Failing at recovery

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.

Wounded Warrior Half Marathon #teamchocolatemilk #finishstrong
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.

This was supposed to be slow but it felt fast. I have tired legs. #run #runchat #fitfluential #fitness
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?

Race Recap: One hot weekend at RnR San …

Race Recap: One hot weekend at RnR San Antonio

It was my 12th half this year, Willie’s 3rd and my best friend Tyson’s first half/race EVER, so I was excited for this race.  It was kind of bittersweet because it was also the last RnR of the year!  I really wanted to end the RnR season with a bang but let me tell you that didn’t happen because it was SUPER hot.  I know when we started the race it had to be VERY close to 80 degrees and the humidity was killing before we even thought about running. Race day was also the day of my 20 miler…

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Fun in Denver before the race

Fun in Denver before the race

I arrived in Denver late morning on Friday and headed to the hotel. There was a lot of things going on in Denver this past weekend so I was excited to be there. We ate lunch and had the worse service ever and then we headed to the expo! Expos are bad for me because I buy too much stuff, but I need running stuff, right? And it was rumored to be cold and let me tell you it wasn’t a rumor! There was a zombie crawl in downtown Denver and people were going all out for this. I wish…

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Sabine Causeway 5K

Sabine Causeway 5K

Last night I went running with my friends! I almost missed this race because I was scheduled to go to Gulf Shores to be with my bestie. I hate that I’m missing out on the fun, BUT something serious came up that kind of made me stay in town. Running this race was a good alternative for not sitting by the pool right now. I love running races at home because you know everyone and the environment is just fun and friendly. Everyone is so supportive and it’s just a great time! Here is my race video: Much better than…

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Race Recap: Area 13.1 Half Marathon Roswell, GA

Race Recap: Area 13.1 Half Marathon Roswell, GA

Saturday night I ran a half marathon in Roswell, GA! I wanted to do something fun because I feel like I’m always doing these super serious races and I thought I just needed to chillax. This is my 6th half marathon of the year and I think I have 4 or 5 more to go plus my marathon! This was the most miles I’ve ran since the Rock n Roll San Diego Half, but I have been running consistently. I wasn’t trying to break any records here and I really wanted to keep a nice and steady pace throughout the…

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Counting my blessings

Counting my blessings

I must admit the past week hasn’t been kind to me. Things have been kind of rough. I’ve been going through some things that have just consumed me when it shouldn’t. I kind of let other things fall by the wayside. On Tuesday, I vented my feelings and all of the sudden I felt a weight lift off my shoulders. I guess maybe just holding it in was half the problem. I am dedicating this post to counting my blessings from this week. I am thankful for having a good life and my health. I didn’t have such great health…

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The year of me, him and we

The year of me, him and we

Yesterday was my birthday! It was a great day so thanks to all of you who wished me great birthday wishes. I would like to share with you that I did amazing things on this day but it was a pretty normal day.  I taught two spin classes, went out to eat with my husband and mom and ate my weight in froyo.  There were no candles to blow out, no cake, but there was froyo.  I couldn’t be happier!  I could go on and on about how wonderful that froyo was but I’m sure you don’t want to hear…

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