Update from Saturday’s Ride:
At around 9 a.m. I started a 4 hour Z2 ride. I did 5x2 intervals @330 watts at both 1 hrs and 3 hrs in. For breakfast I had a large bowl of Frosted Flakes with a banana. I do oatmeal w/ a scoop of protein every day but my long ride days so I have something to reduce the fiber. The Frosted Flakes/banana skyrocketed my blood sugar to about 163 mg/dl, compared to the normal 125ish from my oatmeal.
During the ride, I consistently consumed 25g carbs (100 cal) every 15 minutes. I had 3 bottles with 266 calories of tailwind each, spread over the 3.5 hrs, plus having 25g carbs on 30 minute intervals. I stopped consuming all carbs at 3.5 hrs into the ride.
Over the course of the ride, my blood sugar stayed incredibly stead around 105-115. Steadier than it is at any other part of the day or night. Wild how steady it stays. After the ride it skyrocketed into the 150’s and stayed there for nearly 2 hrs aside from a short dip in the middle. Significantly longer than any spike during the rest of the day. I was completely full from the intra-ride calories so didn’t eat anything until 3:20 p.m. (2 hrs 20 mins post ride). At that point, I had 45g carbs with a protein shake, pretzels, and hummus. My blood sugar was 115 at the time of consumption.
Within 40 minutes, my blood sugar crashed down to 72 as confirmed by both the monitor and a blood test via finger prick. At this time I started to feel low blood sugar side effects (anxiety, bit of chills/hunger). The carbs must have kicked in soon after as it was up to 112 by the time I had dinner at 5:45 pm.
I’m not sure what I expected in all this. I had hoped stopping the carbs a little earlier would minimize the post ride blood sugar spike. I was also a bit surprised/disappointed that it stayed elevated for so long. I’m not sure how or if this could be combated nutritionally.
Anyways, There’s a million other conclusions that could be drawn from this, ranging from “not concerning at all” to something that should be avoided if possible.
I don’t fall in the camp of, “well you’re not a diabetic, so everything is normal/natural.” Not saying the sky is falling, but I also think that too much over a long term could eventually lead towards some negative consequences.
