Issue #8: Recovery Nutrition

✍️ Author’s Note

Welcome to this edition of the Threshold Lab newsletter! I’m Stephen Pelkofer, an experienced HYROX athlete with a men’s pro personal best of 59:41 and men’s pro doubles best of 51:39. If you want to learn about my story and how I got here, check out this Instagram post here.

The goal of this newsletter each week is to pick a training topic related to running or HYROX, do deep research into it, and provide actionable protocols that the reader can take away and apply to their training immediately. Let me read the research, listen to the experts on podcasts and youtube, and then give you the tools to make it work for you.

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👨‍💻 Introduction

Topic: Recovery Nutrition Strategy

Conventional wisdom for athletes has always been to have a protein shake after a strength session. On the endurance side, it is now common practice to consume carbs before and during large bouts of endurance activity – there is less discussion (for the recreational athlete) about post workout nutrition. But what if those first couple of hours post-endurance exercise are a golden window for recovery that can make you prepared for your next session tomorrow? This issue, we dive into how post-exercise nutrition impacts your next-day performance, drawing on insights from the study “Intake of Protein Plus Carbohydrate during the First Two Hours after Exhaustive Cycling Improves Performance the following Day” (Rustad et al., 2016).

A Quick Note on Representation in Research

This specific study used a small sample size of eight endurance-trained men, which unfortunately reflects a common limitation in exercise science research: many studies disproportionately feature male participants. As I continue diving into research and training topics, I’ll actively seek studies with more diverse and inclusive samples.

⚡ Fast Finds for the busy reader

• Carbs + Protein = Better Tomorrow
  

• Don’t Skip the Recovery Snack: Simply taking in carbs is better than nothing.
  

• Rebuild + Refuel: Carbs restock your energy (glycogen), but protein provides the building blocks to repair muscles – you need both to come back stronger for your next session.

🔬 Deep Dive

The Experiment - Exhaust, Refuel, Repeat: To test how recovery nutrition affects next-day performance, researchers put eight endurance-trained athletes (cyclists) through a brutal protocol. On three separate occasions, the cyclists pedaled at ~72% VO₂max until they hit exhaustion (imagine a hard ride that completely empties the tank). Immediately after each exhaustive ride, they followed one of three recovery routines in a 2-hour window: one with Carbs only (about 1.2 g of carbohydrate per kg bodyweight per hour), one with Carbs + Protein (0.8 g carbs + 0.4 g protein per kg/hour – an isocaloric mix), and one with Placebo (flavored water, essentially no calories). The rest of their diet for the next 18 hours was kept identical. After 18 hours, the athletes tackled another ride to exhaustion at the same intensity to see how well they recovered under each condition.

What They Found: The difference was striking. After the Carb+Protein recovery, athletes could hammer for about 63.5 minutes the next day, versus only ~50 minutes when they had Carbs only. If they took in nothing right after the workout (the placebo trial), they fared even worse, lasting only ~43 minutes to exhaustion on day two. Any fuel is better than no fuel. Another important note: only the Carb+Protein group showed a positive nitrogen balance – basically meaning their bodies were in net muscle-building mode during recovery, while the other groups were in negative balance (a sign of continued muscle breakdown). This indicates the protein helped repair exercise-induced muscle damage, whereas carbs alone weren’t enough to fully halt muscle protein loss.

Why Carbs + Protein Speed Recovery: During hard exercise, athletes deplete muscle glycogen (carb energy stores) and stress/damage muscle fibers. Carbohydrates after exercise are the fastest way to refill glycogen. However, muscle recovery isn’t just about glycogen. Without protein, muscles might still be breaking down to some degree to repair themselves. The study’s Carb-only group had a negative nitrogen balance, suggesting they weren’t fully repairing muscle tissue. Protein provides amino acids, the raw materials to rebuild and strengthen muscle fibers. This paper and past research cited in this paper suggest that consuming protein right after exercise even helps stimulate faster glycogen restoration when paired with cabs.

Timing is critical here as well. The researchers emphasized (and prior evidence agrees) that the early post-exercise window is when your muscles are hungriest for nutrients. In this experiment, starting the nutrition immediately and continuing for 2 hours made a tangible difference by the next day. By contrast, skipping nutrition (the placebo trial) not only left glycogen stores not restored, but also meant ongoing protein breakdown: a double hit to recovery. The result: significantly poorer performance 18 hours later.

The takeaway for HYROX athletes and runners is clear: to train hard again tomorrow, you need to both refuel and rebuild today. A mix of carbs and protein in your recovery nutrition addresses both needs.

Time for the lab notes ⬇️

🧪 Lab Notes

In every issue of this newsletter, the “Lab Notes” are going to be the protocols that you can apply to your training and routine right away. The goal of this section is to translate the science into actionable steps for the reader, whether you’re a recreational runner/HYROX competitor, or someone pushing the limits of their peak potential.

• Runners and HYROX athletes: For those logging miles, hitting HYROX style workouts, or consecutive hard days, prioritize a carb+protein recharge immediately after your workout. Aim to get something in within about 30 minutes of finishing a long run, tough interval session, or race. This is especially important if you are performing double sessions (two-a-days). An effective recovery approach from this study was roughly a 2:1 ratio of carbs to protein. For example, a recovery smoothie with ~40g of carbs and ~20g of protein. My go to right now is: white rice+ground turkey or ground beef right after a tough or long endurance session.
  

• Multi-race HYROX weekends: If you’re racing multiple events over a weekend, like singles on Friday night and doubles Saturday night, nutrition immediately after your first event can make or break your performance the next day. You can follow that same 2:1 or even 3:1 ratio of carbs to protein. I personally have had success consuming a carb+sugar heavy drink and protein bar within 5-10 minutes of crossing the finish line, and then following that up with a balanced meal (lean protein, carbohydrates like rice or pasta, and minimal fat) within two hours.

In summary, whether you’re a marathoner, a HYROX competitor, or an all-around hybrid athlete, the recipe for faster recovery is the same: carbs + protein, as soon as you can. Timing and balance matter: get some quick carbs in to reload energy, add protein to rebuild muscle, and your body will thank you with better performance in that next run or workout.That’s it for this edition of the Threshold Lab. If you enjoyed this and found it useful, please share it with a friend!

What I Read and Researched for this Issue

• [1] Rustad PI, Sailer M, Cumming KT, Jeppesen PB, Kolnes KJ, Sollie O, et al. (2016) Intake of Protein Plus Carbohydrate during the First Two Hours after Exhaustive Cycling Improves Performance the following Day. PLoS ONE 11(4):

  e0153229. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0153229