why not just add a banana or some berries to your recovery shake?

Remember about a decade ago when chocolate milk (which is basically sugar-sweetened milk) was being pushed as an ideal recovery drink? Still works.

There is a roughly 30 min. post-exercise window for enhanced replenishment of glycogen stores, so have your sugar/protein drink fairly soon after riding. You’ll see a lot of pro cyclists being handed a recovery shake either immediately after finishing, or as soon as they get to the team bus.

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For the same reason people use sugar while on the bike - quicker gastric emptying without the fiber that berries, for instance, would introduce? And I'm not a big fan of bananas.

Is quicker gastric emptying really all that important? Is quick glycogen replenishment even important? If you're doing two-a-days with intensity in the second session, sure, but...

https://twitter.com/...s27u0MkdtyQ7iwgnDNyA

Milk + sugar or honey is the old school Joe Friel recovery drink. I regularly do milk + maple syrup.

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Dimond Bikes Superfan

What do you mean by "table sugar?" Refined white sugar, like the little packets from the diner?

We don't use white sugar at home. We use either raw sugar, honey, or agave syrup; as well as light or dark brown sugar, just for baking

I bought coconut sugar once; that was interesting

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Yes, refined white sugar.

There's nothing wrong with table sugar and all the other forms of sugar mentioned are equivalent. Whatever floats your boat.

As for timing, the sooner after exercise the better. And frankly, the more closely you finish the workout fueled and less reliant on a post-workout recovery drink the better.

Most workout don't need a recovery drink, if they are fueled well intra-workout.

That's what I used. Glass of milk with sugar and whey protein.

Sugar doesn't screw with your insulin sensitivity, having high levels of body fat is the main thing that does that, followed by having a low aerobic fitness.

Define "better", pls.

Higher rate of uptake by the muslces for glycogen replacement. As I said above, the better fueled the workout is the more the glycogen is spared, which ultimately results in less "fatigue" / flatness going into the following workout.

"Better" in some context though depends on the goal. So, if the goal is "glycogen" depletion because of a believe that re-uptake is trainable (debatable), or training in a fasted state is beneficial for fat metabolism (marginal), then better in some circumstances might be the opposite of the context I used above.

Yes, but does higher rates of uptake lead to more uptake, or just quicker? That's rhetorical, I know it's only quicker.

Getting glycogen in quicker only matters IF you're doing two-a-days AND you want to do the 2nd workout at some level of intensity above tempo. If you've done the intensity for the day during the first workout, and done what you suggest by fueling that workout properly, there's no reason to be concerned about the glycogen window. You can get all the glucose you need by fueling the workout itself.

If you're doing one workout per day, there's no need to concern yourself with how quickly you get the carbs back in. Everything normalizes by the following morning.

I concur. which is why I said:




and...as apparently we both know....glycogen stores are replenished within 24-36 hours on a normal diet without the need for any fancy recovery drink. I haven't used one in years, and years.

Regardless, the OP asked a question.

I have a problem sometimes answering the question they should've asked instead of answering the one they did ask. :)

lol

Cant go past fruit in a can - lemonade or cordial

Provides micronutrients in the lemon and recovery in the 'ade'

And what makes those high levels of body fat? Sugar perhaps contributes a bit...

Unlike many on the internet I am not a well respected anthropologist

But I suspect excessive and addictive high calorie foods combined with high fat foods contributes a lot to obesity and fat


Again I am not a well respected anthropologist but look at the Africans and asians and many are skinny and eat relatively low protein and low fat diets, with high carbs. Carbs are sugars. Or the protein and fat are more accompaniments

There are plenty of skinny diabetics. In addition, activity levels can directly impact blood glucose both positively and negatively (dehydration and increased cortisol). Athletes need to be cognizant of fueling outside of workouts. It's not a free pass to trash your body post workout. There are consequences. Donuts, pizza and booze aren't good for your health. Even bananas, honey, white bread can mess with blood glucose.

"mess with"

Can you be more specific?

Bananas, honey, and white bread do increase blood glucose acutely. Is that what you're meaning by "mess with"?

To OP, yes you can use sugar effectively exactly as you laid out. No, you probably don't need to. But also, no, even though you might not need to, there probably isn't much risk to you, if you're <12% body fat, have no history of blood sugar dysregulation or obesity, and exercise as much as you probably do if you're posting on a tri forum. :)

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Every cell in your body runs on sugar. Stay carbed/sugar'd up daily ;)

What you call carbs, i.e. complex carbs, are not sugars. The body converts them into sugars after a complex process. Depending on the complexity of the carbs, it means they get into the blood stream in a more controlled way, and not directly from the stomach as simple sugars do.

Fortunately your body knows how to extract sugar from other, more complex, foods. Otherwise you wouldn't be here, as simple sugars are rarely found in nature, and your ancestors would have died of they needed it.