Running and Recovery

All the nutrition info and much of the text in this post comes from Brendan Brazier's 'Thrive in 30' emails, which you can get for free at thrivein30.com. He explains:

Your body’s ability to recover from the stresses of exercise makes the biggest difference to achieving your fitness goals. Two athletes using the same training plan will see very different results if one focuses on improving recovery while the other does not. How you nourish your body after you exercise is key to speeding recovery and gives you a real edge over time.

There are two windows for post-exercise nutrition: the 45 minutes immediately following activity and the hour after the snack in the first window. Here’s how to use each window to your body’s advantage:

Within the first 45 minutes post-workout, feed your body an easily digestible snack consisting mostly of simple carbohydrates. After you’ve pushed yourself, your body is too tired to work at heavy digestion—refuel it with liquid or near-liquid snacks, like whole food puddings or a recovery drink (see recipes below for starters). Ideally, this snack should contain minimal fat and be fiber-free so your body can get these simple carbohydrates into the bloodstream immediately. A small amount of protein (no more than 25%) will help speed glycogen synthesis, the rate at which your muscles absorb carbohydrates.

He spells it out here, but it's still sort of confusing. I never know what to make. Yesterday after a fairly low intensity 5 mile run, I made this smoothie. Basically, just hemp powder w/blueberries and soy milk. It was really good. 

An hour after you’ve had your post-exercise snack, eat a complete, nutrient-rich meal. Make sure this meal includes some of the high-quality proteins from earlier lessons (like hemp), a good blend of essential fatty acids and lots of vitamins and minerals. If your workout was very intense, a liquid meal is your best option (such as a smoothie, soup or a serving ofVega Whole Food Health Optimizer), so your body can put its remaining energy toward recovery.

So, this is where I get confused. I just ate hemp in my snack. What quality protein should I eat as a meal? I don't want another smoothie, so I just ate a regular vegan dinner with an alkaline-forming pseudograin on the side like millet or amaranth.

In Lesson 3 he explains: There are several complete plant protein sources, most notably hemp and chlorella. Quality plant-based proteins include:

• Hemp protein (one of the most complete amino acid profiles of any plant-based protein)
• Yellow pea protein
• Brown rice protein
• Flaxseed (also high in Omega-3s)
• Chlorella (a microscopic, freshwater green algae from Japan - my favourite is Chloressence)
• Almonds, other nuts and seeds (preferably sprouted, since sprouting pre-digests the proteins in seeds, making the amino acids more available to your body)
• Legumes
• Pseudograins (including quinoa and buckwheat)

Foods for Recovery:

Your body’s ability to recover from the stresses of exercise are as important—if not more so—than the actual training you do, in terms of achieving your fitness goals. These two foods (both detailed in Lesson 6 as superfoods) contribute significantly to your rate of recovery:

Chlorella

The most compelling benefit of chlorella specifically targeted to helping your body recover from exercise is its ability to stimulate cellular regeneration. Chlorella’s extremely rapid growth rate is made possible by the Chlorella Growth Factor and its high nucleic acid content (DNA and RNA—both nucleic acids—are the building blocks of cells).

Since training and intense exercise damage muscle tissue (the healing of that damaged tissue is what causes increased strength and muscle bulk over time), chlorella’s unique ability to stimulate cellular regeneration makes it an ideal food to include in your training nutrition.

Additionally, chlorella is highly alkaline-forming and also detoxifying. Since your body functions best in an alkaline state—and the stress of high-intensity exercise can contribute to acidity—including a strong alkalizer in your recovery nutrition can speed recovery. The detoxifying effects of chlorella are helpful in clearing the lactic acid that can build up in your muscles after exertion.

I bought this bottle of Green Lightning at the health food store last year. The guy told me it's the best green drink - very healthy - and I see it has chlorella (bulgarian chlorella vulgaris) (broken cell) in it as one of the first ingredients of its 6000 mg proprietary blend. I think it tastes terrible, so I'm reluctant to buy another bottle of green powder till it's gone. ChlorEssence, the brand he recommends contains 18-25% Chlorella Growth Factor (CGF), but given mine is part of a blend, I'm not sure how to compare. Still, I plan to finish it before buying more.

I added two tablespoons (the daily recco'd amt.) to my smoothie once I was halfway done with it. It instantly became less enjoyable, but nothing I couldn't deal with. 

Maca

The ability to help your body cope with stress, balance hormones and support your adrenal gland makes maca a powerful nutritional tool for post-training recovery. As you learned in detail in Lesson 6, you’ll want to take it regularly to prepare your body for the stresses of intense activity; if you’re training or challenging yourself, I recommend taking a little more than your day-to-day dose to speed recovery and keep you energized.

In addition to maca’s contribution to recovery, it can also be used as an energy-booster. While most of maca’s benefit is built up over long-term use, you it can be quite energizing when used prior to training.

Note to self: get some Maca!

20-MILE LONG RUN

So, today is Christmas and I got these cool new runners: Nike Pegasus 27 GTX. Not sure if they're vegan. They're GOR-TEX, but I'm really new to vegan things and am mostly focused on food right now. I had a 20 mile run today and was really excited to try them. I also got two "Energy Bras" from Lululemon, which had good reviews for their cool-max material. My running bras always get soaked and then my skin gets really irritated, so I'm eager to find a solution. 

I did my run on the treadmill so I could mentally break it up into 5-mile segments. The first segment I listened to a running podcast to motivate. Steve Runner of the podcast Phedippidations mentioned that the specific training plan I was working (Hal Higdon) is not ideal. "Don't get "hinjured". Beware of "hinjuries" type thing. He didn't say why but I believe that the folks on another podcast by Marathon Training Academy were saying something to the effect that some plans run you too hard six days a week and a popular program (which they did not name) was notorious for injury. I think it may be the one I'm doing, like I say, so I was left feeling a de-motivated by mile 2 of my long run. 

At mile 5, I hit pause on the treadmill and ate a 1/4 of a banana and drank some of the energy drink I prepared the night before (see previous post). I do not recco this energy drink as a "drink". The dates never broke down all the way and I was choking on them as I tried to run. Again, I think I need a Vitamix to make some of these recipes work. 

I downloaded Planet of the Apes onto my iPad from iTunes the night before ($3.99 rental) so figured I'd watch that on the next leg of my run.

At mile 10, I was drenched. My new Cool-Max Energy Bra was soaked through and my shirt was pasted to my body. I expected as much and prepared for this with a change of clothes. I finished my banana on this quick break and was back on the treadmill feeling mostly dry. 

At mile 15, my movie ended and I felt wet again so I treated myself to another quick change of clothes. I came upstairs (the workout room is in my building) and made a fast swap. It was really hard to motivate to go back down. But I did. I listened to another free podcast encouraging me to push through adversity. My feet were really starting to hurt. I felt like I needed a nap.

I finished and walked a 1/4 mile to bring my heart rate down, then I did a little stretching. I realized that I don't even know how to stretch. Did I do enough? Did I get all the right muscles? I made a note to myself to research proper technique for next time.

Last night I figured I'd make Brazier's "Recovery Pudding" to eat within 45 minutes after completing my run, so here's the recipe for that:

Recovery Pudding

I got this from the Thrive book. I cut the recipe in half since the original makes two servings.

• 1 banana

• 1/2 cup blueberries

• 1/4 cup soaked almonds (you have to soak them overnight/24hrs in water yourself)

• 1/8 cup ground flaxseeds (I grind mine in coffee grinder)

• 1/8 cup hemp protein

• 1/8 cup roasted carob powder
• 1 tsp ground rooibos (lady at health food store said I could just open a teabag)
• 1/2 tsp lemon juice

• 1/8 tsp sea salt

Combine all ingredients in food processor till smooth. 

This pudding will keep for up to 3 days in the refrigerator, but is best when eaten fresh.

It's tastes good enough. Not particularly craveable, but the medicine goes down. Maybe add a few fresh strawberries on top to bump up the sweetness.