A personal observation on the importance of diet

A personal observation on the importance of diet...
3 days ago I had too much chocolate as I waited for the floors to dry to get into the kitchen - then I ate too many buttery croissants that were not from the bakery I normally get them from (these were full of bad shit but tastey) = TERRIBLE stomach ache all night.  This was a with good ride with Beverly - Veepak in the morning.

The next day was easter, eating with family I ate nothing that was prepared because it was either full of meat or came out of a box/package - had to make myself some soup, delicious, but then later a terrible concoction of oatmeal/coffee and too much cinnamon that overall made me queasy before I tossed the rest (hey I try wierd stuff, it works sometimes it doesnt :) )... a bit more candy and no riding on this day.

Then yesterday, no $ to get the food I normally get and totally out of my normal post-ride recovery foods... a hard 70 miles with still fairly good results overall although I was feeling the lack of nutrition toward the end of the ride - stop for a veggie taco helped a bit but I didn't have the usual bananas/bars etc that keep me going for long distances.

Come to today, only thing to eat was oatmeal - none of my usual breakfast foods/shakes... and although lack of sleep was partially to blame - I had NO energy... totally dead and I had to ride 20 miles in the morning.  Ate good for lunch but on the return I was totally tired still... was a miserable 50 miles or so total, I've had 100+ mile days and gone out the next day feeling much better than today... in fact I'd say this was perhaps my *most* miserable day of riding as with 0 energy I had to ride 20 miles into a 28 degree/10-12mph headwind... and even with the tailwind back it could only occasionally muster enough energy to get up to my fair weather cruising pace!

Here I made the mistake of eating foods I *know* don't agree with me and will NOT help me to get stronger... and then I totally burned through my good energy reserves and did NOT replenish them *at all*.  I ate way too late after the workout, and I didn't have any of the usual banana/protein shake/salad... only tomato soup!  Then only ~5 hours of sleep, which on most days isn't a big problem, but that plus the lack of nutrients totally ruined my otherwise fun trip through the wonderful rollers of the palos/willowbrook area.  Even a good lunch barely helped at all, I never felt "good" at any part of the ride.

Lots of training can only go so far without a good diet to back it up, today was a reminder of this and I will not soon forget it.  I think if I continued with the poor diet choices I would likely regress quickly and lose all that I've worked for.  As such, I am budgeting more wisely to ensure I have enough $ to get the foods I need... its more expensive to go organic and can be frustrating to have little to no choices at restaurants... but its days like today that remind me WHY I choose to eat the way that I normally do!

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The next day, feeling drastically better - pretty much back to normal.  Got the usual bananas/veggie protein shake and ate a nice big bowl of rice.  I just threw on some jeans today and did the ~18 mile round trip ride to Trader Joe's to get my regular eats.  Felt so much better!  I wasn't struggling or pushing hard at all (hence the jeans, if I'm not all kitted up I feel more like just cruising) - but still spent most of my time (aside from stoplights etc) right around 20mph... this was tough yesterday, even with the big tailwind!

I can already tell tomorrow I'm gonna be feelin good!  And tomorrow is the Beverly Bike - Veepak team ride through the wonderfully hills palos/willow springs area... I'm gonna fly through those hills :)