Hello,
I'm assuming you are reaching an off season period in your periodization plan? Are you looking the mentally and physical recover?
To answer your question:
Creatine is transported in the cell via the creatine transporter located at the cell membrane of the muscle cell. Since you have been supplementing with exogenous creatine, you have reduced the activity and number of creatine transporter proteins on you muscle cell membrane. Supplementation has artifically increased the creatine concentration in the muscle, well beyond the normal physiological levels. It will take time for the creatine you have loaded (or saturated the muscle with) to be utlized (creatine is in state of flux like ATP), once you approach normal baseline, then the creatine transportor activity will increase as well as additional creatine transporter molecules will be made by the cell to pump more creatine into the cell to maintain normal creatine homestasis.
Type 2 muscle fibers with increased amount of contractile protein due to greater force generating ability than type 1 fibers, consequently have higher levels of creatine than type 1.
As Phats suggests the half life could be 2-3weeks. I have seen studies that suggest that this 6-8 weeks before it returns to close to baseline, but the return to baseline is protocol dependent as well exhibiting variation from individial to individual.
I believe since you are not strength training the return to baseline will be more rapid, because the strength training itself is a natural signal to increase baseline levels of creatine over untrained levels. No activity accelerates the detraining effect.
Cheers,
RD
