Australian Triathlete – July-August 2017

68 | AustrAliAn triAthlete

athletes who plan and monitor their

performance very carefully, periodic

nutritional ketosis may provide a catalyst

for important metabolic adaptations.

However, the downside of an athlete

practising regular nutritional ketosis is the

risk of diminishing muscle responsiveness,

and impaired performance.

To theoretically gain metabolic

advantages in competition without the

T

he mainstream population

typically refers to recovery as the

period and processes required to

re-establish normality following

injury or illness. Naturally, this concept

also holds true for athletes. However,

athletes tend to focus on recovery more

as a necessity to support their training and

competition demands, while also negating

co-existing deleterious side effects that

increase the risk of illness, injury and

diminishing performance. Contemporary

knowledge across the overwhelming

minefield of recovery methodology is vast.

The trick is making the right decisions at

the right times - differentiating the hype

from reality, and ensuring that you cover off

the fundamentals of adapting to training

loads, but not slipping into the “free fall”

abyss that is every athlete’s nightmare.

In the March edition, we discussed

the fundamental principles of the

workload-recovery balance. In this

(and the following) edition, we extend the

boundaries and explore some post-

exercise recovery methods that embody

both the simple and logical, to the

somewhat unconventional.

INGeSTIBLeS

KeToNe eSTerS

Should the magic genie bestow you one

wish towards improving your athlete

prowess “package”, an abundance of

energy would surely be a popular choice.

Indeed, a significant amount of training and

preparation is geared towards improving

your economy and energy availability.

High volume/moderate intensity, or high

intensity/low volume efforts are taxing on

muscle and liver glycogen. Given that

diminished glycogen stores contribute to a

significant proportion of the endurance

athlete fatigue paradigm, scientists routinely

research new fuelling methods to maximise

athletic sustainability and performance.

Nutritional ketosis can be achieved in

approximately four days with a strictly

adhered to, high fat and low carbohydrate

diet, with subsequent preservation of

glucose and increased modulation of fatty

acids (Pinckaers et al., 2017). In a diabolical

situation such as starvation, ketone bodies

will provide life-preserving energy for

muscle, organ and brain function. For

Photo: © xxxxxxxx

What’s on your

recovery menu? (part 1)

KeToNe

eSTer

K

text by dR SIMon SoStaRIc | photogrAphy by SHutteRStocK.coM