All that Glitters is Golden



Rid your body of the marathon evils!
Post marathon tip #1: Quit eating so much!

One of the things I like to do after a marathon is to get rid of a lot of gunk in my body.

Now obviously this doesn't apply to everyone, and its certainly not something I know of that is what you would call standard post-marathon, but it helps me!

Now even though I eat pretty darn clean (and only recently added some lean meat back into my diet (reason in a later post)), I still feel pretty darn miserable afterwards and I will just use Chicago Marathon as an example.

The week that we left, I purchased very healthy foods and was great.  I dont eat a lot of carbs (from pasta, rice, potatoes, etc to begin with) but once we got to Chicago (friday; my carb load day), we went to Italian Village (the upper restaurant) and proceeded to have the most amazing food.  I just went with pesto tortellini (I do NOT eat meat in the days leading up to a marathon); had amazing bread.  Ate half of the portion and then ate the other half later in the room for dinner.  It was a lot of pasta...Saturday, I dont remember having breakfast...and then we went to Ginos East for lunch.  Deep dish pizza (1 slice) and yet again, the most amazing bread I have ever had.

Saturday late afternoon (6:00) we had dinner plans now that everyone had arrived.  Another pasta place.  I ate a cup of chicken broth and a side salad. 

OK, so on marathon day, I had my 2 Pop Tarts pre-race and then because of the heat, I drank A LOT of fluids out on that course.  Looking back on it now, I know I drank too much.  Plus 4 gels.

I didnt eat until almost 4pm that afternoon and I felt already like a water balloon.  And anything I drank due to the dehydration and loss of salt, well my body just wanted to hold on to it...

By the time I got up on Monday morning, I was miserable.  And not because of the 26.2 miles

My body was rebelling with all the foreign food I was eating..I had eaten just a little bit of what I had ordered at 4pm the previous day so I was really hungry.

I ended up with a very healthy breakfast, and no lunch, but I ate icky late afternoon.  thankfully all the walking on Monday helped though to some degree.

Detox started right after that.

I have been drinking as much water as I can, still having 1 diet soda though a day.
Only fruits and vegetables and only those that are mostly water or are known to help rid you of bloat and extra water weight.
One (sometimes 2) serving of 'carbs' a day: either 1/2 english muffin, some overnight oats, or a 1/2 piece of flatbread
protein sources (organic/farm raised chicken or beef or fish, eggs, protein smoothies)

And really no eating past 7pm (I did have a bit of a snack later in the evening last night)

I feel fantastic!  The marathon bloat is finally gone and I feel leaner that before I left for the Windy City!

I honestly think a LOT of post-marathon blues are brought on by not only the no running or hardly running but coupled with the fact that people continue to eat like they cant shove enough (and fast enough) into their darn piehole! 
Besides eating right, healthy and not too much will aid in your speedy recovery to get you back on the roads!

Here is a great read for post marathon blues that I just think is great reading!