snickers and cakes (unless home made). For lunch eat complex carbs, rice or spuds and a decent amount of protein also veg or salad including beetroot. It is brilliant stuff. It's good to eat as well. In the evening (not late) eat another high protein meal but with lots of veg and some carbs. Soups are good. Or just eat it all as a broth and some wholemeal bread. Also keep your drinking up. Don't go to bed dehydrated or on a full stomach of food. Snack on bananas, oranges, apples, nuts and dried fruit - sultanas, currants, figs, apricots. Don't eat muesli bars as they are stuffed full of refined sugars. Eat some oily fish a couple of times a week.

[Romeo Whisky]

Perhaps you are pregnant. or are you a bloke?

[rgc_911]

I get this occassionally when I commute - usually too many 'fast' rides on the trot. Just have a slow day (both ways)
and then I am fine.

I agree with all the comments about sugar as well - you're better of with a brown bread banana sarnie than a kit kat.
Lucozade Sport I ditched as I found it far too sugary and made me really dry in the mouth - now I use SIS Electrolyte (for racing)
or blackcurrant squash for training rides.

I've swapped to sultanas as my snack of choice now - you can eat loads of them

Problem is once you get that low on blood sugar you can't get it back whilst riding (in my experience - I usually 'go' at 45 miles on long rides
and it's all over if it happens)

A diabetes test sounds a good idea if you have suddenly started getting this - I would have thought LeJog would have shown up any food issues.

cheers
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