Cycling 350 miles (Munich to Venice) while not fat-adapted yet. Should I pause keto or use carbs on the bike?
Hi everyone! I'm so glad I found this sub. I've been searching the internet all week, but I can't really find a conclusive answer to my situation anywhere. I hope you guys can help me out!
I've been doing keto for (only) 24 days. At this point, I'm already experiencing loads of benefits (weight loss, more energy, less hunger), but I know I'm not fat-adapted yet. However, in two days time, I'm going on a bike trip: I'm cycling from Munich to Venice, which is about 570 km and 5,000 m of elevation (350 miles and 16,400 feet).
Just to be clear: I already cycle a lot and I'm definitely fit enough to do a trip like this, I'm just not used to doing it on keto. Because I was a bit worried about this combination, I've been training extra over the past two weeks to see how my body reacts. That's when I noticed my heart rate is so much higher than it used to be off keto. I know it's important to stay in zone 2 with my heart rate, but I'm afraid that's going to be quite difficult. It's going to be very warm, I'll be climbing a lot more elevation than I'm used to (I'm from a relatively flat country), and I'm not fat-adapted yet.
My questions are:
- Should I pause my keto diet for the 8 days I'm cycling?
- Or should I eat carbs just during the cycling, but keep following the keto diet while off the bike?
- If I stop completely, will this mean I have to start all over again from scratch after the bike trip?
- If I only eat carbs during the exercise, will this break my ketosis completely?
For context: I'm a 27 year old woman (not sure if that matters) and I was already following the keto diet for a good week when my partner and I decided to do this bike trip. Maybe I should've paused then and resumed after the trip.
Any advice or help is massively appreciated! Thanks!