Competing in an endurance event can be very taxing on your body and it is therefore extremely important to have a recovery plan. Immediately after a race your body needs to begin the process of physical recovery, and it is important to ensure you do what is necessary in the minutes, hours and even days after your race.
The amounts and volumes of what your body needs will obviously differ according to your event. Regardless of whether you have run a half marathon, or perhaps competed in a longer distance triathlon, this article highlights the main things that you should be focussing on to ensure that your body gets what it needs.
Immediate priority
Immediately after your race your body will start to repair and replenish after the intense physical demands it has been put through. Your post race nutrition will need to supply the body with enough material to rebuild muscle fibres, develop protein-saturated red blood cells, and ensure that plenty of minerals and nutrients are available when needed. Amino acids, glucose molecules, fatty acid chains and more are required to help kick start the repair, along with plenty of water which is used in every metabolic chemical reaction inside your body.
First step - REHYDRATION
Muscle tissue loves water (as opposed to fat tissue which repels it) and if you have been doing the training to prepare for your event, your body will have a relatively high muscle mass which requires a higher than average water ratio.
During the event there is a fair chance that you have lost some weight, the majority of which will be water loss from sweat, urine and respiration. It’s important to replace this water so that your cells can function optimally when carrying out repair.
You will be able to ensure that you are achieving adequate hydration levels when your reach your pre race body weight, your urine is pale yellow in colour, and this continues to be the case throughout the following day. Generally as a guide you should plan to drink 1.5 litres of fluid for each kilogram of body weight loss (celebrating with alcohol doesn’t count!!!), and should space this intake out evenly over the next 24-48 hours.
Water and many sports drinks can help you rehydrate, however very few sports drinks provide you with the additional carbohydrate and protein that your body requires. Look out for specially formulated recovery drinks with added carbohydrates and proteins and drink these in place of the sports drinks. Much of the sodium and potassium losses that come as a result from the race will be replaced through your regular meals.
The window of opportunity
There is a 30 minute window immediately after you finish your race where your body is more capable of absorbing essential building blocks into your tissue. Consuming 10-20 grams of protein, and 1.1 grams of carbohydrate per kilogram of body weight, should be an immediate goal. Look out for various recovery-specific drinks on the market that can provide a mixture of protein and carbohydrates designed to speed the recovery process.
Second step – HAVE A SHOWER…CHANCES ARE YOU STINK!!!
Third step – MORE CARBOHYDRATES
Throughout the race you have been using all of your muscle and liver glycogen (the stored form of glucose). You need to replace all of these carbohydrates before you fully recover, as muscle and liver glycogen are the primary fuel sources for activity.
The source of recovery carbohydrate isn’t as critical as the timing. Aim to continue consuming 1.1kg of carbohydrates per kilogram of body weight per hour for three hours, or until you resume eating meals. Once you are able to eat full meals, choose foods high in carbohydrates like breads, pastas or fruits.
Fourth step – PROTEIN
Proteins are the building blocks for your muscles. After an intense endurance event your muscle tissue is experiencing quite a substantial amount of damage, with broken fibres and cellular fluid leaking everywhere. It’s important that you provide your body with the raw building material it needs to get back on track.
Water, minerals and most importantly amino acids (protein building and re-building blocks) are exactly what’s needed. Speed up the process by choosing the healthier options of lean meat and fish, lower-fat dairy foods, eggs, pulses and legumes or protein drinks.
And if you needed any further convincing, feeding your body with protein will help your body’s immune defences kick back into gear. Your immune system has been busy throughout the race and it’s important to replenish it with enough amino acids so that it can keep fighting illness and infection for you.
The last step – FAT and ALCOHOL
You body has a virtually inexhaustible supply of fat so it’s no surprises that replenishing fat stores is the last thing on the priority list. You will naturally start to consume fat again once you begin to eat normal food, and this will help replace the spent muscle triglyceride deposits. Aim to follow these guidelines:
• less than 10% of your calories should be from saturated fat
• less than 300mg of cholesterol a day
• keep trans fat to a minimum
Despite what you may have heard (or want to believe), alcohol is not a rich source of the carbohydrates or vitamins that your body needs. So if alcohol is part of your post race celebrations, try to ensure that you are extremely well hydrated beforehand, and drink responsibly. Don’t replace one of the above nutritious recovery steps with alcohol.
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