Sorry for the delay in replying guys, my immune system carked it last night and I got hit with the flu worse than I've ever experienced in my life (possible overtraining?). However, I went to sleep at 6PM last night and woke up at 8 today, so the 14 hours sleep seems to have helped significantly. I was planning on hitting the gym again today but decided, recovering to 100% would be a better idea.
Strength and endurance are a hard thing to train for together depending on what you mean by strength (1RM). Concurrent training wipes out much of the adaptation from resistance training (but if you are only riding weekends that largely minimised? - although only riding weekends cycling endurance will be hard to increase). You need to periodise your training focus on one aspect then the other, typically focus on strength, while doing a maintenance program for endurance, as the even get closer taper off strength training (train only enough to maintain) then focus on cycle endurance. Often this is done in 3 month cycle - it depends how long away the event is (Edit:Ah i see its 13-14 oct. definitely focus on more time in the saddle over gym and taper off 7-10 days before the event).
Can i just confirm you are at gym every week day and only cycling on weekends (due to time constraints)?
MWI, I read through your post and I'd first like to thank you for the depth of information you put into the response. I was really looking after specifics, not a generalised diet/nutrition/training regimes as I've already got a pretty sound knowledge on how to eat/train for either discipline (strength of endurance that is). I was really chasing if there were any specific ways to train for both at the same time.
That first assumption that I cycle only on weekends is correct and my strength training sessions go Sunday-Friday (Saturday is my day off). I'll take your advice on periodising my training though, focusing on endurance at the present; however I'm not sure how this will work out since I only have time to ride on weekends? Maybe I'll have to visit the cardio section of my gym *shudders*
I'm not qualified nor a professional in this area though I may be able to help.
First up you mentioned hypertrophy strength and endurance which two are you focusing on, strength and hypertrophy are not in the same boat.
It is possible to train two ways but it's not really effective, your workouts on the bike should be enough endurance with gym focusing on hypertrophy. You can axhieve what you want with the upper body but strengthening the legs or increasing hypertrophy while endurance training is someone going to not so much cancel out but not really improve greatly, you need to develop a periodisation program. As MWI said generally the goal is to improve one aspect while maintaining the other then taper and switch over.
Either way the good thing is you need to be in a anobolic state. This is much easier to work with, it is hard to say eat this ratio of foods and eat this amount of calories as everyone's body will vary.
What I can help with is try to get in the habit of preparing meals into containers that you can easily eat or heat up. You really want to eat every 2-3 hours no more than 4 hours between meals. You want to eat all complex carbs and only use simple carbs when requires like medical reasons or after workouts for replenishment and yes you can have them in the morning too, because you are not trying to loose weight to ahead and eat fruit all day of you wish (these are simple carbs) but its ok as long as you also eat complex carbs. Protien wise you want to get from whole foods, whey shake with simple carbs after a workout is good and then eat 1-2 hours later. You want a ratio of 2:1 or 3:1 of carbs to protien. Many body builder eat way too muh protien. There are reccomendations of 1.5-2g/lb body weight. Which is a fair amount. Though that said I'm like 60kg and on a 4000cal diet I am looking at like 225grams a day. You need to keep your your fluid with more protien to help the kidneys and make see its spaces between meals not dumped.
Before bed aim to stop carbs 3hours prior, you can eat fat and protien before bed but no carbs (or as little as possible) before bed aim for casien protien the slower absorbtion will aid energy while you sleep, having some fat like EFA's will help keep calories up and slow down protien breakdown a little further.
Now the reason, when we sleep our growth hormone peaks about 30min-1hour (I believe it's been a while) after we fall asleep this is responsible for building muscle and burning fat. When we consume carb the insulin released inhibits Gh from peaking resulting in less building and more storing of fat in the body.
Eat a balanced diet full of colours, fruit veggies lean proteins, replace your bad fats with good fats avocados almond spread instead of peanut butter, walnuts. Fatty fish like salmon.
With workouts focus on your percentages of 1RM and also your recovery, your recovery between sets also dictates the type of development you experience. Im not 100% on the number right now so i'll have to get back to it later.
I should have clarified that I'm aiming for predominantly hypertrophy at the moment, but definitely still focusing on strength also. I've made a lot of notes down on the diet tips, though my fast metabolism makes it very difficult for me to gain any sort of weight. It seems like a lot of effort to calculate your macros (specific protein, carb, fats, etc grams per day) so I've avoided doing so. I do attempt to count my calories however and if I'm running low on any given day, I'll eat a few spoonfuls of peanut butter or such as my last meal.
I have recently started taking half servings mass gainer daily, which adds an extra 650-800 calories (water-milk) to it so I should see some results from such. And to be honest, I don't really eat much vegetables or fruits, I've just been getting fibre from oats and such. I've always been under the impression that while it's not optimal, you can supplement all the vitamins and minerals you would get from fruit/veg, which is what I've been previously doing.
Like the others, im not a professional, but i do take an active interest. All of the above info is good. In regard to diet, I would add that any alcohol that you consume has many calories and is a carb, so slowing down on the grog is a good idea, especially nightcaps. For protein, I like eggs because they are tasty and quick. I'm talking cooked (poached actually).
Eating quality food after a workout should be done with minimal delay. This gets the good stuff in quickly and aids recovery, which leads to less fatigue and better traing which leads to better performance. So the theory goes. Remember to rest up between sessions. Get good sleep. If you are having trouble sleeping, you might be overdoing it. It is better to undertrain than overtrain.
I agree that spending more time on the bike is better at this late stage. Strength work for me takes at least 4 weeks before seeing any result or benefit (and it falls away just as fast).
Lucky for me I don't drink alcohol
I do enjoy eggs also, I've been considering eating them raw with condensed milk and soda water (srs) for convenience and extra protein.
I usually don't get much of a chance for proper food after a workout because I eat before going to the gym and by the time I finish it's time for work, though I do have my protein shake.