A long ride on Saturday, another on Sunday. Intervals in the morning, a bike session the next day. When less than 24 hours separate two sessions, what you eat in between decides how your legs feel at the next one. Carbohydrate, protein, hydration, sleep: here’s the recovery nutrition protocol, phase by phase, with the amounts.
In short: if your next session is less than 24 hours away, start eating within 30 minutes of finishing, then aim for about 1 to 1.2 g of carbohydrate per kilo per hour over the first 4 hours. Add 20 to 30 g of protein within the hour, then every 3 to 4 hours, plus a portion before bed. Drink 1.5 litres per kilo lost, with sodium. If your next session is more than 24 hours away, there’s no rush: what matters is the day’s total.
Glycogen: the fuel to rebuild before your next session
A long or hard session empties a large part of your muscle glycogen stores. Rebuilding them takes carbohydrate, and time. Straight after exercise, muscles store glycogen faster: this is the rapid phase, which lasts a few hours. After that, rebuilding continues more slowly, as long as you eat enough carbohydrate (Burke, van Loon and Hawley, 2017).
Delaying your first intake has a cost. In a landmark study, waiting 2 hours before eating carbohydrate roughly halved the rate of glycogen rebuilding during that period (Ivy et al., 1988). When your next session is the following day, every hour counts.
The 3-phase protocol
| Phase | When | What |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Recovery snack | within 30 minutes | about 1 g of carbohydrate/kg + 20 to 30 g of protein + a drink with sodium |
| 2. Recovery meal | 1.5 to 2 hours after | a full, carbohydrate-rich meal, a portion of protein, cooked vegetables |
| 3. Rest of the day and night | until the next session | carbohydrate at every meal, protein every 3 to 4 hours, a protein snack before bed |
Phase 1: the snack within 30 minutes
The aim: restart glycogen rebuilding and muscle repair straight away. For a 70 kg athlete, aim for about 70 g of carbohydrate and 20 to 30 g of protein. If you’re not hungry, start with a drink.
Examples: 500 ml of chocolate milk and a banana; a drinking yoghurt, a banana and a cereal bar; a recovery drink; a ham sandwich and a fruit juice.
Phase 2: the meal within 2 hours
A proper meal, as soon as your appetite returns: a large portion of starchy food (rice, pasta, potatoes, bread), a portion of protein (fish, poultry, eggs, tofu), cooked vegetables and a sweet dessert or fruit. Over the first 4 hours, the total target is about 1 to 1.2 g of carbohydrate per kilo per hour (Burke et al., 2017), or 280 to 340 g for a 70 kg athlete, snack included.
Phase 3: the rest of the day and the night
Keep eating carbohydrate at every meal: over the day, depending on your training load, needs range from 6 to 10 g per kilo. Spread your protein in portions of 20 to 30 g every 3 to 4 hours, rather than one big meal. Before bed, a protein-rich snack (quark, skyr, milk) supports muscle repair overnight.
How much protein after exercise?
The classic recommendation is 20 to 25 g of good-quality protein after exercise, or about 0.3 g per kilo. It was long thought that anything above that was wasted. A 2023 study (Trommelen et al.) showed that a large 100 g serving of protein extended the muscle-building response over several hours: the body uses more than was once believed. In practice, what matters most is the total over the day (about 1.2 to 1.6 g per kilo for an endurance athlete) and spreading it evenly.
Protein also helps rebuild glycogen when carbohydrate intake is a little low. If you’re already reaching 1.2 g of carbohydrate per kilo per hour, it brings no extra gain for glycogen, but it remains essential for your muscles (Alghannam et al., 2018).
Hydration: often forgotten
- Weigh yourself before and after the session: each kilo lost is about 1 litre of sweat.
- Drink about 1.5 litres per kilo lost, spread over the following hours, not all at once.
- Include sodium (recovery drink, broth, a salty meal): it helps your body hold on to the water.
- Pale urine in the evening is a good sign.
Sleep: the number-one recovery lever
No plate of food makes up for a short night. Aim for 7 to 9 hours of sleep on the night between two sessions. Avoid alcohol, which harms sleep quality and slows recovery, and eat dinner at least one to two hours before bed. To put that meal together, see our guide to the recovery dinner.
When the next session is more than 24 hours away
If you have at least a full day before your next hard session, there’s no need to rush for a snack. Your stores rebuild over 24 to 48 hours, as long as you eat enough carbohydrate and protein over the whole day. Eat when you’re hungry, keeping your meals balanced and sufficient.
Recovery guides by sport
Ograal adds your recovery snack automatically
In Ograal, after the most demanding sessions (threshold, races, long rides), the app adds a recovery snack combining carbohydrate and protein, with two options to choose from, and counts it in your day’s total. If you connect Strava or Nolio, the meals that follow are recalculated based on the session’s actual expenditure. For details, see How our plans are calculated.
Create your free Ograal account
Frequently asked questions
Is the 30-minute “metabolic window” a myth?
Not entirely. It matters mostly when your next session is less than 24 hours away. Otherwise, your total intake over the day matters more than precise timing.
Do I need a 3:1 or 4:1 carbohydrate-to-protein ratio?
That ratio is a handy guide, not a rule. Mainly aim for 1 g of carbohydrate per kilo and 20 to 30 g of protein in your snack.
Are recovery supplements essential?
No. Chocolate milk, a yoghurt and a banana work just as well as a recovery drink. Drinks are mostly handy when you’re not hungry or have no kitchen nearby.
Go further
- Cycling Recovery Nutrition: The Complete Guide After Your Ride
- What to Eat After a Trail Run: Fast 24-Hour Recovery
- Recovery Dinner for Endurance Athletes: Optimise Your Night for Better Performance
- Tart Cherry Juice for Recovery: What the Science Actually Proves
- Kristian Blummenfelt's Whey Protocol: Protein Recovery for Endurance Triathletes
- Muscle Preservation in Endurance Sports: Key Principles for Cyclists and Runners
- Omega-3 for Endurance Athletes: Recovery, Inflammation, Performance
- Polyphenols and Endurance Recovery: Quercetin, Resveratrol and Blueberry for Cyclists and Runners
- R-Alpha-Lipoic Acid: The Mitochondrial Antioxidant for Endurance Athletes
- Magnesium Bisglycinate for Endurance Athletes: Cramps, Sleep and Recovery
Sources
- Burke, L. M., van Loon, L. J. C., Hawley, J. A. (2017). Postexercise muscle glycogen resynthesis in humans. Journal of Applied Physiology, 122(5), 1055-1067. DOI: 10.1152/japplphysiol.00860.2016
- Ivy, J. L., et al. (1988). Muscle glycogen synthesis after exercise: effect of time of carbohydrate ingestion. Journal of Applied Physiology, 64(4), 1480-1485. DOI: 10.1152/jappl.1988.64.4.1480
- Alghannam, A. F., Gonzalez, J. T., Betts, J. A. (2018). Restoration of Muscle Glycogen and Functional Capacity: Role of Post-Exercise Carbohydrate and Protein Co-Ingestion. Nutrients, 10(2), 253. DOI: 10.3390/nu10020253
- Trommelen, J., et al. (2023). The anabolic response to protein ingestion during recovery from exercise has no upper limit in magnitude and duration in vivo in humans. Cell Reports Medicine, 4(12), 101324. DOI: 10.1016/j.xcrm.2023.101324
- Thomas, D. T., Erdman, K. A., Burke, L. M. (2016). Nutrition and Athletic Performance. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 48(3), 543-568. DOI: 10.1249/MSS.0000000000000852
