Group ride before a blood test???

[Kral86]

I wanna go on my Saturday group ride but have need to do a blood test in the morning before the place closes.

I have to fast after midnight.

So will it be fine to go on a group ride with just water and nothing else??

I ususally go with a group speed of 28-30KM/h and ride about 65-75KM

[macca33]

I think you'll get very hungry and your performance will suffer.

Other than that, it won't harm you.

cheers

[bychosis]

Don't think I'd be keen. No breakfast before vigorous activity leaves me feeling very flat, maybe switch it out for a steady cruise rather than a fast ride.

[RonK]

I wanna go on my Saturday group ride but have need to do a blood test in the morning before the place closes.

I have to fast after midnight.

So will it be fine to go on a group ride with just water and nothing else?

I do that every ride.

[Tim]

I'd be more concerned about possibly upsetting or producing irregular blood test results. Fasting is part of the normal pre-test procedure but I'm not sure about heavy exercise.
I have no idea if this is the case but fasting followed by intense exercise might effect glucose, LDL/HDL, triglyceride and other test result readings.
No doubt someone will confirm or deny this.

[dalai47]

I wanna go on my Saturday group ride but have need to do a blood test in the morning before the place closes.

I have to fast after midnight.

So will it be fine to go on a group ride with just water and nothing else?

I do that every ride.

+1

I've done many hard pre dawn 2 hour training rides with water only returning for breakfast afterwards. You should be fine...

[Kral86]

I opted to not ride this morning...

The reason for the blood test was I would get cramps in the quads and in the hands on some group/organised charity rides and long hill climbs

I use:
Creatine pre-workout formula 30mins before riding
BCAA insta-workout formula in one bidon
Endura hydration formula in another bidon

So I try to keep hydrated all the time.

[ValleyForge]

Bet you the blood tests will be normal, but I'm cynical.

A Vit D assay might be worthwhile, and a magnesium if its not on the ELFTs that are ordered. From memory, exercise will push your neutrophil count (part of your white cell count) up slightly, and your triglyceride up too. CK maybe too if its hot and you really bash it.

Or just take Vit D and Ca/Mg tabs. Solves most cramps.

[CXCommuter]

Not sure about blood tests but I rode to work before getting urine samples tested (doc said it would be okay) last year- a load of protein was observed which shouldn't be there, which led to several further tests of kidney function- all was rather concerning until someonea bit more clued up asked if I did hard exercise before the test. Redid the test without riding beforehand and all was fine, no excess protein observed.

[CKinnard]

just for reference, heavy exercise before a fasting blood test would influence results for several inflammatory markers, some hormones, and no doubt many other things. so wiser to get the test done on a non workout morning.

[Aussiebullet]

I opted to not ride this morning...

The reason for the blood test was I would get cramps in the quads and in the hands on some group/organised charity rides and long hill climbs

I use:
Creatine pre-workout formula 30mins before riding
BCAA insta-workout formula in one bidon
Endura hydration formula in another bidon

So I try to keep hydrated all the time.

Do you use all theses supplements before every ride?
Reason I ask is creatine is not recommended for endurance sports like cycling, it is usually detromental to endurance peformance, one of the main issues it causes is excessive water retention in muscle cells causing.... you guessed it cramping.
Please DO NOT confuse water retention with hydration, they are NOT the same.
Even using creatine on non cycling days like before weight training can still affect endurance peformance if using regularly or in large doses.
With that said I occasionly use small amounts of creatine when doing large blocks of anaerobic or sprint training on the bike to help recharge creatine stores as this allows more work to be done at the very top end of ones anaerobic/alactic abilities,
but I'd cease using it days before endurance rides and weeks before any races that are longer than ~2 minutes.
BTW I hope you get your cramping sorted.

[g-boaf]

I opted to not ride this morning...

The reason for the blood test was I would get cramps in the quads and in the hands on some group/organised charity rides and long hill climbs

I use:
Creatine pre-workout formula 30mins before riding
BCAA insta-workout formula in one bidon
Endura hydration formula in another bidon

So I try to keep hydrated all the time.

Is your group ride of 65-75km covering 1500m or 2000m elevation? The reason I ask is that it seems odd that you need all of that stuff for 65-75km at 28-30km/h.

You should just get by with a bottle with some Endura in it and another one with water, or a half/half mixture in both, maybe take a CLIF bar or something else nice like that. Hydration is pretty easy, just drink enough water.

Even if I do a faster ride of 130km+ at 32avg speed (1000+m elevation) I get by with just about 2 litres of water mixed in with some endura and eating some food at around the 60 or 100km mark.

Recommend staying away from Creatine and BCAA stuff. Cramps in quads and hands, that's odd. Maybe check the bike fit and otherwise, warm up properly. If you've done all of that, then it's probably just conditioning. You can take magnesium tablets to help with cramps, but eventually you'll get beyond that.

What sort of rides do you normally do in a week, and what do you do to help recovery after the rides (eg stretching)?

[cyclotaur]

Eat food. Drink water. Maybe add a little Staminade or similar.