By under-fueling, you’re not only impacting your performance, but also risking your body responding to the colder environment in a less-than-ideal manner. You may even find yourself feeling colder or having more difficulty warming up as you venture outdoors when the temperature drops.
Most athletes know they need protein for recovery, but there's a lot of conflicting information floating around the interwebs as to exactly how much we need to recover from workouts, get stronger, and perform optimally.
Thankfully we have Amity Warme to help cut through the cloud of misinformation with the following simple and straightforward evidence-based recommendations.
Getting key nutrients after training is critical to optimizing recovery from hard workout so you get full benefit from your workout and come back stronger for the next one. My latest recovery smoothie recipe includes the ingredients I’ve found to the most profound effect on decreasing inflammation and speeding tissue repair. It contains tart cherry juice, beet juice, plant-based protein, tumeric paste, cacao, and spinach amongst other fruits and vegetables.
Given your entire race / event season could be up in the air, you may find yourself riding, running, or training less than you normally would, which could lead you to wonder if you should make any changes to your food intake.
The short answer is: it depends.
There are a couple of things to consider when answering this question, and not all of them are based specifically on your fitness or training endeavors.
Eating with a purpose means making smart food choices to fuel whatever it is you want to accomplish with your meal. Want to be able to train and compete at your best? A huge part of this is being intentional about what you put in your body. Whether it's going on a big ride in the mountains, sneaking in a quick weekday interval session, or having an easy recovery day, fueling yourself appropriately for the task at hand is the only way to maximize your long-term performance.
