The miles were ticking away quickly as the brisk wind pushed us all the way back home. My fellow cyclist asks, “What are some good foods to eat after a hard five hour ride like today?” I asked what he ate after his ride yesterday and it wasn’t pretty. The weary cyclist shrugged and sheepishly said, “Bagel, cream cheese, and nova and oh then later in the day a bowl of ice cream.” I shook my head in disbelief and started outlining my next article. Well this is it.

To get the most out of this article there are some important concepts to understand. First, the quality of each and every workout you do is very important. The more high quality workouts you have the better your race will be. Second, to get the highest quality workout you need to fuel yourself with high quality foods and drinks. Third, when you eat and not just what you eat is very important to get the most out of each workout.

Now, coaches who put together training plans routinely will string together multiple days of hard sessions to elicit various responses in the body. How and what they program in the workouts is another article but let’s just say that these taxing workouts can be in various periods of training. Now every athlete is different and requires different amounts of fuel before, during and after exercise. Yes that is right, you should be eating before you workout.

According to renowned sports nutritionist and author Monique Ryan, glycogen stores are reduced significantly overnight while you sleep. Some experts say these vital energy stores can be reduced by 30-40 percent and this is precisely the reason to eat a breakfast before a workout or race. Now every person has different tastes but you will want to look for complex carbohydrate foods like oats or multi grain cereals. It would be beneficial to keep away from high fat foods like bacon or sausage. Also, try to eat your meals 1-2 hours prior to exercise.

Now what about caffeine, the prized bean. Studies show that caffeine will help with fat utilization and improve exercise time to exhaustion. You will always want to check with your doctor before supplementing with any product but if you regularly drink a cup of Joe in the morning then two should be just fine. Just be sure to keep water and sports drink going in prior to beginning your training session. For workouts lasting longer then three to four hours you might want to try supplementing with 100-200 milligrams after the 3-4 hours are up.

According to Monique Ryan, for workouts lasting 1-2 hours and under moderate temperatures, an athlete should consume 60-100 grams of carbohydrate in drink or gel form as these will react the quickest in the body. This will include the drinks you are consuming in the amount of 16-24 ounces per hour. Solid foods require more blood to be shifted from working muscle groups and can lead to stomach cramping.

Now, after your workout is time to really pay attention to when and what you are putting in your now finely tuned body. Most of you probably know about the WOO. What you say? You don’t know about the WOO (Window of Opportunity). If you do know about the WOO then pat yourself on the back. The WOO is the first 20-30:00 after a good hard exercise session when your body is most ready to absorb carbohydrates, fluids, vitamins and minerals so you can start rebuilding from the workout and make the workout, you guessed it, a high quality workout. This is the time to start taking in those recovery drinks or something as simple as cereal and milk. This will begin the storing process of new carbohydrates so you can start your next training session with most amount of energy. Approximately every two to two and half hours after the WOO it is a good idea to get in small to medium sized meals that are made up of lean proteins, complex carbohydrates and low in fats. Using your fist is a good way to judge size for foods. Work on not eating more protein or carbohydrates then the size of your fist and remember to keep the fruits and veggies going in daily. Even more importantly keep the fluids going in for the rest of the day. Alternating water and sports drink will make sure you are ready the next day for another quality session.

What else can you do to recover better from workouts? Ice baths are always a good idea. You can wrap your groin area in a towel and put shorts on over them as to make it more comfortable. Fill your bath tub with a bag of ice and then cool water. Ideal temperature is between 55-62 degrees and it is helpful to stay in for five to ten minutes. You can also add some Epsom salt as well to reduce inflammation. Keeping the legs up will also help with inflammation. And another good tip is to get a light, not deep, massage. The massage will help with blood flow and to get healing nutrients to the fatigued muscle groups.

Now for the best, legal, high end, top of the line recovery tip out there. Sleep! Yes to allow your body to rebuild itself better and stronger you need to sleep. This is because your now refined machine releases the majority of its human growth hormone when you sleep. So let’s say you are doing the longest hardest of your workouts on the weekends. Do your best to get a nap on each of the workout days. At the end of the month you will have slept the equivalent of one extra night. Brilliant!

You are now ready to fully execute your workouts and you are even more ready to recover from them making sure they are of good quality. So what about the riding partner I had. Oh, he went to the Heat basketball game and had a grilled chicken sandwich and some water.