Do you know what’s best to eat after a long run, endurance activity or sports event? What is the best fuel to speed repair and recovery and get you ready to pound the pavement again? This week we continue our sports nutrition articles on the theme of running nutrition recovery. You will also want to check out other articles in this series:
What’s the latest advice on carbohydrate gels for running? – with guest expert Teri Lichtenstein APD
Cut out the carbs? Cut the crap – with guest expert Lisa Simpson Sports Nutritionist
About our expert:
Kate Freeman has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Human Nutrition and is currently completing the Masters in Nutrition at Deakin University. She is a member of the Nutrition Society of Australia (NSA). As a wife and mum of two, Kate is passionate about communicating simple, practical nutrition information. She regularly writes for her own blog www.katefreemannutrition.com.au, an online women’s magazine and a fresh fruit and vegetable company. She loves running (of course), cooking, coffee and serving at her local church…and in her spare time she gives good tweets.
This year’s been a big year for me. I ran my first ever half-marathon. It’s been something I’ve always wanted to do and now that I’ve caught the running bug, I don’t want to stop. During my training and preparation, it just so happened that I was also undertaking a sports nutrition unit, as part of my post graduate studies, at Deakin University. As my training went on and my running improved so did my knowledge and understanding of sports nutrition. My love for running and endurance based sports lead me to base my major assignment (literature review) on the effect of carbohydrates on performance for endurance training and competition.
Rest and recover
An important part of a good endurance-training regime is proactive recovery nutrition. If you don’t consume adequate carbohydrate after your training sessions and as part of your everyday diet, you’re running on empty, or close to it, the next time you train. To be a successful endurance runner, your body needs sufficient fuel to maintain a high intensity for a long period of time. When you participate in low intensity exercise your body likes to create the majority of it’s energy from burning fat, but as you start to kick it up a few notches and the intensity becomes higher, the muscles rely more and more on carbohydrate. Your muscles store carbohydrate in the form of glycogen and after a long (90+ minutes), high intensity training session your glycogen stores become depleted. If you were to train with depleted glycogen stores, you’d feel highly fatigued, exactly like you’re running on empty. That’s because you are.
The goal of recovery nutrition is to give your body enough carbohydrate to re-fill it’s glycogen stores in preparation for the next training session. If glycogen is not sufficiently replenished in between training sessions or competitions you are likely to experience both fatigue and a decrease in performance. So what are the recommendations for good recovery nutrition after long distance running? And when I say long distance running, I mean people who train for 90 -120+ minutes regularly at a moderate to high intensity.
1. Eat straight after training
Research has found that the period straight after a session of exhaustive exercise is the best time for the body to re-fill it’s glycogen stores. To maximise the rate your body re-synthesises glycogen, aim to eat about 50-75g of carbohydrate within 30-45 minutes after exercise. High glycemic index (GI) carbohydrates are the best choice during this time because they are quickly digested and absorbed, ready to be stored by the muscles.
2. Keep eating carbohydrates throughout the day
After your initial post-exercise snack, keep including some healthy carbohydrate at the rest of your meals and snacks. Wholegrains, legumes, fruits and vegetables should feature at each of your meal and snack times providing you with plenty of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and fibre. Eating carbohydrate at every meal will ensure that glycogen synthesis continues to occur throughout the day giving your muscles plenty of fuel for the next time you train.
3. Eat protein with your carbohydrate
Further research into recovery nutrition has shown that eating carbohydrate together with protein can increase the rate at which your body re-fills it’s glycogen stores which helps maximise these stores for the future and also improve your endurance performance as well. The addition of protein in your recovery nutrition will also aid in muscle repair and reduce the amount of exercise-induced muscle damage.
Ideas for Recovery Snacks
Below is a list of foods containing about 50g of carbohydrate and 10g of protein making them ideal as post-exercise recovery snacks for glycogen replenishment and muscle repair.
500ml low fat chocolate milk
1-2 cups of breakfast cereal with 1/2 cup low fat milk
1 lean meat (ham, chicken etc) and cheese sandwich and a piece of fruit
Fruit salad with 200g of yoghurt or custard
Baked potato with herb (chives, garlic, parsley etc) cottage cheese
250-350 liquid meal supplement
Baked beans on toast
Banana or berry smoothie with skim milk and yoghurt
Toast with cheese
Editor’s comment:
Thanks Kate, so brave of you to let us show you in lycra. I’ve just bitten the bullet and have signed up for my first half marathon in October. I’ve only ever run 14km events. Training started with my group on Sunday and I’m pleased to report that I comfortably did the 9km river run. I am certainly not born (or built) to run. I shyed away from athletics in my school years, but something has clicked now I’m into my 40’s. It’s still hard to admit it in writing, after years of complaning about having to run around the block as a kid, but I kinda like it. In fact, some days with my slow, shuffle along style I’m even starting to get some of those endorphin thingys. So if you think you can’t run, believe me you can. Anyone can, with slow and steady training. How about you? Are you a natural? Or do you shy away from running? What is your approach to recovery nutrition? Perhaps our colleagues have more tips? Or perhaps you have a question for Kate? We’d love to hear and share in the comments below.
