Cycling and Endurance Sport Training Information - Recovery Drink: Custom Blend or Commercial Product?

By Josh Simonds LMT

   There have been quite a few of you asking about post race or post hard training “recovery” routines.

For some this is old hat, SOP and been there done that. For the rest of us sore, dead legs and sudden cramps can be a thing of the past.

Use of a simple recovery drink is a basic tried and proven way to recover from hard work so you can continue to train hard and improve. Remember, every one of us have unique physical characteristics. Thus, some fine-tuning will be required.
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Basic Post Race / Hard Training Recovery Simplified:

It's all about planning and commitment to doing your best. After a hard race or workout consuming quality carbohydrates with protein 30-40 minutes afterwards gives your body what it needs to repair and recover for the next onslaught!

Shortening recovery period between training is a basic tenant for continued improvement and injury prevention. Well-designed recovery drinks that have a reasonable ratio of carbohydrate to protein serves this purpose well. An ideal ratio of carbohydrate to protein is 4:1 [hard workout] or 3:1 [normal] ratio.

A good plan to follow for post race recovery is to have a cooler in your vehicle or ‘fridge with a recovery drink pre-mixed.

I use 1 scoop (E-Caps) “Hammer Pro Whey” with 2 servings of “Hammer Gel” or 2.5 scoops “Sustained Energy” with water. For longer workouts or very hard riding use 1.5 - 2 scoops Hammer Pro Whey and 4 servings of Hammer Gel or 5 scoops of Sustained Energy. *You may need to adjust based on body weight. A very good alternate to Hammer Pro Whey is found at any quality health food store or Whole Foods stores: Solgar’s “Whey to Go”. This mixed with a big glass of orange juice will do the trick.

Another alternate is a commercial recovery drink such as Endurox R4. Endurox has a 4:1 ratio of carbs to protein which is a good ratio and not a bad recovery drink. The only issue I have with this product is it reliance on simple sugars (for carbohydrate and some artificial ingredients and ciwujia. Ciwujia is a close cousin of Ginseng and is included for it’s claimed ability to accelerate fat metabolism.

It is noteworthy that our bodies are not very particular about carbs we ingest immediately following glycogen (blood sugar) depletion.

Please feel free to ask me any questions about this and am glad to help. You can contact me at: joshuasimonds@comcast.net or tootall@ahealinghand.com