General Cycling Discussion - Recovery

1 week until the Harmonie Hundred and, thanks to weather and work, I'm way undertrained. I know I can make it through a 50 mile ride even if I have to spin home in granny. My concern is working the next day. Any suggestions what to eat or drink afterward to get my tail going on Monday. I've heard chocolate milk is a good recovery drink. Does that mean a chocolate shake is twice as good?:D

I'd get some simple carbs in your body right after the ride - then, suplement with some complex carbs and protein. There is a glycogen window that is wide open 0-4 hours after activity. Use this window to get some carbs in your body. Your muscles will thank you for it the next day! The protein will help heal muscle and the carbs will replenish the "sugar" in your blood.

FYI, I'm not sure about the milk idea???

Good luck on the century!!!!! :)

Bac
I got the choc milk idea from www.roadbikerider.com newsletter
Its just a 50 mile ride. The Harmonie Hundred is a 50 on Saturday, 50 on Sunday. I'll just be riding Sunday because I work Saturdays.
This work stuff is really getting in the way of my cycling


:mad:

Originally posted by hillyman
This work stuff is really getting in the way of my cycling That is just so true.:)

Here the Chocolate milk thing http://roadbikerider.com/quick_tips.htm and other good tips

It was great to see chocolate milk cited as the ultimate recovery drink. I've read studies about consuming a 4:1 ratio of carbohydrate to protein within 30 minutes after a workout. Ovaltine, mixed according to directions of 2 tbsp. per 8 oz. non-fat milk, yields the magic ratio. Plus, it's good hot or cold. -- Jeffrey D.

hey hillieman,

well, i don't know how physical your job is -- i sit at a desk :( -- but it shouldn't be too bad.

drink a lot of water and make sure to eat and then good a lot of sleep and it should be ok. i often have a headache and of course muscle or backache after a hard ride race (i have a slight headache from my big 3 hour race yesterday), but it's usually not bad.

i think dehydration is the biggest risk - after my race yesterday i drank and drank and had to pee at least 12 times in the 4 hours following the race, but that's a good thing!

Originally posted by hillyman
It was great to see chocolate milk cited as the ultimate recovery drink.

Sweet! I now need to go to the store. :)

i dunno about the chocolate milk thing..... unless it's nonfat. you don't want to tax your GI system by dumping alot of hard-to-digest fat in there... you want something that's easily digested and absorbed.

I agree with the advice already given. deliriou5 hit the nail on the head with the comment about hard-to-digest fat. Later for that. ;)

You can go out and buy a recovery drink, like Endurox R4 ($$$), but I've found the homebrew that Joe Friel (author of The Cyclist's Training Bible) suggests works nearly as well. 5 tablespoons of refined sugar in 12 oz of skim milk, taken as soon as possible (no more than 1/2 hr) after completing the exercise. This will hasten replenishing carbohydrate and protein stores.

Yeah, I know... it just seems awful to intentionally ingest so much refined sugar. Use only after hard workouts.


Correction: I checked in the book... make that 16 oz of skim milk.

Thanks for the info ALL!
I work 12-13 hour days on a cake/bread route driver (The dreaded Vendor). It's not ditch digging but you have to move fast.

This work stuff is really getting in the way of my cycling

Oh how true it is. :D

Originally posted by hillyman
It's not ditch digging but you have to move fast.
I hear ya. I'm a desk jockey, but it doesn't matter. There's not much worse than trying to plow through a bad recovery day (often a Monday, to boot!).

Have a great ride! :thumbup: