[Closed] What is recovery, or how to recover better?

Bookmarking as interested too.

Gentle Z1 only ride.

Active recovery is very very very gentle exercise - so for cycling, a ride so slow you have small children overtaking. The idea is to get the blood flowing more through the muscles, warm them up, help flush out any crap.

I have no idea if science supports this, but I find it helps me. Plus some stretching/foam rollering.

Chocolate milk- seems to make a difference to me, and also means I can drink chocolate milk.

Compression gear- I am on the fence about. it makes me feel fresher but I don't know if I actually am fresher, I've sometimes put them on after a heavy ride and the next day felt great til I started riding, but 20 minutes in I died. They do seem to reduce cramps though, so I wear them just for that.

+1 for choc milk, and compression.

I have exactly the same view as Northwind on compression. I'm not sure it really helps recovery, but it does stop me getting cramps and twitchy/restless legs after big rides.

Is it worth drinking electrolytes (Nuun / High5 zero ) after a long ride?
Next day I get up 0530 , have a wee, then often dont need to go again till I get home from work at 5pm. hmmmmmm .
I tried a large McD choco milkshake after sundays jolly and it went down a treat. Probably no milk or chocolate in it though.

Massage stick/roller works best for me. Far more than any drinks or foods. I often come back from rides dehydrated so plenty of fluids is something I try to keep on top of.

Active recovery is, as above, really easy riding. I think the idea is the same as massage. It gets blood flowing so helps provide the muscles with the things they need to repair and recover.

You don't get fit training, you get fit recovering. Don't skip it.

I seem to recall reading a Charlie Wegelius interview a few years back where he said yoga was probably better than recovery rides. Can’t find it now so may be misremembering that.

I know for me making sure I’ve had enough to eat and drink during and after makes a big difference. Plus enough sleep.

Loving the legitimate excuse to drink chocolate milk 🙂

Electrolytes can help, if you sweated a lot during the ride and didn't take any on. I sometimes find myself feeling crappy and wanting to drink a lot after long hot rides or races - electrolytes or even salty foods help with this.

Carbs immediately after the ride is the standard thing - carbs and protein in 3:1 ratio is 'recovery drink'. Chcolate milk (because it has added sugar) has a similar ratio IIRC but you need a lot of it - 1g of recovery drink powder per kg body weight is the suggested amount, that's a lot of milk. Plus it's medium GI and you want high GI carbs to promote the insulin response to get the carbs to your muscles quickly.

I've not found most recovery drinks to be much better than simple carbs after a ride (jelly babies, coke) , however Torq is very effective, perhaps due to the ribose it contains. Delicious too but horribly expensive.

Personally I've not found recovery riding as prescribed to be that effective, but I often find that a short normal ride with a little high intensity in it to work surprisingly well. Seems counter to advice, but for me the anecdotal evidence is strong.

How I attempt to recover....

1) Nutrition; drink a Protein rich drink after a hard ride. Followed by a good quality meal with more protein and vegetables
2) Stretch; I'm not very good at doing this one but when I have it seems to help
3) Sleep; get to bed on time and make sure you have 6-8 hours

Recovery rides - I never seem to find the time to do this. However I note that all professionals spend 20 minutes on a Turbo-trainer "warming-down" so I assume it works and I'm just too dis-organised!

My recovery protocol (let's call it that - sounds proper technical 😆 ) is:

Open fridge door, grab food, stuff face.

Milk does not and will never feature in this scientifically sounding sequence of events.

Compression gear-

I use socks. Probably not as good as lying with your feet up for a while, but that's not usually possible anyway. For me they help with achey legs post ride, no idea if they're beneficial beyond that. Though getting the bloody things on and off can seems impossible when you're completely knackered.

Recovery rides... on a rest day I'll usually do an hour of z1, pretty much always on the turbo. Generally find my legs feel a lot better the next day than if I've not done anything.

- 1g of recovery drink powder per kg body weight is the suggested amount, that's a lot of milk

SIS rego has 20g protein and 23g carbs per serving.

Alpro Chocolate 'milk' (what I use) has 10.9g carbs and 3.3g protein per 100ml.

Conclusion - SIS rego fails the 3:1 test, but 200ml of Alpro chocolate milk (which has the 'correct' ratio) gives you a meaningful contribution, certainly from the carb perspective.

You might need to draw your own conclusions on whether 'more is more' when it comes to protein...

1) Nutrition; drink a Protein rich drink after a hard ride. Followed by a good quality meal with more protein and vegetables

You really want carbs in there.

SIS rego has 20g protein and 23g carbs per serving.

Hmm. Torq recommends 4 or 5 30g scoops depending on body weight. It's very effective at those doses but incredibly expensive.

SIS rego fails the 3:1 test
You really want carbs in there.

Depends what you're trying to achieve (point being that "recovery" likely mean something very different in the middle of winter training compared to during a heavy week of racing at the hight of the season.) Though we've only just done this (again!) on another thread...

http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/recovery-drinks-that-taste-good

I weigh 65kg, so that's two 30g scoops if following the "1g of recovery drink powder per kg body weight is the suggested amount"???

Torq - Mandarin Yoghurt (took what was at the top of the listing)
38% Carbs
22% protein

@ 2 scoops:
22.8g Carbs
13.2g protein

Which sounds about right to me??? I see recovery drink as a stop gap between finishing training and eating something proper, not as the total recovery solution...

well, I'd say it depends on what ride you've done. You can't really recover without carbs. If you leave them out after a big ride you'll just stay knackered for ages.

If you've just done a strict Z2 ride then maybe.

You can't really recover without carbs.

I see recovery drink as a stop gap between finishing training and eating something proper, not as the total recovery solution...

So you choose not to eat soon after riding then. That's fine, but not the cheapest, as you've already indicated.

World Champions recover with haribo 🙂

[img] [/img]

And this related article is pretty good...

https://cyclingtips.com/2017/03/peter-sagan-refuels-hard-efforts-gummy-bears/

Simple carbs innit. What I said.

Simple carbs innit. What I said.

If your goal for recovery is to refuel.

Also note that the mix of simple carbs is important. I'll usually mix some fructose and maltodextrin but I might try gummy bears next time 🙂

My top bro-science tips:
- Eat / drink recovery food / drinks DURING a ride / session. And after. Sometimes before too. nom nom.
- 10 * Slow lunges (more psoas) and 10 * slow split squats (more glute) and 20 * slow calf raises on a step immediately after. This is quick to do and makes more of a difference to me than foam rollering and stretching combined.

Eat / drink recovery food / drinks DURING a ride / session. And after. Sometimes before too. nom nom.

Consume carbs during sessions as well. Then reco afterwards. But that does depend on what you're trying to achieve.

Also note that the mix of simple carbs is important.

Not sure it's that important. In my years of trying various things, I've found that having some simple carbs is what's important. The correct mix of sugars etc does help, but just sugar is nearly as good. And it's widely available!

this is recovery! well it was this morning 🙂

[img] [/img]

I'm hoping that's a STP. But it can't be as there's no custard or ice cream.

Looks like a type 4 on the Bristol chart.

Am i on the wrong STW forum? No one has said beer yet!

Peanut butter/banana and chilli sauce on crackers/bread and milk to drink

Type and length of recovery depends on the type of effort undertaken and the cycle (of training length )

Touring effort....I finish up eat some simple food drink some water , pitch tent and eat more food. Start tomorrow's ride with an easy 10k.

10mile time trial effort. Propper warm down , some yoga , some simple carbs plenty of hydration and follow up the next day with an easy spin.

24 hour event and it'll be about a week of easy - and swimming before I contemplate riding propper again .

Then there is cycle recovery. I work on a 3-1 cycle . 3weeks build and 1 week easy. Before building up again

As for being no such thing as overtrained just under recovered. That's just jargon for saying the same thing.

Ill take turning up for a long multi day ride undertrained any day. You'll ride to fitness in the early days and finish stronger. Start over trained and you'll decline dramatically/be suceptable to illness over the course of the ride.

tillydog - Member
Looks like a type 4 on the Bristol chart.

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