Keep Healthy During The Coronavirus Quarantine
An early coach of mine used to say: “Fail to plan, is planning to fail.” But how do you plan in a year where literally the wheels came off so bad? March and April are months that every cyclist anticipates dearly. For the pro tour riders, it’s the Classics and for most amateur riders it’s time for training camps, early season races or just the sheer joy of warmer temperatures, longer daylight hours and big rides on the to-do list.
Not this time: most countries are in pandemic lockdown mode. The situation differs from country to country. While some don’t even allow cyclists to ride outside, others still accept individual rider doing their spring training. All races are canceled until the end of June and this makes all kinds of planning very challenging. And this means that your season build needs to be completely redesigned. For the serious bike racer there comes another challenge: how do I keep my body composition (not just weight, but fat percentage as well) in check with a completely changed training regime or how do I adapt my planned diet to these moving targets?
I want to share a few essential points and recommendations on how to adapt your nutrition to this difficult situation and highlight a few points to consider.
Let’s look at eating (off bike, your every day) and fuelling (what you eat in training or post-ride). This time of the year, many cyclists try to lower their body weight towards the desired race weight. This only works with a negative energy balance – i.e. you burn more calories than you eat. This affects both, eating and fuelling. In order to optimize fat oxidation, they cut carbs on the bike and to attain an energy deficiency they reduce their food intake during the day. Both measures should be reconsidered currently since both will compromise your immune system decisively.
Staying healthy comes first now and having a strong immune defense is crucial. I suggest eating according to your caloric needs with enough carbs spread evenly over the course of the day. The easiest control for you is a stable body weight. Don’t panic and weigh yourself daily or even morning and evenings. Step on the scales once a week. Cook with fresh ingredients (fruit and veggies), choose complex carbs during the day and use healthy fats sparsely. This gives you a nutrient-dense, healthy diet. Eat slowly and don’t watch TV or your smartphone during your meals – this will allow you to feel better when you had plenty and avoids overeating.
If you succeed in doing so, you don’t need any vitamin or mineral supplements. According to a few relevant studies on substances that should boost your immune system, there are mostly equivocal findings. If it makes you feel better or safer, chose a balanced multivitamin/-mineral blend and don’t max out on isolated nutrients – make sure it’s a safe product free of any contamination with banned substances.
Now for the fuelling part: For those cyclists that are really confined at home and spend hours on the trainer, there’s special attention to hydration. Not only do we seat a ton on the indoor trainer, adequate rehydration supports your immune system and when you drink enough, you produce more saliva – an important first defense containing various substances that help against germs in your mouth. You can measure your sweat loss by weighing pre and post-training. The weight difference is mostly sweat. To compensate losses – let’s say you’ve lost 1kg of sweat – you should drink 150%, that’s 1.5 liters in this example.
For longer rides (>2.5h) I recommend again not to cut on carbs. Your riding fuel should contain 30-60g of simple carbs from a sports drink or snack of choice per hour. This keeps your immune system on duty and with a quicker recovery, you are lens prone to be susceptible to getting sick.
Finally, don’t kill yourself in the hardest intensity block. Overreaching or overloading has a detrimental influence on our immune system. Plan wisely with your coach or be honest with yourself and keep load moderate. Public service announcement for those who can still ride outside: give your guardian angel a break. You don’t want a bad crash and go to the hospital currently. Sounds silly but is vital these days!
With the athletes I’m coaching, we decided to take away all the pressure that nutrition can possibly have on an athlete. They stick to their training and avoid unnecessary stress with an uncertain race calendar, body weight goals and the likes.
I wish all of you out there the same: stay healthy, safe and sound. Remember your life and the lives of those around you are more important than riding bikes. This is not forever and the better we look to ourselves and stick to the rules, we soon get back all the freedom to ride, race and life to ride.
In short:
-> Don’t try to aggressively diet and cut carbs – it will weaken your immune system
-> Keep body weight stable
-> Eat heathy and wholesome – cook fresh with plenty of fruit &vegetables and stay away from treats
-> Make sure to drink plenty (on the trainer or while riding out)
-> Consume 30-60g of carbs on longer rides
Stay healthy and safe!
Author: Dani Hofstetter, sports nutritionist at DH Performance nutrition, former pro triathlete and long-time Castelli rider, www.danihofstetter.ch
Photo | Jered & Ashley Gruber, Edoardo Civiero.