Recovery Drinks: What to Drink, When and How Much

How to recover quickly and ride strong the next day.

Only a few years ago, at the end of a race, the pro bike riders would immediately have a bottle of reddish liquid thrust into their hands which they would tip down their throats even before getting their breath back. Some teams disguised the bottles with blank labels but soon everyone was chugging a full bottle of tart cherry juice. It became an integral part of their recovery protocol.

I have not tried it (yet). I love to train. It is a habit. I would like to be able to run or ride every day. Sometimes twice a day. To do this I need to recover from the effort as efficiently as I can.

This week I want to talk about recovery drinks, specifically:

· What is their main function

· What to drink and how much

· When to drink it

· What effect it will have

· A repeatable process that everyone can follow.

I have looked at just a small sample of the mountains of available research and commercially available functional recovery beverages are almost as numerous as research papers on the subject. This piece is not sponsored by any of the hundreds of Sports Nutrition companies out there, all of whom will tell you their product is the best. The landscape is confusing with all the claims people make about their brand of wonder juice. I have tried to simplify things here.

Most recovery drinks are formulated to supply energy and promote the resynthesis of glycogen, stored in muscles and the liver, to replace electrolytes lost during exercise and provide post exercise hydration. In addition, ideally, there will be some support to repair any damage to and soreness in the muscles and the effects of oxidative stress. It is clear that few recovery drinks do all these things.

There are several main types of recovery drink, these can be categorised, along with their claimed benefit as follows:

· Protein Shakes: Supporting muscle repair and growth, reducing soreness and providing some potentially useful amino acids.

· Carbohydrate drinks: Best to replenish glycogen stores but sometimes with added traces of sodium and/or potassium

· Protein and Carbohydrate blends: Ideally with a 3:1 or 4:1 ratio on Carbs to Protein and combining both energy replacement and muscle repair.

· Electrolyte drinks: Replacing sodium, magnesium, calcium and potassium lost through sweating during exercise.

· Natural blends of protein, carbohydrate and fats, like chocolate milk for example, providing balanced recovery, having a near ideal carbs to protein ratio (mostly 3:1) plus naturally occurring electrolytes and fluids and are readily available and cost effective.

I have added to this list BCAA (Branch Chain Amino Acids) and Tart Cherry Juice for completeness and interest. The former helps reduce muscle soreness, claiming to help minimise Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS). However there is little research/consensus on which specific amino’s deliver the most benefit. The latter, a strong source of antioxidants, reduces inflammatory markers, improves recovery time, hydration, and is a natural ‘whole food’.

Advice on when is best to consume recovery drinks, post exercise, is mixed.

It is recommended to take protein shakes within 30 minutes of finishing exercise for example and some research on BCAA’s demonstrated that drinking these during a long run test, delivered lower muscle damage, and slower decline in lower limb strength.

In order to maximise glycogen resynthesis, one researcher tracked athletes on multi-day ‘tournaments’ and proposed consuming 1.2gms of carbs per kg of body weight immediately afterwards, and then each hour afterwards for 4 to 6 hours post-exercise. This is a lot to consume and some gastric issues were recorded. This research also proposed that taking 0.8gms of carbs along with 0.4gms of protein was equally effective.

Some studies recognise that appetite can be supressed as a result of exercise and recommend taking recovery food in liquid form, not only as a palatable way of delivering valuable hydration but as a way of providing electrolytes, particularly sodium where 0.3 or 0.7gms is recommended per litre of fluid. The sodium intake also stimulates thirst to ensure continued drinking.

Recent studies indicate that milk, particularly chocolate milk may be as effective or even superior to formulated drinks as a way of promoting recovery. Chocolate milk has a good ratio of carbs to protein as well as containing cocoa which has antioxidant properties. There is little evidence that milk is any less good than more sophisticated formulations.

Studies into the effect of Tart Cheery juice seem to focus on the effects of taking this daily over an extended period. The juice is rich in polyphenols, and improvements are seen in both endurance and strength exercise. One protocol suggests taking 250ml to 400ml twice daily pre-event and for 2 to 3 days afterwards to promote recovery.

In summary, often products adopted by professional athletes and which as a result filter down to us mere mortals, outpace the research available that might prove their efficacy compared to other recovery products. Add to this the ‘noise’ created by the plethora of brands vying for our attention and no wonder the picture is confusing.

My actionable recommendation would be to adopt regular consumption of at least 200ml of chocolate milk immediately after exercise and to eat some proper food as soon as possible after that.

If I do this regularly, it works for me. When it is cold outside, a similar dose of a good quality powdered hot chocolate drink , made with milk, works just as well and is definitely something to look forward to.

As one further thought, I suggest experimentation until you find products that work for you. Everyone is different and there is no ‘one-size fits all’.

This article could have been ten times longer such is the amount of detailed information. I looked at Meta-studies to provide these broad guidelines. If you have a favourite way of recovering from your rides, enabling you to go again tomorrow, please share it in the comments and I will aim to collate the answers and put them out to all subscribers as I work towards establishing a community of people committed to riding their bikes.

Thanks and best wishes, ride safe.

Mike

Here are two links to books I have written about cycling:

The first one is about preparing for a riding the epic Pan Celtic Race last year. I was the oldest finisher of this 2400km journey through the Celtic lands. Finishing it was one of my proudest achievements.

Do Not Hurry Do not Rest

I also wrote a collection of stories about my life on a bike, a not too serious look at the very serious business of riding, racing, success and failure. This book includes the extract about my early years as a very average time trialer.

Motion and Emotion