Endurance Event Hydration,
Nutrition and Recovery
Strategies
Hydration
 Optimise hydration routine (urine colour charts and use
Osmocheck/Refractometer,
log/temperature & humidity
fluid
intake
record/activity
 Ensure adequate hydration pre event (5-7ml per kg of body
weight ml/kg in 4 hours prior to event).
 Weighed prior to event in same condition as post event (aka
showered in togs with wet hair ideally shower after and use
toilet prior to weighing if possible)
 Consume 1-1.5L fluid for every 1 gram fluid lost (via
weighing pre & post event)
Drinks & food
 Choose good quality mineral water (Italian, Evian etc for higher mineral
content).
 Coconut water is a natural electrolyte drink to consume daily (same benefit as
processed electrolyte sports drink) (Kalman et al 2012).
 Consume nuts for oils and mineral content.
 Change biscuits to oat biscuit/oat cake banana & nutella.
 Go for oats over wheetabix, salmon over smoked or lean turkey.
 Ribena change to pineapple/blueberry/apple/cranberry juice diluted with water
(add pinch of sea salt when required to replace lost salts)
 Herbal infusion to aid digestion peppermint, fennel, mint, chamomile and
green tea.
Accelerate Recovery
 Green Tea extract (Ichinose et al 2011)
 Vitamin C combined with Vitamin E (Sureda et al 2013)
 Probiotics (Berggren et al 2011)
 Omega 3 (fish oils cod-liver oil contains Vit D).
 Spirulina (reduce time to fatigue up to 24% and increase fat
oxidation)
 Apple Cider vinegar wraps on sore muscles (don’t use Ice
impairs adaptations) Dilute if necessary. Anecdotal evidence
only exists.
Replacing Body Fluid
 More water is lost during heavy sweating than
electrolytes. Thus water consumption is more important
to normalise blood concentrations.
 Thirst mechanism indicated a need to drink yet does
not match the body’s hydration status accurately.
Consume more fluid than thirst dictates.
 Consume 1-1.5L fluid for every 1 gram fluid lost (via
weighing pre & post event)
Post Event Feeding
 Feed every 30 minute post event to keep insulin levels
elevated to enable fast turnaround and recovery for
following event. Article
 At 74.1kg requires carbohydrate 44.5g/30min (50.5
oz/hr commercial sports CHO6% or 1/3 cup of raisins.
 Eat salty food (Sodium rich ham, peanuts etc,
potassium [2-4g per day] rich citrus fruits/juices,
bananas, potatoes, milk and meat) (Baechle& Earle
2008) Chris has sufficient salt intake.
Sweat Rate Calculation
SWEAT LOSS = PRE EXERCISE – POST EXERCISE
+FLUID
CONSUMPED
DURING EXERCISE
SWEAT RATE = SWEAT LOSS / EXERCISE TIME
(Dunford, M. 2010 )
 Analyse the sweat rate pre competition in training to
ascertain how much fluid to be replaced.
Mind tools
(to optimise recovery)
Mantra
 My body is accelerating healing
 My body adapts easily to change.
 With every breath I take I am recovering.
Hypnosis
 Listen to recordings to acceleration relaxation and
recovery.
Listen to relaxing music .
References

Baechle, TR and Earle, RW 2008 Essentials of Strength training and conditioning NSCA.

Dunford, M. 2010 Fundamentals of Sport and exercise Nutrition (Human Kinetics Fundamentals of Sport
and Exercise Science Series). Human Kinetics Chapter 9.

Kalman. D.S. , Feldman, S, Krieger, D.R and Bloomer, R.L, 2012, Comparison of coconut water and a
carbohydrate-electrolyte sport drink on measures of hydration and physical performance in exercisetrained men. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition

Berggren, A, Ahre´n, I.L,Larsson, N. & O¨ nning, G. Randomised, double-blind and placebo-controlled
study using new probiotic lactobacilli for strengthening the body immune defence against viral
infectionsEur J Nutr (2011) 50:203–210

Antoni Sureda, A., Ferrer, M.D. Mestre,A,Tur, J.A & Pons, A 2013. Prevention of Neutrophil Protein
Oxidation With Vitamins C and E Diet Supplementation Without Affecting the Adaptive Response to
Exercise. International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, 2013, 23, 31 -39 Human
Kinetics, Inc.Spain

T. Ichinose, S. Nomura, Y. Someya, S. Akimoto, K. Tachiyashiki, K. Imaizumi, 2011. Effect of endurance
training supplemented with green tea extract on substrate metabolism during exercise in humans Scand
J Med Sci Sports 2011: 21: 598–605 & 2010 John Wiley & Sons A/S

Wilmore, JH, Costill, DL, Kenney, WL. Physiology of Sport and Exercise 4th Edition 2008