Originally Posted by
awesomeame
I was eating mainly Keto prior to the cycling season, (less than 20g carb) but after starting to ride had to start including carbs, at about 20% of daily cals. I found flat riding at low intensities no problem, but I'd be a complete wreck on any sort of climb. Even small climbs were slow going and exhausting.
From my experience, if you can keep your heartrate below I'd say 70-75% at all times, keto is easily manageable. Above this, your performance will be crap, and you'll exhaust quickly which you'll feel for the rest of the day..recovery seems slow.
I read base building for cyclists last week, and in the book he recommends going to 45% daily calories from carbs, so I've been trying this. Although great for performance (87km ride 2 days into diet, avg 26.8km/hr but kept it low-ish intensity) it doesn't appear to have done much for weight/body composition over the last week, and in fact I'm up 3lbs. I'm also noticing I'm sweating and am tired a lot...I feel very full/bloated, and frankly, dumb...like my brain isn't turning on. But at the same time muscle fatigue seems to be much less, I can definitely ride longer than at 20% carbs.
I'm going to dial back the carbs to maybe 25-35% and see how that goes.
Matt
Your body is basically a trainable chemical factory. It gets better at what you ask it to do. Doing keto, your body lost its knack for using carbs. When you eat carbs, keep the portions small and use whole carbs - w.w. bread, brown rice, etc., and the portions no bigger than your fist. If you feel full/bloated, eat less! Always stop eating when you aren't actually hungry anymore. The dumb feeling and sweating are from low B.S., probably from overeating carbs or eating too high G.I. carbs when not on the bike. I'm always careful to eat fat, protein, and carbs together, whether it's a snack or a meal.