Post Run Fueling

It's a good idea to eat within a short time after exercise (so the research says). I usually need to re-hydrate as well, so a smoothie is a good option. It's also easier to eat than solid food, and easier to get the desired balance of protein, carbs, and fat. ("Rewarding" yourself with junk food after a run is somewhat counterproductive.) There's also research that shows it's a good idea to take in more protein as you age, so my post run smoothie is a good chance to do that as well.

Here are my basic ingredients:

large glass of soy milk
1 banana
1/4 cup of quick oats (slow carbs)
1 tablespoon of hemp protein powder
1 tablespoon of whey protein powder
1 teaspoon of hot chocolate powder
cinammon

If I feel like I sweated a lot, and I didn't drink any electrolyte fluids during the run, I'll add a pinch of salt.

If it was a long run (e.g. over two hours) I might add a tablespoon or two of olive or camelina oil, both for extra slow calories, and because otherwise the only source of fats is the soy milk.

Occasionally I'll add a tablespoon or two of yogurt for some probiotics, although normally I'm not a big yogurt fan.

The oats make the texture a little odd, but I've gotten used to it. If you blend it well it's not bad.

If you're vegan you obviously wouldn't want to use whey protein powder but there are plenty of other options.

Tip: Freeze your overripe bananas (peeled and broken into chunks) so if you're out of fresh ones you can use a frozen one.

Shelley gave me some Athletic Greens as a gift, so I've been adding a tablespoon of those too. It turns the smoothie a rather sickly green color, but doesn't affect the taste too much.

I'm not a big believer in "supplements", or highly processed foods in general, but the protein powder is a convenience compromise. And the Athletic Greens are basically vitamins and minerals. (And they're recommended by Timothy Ferris, how can you go wrong!)

My stomach doesn't usually bother me on long runs and I don't have a problem drinking a smoothie afterwards. But after that I often don't feel much like eating for a few hours so it's good to take in enough calories to last till I get my appetite back.

Note: I'm a little unusual in that I'm generally more concerned with keeping my weight up rather than down like most people. I've never gone much over what I weighed when I left high school. I assume that's partly due to an active lifestyle and partly a matter of lucky genes.

On the other hand, if you are exercising to lose weight, you probably want to be careful not to take in more calories after your exercise than you burned during it.

I'm not fanatical about having to have my post run smoothie. If it's not convenient I might just grab a banana or some fluids.

It's probably not the smoothies, but something is going right - I cut 5 minutes off my best half marathon time on my last long run :-)