An example of how to recover after an intense day of training:

Here is how my day of training and nutrition went on October 18, 2006:

Workout # 1 – 40 min after breakfast

...so I had a quick bowl of kashi go-lean crunch ~300kcal and headed to the pool for my 7am 4000 meter aerobic swim in the morning (I had to trudge through snow and ice in just my suit and sandals before I hopped in my clubs beautiful outdoor pool!)

I returned home about 20-30min later and had a bowl of cereal with a scoop of protein/meal replacement powder in it.  I got about 300kcal from carb, 150kcal from protein and 50kcal from fat.  My total calorie consumption for the morning was 700kcal and during my swim workout I am guessing that I went through right around 700kcal.  I felt confident that I hit my pre and post workout nutrition spot on.  In hind site, the only thing that would it made it better would have been some apple juice to go with, for faster fluid absorbing carbs. 

My lunch consisted of bow-tie pasta with shrimp and veggies and a mixed green salad with carrots, olives and a vinaigrette dressing …plus some sort of yummy homemade coffee cake with pecans that grandma made.  Total Lunch: 500kcal from carb, 100kcal from protein, 100kcal from fat.

Workout # 2 - 2hrs after lunch

...I headed over to the Boulder Center of Sports Medicine to have my coach work me through my last mega-supra-threshold workout in prep for Maui Xterra World Championships.  After warm-up I biked 10min at 320-330watts followed by a 5min run at 9mph at 8% grade. I did this bike run combination 3x's.  On one the last run I had to do 2minutes off the bike at 10mph / 10% grade (total V02max - almost threw up!) followed immediately after with 4minute at 1% grade at 10mph which I was amazingly able to recover during and feel good enough to run an extra mile at 5:25min/mile giving me 2miles in 11:30.  Needless to say, I was spent!  …and I’m still a bit tired a day later!

With an intense workout you really want to get in a recovery drink as soon after the effort as possible.  Luckily BCSM has a cliff bar sponsor and I was able to snag three servings of 8oz an recovery drink giving me 300kcal from carb and 20g or 80kcal of protein.  After I finished my recovery drink I ate a breakfast bar which gave me another 80kcal of carb, 10kcal (2g) of protein and 20kcal of fat.  Once I got home I knew we had about 90minutes until dinner would be ready so I figure I better top off my recovery before dinner.  During my intense 100 minute workout I burned over 1800kcal and so far I have only replaced about 600kcal so I had some more calories to consume.  I got my hand held blender out, threw a banana in a glass, added 12oz of milk, and 2 scoops of ultra-imflamX by metagenics (a protein, carb, fat plus every vitamin and mineral in the world recovery product that they use in hospitals (this is the stuff I use for serous recovery!)  This gave me another 500kcal of all the good stuff  (another 25g of protein, 350kcal of fat and 150kcal of fat). 

Dinner happened to be our super healthy veggie lasagna with tofu, mushrooms, a red sauce, ricotta cheese, spinach (frozen and then cooked so not to worry about the e-coli threat).  I am fairly certain I ate about 1000kcal worth and had another 200kcal of lemonade.  The break down of my dinner would be about 600kcal of carb, 200kcal of protein, and 300kcal from fat; a pretty good balance.

So when I break down my day:

 I am pretty certain that I burned about 2500kcal during my workouts

 I burned another 1500kcal just existing.

 I can add another 500kcal when I figure in wrestling with my 2 year old, changing baby Kieren’s diapers, ripping out carpet, cleaning the house and typing up emails or ‘journals’ like this.

My total caloric expenditure was 4500kcal.

I consumed: 1800 kcal in recovery nutrition
300  kcal for breakfast
700  kcal for Lunch
1200 kcal for
4000 total caloric intake.

 …So you say, what about the 500 kcal deficit?  Not to worry, the day before I had a little dinner meeting at the Irish Pub!  My not so healthy meal consisted of nachos and an ole’ fashioned hamburger chased by a couple of hardy brown ales.  This meal was after a light day of training so I am quite positive it gave me that 500kcal surplus I needed for the next day and then some!  I definitely won’t be wasting away anytime soon!

Back to the initial question: When you examine my recovery nutrition strategy you will notice that I was a little more urgent and deliberate after my intense workout.  I started my recovery almost immediately with a high carbohydrate drink that also had a modest amount of protein.  I topped my recovery nutrition about 20 minutes later with a more balanced carbohydrate, protein and fat recovery that also consisted of tons of anti-oxidants, vitamins, minerals, essential amino acids etc…  At this time I also had a full gamut supplements to aid in my recovery, keep inflammation down and help in general health maintenance.  My all natural anti-inflammatory supplements include: Bromaline (a pineapple extract), Traumeel both oral and topical (an Arnica based herbal therapy), MSM (a natural sulfur that acts as an anti-inflammatory that really helps with bruising); all which can be found at your local health food store.   My health maintenance supplements include: a multi-vitamin, glucosamine for joints, EPA/DHA fish oils for cardiovascular health which I get through my chiropractor, a.k.a wife, via a company called Metagenics.

Now for the recovery bonus material! My top 10 recovery drinks and food.

10)   Some pre-made recovery drink from one of those energy drink companies – Boring!!!

9)     Add vanilla whey protein to any energy drink – little more exciting but we can do better!

8)     Straight-up grape, blueberry, apple, or other juice with whey protein mixed in.

7)     ½ cup Apple sauce, 1 cup milk, whey or soy protein, a little bit of cinnamon and blend– taste a bit like apple pie.

6)   Banana, chocolate whey protein and milk – yumm… Chocolate/Banana Milk Shake (you can add a scoop of ice cream, I won’t tell!).

5)   Apple Sauce and cottage cheese together – my mom used to make this for us when we were kids – it’s really pretty good!

4)   The old standard bowl of cereal and milk with a scoop of protein powder and some juice of course.

3)   Power Goulash: Oatmeal, apple sauce, granola, yogert, berries, soy or whey protein and all mixed together and sweetened with honey.  I use this one after those super long Ironman workouts.

2)   Straight up Chocolate milk – the chocolate gives you some extra carbs and the milk has a good amount of protein and fat to aid recovery further.

1)   Coach Jared’s Power Smoothie – those who came to my spring camps know what I am talking about!  In your blender pile frozen fruit (strawberries and bananas which I have previously peeled and froze are my favorite) to about ¾ of the way to the top.  I then add a cup of soy or regular milk followed by grape or apple juice until the fruit is fully submerged.  I then add a few table spoons of yogurt and/or applesauce plus about 40grams of whey or soy protein, some ground flax seed, a little honey and whatever else I feel it needs at the moment.  My end result is a creamy smooth smoothie that may just rival your Jamba Juice favorite!

Tips:  *I use whey protein when I need the protein to dissolve quickly. 

       *the Goal is to have recovery food that digest pretty quick.  Carbs are fastest followed by protein and fat.
  
       *make sure you get that nutrition istarted with in 15-30 minutes after hard or long workouts. 

Date modified: 1/26/2007