When it comes to what to eat after workout or run, I don’t think much beyond “eat real food” unless that workout has been particularly long and hard.  (I am purposefully ignoring the obvious joke here.  This post just started!)

The neighborhood running group I occasionally run with sent an email yesterday saying they were going 10 miles Saturday morning. I haven’t run much more then 4 or 5 miles at a shot all summer – but I decided to join them for 10 today, and my reasons for doing so were three fold:

one. I’ve been meaning to run long for a while now anyway
two. Long runs are a lot less boring with some company
and three. The more people available to carry me home, the better

And let me tell you – by mile 8, I was beat. It was by some amazing feat (feet!) that me and my legs managed to get ourselves home and we didn’t have to ask anyone for a piggy back ride.

I typically defer to Brendan Brazier and Thrive when it comes to pre and post-run nutrition for longer workouts. Coconut water is one of my favorite post-run beverages – it’s not only approved by Brendan, but Natalia Rose too.

(Are they each single? I have no idea – but I’m thinking we should hook them up! They seem perfect for each other, don’t they? At least nutritionally speaking.)

I almost never buy these boxed coconut waters, but I found them on sale this week and I’m a sucker for cheap electrolytes. (who isn’t??)

Can I just say that getting at that coconut water is a heck of a lot easier than getting at this coconut water?

And can I also say that I have never been so happy to remember that little blue box was in my fridge as I was this morning? That and the fact that I didn’t have to get the rubber mallet and butcher knife out.

Brendan encourages you to eat foods that are high in nutrition but easily digestible after a long run. (Digestibility is Natalia’s thing too! See?!) You need simple carbohydrates to enter the blood stream quickly to help speed recovery.

Even Jillian Michaels says that “exercise is the architect, recovery is builder” and that recovery is just as important as the exercise itself.

(Uh oh… I smell a cat fight.)

So with simple, easily digestible post workout carbs in mind, a white peach was massacred about a half hour after coconut water was consumed.

+ an unphotographed but equally massacred white nectarine.

Once the Simple Carbohydrate Phase of my post-run breakfast had worn off, I moved onto the Brendan prescribed “complete, nutrient rich meal” containing protein. In my book, that’s a prescription for chocolate zucchini muffins with some almond butter if I’ve ever heard one.

I’m sure though that baked chocolate muffins made with eggs and maple syrup are not in Thrive: The Vegan Nutrition Guide to Optimal Performance in Sports and Life or The Raw Food Detox Diet for that matter – zucchini or no zucchini.

Oh well, please pass the muffins! I just ran 10 miles for crying out loud.

Not all four muffins mind you, but more than one to be sure. Not three either, so I guess that means two.

+ unphotographed almond butter.

Picture me slicing one of those chocolate suckers in half and smearing almond butter on each piece. Then picture me doing that again. Then be glad I’m not trying to hook you up with someone or asking you to carry me two miles on your back.