Deciding to try and race bikes later in life has required me to accept I don’t know how to do certain activities that seem like they should be intuitive. Eating is one of those activities. Sure, I’ve managed to eat for the last 40+ years. Learning to eat in a way that fuels high levels of activity, nourishes my body, and is also satisfying is not nearly as intuitive as I assumed it would be.
I’ve had to learn to think of my meals in a series, working as a whole set throughout a given time period, leading up to races and through recovery periods. Not just individual meals based on taste or desire. Not only that, but thinking of macros and calories. Counting calories for me hasn’t been about walking away from a meal hungry, but rather about how many I can consume to remain on target and keep within macro ratios.
I have to admit, it was really overwhelming at first and isn’t terribly intuitive yet. What I can say is that pre race flapjacks might just be the best part of learning to eat all over again!
