First Endurance - Newsletter

Team First Endurance - Vol. 6, No. 9

September 2008

The Complete Electrolyte Story

by Shawn Dolan PhD, RD, CSSD

Introduction: Electrolytes, the mineral salts that conduct the electrical energy of the body, perform a cellular balancing act by allowing nutrients into the cell, while helping to remove waste products. Certain elements, such as sodium, chloride, magnesium, calcium and potassium, play a primary role in cellular respiration — that of muscle contraction and nerve impulse transmission. It is in the cell membrane where these electrolytes conduct electrical currents similar to nerve impulses. Hydration is the medium which aids electrolyte transport and is crucial for both the health and performance of the cell. An athlete’s hydration state is mostly dependent upon water intake or loss thru sweat, but it is also heavily influenced by electrolyte status.

Sweat: Endurance performance is compromised more by warmer temperatures than by cooler temperatures. Here’s why: to control an excessive rise in body temperature, the blood flow to the skin increases in order to dissipate heat to the environment...

Post-Workout Nutrition

by Bob Seebohar, MS, RD, CSSD, CSCS

Post-workout or recovery nutrition? The terms have been somewhat interchangeable among athletes and there is a distinct difference which is important to know.

Recovery nutrition, often thought of as the “window of opportunity” in the first 30-60 minutes following a workout includes everything but this time period. “Recovery nutrition begins before a training session starts”. Think about that and it will make complete sense. The goal is to be well-hydrated and nourished before a training session in order to maximize the training session quality. It will be extremely difficult to maintain a certain power output, pace or heart rate if the body is not properly fueled beforehand. Thus, recovery nutrition is actually comprised of your daily nutrition along with the before and during training session nutrition. Remember again, “recovery nutrition begins before a training session starts”.

Enter the term post-workout nutrition, which is a much more accurate description of recovering nutritionally following a tough training session. There are a number of nutrition tips that will maximize your ability to completely replenish the carbohydrates that you use during your workout which I will list shortly. First, it is important to understand that, coupled with proper recovery nutrition as I described above, a well-executed post-workout nutrition plan can fully replenish glycogen stores in 12-16 hours. While this may seem long, not going into a workout with a full “gas tank” (fluid and carbohydrate) and not implementing the following post-workout nutrition guidelines will push your recovery time to up to 24 hours! I haven’t met an athlete yet who would choose the latter option.