I’m a competitive endurance rider, who also does a few crits with my local club. My N=1 experiment for the past month has been a smoothie containing a beetroot, a green apple, knob of ginger and celery leaves and stalks. First 5 days I added 20g creatine (never used before) and then dropped to 5g daily. I usually drink 2/3 before a ride and 1/3 late afternoon (alternative to snacking) or an hour before racing on the two occasions I’ve raced.
Observations
- Lower perceived effort an HR on rides after consuming beets.
- Two races (crit and kermesse) and two podiums in fields of 22 and 11 against riders I’ve never beaten before
- Put on 2kg
- PB numbers on 30-40 second sprints (which is usually where the race is decided)
- Lower rate perceived effort
I was guided by this research and will do a two week cycle of no creatine after about 12 weeks