Sports Recovery for geezers

[PotomacCyclist]

World’s oldest triathlete: http://www.220triathlon.com/training/run/profile-worlds-oldest-triathlete/8088.html

No, he’s not doing Ironman triathlons, but still, he’s active at the age of 92 or 93. He didn’t start doing triathlons until he was 66. He served in the RAF in WWII. I’m not sure of his athletic experience. The article mentions judo, but whether he did that in his earlier years or when he was in his 60s, I’m not sure.

[PotomacCyclist]

http://blogs.bicycling.com/blogs/thehub/2014/01/21/102-year-old-cyclist-to-break-hour-record/

[ATTACH=CONFIG]4527[/ATTACH]

PARIS, January 21, 2014 (AFP) – French cycling phenomenon Robert Marchand, 102, will attempt to break his own hour record at the new national velodrome on January 31, it was announced on Tuesday.

The former fireman set the previous mark in the over-100 years category—created especially for him—in February 2012 in Aigle, Switzerland, covering 24.25km in the hour.

He also holds the centenarian’s record for the 100 kilometers, set in Lyon on September 28, 2012, timing 4:17:27, which translates into 23 kilometers per hour.

Marchand has had a colorful life working as a lumberjack in Canada as well as living in Venezuela for a number of years and only retiring from his job as a market gardener in the Paris area aged 89.

His attempt will take place at the new velodrome in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, just outside Paris, the day after its official inauguration.

[rcannon100]

This actually explains a lot

J Appl Physiol (1985). 2002 Jan;92(1):354-61. Combined effect of repetitive work and cold on muscle function and fatigue.
Oksa J, Ducharme MB, Rintamäki H.

This study compared the effect of repetitive work in thermoneutral and cold conditions on forearm muscle electromyogram (EMG) and fatigue. We hypothesize that cold and repetitive work together cause higher EMG activity and fatigue than repetitive work only, thus creating a higher risk for overuse injuries. Eight men performed six 20-min work bouts at 25 degrees C (W-25) and at 5 degrees C while exposed to systemic (C-5) and local cooling (LC-5). The work was wrist flexion-extension exercise at 10% maximal voluntary contraction. The EMG activity of the forearm flexors and extensors was higher during C-5 (31 and 30%, respectively) and LC-5 (25 and 28%, respectively) than during W-25 (P < 0.05). On the basis of fatigue index (calculated from changes in maximal flexor force and flexor EMG activity), the fatigue in the forearm flexors at the end of W-25 was 15%. The corresponding values at the end of C-5 and LC-5 were 37% (P < 0.05 in relation to W-25) and 20%, respectively. Thus repetitive work in the cold causes higher EMG activity and fatigue than repetitive work in thermoneutral conditions.

Muscle fatigue examined at different temperatures in experiments on intact mammalian (rat) muscle fibers

The finding that the extent of fatigue is increased with shortening contractions and is lower at higher temperatures is consistent with the view that force depression by inorganic phosphate, which accumulates within fibers during activity, may be a primary cause of initial muscle fatigue.

Translation: you fatigue easier when it is cold.

[Dirt]

Lots of good info in here.

Rod’s got the right idea. You recover better by teaching Your body to recover better. Do it again tomorrow makes a big difference.

Two things help that.

1) Nutrition. When you get off the bike, you have a 30 minute window to get fuel back in your muscles in a way that they’ll really recover for tomorrow’s ride. Get plenty of lean protein into the body in that first 30 minutes. I start with 1 or 2 glasses of chocolate milk… I drink ovaltine. I follow that up with some lean chicken or pork or a vegetarian equivalent. The 30 minute time limit is important. Avoid fatty foods and alcohol in the first hour after riding. They slow the absorption of nutrients into your system.

2) Compression. I wear compression socks and tights almost every evening. Don’t skimp on these. Go to Tri360 and have Blaine size you out and get really good ones. The 2xU tights and socks that I bought 3 years ago still work perfectly. Getting the right fit is extremely important. You can’t make that happen via mail order or with something you try to make work. I wear my compression stuff for 2-3 hours before bed. If it was a huge ride, then I might wear them to bed. When I wear them to bed, I tend to wake up and take them off after midnight. I don’t do as well wearing them all night like I used to.

Stretching helps if you do it regularly. The important thing is to have a regular recovery routine. Do this stuff EVERY ride. If you ride 10 miles, do it a little. If you ride 200, do it a lot. The way you get to riding 200+ miles is by spending time riding less than that and getting the routine right.

Hope some of that helps.

Pete

[guga31bb]

@Dirt 76975 wrote:

1) Nutrition. When you get off the bike, you have a 30 minute window to get fuel back in your muscles in a way that they’ll really recover for tomorrow’s ride. Get plenty of lean protein into the body in that first 30 minutes. I start with 1 or 2 glasses of chocolate milk… I drink ovaltine. I follow that up with some lean chicken or pork or a vegetarian equivalent. The 30 minute time limit is important.

At least in the context of weight lifting (my background), this 30-minute window is a myth. Is there evidence it’s different for endurance activity? I’m skeptical.

Total protein intake is crucial to athletic performance. This means you can’t rely on a post-workout drink and the mythical anabolic window to deliver most of the protein you eat each day […] Post-workout nutrition is just a part of the solution, not the full solution. [SOURCE]

However, despite the common recommendation to consume protein as soon as possible post-exercise, evidence-based support for this practice is currently lacking. [SOURCE]

The body doesn’t magically stop muscle protein synthesis 30 minutes post workout. Muscles are still sensitive to protein intake up to 24 hours after training. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21289204 [SOURCE]

[Tim Kelley]

@guga31bb 77004 wrote:

At least in the context of weight lifting (my background), this 30-minute window is a myth. Is there evidence it’s different for endurance activity? I’m skeptical.

Perhaps the very specific details of “30-minutes” and “lean protein” are unsubstantiated, but the general thrust of Pete’s advice is spot on. If you’ve just finished a big ride, you need to put the calories back in that you spent! Otherwise, you’re going to feel sluggish all day. It’s easy to spend several thousand calories on a long ride (especially for us bigger people).

From the weight lifting perspective, muscle hypertrophy is much easier on a bulking cycle than on a cut.

[PotomacCyclist]

For endurance sports, a more common recommendation is to consume carbs with a small amount of protein within 20-30 minutes or so post-workout. Some cite a 3:1 or 4:1 carb-protein ratio, but I don’t know that you need to be so precise.

You don’t need to do this after short/easy workouts. After long or tough workouts, the idea is that you burn through a lot of your glycogen (carb supplies in the muscles and liver) and that you should try to start the recovery process in that window. There actually is a physiological reason for that time frame. The body processes sugar differently during intense athletic activity/immediate post-workout period than when at rest. The body supposedly is much more efficient at using sugar at those times to replenish the glycogen stores in the muscles and liver. More so in the post-workout period. (During intense activity, you’re burning the sugar as you consume it.) At rest, the body tends to convert consumed sugars into body fat. (This is why sedentary people who guzzle sodas every day tend to add a lot of body fat. It’s not just calories, but the type of calories too. Plus exercise or lack of exercise.)

Even with the recovery benefits, there are still other considerations. Do you plan to do another long or tough workout in the next 12 hours or so? If so, you need to recover very quickly. Perhaps if you are in a stage road race, or an aggressive training routine. But if you don’t have another long workout scheduled right away, regular healthy meals should take care of the glycogen replenishment. Not as quickly as if you focus on the post-workout calories though.

More considerations: For people who have trouble managing their weight and body composition (fat vs. muscle percentages), the post-workout recovery period should not be a license to gorge oneself on every calorie source in sight, in massive quantities. (When I first started doing long runs a few years ago, I would get incredibly hungry. I would eat much more than I normally do, after the long runs. But now, I’m content with just a moderate healthy meal after the long run, not a large amount of food.)

When you dig really deep and deplete most of your glycogen (which would only happen after much longer rides, workouts, races or events, in the multiple hour range), cortisol levels increase. This happens with endurance training in general, but the effects can be exaggerated during and after the really long and tough events and workouts. Cortisol can help the body to operate more efficiently during that physical activity, but it’s not good to have elevated cortisol levels on a constant basis. This is why people under chronic stress tend to be sicker. This is also why many marathoners report that they get sick shortly after their marathons. Cortisol suppresses the immune system. Replenishing the glycogen levels as soon as possible after those really long efforts can help signal the body to decrease the cortisol release and get the body back to a normal hormonal balance. The post-marathon/long effort period is one time when it can be beneficial to have some sugar. (At other times, especially at rest or during easy activity, sugar is counterproductive and even harmful over the long term. A recent study indicates a link between excessive sugar consumption and higher rates of heart disease. This is independent of obesity and activity level, which also play important roles in general health.)

***
So there are physiological reasons for eating recovery calories in that post-workout window. But there are also reasons why it’s not important in every situation. You would also need to take into account the stress levels from that week and month, and how well you are recovering in recent days and weeks. It also depends on the type of workout/race. You don’t really need to focus that much on recovery calories after shorter workouts and races, like a 5K run race, an intermittent strength training workout, or a short bike sprint workout. But it also depends on how tough those races/workouts are for the individual, compared to what they are used to. An experienced endurance athlete can go longer and faster while remaining at lower effort levels, which means they are burning more fat than glycogen in those efforts. On the other hand, a beginner might find the same workout/race to be much more challenging. That puts the effort at a much higher level, meaning that they are burning a lot more glycogen.

I’ve noticed this in my own workouts over the past few years. When I first got into endurance sports, I would start to get hungry very quickly. My muscles would start to ache because I was burning through the glycogen. Moderate two-hour bike rides would trash my quads. I know it wasn’t muscle damage because the soreness and aches would disappear pretty quickly after I took in post-ride calories (mostly carbs). But nowadays, I just don’t feel that deep-seated muscle ache on those types of rides (low to moderate intensity). That’s a sign that I have become more fit and I’m burning more fat during the lower-intensity efforts.

Post-race protein helps with muscle recovery. Even with endurance workouts, there is some muscle breakdown-micro damage. (Any more than micro damage would be a muscle strain. And more damage than that qualifies as a muscle tear. You’ll know if you’ve ever torn a muscle. I did that once, way back when I was sedentary. Most painful physical experience of my life, and it was only a partial or microtear, of the trapezius.)

For the really long workouts/races/rides, it’s also recommended that, even after the immediate post-workout meal, you continue to take in recovery calories through regular meals on a normal schedule. So if you normally eat every 3 hrs., get the recovery calories. Then continue to have a regular meal every 2 or 3 hrs. after the workout. One rule of thumb that I’ve seen is to continue that process for as long as the duration of the workout. So for a 4-hr. endurance workout, you would have the recovery meal, then regular meals for the next 4 hours. (That would normally mean just one or maybe two meals, after the post-workout meal.)

***
All of these guidelines are just that, guidelines. If you push yourself hard, they don’t guarantee that you will recover properly, either that day or in the following days. It’s always good to monitor how you feel every day, whether or not you trained that day or not. Fatigue can be beneficial within certain limits. But excessive fatigue over a long period of time can lead to burnout, illness and injury. Listening to your body can help determine when you need to back off a bit, or when you need to be more diligent about post-workout recovery or general nutrition or adequate rest. “Listening to your body” is not an exact science. It’s a skill that requires some development. (I’ve run into some people who don’t understand the concept whatsoever. Or they mask any problems by popping NSAIDs, as if they were candy. That’s a terrible idea, by the way.)

[Geoff]

I notice that after a hard ride I sometimes have trouble sleeping. It’s hard to describe, except maybe to say I feel tight all over. Sometimes stretching helps. Taking an aspirin helps but I always wonder if it is psychosomatic.

Interestingly, I feel the same way after two or three days with no exercise at all.

Anyone notice anything similar?

[Tim Kelley]

@Geoff 77025 wrote:

I notice that after a hard ride I sometimes have trouble sleeping. It’s hard to describe, except maybe to say I feel tight all over. Sometimes stretching helps. Taking an aspirin helps but I always wonder if it is psychosomatic.

Interestingly, I feel the same way after two or three days with no exercise at all.

Anyone notice anything similar?

Do you drink coffee or beer? Caffeine and/or alcohol have that effect on me. Perhaps being dehydrated from the exertion makes you more sensitive to either of those?

[PotomacCyclist]

Your metabolism remains elevated after you finish a workout. That can cause problems with sleeping.

As for the off-days, maybe it’s a lack of circulation? A short walk, some easy leg and arm swings, or some light stretching might help on the off-days.

[guga31bb]

@Tim Kelley 77007 wrote:

If you’ve just finished a big ride, you need to put the calories back in that you spent! Otherwise, you’re going to feel sluggish all day. It’s easy to spend several thousand calories on a long ride (especially for us bigger people).

Oh, completely agree. I just don’t want people to be panicking if their post-ride meal is 45 minutes after riding rather than 30 minutes or something. The minutiae are just not that important relative to the big picture (total food intake).

@Tim Kelley 77007 wrote:

From the weight lifting perspective, muscle hypertrophy is much easier on a bulking cycle than on a cut.

Yes, but as long as you’re at a net caloric surplus (“bulk”), the meal timing part (when exactly in the day you eat) doesn’t really matter.

[Geoff]

@Tim Kelley 77026 wrote:

Do you drink coffee or beer? Caffeine and/or alcohol have that effect on me. Perhaps being dehydrated from the exertion makes you more sensitive to either of those?

I drink tea daily, beer or wine a few times a week with dinner. I’ve never noticed a pattern involving caffeine or alcohol, which doesn’t mean there isn’t one. I think having a sports drink and laying off the sodas helps – but is that because I think it “should” help? Is a sports drink just a soda without carbonation and with different marketing?

[Tim Kelley]

@Geoff 77029 wrote:

I drink tea daily, beer or wine a few times a week with dinner. I’ve never noticed a pattern involving caffeine or alcohol, which doesn’t mean there isn’t one. I think having a sports drink and laying off the sodas helps – but is that because I think it “should” help? Is a sports drink just a soda without carbonation and with different marketing?

Some sports drinks have electrolytes (it’s what plants crave), which makes them a little different. But yeah, lots of sugar, which you don’t need for shorter rides, but is very helpful for longer rides.

Anecdotally, I’ve found that I always sleep really really well after a Bikram yoga session.

[rcannon100]

@Geoff 77025 wrote:

I notice that after a hard ride I sometimes have trouble sleeping. It’s hard to describe, except maybe to say I feel tight all over. Sometimes stretching helps. Taking an aspirin helps but I always wonder if it is psychosomatic.

Interestingly, I feel the same way after two or three days with no exercise at all.

Anyone notice anything similar?

Yup, same. If I do a BIG workout, everything aches … even mildly, and I dont sleep well. One of my new old-age principles is to attempt to not do big deviations in performance (jumping from mild computing to tremendous weekend rides), because the cost is high and the recovery is prolonged.

There are a lot of things you can do (and you probably know most of them)
* hydrate
* warm down
* ice bath after work out
* heat
* compression
* avoid weekend-warrior routines (big deviations between normal and weekend workouts) – build up to distances

I believe there have been studies that show that most sport-drinks are basically sugar and water (aka soda). There are studies or reports for which drinks are actually better. Water is this amazing drink that works really really well. I also happen to like juice.

@guga31bb 77004 wrote:

At least in the context of weight lifting (my background), this 30-minute window is a myth. Is there evidence it’s different for endurance activity? I’m skeptical.

It is always good to question. There is a lot of unsubstantiated hype out there.

[PotomacCyclist]

I stopped buying sports drinks completely. Partly because they have too much sugar and partly because I don’t want to be spilling sugar water all over my bike. Another reason is that combining calories and hydration in the same bottle can cause problems on very hot or very cold days. On hot days, I might drink more, but I don’t need more calories. Sports drink would lead to bloating, from all the extra calories. On cold days, I don’t drink that much at all. But for harder efforts, I would still need some calories. So relying on sports drink would mean not enough calories, because I wouldn’t be drinking anything.

For all of these reasons, I just use water in the bottle for hydration (drinking to thirst) and carb chews (or something else) for calories.

I know many people here do some very long rides, so they do need in-ride calories. But I see a lot of people at gyms who are doing short indoor workouts, while practically guzzling Gatorade, during and after. Yuck. People don’t burn that many calories in a moderate-intensity 30-45 minute workout. No one really needs sports drink for a workout like that.

***
Regarding electrolytes, there is a debate among sports scientists whether anyone really needs electrolyte supplements. Noted sports nutrition and exercise writer Dr. Timothy Noakes has written about the topic in his book “Waterlogged”. (Noakes is a scientific researcher as well as an ultramarathoner.) While many people say that electrolytes help them to avoid cramps, scientists actually don’t know why cramps occur. Many think that it has to do with over-exertion, pushing the muscle far beyond the level of intensity that it is used to. If cramping had to do with electrolyte levels, then why wouldn’t there be total body cramping, instead of just in a localized area? Noakes also says that when we sweat, we lose more water than electrolytes, so our electrolyte concentration goes up, not down.

When I first started out, I tried some of the gels with more electrolytes, but I never used any of those electrolyte tablets. I’ve never had any muscle cramps, even though I had other issues early on (primarily running injuries in my first year). Some people might be more susceptible to cramps, whether or not electrolytes have anything to do with it. I’ve also noticed in at least some cases that people who complain about cramps, don’t do any strength training whatsoever. Why would that matter? Well, if it does have something to do with over-exertion, then strength training could prevent cramping. Strength training temporarily puts a much greater stress on the muscles then endurance activity does. This preps the muscles for much harder efforts than you would get from cycling or running. I don’t know if any studies have looked into it, but I’ve come across several individuals like this: cramping issues, no strength training.

Others say that they use electrolytes to help avoid hyponatremia (low sodium concentration). But the amounts of electrolytes in most sports drinks aren’t going to make a difference. People that drink a lot during races (usually slower marathoners) seem to be susceptible to hyponatremia, whether they are drinking water or sports drinks. (Some individuals may also be more at risk for hyponatremia, no matter how much they are or aren’t drinking.)

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