Before running I was into biking. It was a weekend thing with my friends. We’d load our mountain bikes onto our cars, meet up somewhere, and then tackle dirt roads and muddy trails on our mountain bikes. We’d bike for hours, pedaling up places with such ominous names like Cardiac Hill or The Wall, logging as much as 50 to 100 kilometers. I’d come home all sweaty, muddy, sun-burned, and dead-tired. After the refreshing shower to wash away the dirt and grime, I would flop to bed, fall into a slumber, and my whole afternoon would vanish.
Then I would wake up with sore muscles. I couldn’t lift my legs. Going up the stairway was a chore; going down was painful.
Muscle pain was a surety until one day, coming back from another long bike ride, I opened the fridge and grabbed a large pack of tomato juice. After consuming several glasses of that bright red beverage, I proceeded with my usual routine of a cold shower and a nap. Amazingly, when I woke up from my nap, there was no muscle pain. My legs felt a little rubbery but other than that I felt fine!
I read somewhere that vegetable drinks are good for recovery because they contain copious amounts of sodium and potassium. Tomatoes also contain lycopene, which is an antioxidant that studies have found to protect muscles from stress. Maybe it was the tomato juice that expedited my recovery process?
Since then I became more conscious of my post-run recovery. Right after a long, grueling race—say a 21K—I immediately consume some protein-filled bar. Some say that a Snickers chocolate bar is good enough. I have a vegetable drink or tomato juice stashed in my car. Then when I get home I reward myself with a hearty breakfast and a cold shower. Throughout the day I do some stretches and I make sure I continuously hydrate myself. With this routine, I find that I am able return to road running after a day or two.
How about you? What’s your post-workout/run recovery routine?
Article Submitted by: Ramon Abasolo
“Mon Abasolo works in the IT group of a major financial institution in the Philippines. He has just recently completed a half-marathon and is setting his sights to run a marathon in 2012. He maintains several personal sites but you can best follow him through his twitter account @monabasolo”
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YOGA!!!
Muscle Milk Light within an hour after workout. It has balanced protein, carbs and fat for quick recovery.
Whole Chicken!
i just did a 2-hr sleep 2 hrs after my first half marathon last Sunday—very refreshing that allowed me to continue my activities for the rest of the day. I think i fully recovered 5 days after. will be back to a long run tomorrow.
will try this vegetable drinks
a complete proper stretching after the run,then put ice on both knees,shower, turn the aircon on to relax the muscles then rest=injury free.:)
Banana… Ice pack… Sleep around 8 hours…
Run safe!
Post marathon I eat a lot of food especially food rich in protein (peanut and chocolate ang remedy ko!) because the muscle needs repairing. Tapos sleep ng sleep and stretching on the sore muscles.
After my first 21K last Sunday i ate a lot. Tapsilog and sisig at MOA. Drank 2 liters of water and sleep for 5 hours on a raised legs. The next day do a 3K recovery run. On the third day back normal and no pain at all.
ako po long run o short run streching po talaga o cool down paguwi icepack ako agad then kain tulog :)
Rest and eat a lot…
smb light or premium all malt or bnb C45 only on the next days. After drinking it, drink the same ml. of water. It’s no joke.
I have been taking a safe and effective supplement which improves performance and prevents cramping during long runs, and hastens muscle recovery afterwards. It is called OverDrive, and based on my first two full marathons, both undertrained and underslept the day before, was able to do light runs after two days and fully recover in 3-4 days.
I would personally recommend OverDrive to long distance runners who want to lessen postrun damage, minimize risks of injuries, and be able to do lots of runs without fear of wear and tear.
Aside from that, I make sure to do lots of post stretching, consume foods high in protein (milk, chicken, fish), and have a whole body massage the day after. :)
milk is good! :)
i just run 21k yesterday and now im going to the gym and do my back and core exercises and still doing fine, all i did was before the run i see to it that i have enough rest, then eat full meal 2 3 hours and 2 bananas 30 mins before the run. and before that i have my full gear support in me, like compressor just to make sure my calves are ok during the run, this will help prevent your legs from crumping. body glide (extra strong) its only 420php and good for 3months if your a running addict and if not it might reach 5months., put some in your legs, shoulders and back. it helps to relax your muscles. then after the race, do some stretching for cool down, eat 2 bananas again, then eat another meal, dont worry about the amount of carbs since after your long run, the “after burn effect” will take good care of it. then take a shower and have a good rest. or a full body massage then rest is much better.
Proper and continuos training. Sabi nga prevention is better than cure. I think I’m preparing my recovery before even the race start. Kung tuloy-tuloy kasi ang training, your body, muscles ang joints will get used to all the stress. So, parang normal nalang sa katawan natin ang mga impact.
It’s a good thing that we take all those supplements from foods and drinks after the race but nothing can substitute a good and proper training. I think I can say that I’m doing my recovery before the race.
I have a question lang, is cold shower better that warm shower after the race? I usually have some rest first, warm shower and sleep after the run.
drink milk after the run then do easy run a day or two after the race
@Alwyn Sy – sir i just want to ask where do you buy the Overdrive your talking about and how much is it??
thanks hoping for your reply
I just did my very first 21k run last Sunday (Brooks Run Happy 2). Immediately after the race, I drank lots of water and downed the 100 Plus energy drink they were giving away for free. In less than 45 minutes, we were having heavy breakfast. I wanted to go to sleep right after but I had appointment to attend to. So I was walking around the whole day, which I think did me good. Come 10pm that same day, I was in bed and didn’t wake up until noon time the next day. The following day, I would put hot compress in my legs because they were killing me. We also had this foot/back massager which helped a lot. I would walk around the house for about 5 to 10 minutes the whole day. It’s Tuesday night now and I feel great. There’s still some soreness in my legs, but mostly negligible. I’m sure any trace of pain will be gone tomorrow. I plan to run 5k come Thursday :)