Coach Nicole believes in hydration!
Yesterday, I rode my bike to and from work for the first time. It was a 24 mile trip and took me just over 2 hours, each way. I was working on logging enough hours in an “overload” week to earn rest week during my vacation that starts tonight. It worked and I am exhausted. I had to tell my legs to shut up a lot on the ride home. They didn’t really hurt, they just seemed not to want to move anymore.
The most frustrating and also most interesting thing was how differently my blood sugar behaved on the two rides. My blood sugar behaved and allowed me to fuel the “performance” (such that it was) in the afternoon. In the morning, not so much.
I know Coach Marcey will be addressing the need to practice in the time of day of your event so I’m not going to say much more about that now. One thing I’ve learned from her, though is how critical hydration is. And I realized that starting out before the sky lightens meant I hadn’t had more than a few sips of water before I left. Riding in the dark, I was not vigilant about drinking enough while riding. I drank a lot of water (w/electrolyte tabs) after I got to my desk. I was happy to see the blood sugar settle nicely into range pretty quickly with a correction bolus and plenty of fluids. I even ate fries at lunch with no late afternoon BG spike! (Thanks, I’m sure, to the a.m. ride, but I’m not recommending them for a recovery meal or anything.)
Water: it works!
