How does an ultra-cyclist recover post-race?

This time last week ultra-cyclist, Joe Barr was in recovery and en-route to Dublin from Orlando after delivering a blazing 24-hour performance at Sebring 24 (482.6 miles), winning his age-category and placing 4th overall.

He maintained a hectic schedule from the minute he left home – Orlando arrival – build bikes – one sleep – start line – blazing performance – one sleep – pack bikes – home.

He was pretty empty when I picked him up at Dublin Airport… happy but empty.

Fast forward a week and he’s fully recovered! This is how we did it.

An ultra-cyclist should know how to recover

Recovery is a systematic process whereby your body replenishes, repairs, and adapts to whatever race load it has experienced, so that the next time you experience this race load you cope better.

If you’re in the game of performance progression, learning how to recover is a critical skill.

But it’s not just your muscles that have to recover. So does your digestive system. The road vibration, the diversion of blood supply from the gut towards muscles and skin and the simple fact of being in an aggressive position for so long can have a major impact in your ability to digest food right post-race.

And let’s not forget sleep deprivation. There’s only one solution for that, and that’s sleep!

Three things we do immediately start recovery

Rehydrate

The first thing we do is rehydrate and reestablish electrolyte balance.

It’s likely that you will have lost some blood volume and electrolytes, especially sodium, via sweat during an ultra-endurance race. It’s hard to keep up with hydration and electrolytes, especially if you’re racing in hot conditions.

Blood carries nutrients and oxygen to your tissues so before you think about refuelling, make sure you’ve got adequate blood volume to carry those much needed nutrients to your tissues.

Steady fluid intake is key. You don’t want to gulp large volumes quickly because you’ll stimulate your baroreceptors and pee it out even more quickly.

If you want to rehydrate with purpose, water is the least effective fluid. Use either a weak electrolyte mix with glucose and a little sodium or even better a dilute fruit juice with a pinch of salt – that ticks the carbohydrate box too.

Glucose and sodium actively transport water molecules across the gut wall and into the blood, where you need it.

Replenishment of glycogen

Glycogen is the storage form of carbohydrate found in muscles and liver. Once you stop racing, the body is hormonally primed to shunt glucose from the blood into the muscles, where it is converted to glycogen.

When it comes to glycogen replenishment, you need carbohydrate and a little protein. Research dictates that a ratio of 4:1, carbohydrate to protein is most effective.

It’s simple – we use chocolate milk with an additional banana, small muffin or pastry.

Chocolate milk brings ideal fluid with glucose and salt, along with a 2:1 ratio of carbohydrate to protein. We simply add a little more carbohydrate to that mix via banana, muffin or pastry.

You want to aim for a minimum of 1.5 grams of carbohydrate per kilogram of body weight within the first 90 minutes.

Glycogen is replenished quickly. Smaller feeds initially feel better, but let your gut and your muscles make the decisions. If you’re hungry – feed it!

Within 6-8 hours your muscles will be restocked and you’ll start the longer cycles of repair and restructure. This is where additional protein is necessary.

I recommend up to 2.2 grams per kilogram of body weight (per day) in the 4-5 days post race.

Sleep and the parasympathetic nervous system

An ultra-endurance race requires you to perform with your sympathetic nervous system (your ‘fight or flight’ mode) switched on. You have to override the need for rest and sleep for hours on end, so it’s not easy to turn off that switch as soon as you cross the finish line.

Rest or sleep can’t come until the sympathetic nervous system stands down and the parasympathetic nervous system tunes in. Your parasympathetic nervous system is your ‘rest and digest’ mode, this is why those small feeds work.

Everyone has their own method for switching off and tuning in. Find yours and ritualise it. For Joe it’s always been warm (not hot) shower, toast, nut butter, coffee and light banter about anything other than the race.

When sleep comes knocking, don’t resist. That first sleep is magic and sets the scene for all sorts of wonderful recovery and adaptation.

The next few days are usually busy with packing and travelling but it doesn’t mean that you have to be frantic. Move at your pace, maintain focus on hydration and get those frequent feeds with good amounts of protein in.

Before long we’ll see you at the next start line.

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I’m a nutritionist who specialises in nutrition for ultra-endurance athletes. If you’ve got ultra-ambitions and need a nutritionist on your side, contact me and let’s set up a time to chat.