Nutritional Considerations for Evening Workouts

 

I love our Tuesday night workout.

Karel and I leave our house at 4:40pm and ride to Donaldson. This takes us around 75-minutes to cover 17.5 miles. To get to the group ride, we bike mostly on the Swamp Rabbit trail with a few miles on the road and two short sections on gravel. I love the start of the ride because it serves as a great warm-up before we meet the Spinners A-Group at 6pm. Plus, it's so much better than sitting in the car for 40-minutes to drive to the group ride. There are several others (probably 10-20) that ride to and from the group ride, which makes it fun to chat before and after the ride. 

The A-ride includes a police escort (everyone chips-in $5) for safety as the group of 50+ riders loops around the "Perimeter." We do 5 loops which comes to around 37 miles. The ride is around 90 minutes depending on the speed of the group. The ride is fast and it requires so much focus. There are a lot of surges as the riders in front try to breakaway and then the group tries to chase. I love the dynamics of group riding, even though it makes me work oh-so-hard. I made 4 loops two weeks ago and last week I made all 5 loops. Yesterday was the hardest - the group averaged 25 mph and there were so many attacks, surges, chases and single-file lines. I was the lone female in the group as my fellow female cyclists recently raced in Knoxville. I have no idea how I was able to hang on. I was thankful for a few guys (and Karel) who were helping me (barely) stay with the group. I always finish the ride exhausted and satisfied and yesterday was no exception. I refused to give up last night, which meant pulling every ounce of energy out of my body to not get dropped. 

After the ride, we bike home (making a quick stop at the gas station to refill our bottles), which is around 14 miles and it takes us just under an hour. The sun is setting and the trail is quiet and peaceful. We often see deer and bunnies along the trail. 

In total, Karel and I get in almost 70 miles in around 3 hours and 40 minutes and arrive home before 9pm. It's my favorite workout for a few reasons: I get to socialize, I'm on my road bike and I'm outside. Oh and I get in an awesome workout!

The only downside to this evening ride is that we get home late. This makes it hard to get in a good meal and a good night of sleep. Knowing that many athletes workout in the evening, here are a few nutrition considerations for late-day workouts. 

Recovery nutrition 
A workout is only beneficial if you can recover from it. Make sure to get in some type of snack or meal within 30-minutes of completing your workout. Aim for low fat and low fiber foods and prioritize carbohydrates and protein. To help you make good nutritional decisions in your post workout meal, I suggest to have food prepared and ready for when you get home so that you don't find yourself going for what is most convenient. Plan ahead so that a meal is ready. This will also make it easier for you to eat as soon as you get home - which means more time to digest the meal before bed. Although rehydration is very important, make sure to not overdo it on liquids as you'll find yourself making frequent trips to the bathroom throughout the night. Avoid finishing the workout dehydrated - the better you fuel/hydrate during the workout, the easier you'll recover. 

Loss of appetite
Whereas you'd think that you'd be starving by the time you finish a late day workout, many athletes struggle to eat after a workout. But go into a workout starving and you may find yourself overeating as soon as you finish the session. If you lack an appetite, optimize liquid calories which will tackle three things at once - carbohydrates, fluids and electrolytes. One of my go-to drinks is a glass of Orange Juice with a pinch of salt and then a whey smoothie w/ fruit and milk. Most breakfast meal options work well for a late night easy-to-digest meal. To avoid feeling starving during the workout, don't forget to have a small snack before the workout (if working out late, you may need an afternoon snack and then another pre-workout snack). You may also want to have a carb-rich snack for the drive home if you are unable to eat within 30 minutes after your workout. 

Balanced diet
It's not ideal to refuel from a hard workout with a large leafy and cruciferous salad at 9pm. Instead, you'll optimize recovery (and promote better digestion) with carbohydrates and protein - low fiber and low fat. Because your post workout meal may not look "healthy" the key to optimizing daily nutrition is to compliment that dinner meal by filling in nutritional gaps earlier in the day. Ideally, breakfast or lunch should be your "plant-rich" meal to ensure that you are getting in a few servings of vegetables, along with high-fiber grains, quality protein and healthy fats. So long as you aren't working out within 4 hours from lunch, you should be able to easily digest a wholesome meal at lunch without risking GI issues during your evening workout. However, if you are prone to Gi issues in the evening, I suggest to opt for cooked/baked veggies over raw and to avoid cruciferous veggies. 

Sport Nutrition
You may not think that you need to fuel during your evening workout but the better you support yourself nutritionally, the easier you'll recover and the better you'll sleep after the workout. If you finish the workout depleted and dehydrated, you may find yourself sleeping poorly, struggling with recovery and putting yourself at risk for sickness. Make sure to have a snack in the 45-90 minutes before the workout and use sport nutrition (ex. sport drink) during the workout. Because the brain requires glucose when you sleep, if your liver glycogen stores are low after your workout and you are dehydrated, you'll find it difficult to get a good night of sleep (and you may find yourself starving at 1am).

Sleep
Speaking of sleep, when your body temperature is elevated, your body is working to digest a meal, adrenaline is elevated and your body is nervous and endocrine system is overly excited, you may find yourself awake in bed, tossing and turning - despite being exhausted. Because the harder and longer the workout, the more trouble you may have getting a restful night of sleep, try to cool yourself down as soon as you finish your workout. Douse yourself with cold water or an ice pack if you are feeling hot. You may even try a cold shower. Don't rely on caffeine to give you "energy" so consuming a stimulant to help you start or get through a workout may make insomnia even worse. You may feel tired but after a good warm-up, you'll find yourself alert and ready to go. Avoid caffeine before/during the workout (as well as alcohol). The next day, reduce the temptation to rely on a stimulant to help you power through the day. Although you may feel tired, avoiding caffeine during the afternoon and resisting the urge to take a nap the next day can ensure a good night of sleep the evening after your restless night of sleep - which should help you get back on a good sleep cycle. 

Should you avoid berries in your post-workout smoothie?

I've heard some recent talk by athletes of their concerns of a post-workout smoothie containing berries and greens. Athletes are hearing that they should avoid berries and greens for at least 4 hours post workout in order to optimize recovery. The case for avoiding antioxidant rich foods immediately after exercise is based on research saying that "antioxidant supplements seem to be working against the beneficial effects of exercise: Promoting, rather than reducing, oxidative stress." In other words, antioxidants can actually increase inflammation, rather than decreasing it.

As a Board Certified Sport Dietitian, I'd like to share my thoughts on this topic. But first I'd like to say that this is a topic that needs much more quality research before we (nutrition experts) can make a general recommendation to apply to all athletes.

• A free radical is an unstable molecule that’s missing at least one electron in its outermost orbit, which causes it to be negatively charged. Exercise increases the concentration of free radicals. Your body can also be exposed to free radicals from environmental sources, such as cigarette smoke, air pollution, and sunlight. Free radicals can cause “oxidative stress,” a process that can trigger cell damage. Free radicals have been to blame for many degenerative diseases, cancers and advanced aging.
• Antioxidants are substances that inhibit free radicals. Antioxidants supply free radicals with an electron and stop the chain reaction of the free radical stealing elections from healthy molecules.
• As a way to reduce free radical production, we have been told to increase antioxidant concentrations. A well balanced healthy diet should be rich in antioxidant rich foods. We should not be afraid to eat antioxidant rich foods throughout the day.
  
• For athletes, exercise can lead to an increase in free radical production during endurance and anaerobic exercise. For a while, experts were advocating for the use of supplements post exercise as a way to combat exercise-related free-radical to quicken recovery and to reduce post workout soreness. However, research has shown that increased free radical production post-exercise serves as an important signaling mechanism for favorable training adaptations. Most of the research has been on high dosage oral forms of antioxidant supplementation (A, C and E) - not food sources. From this research, it became clear that athletes should not supplement with antioxidants as it may be detrimental to training and performance. There is good evidence that athletes (and active individuals) should not supplement with antioxidants - I agree strongly with this (plates not pills).

Practical applications:

• There are few studies that I am aware of on comparing food sources of antioxidants (ex. blueberries) with the impact on oxidative stress. I don't feel we can yet make a clear statement that all antioxidant foods should be avoided 4-6 hours post workout.
• In research, the doses of antioxidants consumed are usually 10-17 times grater than the RDA. I feel comfortable saying that if you want to enjoy a 1/4 cup of blueberries, a small handful of spinach or 2 strawberries in your smoothie, this should not negatively impact your recovery process.
• To speed the recovery process the focus should start with protein/carbs/fluids/sodium. If this is done correctly, antioxidant rich foods do not need much of a spotlight post workout and can be instead, enjoyed later in the day. I feel comfortable saying that if you have a milk/protein and a handful granola post workout, you can still enjoy a bowl of oatmeal with goji berries and raspberries and not worry about negatively impacting your recovery.
• It can be misleading to say that all antioxidants should be avoided post workout and for how long. If you crave a glass of orange juice after a workout, you shouldn't be afraid to consume it. Putting fear into consuming real food can be troublesome.
• This is also one of those scenarios that we must see sport nutrition applications as "synergy" - we can't blame or put attention to just one nutrient. We don't know if post workout antioxidant supplement combined with protein will hinder performance. Also, different types of exercise induce different stressors in different people. Most studies are just on antioxidants and on small subjects (mostly men).

• I feel the better way to make this recommendation is to say there has been a long-standing belief that all oxidative stress is harmful for athletes. This has led to a widespread consumption of antioxidants. Because antioxidants are among the most commonly used supplements by athletes, we now know that antioxidant supplementation provides no beneficial effects on health and performance. Avoid antioxidant supplements and no need to overemphasize consumption of antioxidant-rich foods post workout.

I hope this helps to clear up any confusion.