Recipes for Recovery

Hey friends! I'm still reflecting and recovering from my marathon on Saturday. All things considered, I'm feeling pretty stellar. No chafing and just some soreness in my back on the right side, so I'm ready to get back at it. I credit a lot of this to my recovery plan.

The first order of business after the race was to refuel - I had a few bites of a bagel, a protein bar and some toast and peanut butter when I got back to Katie's place, mostly because I wanted her magical Winnie the Pooh toaster to make me some themed toast. I also had yogurt-covered pretzels before stuffing my face at dinner.

I had to take my medal out for a beer, burger and chips. Sadly, we ended up at Chili's after the line at Three Floyds was way too long for marathon appetites. I ate heartily and went to bed at a decent time that night.

The focus of the day after my marathon was recovery and protein. I started the day with protein pancakes.

Protein Pancake Recipe

1 scoop Cabot protein powder

1 large ripe banana

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Place all the ingredients in a blender and mix until smooth. Heat up an iron skillet to medium-high and coat with coconut oil. Using a medium (3 Tablespoon) scoop, spoon onto the skillet and cook until bubbles appear on the edges. Flip and repeat. I topped mine with more bananas, chia seeds, salt and peanut butter.

Next up, I had a little recovery workout at the gym. I jogged very slowly on the treadmill for two miles, then used the elliptical to get limber and flush out all the lactic acid. I actually felt really good! And I wore my marathon shirt, naturally.

Then it was time for a detox bath. It's just two cups of epsom salt and one cup of baking soda dissolved in hot water. Soak for 20 minutes, feel like a million bucks.

Lunch was a tuna fish sandwich, roasted cabbage and lots of water. I also had a protein shake with lunch.

Mocha Latte Recovery Shake Recipe

1 scoop Cabot protein powder

1 cup vanilla almond milk

1 packet instant coffee

1/2 cup coffee ice (frozen leftover coffee)

1/2 Tablespoon cocoa powder

Blend together in a blender, then serve.

In the afternoon, we took a family walk around Napoleon's favorite park, which is a one-mile loop. Luckily, the walk did not give me PTSD after the 26 one-mile loops I ran the day before.

Dinner was grilled chipotle pork steaks with grilled brussel sprouts, followed by foam rolling and stretching. I again tried to get to bed early and made it to the pool first thing this morning to keep the recovery going.

How do you recover after a race or tough workout?