Improved Training through Recovery: Another Role for Carbohydrate

Improved Training through Recovery:
Another Role for Carbohydrate

By John Robertson, MD

Ninety percent of all endurance athletes from recreational to world class follow the same training schedule – they OVERTRAIN. Surely, to improve performance, one must become more fit through an increase in training. The tricky part is knowing how much training is possible before you become stale or, worse yet, incur an injury that interrupts your training schedule. This is where a good coach is invaluable.

The coach’s job, or your job if you coach yourself, is to know how much work is possible and still avoid overtraining. How quickly one recovers from one training session to the next becomes a critical factor in the big equation: Training + Recovery = Improved Fitness. Beginning a workout fatigued limits the amount of work possible and predisposes the athlete to injury.

Like coaching, the process of recovery is both an art and a science. The use of proper cooldown, stretching, massage, and obtaining adequate sleep are some of the more traditional components of recovery. More recently, coaches and athletes have experimented with electrical muscle stimulation, sensory deprivation tanks, relaxation tapes, and the use of various drugs (some legal and some not) to enhance the body’s recuperative powers.

The use of nutrition to enhance recovery is also a relatively new concept. A study from the University of Texas has shown that the timing of postexercise carbohydrate consumption is critical.

Carbohydrate is the building block for glycogen, which is stored in muscle and the liver. When glycogen levels drop, fatigue sets in. Endurance athletes of all types – runners, bikers, and swimmers – who have hit “the wall”, know quite clearly the value of carbohydrate before a race (carbohydrate loading) and during training. Increasing numbers of speed and strength based athletes – weightlifters and football, basketball, and soccer players – are discovering the benefits of adequate carbohydrate in their training diet.

Glycogen can be depleted after several days of moderate training or within 2 to 3 hours in a marathon, especially if the diet is low in carbohydrate. A high-carbohydrate diet (70% of total calories or 500 to 600 grams daily) can provide near maximal glycogen repletion within 24 hours of training. A mixed diet (40% total calories as carbohydrate) will produce only minimal glycogen storage. Glycogen levels will continue to drop with each successive day of training on a 40%-carbohydrate diet until even moderate exercise causes fatigue.

When athletes eat only as much food as they desire, they often underestimate their caloric needs and fail to consume adequate carbohydrate to fully replace the glycogen burned in training. We now know the importance of prompt carbohydrate replacement after a workout.

John Ivy’s study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology showed that there is an increase in the muscles’ ability to replenish depleted glycogen stored during the 2 hours immediately following exercise. The rate of storage was three times as fast when carbohydrate was ingested immediately, compared with waiting 2 hours before eating.

Most athletes cool down, drive home, shower, and then wait for the next meal to ingest carbohydrate. Getting in 75 to 100 grams of carbohydrate in any form immediately after a workout will maximally reload glycogen. Carbohydrate, either sugar or starch, will do.

How much carbohydrate is 100 grams? The answer is 3 bagels, 4 bananas, 6 slices of bread, or 1 quart of orange juice. An easier and quicker method is to consume 1 pint of a high carbohydrate drink like Gatorade. That’s right, the same drink used for carbohydrate loading is the best source to replenish glycogen on a regular basis after workouts.

So, in addition to replacing any water losses from your workout (weigh yourself before and after exercise and drink 1 pint of water for every pound lost) and eating a diet with 70% carbohydrate, rebuild your glycogen stores as fast as possible by consuming 100 grams of carbohydrate immediately after cooldown.

While you may not have your own coach, personal masseur, or electrical muscle stimulation unit at home, you can optimize your nutritional recovery just like world-class athletes do. Now that you know how simple it is to do, I think you’ll notice a big difference in your training.

John Robertson, MD, is Medical Director of Seattle Sports Medicine, Washington. Robertson serves as the medical director for the Seattle Emerald City Marathon and the Dallas-White Rock Marathon. He has competed in 11 marathons, including the Boston and New York City races. His personal record is 2:40:01.

# # #