This shouldn’t be an issue. I’m on Team Chocolate Milk. I should be mastering recovery, but I’m failing. I noticed after I ran the half marathon on Sunday that I was a bit more beaten up than usually. I just figured it may have been due to the fact I ran the back half of the race a little harder than what I’ve been running lately.

I waited too long for my lowfat chocolate milk. I mentioned that it started pouring very shortly after I crossed the finish line so I didn’t have enough time to grab anything for recovery. That was a fatal mistake because I didn’t have anything until an hour later. That’s destructive to the body.

On Monday I took a rest day because I got busy with life stuff and honestly, I was a feeling a little tired. Yesterday I taught my morning spin class and went for a run in the afternoon. It felt like I was running hard and fast, but I was running slower than my normal pace. It felt hard and forced but I kept with it. I struggled to keep up.

And then I waited an hour to eat after that and guess what? I didn’t have any protein in my meal. That was probably the worst mistake of the day.  This morning when I woke up, I felt sluggish and tired.  Because I felt this way, I almost didn’t do my weight workout this morning.  When I got out of the bad, I did a quick evaluation of what I did differently and RECOVERY was the first and only thing to come to mind!  I need to do better.

The post workout meal is the most important meal you’ll eat throughout the day. It’s important because it aids in your body recovery to get you moving, build and repairing lean muscle, and prevent injury.

That’s why the lowfat chocolate milk thing is important to me. It really does have the right carb to protein ratio to help aid in recovery and it’s something that you can grab quickly.

I haven’t been treating my body very well and I’m really starting to pay for it.  Things are changing in my life starting today.  I have too many goals I want to accomplish this year and I’m not going to let not taking care of my body hurt those chance.

I tell you all this because I want everyone to know that workout RECOVERY is essential.  We tend not to take recovery seriously.  After working out hard, we don’t want to counteract what we just did by eating the extra calories.  The truth: eating or drinking those calories is the main reason for losing weight and/or maintaining strong muscle.  Otherwise, your body is fighting to survive and latching on to anything to keep going.

I am going to start taking my recovery more seriously along with the everyday eating too. It’s just time to refocus and sometimes that happens.  The hard part is admitting it.

If you want to read more about post workout recovery, here are a couple of things that might help:

Pre and Post Workout Nutrition

The Science Behind Lowfat Chocolate Milk

Eating to Recover: How and What to Eat Post Workout

18 Scientifically Proven Ways To Speed Recovery

Do you eat after your workouts?  What is your favorite post workout snack?