How are nutrition drinks used?
Nutrition drinks tend to be too heavy and nutrient-dense to be used before exercise, unless they are consumed an hour prior to exercise. Their protein and fat content makes them more difficult to digest and absorb. Hence, chugging a nutrition drink right before running may result in a stomach cramp. Use nutrition drinks after intense or long workouts. There is probably no need for nutrition drinks after runs under 60 minutes or six miles. These runs are too short to cause any severe nutritional depletion. However, if the run is an intense interval training workout, or a hill run, you may feel that a nutrition drink is warranted. Probably the most useful time to have a nutrition drink is after a long distance run or race. Long distances tend to beat up legs the most, causing microtears to the muscle and depleting glycogen stores. After these runs, carbohydrate and protein are required to replete nutrient stores. If you can eat ordinary food after running, a nutrition drink may not be ne
