Fuelling For Recovery and Injury Prevention
The final instalment of my deeper dive into the importance of fuelling brings me to what to eat once you have finished your run or your race. This is the area that I think really gets neglected by most of us, I know I did this for a long time, before I knew better! So, today let’s chat all things fuelling for recovery, repair and rehydration after your races and runs.
As runners there can be a tendency to just focus on training for and running a race with little thought about what your body (and mind) need once you’ve got through it/survived the trauma! And so often the thought of food after you’ve run just turns your stomach, I know I suffer from feelings of nausea once I’ve finished running and it’s something that I’ve had to learn to deal with. I remember after completing my first Great North Run race we went to the pub to celebrate and I thought 2 pints of Guinness and a plate full of fish and chips was the perfect post-race recovery meal, and the reason I remember it so well was that after sitting on a crowded, hot bus for 2 hours, my stomach threw out its contents, probably in disgust.
There seems to be a consensus in the running world suggesting that being a runner = being injured at some point in your running life. The two don’t necessarily go hand in hand and this is the primary reason I’ve written so much about nutrition over the last 3 weeks. Ok, so eating the right foods to support your running might not be able to keep you from being completely injury-free forever, but it can help speed up the recovery from a race and/or an injury. Current research highlights this link between insufficient fuelling, especially in female runners, and a higher risk of picking up an injury.
And again, this is where it gets a bit complicated, I know I spend a lot of time listening to runners blaming themselves for their injuries, thinking it’s a sign that they aren’t “good enough” or that they’re “not cut out for running”. Injuries are just the body’s way of signalling that something is out of balance that needs attention, it’s not necessarily a result of ageing or lack of experience, and these misconceptions run deep, with the link between fuelling and injury often being overlooked, mainly due to the lack of supporting evidence.
How do you define an injury? Do you frame it as being a catastrophic event, a broken bone, a torn ligament, or stress fracture? Have you ever thought that an “injury” can be any pain, any discomfort or limitation including reoccurring colds, headaches, fatigue that can make it harder for you to get out there and run, either socially or achieving your best at a major event. The reality, and the real problem, is that most running injuries develop gradually, often being very subtle to begin with.
And of course pain is subjective and can be normalised ever so quickly because you’ve gotten used to it, no pain no gain, a badge of honour because it comes with the territory of being a runner (yay!). But what if that nagging ache, persistent knee pain, the tightness in your calves, or a click in your ankle that doesn’t feel right is your body talking to you, signalling that something is off, an imbalance somewhere that needs attention? It could be your training load, your recovery time or how much (and what & when) you’re eating. Your “niggle” might not completely stop you from running, but it still shouldn’t be ignored- a car with a flat tyre will keep going, but sooner or later, if you keep driving on it, it could cause a bigger problem.
Every time you run your body has the potential to improve because it adapts naturally to the stress you put on it. When you run, your muscles break down slightly, but as they repair, they get stronger—they get better at working efficiently, helping you run farther and faster over time. Whether you run socially or if you’re training for a race, your body keeps adapting to make you a better runner. However, if you don't refuel properly with the right food and hydration, you interrupt this process, and your body can't fully recover or grow stronger potentially throwing you into a loop of consistent injuries/tiredness, making running just feel like hard work and reinforcing the limiting idea that “well I’ve never been cut out for running” which I hear so often.
The Three R’s
Refuel – Aim to begin the refuelling process 30-60 min after running and continue within the 4-hour window.
CARBOHYDRATES = FUEL
Refuelling with carbohydrates replenishes glycogen stores which is crucial for energy recovery, whilst also supporting muscle repair and growth as well as a strong immune system, reducing the risk of illness and infection post run.
Post-run carb goal – 45-60g carbs
PROTEIN = POWER
Refuelling with protein can help prevent excess muscle breakdown.
Post-run protein goal – 20g of protein
Example of carb and protein post-run fuelling
Greek yoghurt, blueberries & honey, dried fruit & nuts.
Hummus and crackers/pitta bread.
Chocolate milk & banana.
Chicken sandwich on wholegrain bread.
Rice cakes & cottage cheese.
Smoothie with oats, milk & protein powder.
Quinoa salad & grilled chicken, sweet potatoes & cottage cheese.
Scrambled eggs on wholegrain toast.
Replenish
Recovery isn’t just about rest, it’s also about replenishing what your body has used during your run, insufficient post-run fuelling keeps the body in a catabolic state, where muscle breakdown exceeds repair leading to you being more vulnerable to muscle strains and overuse injuries such as-
Hamstring strain (muscle at the back of the thigh), quadriceps strain (muscles at the front of the thigh), calf strain, shin splints (pain along the inner part of the shinbone), Achilles tendinopathy (pain between the calf muscle to the heel bone), ITBS (thick strip of tissue that runs from the hip to the knee), Plantar Fasciitis, (thick band of tissue along the bottom of the foot).
Rehydrate
Your body is 60-70% water and is the main component of blood. It’s essential for transporting oxygen & essential nutrients to your muscles so it’s important that you rehydrate after your run. It’s sometimes hard to determine if you are dehydrated but here are some indicators -
Thirst, poor concentration, reduced urine output/urine dark, headaches
Peri & Post Menopause Recovery
The decline and shift in hormones significantly influence how the body repairs itself as oestrogen and progesterone play key roles in the whole recovery process. One of the roles that oestrogen promotes is muscle repair and progesterone regulates tissue repair, so with fluctuating hormone levels, muscle and tissue breakdown might outpace the repairing process. You can see then how important post run fuelling is to the repairing process, especially if you are over 35 years old (yes perimenopause can begin in your 30s). These changes in your recovery might be subtle, our hormones don’t just fall off a cliff, which is why it’s so hard to pinpoint exactly what factors are contributing to any decrease in performance, consistent injury or just feeling as though you are pushing sand up a hill.
It's important to remember that everyone is different, finding an approach that works best for you, by seeing if there are any small changes that you can make that could potentially make a big difference.