I recently ran my first marathon, and training for that taught me an awful lot about food and eating! I originally started this blog as a way to share recipes I was using when trying to get back into shape and lose some weight. In the almost two years since I launched my blog my priorities have definitely changed! I was hoping to get in good enough shape to have a decent 5k time, and here I am a year and a half later running what my husband calls crazy-person distances.
One thing I had to begin to adapt to when running longer distances was actually eating a lot more food. Initially I continued tracking my daily intakes, just to make sure I still wasn't over eating, but the more I ran the more I realized I still needed to track what I was eating, but for a completely different reason. I found I wasn't eating enough food on days where I put in 2 or more workouts, or was out running for 3 to 4 hours.
Any time you're exercising nutrition is incredibly important, especially when you're pushing your body to extremes such as with running a marathon or training for one. I often found when I would get home from a really long run I had very little appetite, despite the fact that I know I've burned upwards of 2000 calories. It becomes a bit of a battle with myself, the logic part of the brain saying "EAT!!!" and the other part wanting nothing to do with it. What I've found to be helpful is having a recovery smoothie. This way I can help replenish electrolytes, and fluids as well as get in some calories quickly. It almost like tricking yourself into eating.
There are a ton of commercial "recovery drinks" available, many are full of artificial sugar, artificial colours, flavours and ingredients no one can pronounce. Why not go natural and fill your body with natural replenishers instead? It might take a bit more prep work, but in the end its worth it in my mind!
A few things to consider about your post-workout replenishing:
1) You need salt (aka electrolytes)! So many health conscious people avoid salt and try to do low sodium products (I know I'm one of them!) but this is one time not to skip. Salt doesn't just mean table salt (sodium), but other essential minerals like potassium, calcium and magnesium. All of these electrolytes work together in your body and are all lost through sweat.
2) You need sugar! Maybe skip the refined white sugar, but there are plenty of ways to get good sugars in! Fruit is high in natural unrefined sugars, like fructose, which is easy for your body to absorb and gives your body relatively quick energy. Sugar is stored in our muscles as glycogen, but when exercise is lengthy or strenuous, our bodies use up our glycogen stores. Eating some sugars (the healthy kind!) right after a workout helps our bodies to replenish these stores so our muscles don't fatigue as much and so we're ready to go for next time!
3) You need protein! Protein is a great way to get in some longer term energy and to help our muscles build. Sore muscles are actually a sign of teeny-tiny micro damage to our muscles (don't worry, this is how they grow!) and they need proteins (and amino acids) to repair themselves. Protein doesn't mean you have to go out and buy whey protein powder or puree a steak, it just means being creative about where you find your sources of protein! Your body also uses minerals like iron to help absorb protein & make muscles grow.
4) You need fluid! Right after a workout your body is probably dehydrated. Very few people actually drink enough fluid during exercise to account for what is lost. But don't dismay, you don't have to stay dehydrated! Sugar & electrolytes will help your body absorb fluid more readily, so make sure your smoothie has some ice or juice or liquid too!
One thing I had to begin to adapt to when running longer distances was actually eating a lot more food. Initially I continued tracking my daily intakes, just to make sure I still wasn't over eating, but the more I ran the more I realized I still needed to track what I was eating, but for a completely different reason. I found I wasn't eating enough food on days where I put in 2 or more workouts, or was out running for 3 to 4 hours.
Any time you're exercising nutrition is incredibly important, especially when you're pushing your body to extremes such as with running a marathon or training for one. I often found when I would get home from a really long run I had very little appetite, despite the fact that I know I've burned upwards of 2000 calories. It becomes a bit of a battle with myself, the logic part of the brain saying "EAT!!!" and the other part wanting nothing to do with it. What I've found to be helpful is having a recovery smoothie. This way I can help replenish electrolytes, and fluids as well as get in some calories quickly. It almost like tricking yourself into eating.
There are a ton of commercial "recovery drinks" available, many are full of artificial sugar, artificial colours, flavours and ingredients no one can pronounce. Why not go natural and fill your body with natural replenishers instead? It might take a bit more prep work, but in the end its worth it in my mind!
A few things to consider about your post-workout replenishing:
1) You need salt (aka electrolytes)! So many health conscious people avoid salt and try to do low sodium products (I know I'm one of them!) but this is one time not to skip. Salt doesn't just mean table salt (sodium), but other essential minerals like potassium, calcium and magnesium. All of these electrolytes work together in your body and are all lost through sweat.
- bananas
- kiwi
- cherries
- beans
2) You need sugar! Maybe skip the refined white sugar, but there are plenty of ways to get good sugars in! Fruit is high in natural unrefined sugars, like fructose, which is easy for your body to absorb and gives your body relatively quick energy. Sugar is stored in our muscles as glycogen, but when exercise is lengthy or strenuous, our bodies use up our glycogen stores. Eating some sugars (the healthy kind!) right after a workout helps our bodies to replenish these stores so our muscles don't fatigue as much and so we're ready to go for next time!
- berries
- citrus
- pineapple
- sweet potato/pumpkin
- fruits with pits (apricot, peach, plum, mango)
3) You need protein! Protein is a great way to get in some longer term energy and to help our muscles build. Sore muscles are actually a sign of teeny-tiny micro damage to our muscles (don't worry, this is how they grow!) and they need proteins (and amino acids) to repair themselves. Protein doesn't mean you have to go out and buy whey protein powder or puree a steak, it just means being creative about where you find your sources of protein! Your body also uses minerals like iron to help absorb protein & make muscles grow.
- greens (spinach, kale)
- yogourt & whey (the liquid part on top of yogourt)
- nuts (or almond milk)
- chickpeas
4) You need fluid! Right after a workout your body is probably dehydrated. Very few people actually drink enough fluid during exercise to account for what is lost. But don't dismay, you don't have to stay dehydrated! Sugar & electrolytes will help your body absorb fluid more readily, so make sure your smoothie has some ice or juice or liquid too!
- coconut
- milk (chocolate, soy, almond)
- whey (from homemade yogourt)
