NUTRITION
Recovery Nutrition Gillian Woodward
Lately I have seen several athletes who are fighting fatigue. What is their problem? Poor recovery nutrition practices. Sometimes they are so busy after heavy training or an event that they forget the importance of recovery nutrition. What am I talking about? Read on:
G
ood recovery nutritional strategies help you bounce back after a heavy training session or taxing event, so that you can face another, equally challenging one the next day. This is particularly useful for those competing in 3-day competitions or other endurance events. If you don’t treat your body with respect in this important “recovery phase” you will only be rewarded with fatigue, poor performance and possibly even illness. Most of you will know the importance of replacing lost fluid after exercise. It is vital to restore fluid losses quickly. Consider a sports drink rather than water, because it will help your body retain and absorb the fluid more readily. Another good reason to use a sports drink, is because it contains some carbohydrate. In the first 15-30 minutes after strenuous exercise, your blood is still flowing well to the working muscles. The enzymes are waiting anxiously to receive and store glycogen to replace what has just been used in the exercise. Eating or drinking carbohydrate containing fluids or foods immediately after strenuous training sessions or events has been shown to speed up glycogen replacement. Your body is able to restore fuel extremely well in that first hour or two after exercise. So don’t miss this window of opportunity! If you are training hard each day, it is particularly important that you refuel your muscle glycogen promptly. You only have 24 hours or even less to do it and the first one or two hours is vitally important. So, drink your sports drink on the way to the shower, and make sure that within another 15-30 minutes you are tucking into some carbohydrate-rich foods. If you are home, breakfast cereal and low fat milk topped with fruit and /or yoghurt would be a good start. Wash it down with a fruit juice or milk drink to keep the fluids flowing.
In the 2006 Commonwealth Games marathon, Kate Smythe became severely dehydrated and was nearly overtaken by the faster-finishing orienteer, Lauren Shelley. Smythe spent the next several hours on an intravenous drip. (photo courtesy of R4YL)
Examples of 50gram carbohydrate snacks: • 250ml CHO loader drink •2 50-300 ml liquid meal (Sustagen Sport) or fruit smoothie • 800-1000ml sports drink • 500 ml soft drink • 50g jelly beans • 1 cup of steamed white rice and low fat pasta sauce •J am or honey sandwich (thick white or brown bread and lots of spread) • 2 breakfast bars
How much carbohydrate do you need?
• Bowl of cereal and milk
In the early period after exercise, 1 gram of carbohydrate per kilogram body weight every 2 hours is an ideal intake. For a 60 kg person, that means 60 grams of carbohydrate. For most people the amount is somewhere between 50-100g every 2 hours until the next meal. In the 24-hour period, the total intake should be about 7-10 g per kilogram body weight.
• Mug of thick vegetable soup and a large bread roll
Which type of carbohydrate is best? They must be very palatable - particularly as many athletes find they are not really hungry immediately after exercise. That is why sports drinks can be useful - even the higher carbohydrate variety. From the scientific point of view, the more rapidly absorbed (medium or high glycaemic index) types may promote greater glycogen storage. But the main point is simply having enough carbohydrate and not too much fat (because fat slows down carbohydrate absorption).
• 200g tub yoghurt and a banana
So as you can see, organisation is the key to successful recovery. You need to have your food and drink supplies packed into a cooler/thermos flask before you take off for an event. Sometimes you can rely on the competition catering - their soups, rolls and even soft drinks could be useful. But to be sure your snack is low fat as well as high carbohydrate, preparing it yourself is often the ideal way to go. Gillian Woodward is a Practising Dietician and has been providing advice in the field for over 25 years. She has been an orienteer since 1984. MARCH 2008 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 19
