The art of recovery

I’m trying to kick on with my half marathon training seeing as it’s only a couple of weeks away.

I completed my first 10 miles since... we’ll probably last time I did a half marathon.

It didn’t go too bad and I was spot on my target pace but did tire rapidly after the 8 mile mark.

Now one thing I’ve worked on over the years is the recovery side of things because we’ve all done those runs where days later you feel the aches and pains.

Ultimately if you’re in training you want to get back on it as soon as possible but obviously with adequate rest of course.

Now for me regardless of what I’m doing weight training or running I use the same fuel.

I know most runners will load up on the carbs and there’s nothing wrong with that but sometimes I feel runners can over look the importance of protein in their recovery.

Protein is essential to repair and strengthen muscles that are damaged during running.

Without adequate protein, your muscles will not be able to go the distance, recover, or repair themselves.

I personally will take a protein shake supplemented with creatine, HMB and essential amino acids after a run.

Now these additionally supplements are used by a lot of body builders but they seem to help my recovery.

HMB minimises muscle damage during hard exercise by minimising protein breakdown.

Although theres' not too many studies of creatine on runners, creatine it self helps to increase energy, endurance and reduce muscle recover time.

Essential amino acids are the chemical building blocks of protein but do lots of things so I take it for general well being along with my barley grass.

It works for me and generally muscle soreness is non-existent so now its part of my regime.

Just to give you a break down before my run I eat a wrap with 1/2 chocolate hazelnut spread & 1/2 peanut with a banana.

After completing my run I have plenty of water and a protein shake with milk, as milk is great at re-hydrating you for longer. I take my creatine, HMB and amino acids with some fruit juice for the sugars.

So to all you runners keep up the carbs but dont for get your protein.

Bye for now

Simon