RH Clark

The world has definitely been focused to the negative to a higher degree the last couple of years. I have to do my best to tune out of everything for a bit every day. Do what you can to make some time to unwind every day my friend. I wish you all the best.

RH Clark

None of us can fix those big problems, but we can do something good for someone anytime we choose. It won't fix everything, but it helps. If nothing else, it helps me to get my focus off myself for a bit, and after seeing someone else's problems , I am a bit more grateful for my own life.

holytrousers

No, i didn't mean that tired.

holytrousers

Thank you for the advice, but i have been unable to stay in zone 2 or even low 3. That would mean very long commute times that i can't afford.

holytrousers

Is it possible that the tiredness i experience the next day comes from the quantity of food that i eat at night, which prevents my body to enter autophagy during the sleep ?
If that's the case, maybe eating less (less carbohydrates at least) would fix the problem. There's also the possibility to eat in the middle of the day, and skipping dinner...

RH Clark You mentioned once hitting the wall after a 24 hours fast : can you relate what exactly happened that day ? maybe other factors made you hit the wall, because in my experience fasting actually prevents that from happening. That's the main reason i do it when i ride.

RH Clark

I had worked very diligently for 2 years to lose weight. I had lost 180 lbs at that time and at 6'2 and fairly muscular, I only weighed 170 lbs. I was riding 100-150 miles a week riding some amount every day. I was trying to rid my belly of loose skin from going from a 48" waist to a 29" waist. To accomplish this, I had adopted a 22-2 intermittent fasting protocol. I would only eat any calories during that 2 hour window every day, usually around 2pm. I had been eating like this for nearly a year at the time and was quite adapted to it. Just like you mentioned, I always seemed to have incredible energy during my fast.

On this particular day however, I just pushed things way too far. I had fasted calories for close to 30 hours when I started that ride. Somewhere around 30 miles in, I knew I needed to eat. I was feeling strange in my head. I couldn't continue my ride. I actually had to lay down on a park bench for over 2 hours. I did get some food when I stopped and ate at that time, but I think I had depleted myself so much that it took 2 full hours before I could get back on the bike and get back to my vehicle. I was really unable to even stand for a while when it happened and would have likely sought professional help if it had been possible during those first 2 hours.

My guess is that you are in ketosis during your fasted rides. You fast enough that your cells are more adapted to burning fat than carbs. There are many studies that suggest humans may get a sort of supercharged burst during that state. It is hypnotized that it is a survival mechanism built in to provide the enhanced ability needed to hunt down wild game even after extended periods without food. I have personally noticed a "feeling" of heightened focus and energy many times around the 20-hour mark without calories. This only happened though after I had adapted to burn ketones. It took me months initially to become adapted where I didn't feel hungry or week without carbs every few hours.

holytrousers

The measurements you provided suggest that you were fat-depleted, is that a possibility ?

RH Clark

I was consuming around 30% of my calories as fat at the time. I had been quite a while without food though and had much smaller amounts of fat on my body. If I am not mistaken the body stores fuel in the muscles and liver even when totally adapted to burn fat. It is my understanding that you convert your own body fat into that fuel to be used immediately. I think I had simply burned through every last bit of that stored fuel and it took me 2 hours or rest and food to be able to get my levels back to normal.

Iride01 

Well there is probably your answer. It would seem to me that you are depleting your energy stores because you refuse to supplement with carbohydrate during the ride and your body is trying to replete it's glycogen stores during the day or two you are recovering.

You either need to make time to go slower or you'll suffer under your current regimen.

Though typically when I am tired the next day that is usually when I can see that I didn't adequately hydrate. Though that happens when I'm doing a lot of other stuff outside in the heat and it's not as convenient to get water or fluids as it is when I'm on a bicycle.

Over time, if you continue to just use water, your energy conversion rate of fats might improve and let you achieve a faster pace without depleting all your glycogen stores. But from what I read, it's not something that happens overnight, might be over years of such training.

Even a very lean person at the lower limits of their BMI just before being anorexic have plenty of fat to draw from. Fat just doesn't convert to usable energy as fast as the limited glycogen stores do. But because they are limited, the body reserves them for when you are doing harder efforts.

streetsurfer

Thats my thought. Digestion ceases for most, around the third to fifth day of a water fast. The length it takes can depend on how you prepared for the fast. To the shorter end if you did something like juice fasted for a day or two prior. After digestion stops, a lot of the discomfort associated with fasting will subside. I am better able to exert myself when all my waste has been purged and digestion has slowed or stopped.
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