Food/Diet Post Ride Re-Hydration/Recovery

[treble]

Im looking for a bit of advice with post ride hydration and recovery.

I've been getting out on a few XC rides lately. While I'm out I feel fine and have heaps of energy, but I'm finding that within an hour of getting home I end up with a killer headache and just crash. I drink as much water as I can during and after the ride, sometimes so much I'm heading to the toilet every few mins. But i can't seem to get re-hydrated.
Recently I've tried putting one of those electrolyte tablets in a bottle of water to drink post ride and that seems to help a bit.

Anyone have any post-ride recovery tips?

 

[Minlak]

It is not just water you need to consider.
1) Your body can only absorb "X" amount of water in any given time period (cant remember amount in time frame)
2) You tend to think to drink when you get thirsty and on a bike with sweat and cooling breeze you are playing catch up from the start.
3) The apathy and lack of energy after ride will also depend on your body reserves. I can ride 2hrs ish with no ill effects and with only water if I push it to 2.5hrs or longer I am buggered for the rest of the day and playing catch up to my fatigue.

Being hydrated all the time before / during / after the ride and also look at your nutrition. I have my Garmin and every 10mins I drink weather I am thirsty or not Just a mouthful or 2. If you have no real fat reserves eat a banana or bar pre ride or even half way through the ride.

 

[driftking]

A good guide is 1kg of weight = 1kg of water. Of course you will also loose glycogen stores and nutrients etc. So you need to make sure you are fueling.
If you get home and you are 1kg lighter than when you left you know you need more hydration and fuel. You can also over drink, not only is over drinking dangerous to the point of been deadly in extreme cases but it can go the other way and cause you to feel worse. (the link below explains a bit of this)

You need to take some time to monitor your eating and fluid during the ride and have a good post and pre ride nutrition. For long events you can look into fluid and carb loading.

You need to realise though that been tired is going to be normal though, even if you do hydrate and fuel before, during and after you are still taxing your body and that takes time to recover.

When we exercise our digestion and kidneys slow down the amount of fluid it will for lack of better work process so as minlak said you can't just dump lots of fluid in at once.

The AIS has some good information here;
http://www.ausport.gov.au/ais/nutrition/factsheets/hydration/fluid_-_who_needs_it

And

specific fluid calculation estimates and details.
http://www.ausport.gov.au/ais/nutrition/factsheets/hydration/how_much_do_athletes_sweat

Those two specifically the last one, and with some personal effort on your part will help you get your fluid sorted at least.

 

[mtb101]

reckon there's 2 things you aren't doing, 1. is proper nutrition generally, getting in the right carbs and hydration and 2. when you do ride you are smashing it a bit beyond your fitness level. follow a plan where you have easy, medium, hard days and your body will adapt better to the training as the headaches sound like you've over spent when you're done.

 

[pistonbroke]

How long have you been riding?
How long are the rides you are doing?
How often do you ride?
Is it hot or cold?

 

[pink poodle]

Pre ride is just as important as post. I like to arrive well hydrated and full of a solid pre ride meal (eg yoghurt fruit seeds etc). I also notice a difference between having had a coffee and not having had a coffee. I use to love a big bacon and eggs feed, but not so much anymore.

Post ride is a coffee, lots of water (probably too much! I usually down ~1L deliberately to flush through then drink consistently), and carbs. Nature of carbs depends on how big the ride was (eg 6+ hours = pizza and ice cream. 2-4 hours = healthier approach). I eat plenty healthy across the week and entertain my bad habits on ride days. When I don't employ some/all of this I usually end up sore/tired.

I usuay hit up a 4-8 hour ride a week, and a few ~3hour rides. Plus I ride around every day.