Many athletes forget about the importance of protein for endurance. It helps adapt to training and helps against muscle wasting, physical/psychological stress and inflammation. In fact, some studies have even suggested that endurance athletes may have a greater requirement for protein than strength athletes, as they use this molecule for fuel, as well as a building block for muscle (Tarnopolsky, 1988)!!
Although relatively low protein intakes have been shown to be optimal for bulking up (only 1.8g per day, as long as you have enough calories and carbs), some studies suggests that an intake almost twice this high may help prevent overtraining in endurance sports (Witard, O. C., S. R. Jackman, et al., 2011).
Getting in a quality source of quick-release carbohydrate as soon as possible after training will optimise the restoration of carbs in the muscle (“recovery” is essentially fuelling the next session…). Muscle-recovery will be enhanced with protein, and protein will help fitness gains and avoiding overtraining.
The optimal ratio for recovering from cardiovascular exercise is often given as 4 carbs to 1 protein, and this has been shown to be perfect for restoring muscle-glycogen (the predominant fuel for intense exercise). However, bearing in mind the chronic, persistent pounding your body takes as part of an endurance training schedule, higher protein intakes, and their ability to prevent athletes breaking-down, will help long term fitness gains. In fact a recent study showed that a higher protein supplement was better than higher-calorie, pure carb supplement for recovery from endurance cycling (Furguson-Stegal, 2010).
We’ve formulated a higher protein product with 2 carbs to 1 protein. This allows you to add additional carbs from sports drinks when short term carb-loading is your aim (e.g. closer to competeion or to fuel for a time-trial), or reduce your carb intake/increase relative protein to counteract the daily damage from training and focus on keeping lean…
Matt Lovell is an Elite Sports Nutritionist who has worked with leading International teams in Rugby, Football and Athletics. He is a Kinetica Brand Ambassador more information is available at www.fourweekfatloss.com or www.sportsnutritionvlog.com
