Monday, March 17, 2008

The 3 Rs - Recovery, Recovery, Recovery (What I Learned Last Week)

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.

4 comments:

Scott S said...

Cool ... I think by now you've figured out that this disease is a learning process and every day brings a new discovery. Maybe by the time we all get it figured out, a cure will be discovered and we can happily discard all of these discoveries (I won't hold my breath waiting for that, but its a nice goal to work towards).

Mollotov said...

Thank you for your comment on my blog. You have great timing: I've recently been Googling the heck out of Accelerade and Endurox, trying to decide if they're worth the extra cash. It's good to know they're not a total scam; now I just have to see if they'll be suited for me and my ultra training. Keep up the good work!

Molly

Bradford said...

Just stumbled on your blog site--I too have type 1 diabetes (diagnosed Aug 1 '95, when I was 11) and am also a triathlete. I use a pump as well and love being in control of my disease, not letting it control me. Every day definitely brings 'new experiences' as I learn something else about my food intake/exercise exertion and what does and doesn't work. If you're interested in talking I'd love to scratch your brain about what works/doesn't work for you. Also, I saw your DR1K challenge banner...not sure if you'd be interested but around here I do the Tour De Cure bicycle event (You can check out www.diabetes.org/tour to see if and when one is in your area). It's a great time and helps raise money for diabetes research.
And to mention mollotov's comment, I use Accelerade and love it--the protein taste is definitely different than Gatorade Endurance formula, but I really like it alot. Also, I read your blog about the pasta meal hitting you later than expected...pasta, especially whole grained pasta, has a slower absorption time b/c of it's complex carb nature. When I eat a meal like that, I usually bolus a dual wave w/ like 60% now and 40% over the next 2.5-3 hrs, depending on how soon I might be working out after that.
Shoot me an email if you'd like to chat, and good luck with training and controlling the diabetes!!!!

Bradford

bradford.gildon@gmail.com

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