HYROX DIARIES: Entry Five

HYROX Diaries #5: the unsung hero of recovery

This is going to sound really silly, especially given what I do for a living… but in all my training for HYROX the thing that’s making the biggest difference to my recovery is my nutrition. 

It’s crazy, it’s like my body accessed a new level of my metabolism, because my muscles are HUNGRY, like, properly hungry.

Not in a “I’m bored and want a snack” way. More in a, my body is working really freaking hard right now and it would like some more food please kinda way.

As of this week, I’m doing 3x HIIT circuits , 2 x runs, 3 x weight sessions and at least 1 x yoga session each week. The volume is so much more than my body has ever been exposed to, and I’m noticing it in all the little ways. 

My usual pre-workout snack isn’t quite enough anymore. Some nights I need something extra after dinner (including Duck Island ice cream #iykyk). The times I’ve under-packed my lunch when I’m out and about, or haven’t brought enough snacks with me, my body is very quick to let me know.

Honestly, it has been really interesting to watch my mind around all of this.

Even in the past, when I’ve increased my training and needed to increase my carbohydrates, I could accidentally find myself under-eating and would adjust. But there was always that little undertone in the background niggling at me about what the extra calories would do to my body composition. I think, as someone with a history of disordered eating, that awareness will probably always be there in some capacity.

Fortunately, I’ve done so much work around it that I don’t get triggered by food anymore. But training for performance has shifted something, because I’m not sitting here worried about how much I’m eating or thinking, “Oh yay, I’m burning that off.” That thought genuinely hasn’t even crossed my mind.

I’m just noticing what my body is asking for.

I was lucky in the sense that I studied sports nutrition at University, so I know how to build a balanced post-workout meal and how to fuel training. I know what my body needs on paper, but there is a difference between knowing that, and actually having to live it when the training starts asking more of you.

This is why I had a little laugh to myself, because when we think about recovery, most of us think about sleep first. Then maybe magnesium, an Epsom salt bath, a rest day, sauna or ice baths. Ironically, that is definitely where my brain goes first.

But food is recovery too.

Your body needs to replenish glycogen after training. Protein matters, obviously, but sometimes in the whole protein-maxxing conversation, people forget that carbohydrates are one of the key nutrients their body needs to actually recover. Not just to fuel the workout itself, but to recover from what they have already done.

It’s a conversation I’ve been having with one of my clients recently too. She had been chronically under-eating for years and didn’t even realise how much it was affecting her day-to-day training. She’s now eating more, has actual energy, finishes her workouts without feeling completely burnt out, and is like, “Holy crap, I can lift heavier.”

Sometimes it really is the simplest thing that makes the biggest difference.

For me, my body composition is changing anyway because I’m ramping up the volume, doing a lot more plyometrics and running. My body has always responded well when I’ve done little bursts of running, even though I have spent most of my life hating it, so that’s a bonus (but it is not the goal).

The goal is making sure I can actually support the work I’m asking my body to do. Not gonna lie, I’m actually really starting to feel like an athlete. 

Because if I don’t fuel enough now, I know I’m likely to wake up hungry in the middle of the night. Training the next day will be ten times harder. Recovery will take longer, and there is no point putting all this time and energy into getting stronger, fitter and more athletic if I’m not giving my body the resources to adapt.

So these past week’s I’ve had to treat myself more like a client, figure out the portions I need, remembering to pack more food than I think I’ll need, and to make sure I’m fueling properly for the level of training I’m doing now.

Turns out, the recovery plan is not always another sauna. Sometimes it is just having the extra snack. 

Yours in Health & Happiness,
Sheree xo