By Ellen McDermott, BSc Dip PN UKAD, Performance Nutritionist
mcdnutrition.com, @ellen_mcdnutrition
I often have coaches send me athletes, remarking the rider in question “is a rock solid athlete with great numbers but his recovery his shocking”. These are the athletes I get really excited about working with because as soon as we dial in a recovery routine their performance improves almost immediately. The magic happens when they continue to follow that recovery routine subconsciously and it becomes part of the training window. You wouldn’t finish your ride 10 minutes up the road from home so what’s the problem with adding 10 minutes on at the end?
We’re always looking at the three ‘Rs’ (with a possible extra ‘R’ if we’re being greedy).
1 Rehydrate | Cyclists will sweat anywhere between one and two litres of fluid per hour on the bike - more if you’re layered up like an onion going uphill on the Sunday club run. It’s very difficult, and not really required, to get athletes to drink to replace litre for litre - just as long as they rehydrate enough when they return from the ride. More water back into the circulation system means it’s easier for waste products from exercise to be processed out and for nutrients to be sent to where they are needed.
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2 Replenish | in a previous piece I wrote about how quickly we’ll use up our glycogen stores - the body's carbohydrate tanks. Capitalising on the two-hour window after a ride can help avoid that “empty shell” feeling after a ride. And if you need to do it all over again tomorrow then it becomes even more important. The snack or meal depends on intensity, duration and subsequent training sessions. A hearty soup with a sandwich is a good option here.
3 Repair | Cycling isn’t actually that muscle-damaging - which is why I’m always frustrated with the priority given to “low carb, high protein shakes” - it’s almost the opposite of what cyclists need. Once you’re eating regular high quality protein sources throughout the day - lean meat, eggs, Greek yogurt, for example - then you’re probably covering your protein requirements. If not, around 30g of protein should be a priority in the post-exercise window. Plant based athletes will need to combine their sources to improve the quality of their protein intake. Combining grains and pulses, for example, will give you a personal favorite of mine; beans on seeded bread.
4 Rest | This is the bonus step, but likely the most important of all. The body adapts to exercise and grows stronger and fitter when we are at rest. Human growth hormone, essential for repair, is secreted at night while we’re sleeping. Eight to nine hours of sleep is optimum for most of us. Regularly getting below seven hours can impact not only your physical performance but also your mental health. And a moody, sleep deprived athlete is no fun to be around.
Practice makes perfect with recovery routines, but practice with adequate sleep makes for complete perfection. I would add ‘routine’ to the list above - without regularly repeating the same process and having a sleep pattern that you can prioritise you’ll find it difficult to hit your numbers in training and, more importantly, to enjoy riding your bike.
- Ellen McDermott is a qualified high performance nutritionist who races on the pro scenes in the UK and Europe, winning a round of the Tour Series last season
