Poor Recovery, Poor Performance

Ever wondered why recovery plays such a crucial part in reaching your performance goals? When you train as an endurance athlete, it can leave your muscles mildly inflamed,¹ tense, dehydrated and depleted. Endurance exercise may also increase your stress hormones, which may in turn weaken your immune system.¹ If your body is allowed to recover properly though, it learns to adapt and respond to the mild stress exercise places on it, ultimately leaving you stronger, fitter and faster. However, without proper recovery, your endurance performance may plummet.

A big part of optimising your recovery is making sure you replace the protein, carbs, water and electrolytes you burned through or lost during the race or training session. Water and electrolytes are needed to replace what you lose through your sweat.

Endura Optimizer is designed to assist and improve your recovery. It provides the key electrolytes, including Meta Mag^® magnesium diglycinate, with a complementary carbohydrate blend (to refuel energy stores), and hydrolysed whey protein isolate (to conserve muscle mass). To help you make the most of your recovery, take Endura Optimizer
immediately after exercise and experience the difference it can make.

Five Tips to Bounce Back Post-Race

Are you absolutely depleted the day after a race? Consider the following five tips for a rapid recovery to get you back up and moving toward your endurance goals faster:

1. Keep on moving – Active recovery (i.e. low intensity exercise in the days following a race) may help to keep blood flowing and assist your recovery process;
2. Don’t forget to stretch – Stretching for 15 minutes before and after a race may help to improve flexibility and support recovery. To take it up a notch, try a yoga class;
3. Nail your nutrition – Endura Optimizer is your one-stop recovery shop, providing important ingredients for recovery and to help conserve muscle mass: protein, carbohydrates and electrolytes. Take one serve after the race and another before bed for best results;
4. Remember your ‘R and R’ – Rest and relaxation is critical to a speedy recovery. You already know about the importance of eight hours of sleep per night, but meditation and socialising may also have surprising effects on improving recovery;
5. Cool it – Cold therapy is based on the theory that low temperatures may reduce pain and swelling by causing blood vessels to constrict. Apply cold packs or take an ice bath, working up from 5 to 20 minutes within 30 minutes after a race.

Rev Your Repair Process

Diet and nutrition are among the most important aspects of an effective recovery plan because to repair itself, your body needs the basic raw materials. Without the necessary building blocks, recovery can drag on and on, and your endurance capacity may be impacted.

Endura Optimizer has been carefully crafted with the nutritional needs of an athlete’s body in mind. Each serve provides over 10 g of highly bioavailable whey protein isolate to help conserve muscle mass and get 60 g of rapid and sustained-release carbohydrates per serve to replenish depleted energy stores. For best results take one serve (four scoops in 500 mL of water) within one to four hours after a race, and another serve before bed. To support you even further in your recovery efforts, the Endura Paleo-Performance Eating Plan is designed to lessen muscular pain and improve recovery after exercising. If you want to rev your recovery process, Endura Optimizer is your go-to for post-race recovery.
 

The Magic M for Sore Muscles

If you train like a Trojan for your endurance sport, you are likely all-too-familiar with the menace of post-training muscle soreness. Whilst there is no magical cure for muscle soreness, magnesium is a magnificent mineral that you may find quite helpful. Magnesium is involved in cellular energy production, muscle relaxation and necessary for muscle function; little wonder magnesium is a popular mineral for athletes.

Endura Optimizer helps top up your magnesium stores (126 mg/serve), Meta Mag^® magnesium diglycinate is yet another reason you should be using Endura Optimizer as part of your recovery program, every time.

If you've just finished a serious race or training session and you're legs are feeling it, try this recovery smoothie from Ultra Marathon runner Caine Warburton.

References available on request.