Nutrition after prolonged physical exercise (over two hours) is just as important as what you eat before or during physical exertion.
The issue of nutrition is a very interesting aspect of training for long distances, both for swimming or triathlon. We have already looked at various topics about what to eat, when to eat and why you should eat certain types of food rather than others in a number of previous posts.
In this article, we will take a closer look at the importance of nutrition for recovery.
We will be working on a vital assumption: nutrition after prolonged physical exercise (over two hours) is just as important as what you eat before or during physical exertion.
Let’s see why:
1. Firstly, by a “recovery meal” we mean food eaten within approximately 30 minutes of finishing a training session or race, which is vitally important for replenishing your muscular energy reserves, preventing injuries and helping training adaptation. A recovery meal should contain both carbohydrates and proteins.
2. Secondly, a recovery meal will have no impact on your weight provided it is eaten within the 30-minute window after finishing your training session. This is because it merely balances out the number of calories you have consumed during such…
