Optimize your recovery
Recovery is as important as training since this part allows the body to make the important adaptations and build stronger so that we can gain benefits from all the training time we invest. There are many different recovery methods, but the science behind them is often uncertain. The most important factor for your recovery is definitely nutrition, which has strong scientific support.
Nutrition is the absolute primary tool we can manipulate to accelerate recovery. Proper nutrition also positively affects sleep, which in turn continues to enhance your recovery. The most important and often decisive factor is that you achieve a sufficient energy intake. The body cannot create anything new from nothing; a continuous flow of building blocks is necessary for this. The most crucial are carbohydrates, which become glycogen, and protein, which becomes muscle protein, mitochondria, enzymes, etc. Carbohydrates slow down muscle breakdown and replenish your glycogen stores, while protein provides building blocks for rebuilding and enhances the storage of glycogen (carbohydrates) a bit extra. Below, we will look at recovery based on different time spans.
Short recovery time < 8 hours
(Between two hard interval sessions or a double competition day, for example.)
Carbohydrates
If you are doing multiple sessions in the same day with short rests in between, provide carbohydrates immediately after each completed session. At this time, replenishment is super effective because the enzyme that controls storage, as well as the transport protein that pulls carbohydrates into the muscles, is fully activated. Providing carbohydrates at a rate of at least 70g/hour right after finishing will lead to 45% faster glycogen storage over the next 2 hours, which in turn means that you are well recovered already 4 hours after finishing and your body can start focusing more on repair and rebuilding. It actually prioritizes slowing down breakdown (here, carbohydrates are crucial) before it begins to build and strengthen the muscles (here, proteins are crucial).
Protein
To maximize recovery, 20g of high-quality complete protein (about 0.25g/kg of body weight) right after finishing the session serves as a good basis for starting the rebuilding process. My recommendation is some form of whey protein/milk protein that is complete, i.e., all amino acids are present in sufficient amounts. If you wait to take in protein for as little as 3 hours after finishing training, your capacity for quick rebuilding will decrease.
Practical applications
20g of complete whey protein and 70g of fast carbohydrates (glucose and fructose-based) mixed in 0.5-1 liter of water immediately after training/competition. Followed by a combined meal with carbohydrates, protein, and fat within 3 hours.
Recovery Time 8-24 Hours
(During a training camp or stage race, for example.)
If you have a full day for recovery, the timing of carbohydrate and protein intake becomes less important. What is more important here is that you consume an adequate amount of energy throughout the entire day.
Carbohydrates
In studies examining glycogen storage in cyclists consuming carbohydrate-rich meals similar to Tour De France teams' nutrition plans with 12-12.5g carbohydrates/kg body weight (over 1 kilogram of carbohydrates/day), it does not matter if they split the intake into anywhere from 2 large to 16 small meals throughout the day. Glycogen storage 24 hours later was the same in both groups.
Focus on your daily intake and adjust the amount according to your body weight, nothing else. For moderate training – 5-7g/kg body weight, intense training 6-10g/kg body weight, and very tough or high-volume training, 10-12g/kg body weight. For glycogen storage itself, it doesn't matter how the carbohydrates are provided. But also make sure to stay well-hydrated. For practical reasons, however, it can be challenging to consume larger amounts of carbohydrates around 8g/kg body weight and above in one day. Especially if you also want to keep fiber intake low so that your stomach stays calm. In these cases, easily digestible, high-glycemic carbohydrate sources like sports drinks, gels, and bars can facilitate energy intake.
Protein
Amino acids (the building blocks of protein) make up a very small part of the energy during normal daily activity. However, during more intense physical activity, breakdown increases quickly, as does protein needs in the diet, where the recommended intake lands at 1.2-1.7g/kg body weight. What is important here is to emphasize that this is an intake you, as an athlete, almost always achieve if you also energy compensate, meaning you eat as much as your body needs to recover maximally.
But if we want to be optimal (which is always fun), you should aim for 20g of complete protein in each meal throughout the day (preferably one meal every 3-4 hours for a continuous flow of both carbohydrates and protein without feeling overly full).
Recovery time over 24 hours
Here you can take it easy, and the importance of a carefully planned diet decreases as your recovery time increases. There is certainly a point in recovering quickly by eating soon after a workout so that you ultimately achieve a better training effect and more "bang for your buck" even from competitions. But you don’t need to calculate carbohydrates and protein in grams. Just make sure to have a proper meal within 3 hours after a workout. Possibly a smaller recovery snack (chocolate milk, milk, fruit, recovery shake/drink) right after working out to stop the breakdown and immediately start recovery.
Special Tip – Creatine monohydrate for 80% faster recovery
For faster glycogen storage, you can consume creatine monohydrate in a dose of 5x5 grams evenly distributed throughout the day along with 0.5-1 liter of extra water. In a newly published study, this small amount of creatine monohydrate considerably accelerated the re-stocking of muscle glycogen. So much so that regular exercisers, that is to say athletes without a super-efficient recovery system, have regained full, and even overfull glycogen stores in their muscles as early as 24 hours after a workout.
Practical advice directly from science
Carbohydrate-rich foods such as pasta, rice, and bread increase the quality of your sleep and reduce your “sleep latency,” but only if consumed no later than 1 hour before bedtime. A protein-rich meal also seems to enhance sleep quality while a fat-rich meal lowers your sleep quality.
Research agrees on these points, and if we are to find an explanatory model for the effects of different energy substrates on your sleep quality, an increased intake of carbohydrates and proteins can result in lower levels of stress hormones when the body has fuel for recovery. Otherwise, it will break down proteins into amino acids that it reuses as building blocks where they are needed.