by Russ Cox

Three donuts and three slices of watermelon.

Not the perfect recovery food, but that's what I wanted straight after my last race. An hour later I was back in the tent for a more balanced meal (the pizza and donuts were gone). Racing long consumes huge amounts of energy, afterwards I don't worry about what I eat just as long as I do -- I've earned some slack on the nutrition front. For the rest of the day all food is allowed; if I'm smart I've already stocked the fridge with my favorite treats.

In the lead up to a race my diet can border on the obsessive; eating meticulously controlled to support training and racing goals. Unfortunately many foods I enjoy are on the banned list of this regime -- donuts are out, watermelon is in. When the race is over, after weeks of denial, it's open season at the cake store. A determination to compensate for all I've missed sets in and what started as a treat can rapidly turn into a binge.

It's perfectly reasonable to enjoy some of what you've missed once the pressure is off. The problem is when this snowballs out of control and you forget the benefits of a high quality diet -- there's a reason we worry about nutrition as we train.

Aware of how often I fall into this cycle, I decided to test the impact of better nutrition on my recovery. Following my first ironman this year I delayed the indulgences. Instead of sampling all the food I'd avoided, I continued to eat a carefully balanced diet.

I can't deny I ate ice cream straight after that race, but that was it. Instead of binging, I focused on good nutrition. I ate well, but chose the fruits, vegetables and lean meats over cakes and desserts. I hydrated, I fed and I kept myself moving. The inevitable aches and pains after an ironman remained. I can't claim miraculous recovery, but in a broader sense I soon felt myself -- the usual feelings of lethargy and bloating lasting days rather than weeks. The difference was striking; much as I enjoyed the treats, I preferred feeling like an athlete.

What the experience demonstrated is while I may benefit mentally from relaxing and indulging after a race, physically I gain more from being disciplined. I'm not suggesting complete abstinence, but enjoying my downtime without going to excess makes for a more pleasant recovery process. It's simply about balance: remembering our bodies fair better with a good diet, but an occasional treat does no harm.

With that in mind, I declined the local diner's Monster Burger challenge the day after my last race. Three pounds of burger was too much of an indulgence, I stuck with the regular size.