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Nutrition and hydration for indoor training: what to eat before, during and after

Nutrition · 6 min read

Here's a detail that catches a lot of people off guard: you sweat a lot more during an indoor session than at the same intensity outside. Without the airflow from moving forward, your body loses its main natural cooling mechanism and compensates by sweating more. That changes the math on hydration and nutrition — which is what this post is about.

Hydration: the simple math

A practical rule of thumb (no need for lab-grade before/after weigh-ins): during moderate-to-high intensity indoor sessions, it's common to lose between 0.8 and 1.5 liters of sweat per hour, depending on your fitness level, room temperature and available ventilation. That's noticeably more than outside. In practice: keep a large bottle (750ml-1L) within reach and aim to finish the session empty, adjusting up or down based on how much you sweat.

For sessions over 60-90 minutes, it's worth swapping some of that water for an electrolyte drink (store-bought or homemade — water, a pinch of salt and a bit of lemon juice already helps) to replace sodium and avoid cramping.

Before the workout

For short sessions (up to 45-60 minutes), you don't need a whole ritual: a light meal 1-2 hours before is enough, and training in a light fasted state is also perfectly fine if that's your preference. For longer or harder sessions (heavy intervals, a long simulated climb), a meal with easy-to-digest carbs 2-3 hours before (bread, banana, oats) helps make sure you don't "hit the wall" mid-session.

During the workout

Up to about 60 minutes, water or an electrolyte drink is usually enough on its own — your body has plenty of stored glycogen for that window. Beyond 60-90 minutes, especially at higher intensity, it's worth starting to replace carbs during the ride itself: a banana, a carb gel, or even a handful of raisins every 30-40 minutes helps maintain performance later in the session.

After the workout

The recovery window doesn't need to be a complicated ritual. The basics that actually work: rehydrate well (replacing what was lost in sweat), and within the following 1-2 hours eat a meal with protein + carbs — it doesn't need to be imported whey protein, a simple meal with rice, beans and an egg does exactly the same job for your body.

You don't need expensive supplements to train well

It's easy to get lost in supplement aisles once you start taking training more seriously. But the truth is that consistent hydration plus a reasonably balanced diet covers about 90% of what most amateur cyclists actually need. Specific supplementation (caffeine, beta-alanine, etc.) only starts to matter at much more advanced training stages — it's not your bottleneck right now.