Nutrition for Recovery

Nutrition Article

Fasterskier.com interview with Adam Korzun, sport dietician with USSA

1. Recovery

FS: For cross-country skiers, the area of biggest concern, nutritionally, is recovery. Can you talk about the body’s nutritional demands after a workout?

AK: If you look at the basics of recovery, it’s carbs and protein, within a certain amount of time after a workout. Post-workout, your body’s in a state of breakdown—you’ve used your energy stores. The muscle’s tissue is damaged and broken down. Your body needs to repair, but it can’t do that without energy. The idea is get carbohydrates and protein into your body as soon as possible.

The carbs will stop the muscle breakdown, and start to build muscle glycogen, which is your energy. Protein comes in once the breakdown stops, and you can use the protein to rebuild your muscles. You need the protein to repair, but you need the carbs to stop the breakdown.

The basics are carbs and protein, as soon as possible. .. You’ve got a range of carbohydrates, from 30 to 100 grams, and protein, from 10 to 30 grams. It’s a pretty broad range—depending on how intense your training session was, ... If you’re doing an hour-long core session, you’re keeping your heart rate relatively low—it’s not essential that you replenish 60 to 70 grams of carbs at that point. A piece of fruit could be an adequate carbohydrate source at that point, and then adding some protein, like string cheese, could be perfect. Say you’re on the run—chocolate milk could be perfect right there.

Most foods are labeled with statistics showing the amount of carbohydrates and protein per serving.

That’s another thing: You’re looking at recovery as a snack, not as a meal. Within 20 to 30 minutes of finishing, your body’s primed to take the carbs and protein into the muscle cells. That said, you don’t need to overdo it—it’s just as snack, because then you’re going to have your meal one-and-a-half to two hours later. You look at what you depleted and how hard you worked to gauge how much you replenish.

If your session was a little bit more intense, maybe you want to have a turkey and cheese sandwich, or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a glass of chocolate milk, or maybe a fruit smoothie. You play around with the amounts, based on how hard you worked—that’s how you make sure you’re getting the right amount when you need it, but not getting excessive amounts when you don’t. I think that’s especially important in sports like cross-country and nordic combined... getting the right nutrients at the right time.

FS: Are there any methods you can use to see if you’re recovering the right way and eating the right amount—not too much, not too little?

AK: There’s some folks that will tell you that good recovery can be seen in decreased muscle soreness. I don’t necessarily believe that myself. As far as the carbs and protein component, really looking at the energy level that day into the next day—that’s how recovery makes the most difference, is in those repeat training days. If you’ve got training coming up eight to 12 hours after your first session, the faster you eat, the better fueled and recovered you’ll be next time you go out. Just seeing how you feel, knowing how you feel—that’s kind of a subjective measure, but most people aren’t going to track morning blood glucose levels at a younger level.