The 3 Rs - Recovery, Recovery, Recovery (What I Learned Last Week)
Posted Aug 24 2008 10:51pm
Ever since I started this triathlon training thing I've been hearing how important recovery nutrition is. All this information pretty much went in one ear and out the other. I thought I was "tough" enough where I wouldn't need to pound carbs and protein after a long bike ride or run. I said self "dammit, you made it through college athletics not worrying about all this stuff so really you don't need it now." Boy was I wrong!
In the past few months I've noticed that after a couple days of hard training my body would be exhausted. My legs would ache, my muscle felt like they had no energy and I would feel pretty awful in general. Looking at my food logs I was taking in just about the right amount of carbs so I never could figure out why my muscles were fatiguing so quickly.
As I did more research into the endurance sports world it became apparent that recovery food must be ingested within 1/2 hour of finishing a long workout to prevent muscle break down and latic acid build up. Since my carb and protein intake wasn't until much later even though I was taking in the right "amount" of food my body couldn't utilize it in the proper way.
Enter overpriced recovery drinks! Last week I picked up Endurox from the local GNC to give this recovery thing a real try. Endurox is made by Accelerade and is highly recommend by many of the uber -triathletes on Slowtwitch . This past weekend I did a 60 mile bike ride on Saturday and a 7 mile run on Sunday, after each activity I pounded a glass of endurox and can't believe how effective the stuff is. My legs are sore but not dead and my body feels fresh - this stuff really works! Better yet my blood sugars have been stable! The high concentration of carbs in 8oz of this stuff (52 g) is perfect for glucose level recovery and really made an impact in my workouts. Over the next couple weeks I'll be testing Hammer Recoverite and a few other brands to see which works best with my body.
In the past few months I've noticed that after a couple days of hard training my body would be exhausted. My legs would ache, my muscle felt like they had no energy and I would feel pretty awful in general. Looking at my food logs I was taking in just about the right amount of carbs so I never could figure out why my muscles were fatiguing so quickly.
As I did more research into the endurance sports world it became apparent that recovery food must be ingested within 1/2 hour of finishing a long workout to prevent muscle break down and latic acid build up. Since my carb and protein intake wasn't until much later even though I was taking in the right "amount" of food my body couldn't utilize it in the proper way.
Enter overpriced recovery drinks! Last week I picked up Endurox from the local GNC to give this recovery thing a real try. Endurox is made by Accelerade and is highly recommend by many of the uber -triathletes on Slowtwitch . This past weekend I did a 60 mile bike ride on Saturday and a 7 mile run on Sunday, after each activity I pounded a glass of endurox and can't believe how effective the stuff is. My legs are sore but not dead and my body feels fresh - this stuff really works! Better yet my blood sugars have been stable! The high concentration of carbs in 8oz of this stuff (52 g) is perfect for glucose level recovery and really made an impact in my workouts. Over the next couple weeks I'll be testing Hammer Recoverite and a few other brands to see which works best with my body.