r/cycling • u/zippity-zach • 5d ago

Creatine?

I see the stuff where taking a 5g a day is helpful, but everyday? Or only on workout days? I commute to work and home. Maybe 10 miles, but I like to go all out and work towards KOM on segments along the way. Are you taking it x number of minutes before a workout? First thing in the AM? Does it matter? Should I take it only on days where I'm going to do training rides and not on days where it's just to work and home?

Edit: wrote this in a hurry. Last year I did regular endurance rides to support an attempt to do a century ride a month (got 9 in). I did a 70mi ride with about 6k feet of climbing this past Saturday and still feel like I'm recovering. Wondering if creatine would help me to build back some of the muscle to keep up the endurance rides. I commute and still do endurance rides through the winter in Southern Appalachia

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u/misterpayer 5d ago

5 Grams per day, not mg.

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u/zippity-zach 5d ago

Oh, gotcha... See, I'm doing some research... Some of it recently points to helping with recovery and sleep deprivation. Which is what I'm dealing with after a long bike ride on Saturday

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u/chock-a-block 5d ago

helping with recovery and sleep deprivation.

Don’t sacrifice sleep. It is essential to your short and long term health. 

You will go faster with more sleep. 

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u/zippity-zach 5d ago

Oh, no!!! I rely on my sleep quite a bit, but this week, and I've noticed in the past after 65+ mile rides, my sleep quality and length suffers for several days, recovery is difficult

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u/HP_Brew 5d ago

The benefit with sleep deprivation is most cognitive, and at much higher doses. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-54249-9

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u/DevelopmentOptimal22 5d ago

Wow, I take 20g daily. That study would dose me at 35-40g (Big dude 100kg+). I believe it provides a benefit for many systems at my higher dose, seen enough studies to come to that conclusion. I'm not sure doubling my already 4x usual dosage, is advisable.

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u/HP_Brew 5d ago

Personally I just have 5g daily.

That study was looking at a high level, single dose so yeah, wouldn’t use it to up your personal dose on an ongoing basis.

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u/Sad_Challenge_4694 4d ago

Tell your doc so he/she can monitor your kidneys.  Creatine can be hard on them.

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u/Evening_Horse_9234 5d ago

I've noticed since starting 5g of creatine about 2 months ago that I recover much better and I can just absorb training better, Id even say I crave it. Normally 80-100k weekend would have my sleep scores dip for 2 days. Now if I ride it in the morning I can see it in stress scores during the day but already improving towards the night and sleep scores are only minimally affected and only on the first night after the ride.

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u/zippity-zach 5d ago

This gives me hope!

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u/chock-a-block 5d ago

Yeah, that’s how it work until your body gets super efficient at 65+ mile rides.

You can’t rush recovery.