Why is Recovery Important?
As a college athlete, you have chosen a career in which taking care of your body is essential. When you are training and competing at a high level, there are several physiological consequences that occur as a result of hard exercise. A sound recovery nutrition protocol will ensure you can optimize training adaptations and perform at 100% of your body’s potential for the next training bout or in preparation for competition.
Key Considerations for Reovery Nutrition
How quickly you should refuel and how much you need depends on your training intensity, volume, timing of your next training bout and your body weight. This means your daily approach to recovery fueling may change throughout the week or season.
For hard training, research shows that timing is critical and refueling with the following nutrients will optimize recovery:
- 1g of carbohydrate per kg of body weight (0.5g of carb per 1lb) o 15-20g of protein (high biological value from whey, found mainly in animal sources)
- 24oz (3 cups) fluid per pound of sweat lost from session
- Electrolytes from a sport drink or some salty food
For moderate training, timing and balance of nutrients is also important, but less stringent. In easy training, recovery can occur through your next meal or a small post-training snack.
Successful recovery will only occur with proper planning! Think about your training sessions ahead of time, so you can plan and pack the appropriate fuels with you.