What's so important about recovery?

Recovery is centered around replenishing the body and repairing damage to the muscle, as muscle strength comes from stressing then healing the tissue. After a race or exercise, you have 30-60 minutes to replenish the glycogen and electrolytes in your body and provide your muscles with the necessary building blocks to repair the damage post activity. Here are a few recipes from our athletes to help revamp your recovery routine! 

Emma Garrad's Recovery Truffles

Recovery Truffles

• 1 scoops of Vanilla GU Recovery Drink Mix
• 1 cup of nut butter
• 1 cup of oats 
• 1 cup of chocolate chips and/or nuts 
• 1 cup of coconut flakes 
• 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder 
• 2 tablespoons of flax seed or chia seeds 
• 1/3 cup water or apple juice (depending on desired consistency

Method: Add ingredients in a bowl and mix together roll into balls and refrigerate for two to three hours! 

I love making these Recovery Truffles because they are a lot less time consuming than baking. They are great for recovery but also to satisfy a sweet tooth with very little added sugar. I also eat them first thing in the morning with my cup of coffee or I put them in a zip lock bag for a long ride. There is protein not only in the recovery mix but in the oats, nut butter and nuts if you choose.

Emma training on the XTERRA Maui Run course

Rob Krar's Recovery shake

Frozen Recovery Shake

• 1 scoop GU Recovery Drink mix
• 1/2 cup almond milk
• 1/2 cup yogurt
• 1 frozen banana
• 1/2 tablespoon healthy oils (I use Flora 7-Sources)

Toppings: nuts, seeds, peanut butter, cinnamon, nutmeg, mint, goji berries, chocolate chips, almond butter

Method: Blend all the ingredients in a high speed blender, pour into your favorite cup and enjoy!

My go-to approach at home is a frozen smoothie prepared in the Vita-Mix. While never quite the same, the staples usually include almond milk, yogurt, frozen banana, healthy oils and GU Recovery Drink Mix. After that I’ll throw in whatever sounds appealing to me in the moment!

Chelsea Sodaro's recipe for recovery

Recipe:

• 1 scoop Vanilla Smoothie Recovery Drink Mix
• 1 cup coconut water
• 1/2 cup greek yogurt
• 1 teaspoon chia seeds
• Handful frozen berries and dark cherries
• 3-4 frozen coconut chunks
• half banana
• 3-4 ice cubes

I make this either as soon as I get home from a session or I’ll make it ahead of time and bring it with me to a workout in a mini cooler. I’m not always hungry right after a hard workout, but this is pretty easy to get down and it tastes delicious! The coconut water is great for hydrating and the greek yogurt adds some extra protein while the chia seeds are a great source of Omega-3’s. 

Chelsea Training in San Diego

Rebecca Rusch's guide to Recovery

recovery Advice from our in-house sports nutritionist

After a long and hot run, typically one that I’ve had to drive to, I’ll have a recovery protein shake in the car to replenish my glycogen stores before I put some solid food in my stomach. Once I’m at the grocery store, here’s what I usually opt for;

Salmon: anti inflammatory omegas and its salty goodness replenishes my heavy salt losses from sweat!

Salad: full of colorful veggies that provide tons of health benefits including antioxidant power, micronutrients like vitamins A, K, calcium, potassium, fiber. I’ll also add a healthy salad dressing composed of apple cider vinegar/EVOO. This combo is crunchy and cold and always welcome after a long, dusty hot slog up the trail!

Kombucha: I find that it helps settle my stomach, and fortify my gut/immune system after a long run.

And an Americano: because caffeine! And yum!