Currently I run during the week, 4x 30min HIIT sessions, and go out for 30-40 mile XC rides at the weekends. At the moment after exercising I have either/or bananas, malt loaf or milk say, which seem to be cheap and cheerful and full of the relevant good stuff the body needs.

Yet i was wondering if there is actually any point in looking at the various powders (Torg etc)/drinks (for goodness shake etc) on the market for a more convenient post workout/ride recovery snack/drink which will give the biggest Carb/Protein bang to the calorific buck, as also trying to lose some weight at the mo, but not end up costing a fortune?

Also what does everyone else for a recovery refuelling?

Cheers.

P.S I was going to put this in the bike section, but as it addresses those who exercise off the bike as well i thought i would stick it in chat.

Chocolate milk, bought in one-litre cartons from Tesco, two for two quid at the moment – much cheaper than shakes, or whatever shake is on BOGOF at the time. Torq stuff is great and works well, but for normal training rather than verge of death interval sessions, any difference is going to be marginal. Just get some chocolate milk down your face within about 20 minutes of stopping. Combo of carbohydrate and protein is pretty much spot on for rapid glycogen replenishment, apparently. The protein speeds the rate of absorption of the carbo, or so they reckon.

Nesquik + milk as soon as i get in. Then a proper meal after a shower, best way is the old ‘plated meal’ from the day before, especially as it is a roast. Yummy!

skimmed milk immediately after a ride and a healthy diet generally. Never really liked the powders there seems to be so much else in there that looks iffy and pumping something full of vitamins etc. is not always done properly. I know mainstream brands of vitamin tablets have 100% RDA, but if you look at expensive ones they will be 2-3000% because your body doesn’t absorb most of it when you just take a tablet (some vitamins are only fat soluble etc.)

Aye, whack some simple, milky, banannery, choc type thing down yer neck and don’t bother with the overpriced chemical junk… Oh and a nice cup of tea.

What BadlyWiredDog says…you can’t beat Chocolate Milk. I use it all the time, after a hard climbing session, biking, running and even after a hard day’s work, you can’t beat a cold bottle of chocolate milk down the neck in the car.

I always got told to just eat an apple. Advice came from a chap called Wilf Paish.

If I’m finishing at home – I just have a bowl of cereal

I have some winter training fuel from allsports international, cheaper than torq or SIS ect as I find milkshake doesn’t fill me up as well

jaffa cakes. they have fruit in. science fact.

Water and some ready salted peants.

Cheers for the advice, I did look at Choccy milk, as Tesco have Crusha for a quid at the mo. It just seems to be alot of sugars in them. But, i guess you cannot get the carbs without them.

Frijj milkshakes, good mix of carb/protein and lowish in fat (5-6g per bottle), mainly use them because they are yummy. Also use torq strawberries and cream after particularly hard sessions.

couple of pints of best and a bag of monster munch

Honey and Banana granary sandwich. Mmmmm!

…not getting out of the house much I had a bit of a look into the choc shake market for our club website – have a peek here

Milk Race 1

and

Milk Race 2

and even

Milk Race 3

Some interesting results…

Just had a look PBR, interesting reading. So it looks like it might be worth picking up some Yazoo. But then saying that its buy one get one free on Frijj at the mo in Tescos so that might be the more prudent buy

beer and chips. can’t go wrong

IDEAL

pushbikerider, for those who might want an alternative to cowfruit perhaps you could have included soya choccy milk. So Good Soya Drink Chocolate 1ltr is 96p/litre at Tesco and Sainsbury’s. No animal fat or lactose. Per 100ml:

67kcal, 2.0g protein, 10.8g Carb (Sugar 7.3g), 1.7g fat (0.3g sats, 0.4g monounsats, 1.0g polyunsats), 0.06g sodium.

Half a carton would give you the 50g carbs and 10g protein suggested in the Milk Race articles.

Very interesting face-off there Pushbikerider, pleased to see my own fave Yazoo won out.

I’ve been drinking Yazoo after most rides for the last few months and can definitely feel myself recovering quicker afterwards.

I tend to neck one of them and just go about my business rather than sitting round staring into space and shoving snacks down tmy throat.

Yazoo’s even cheaper if you pick it up in x12 packs at the cash and carry, btw.