I'm wrapping up my Fuel Your Run blog series by exploring what to eat after a long run (>60min), otherwise known as recovery nutrition. As always, these nutrition strategies also apply to triathletes, cyclists, swimmers, Peloton enthusiasts, and anyone else engaging in exercise, and especially in endurance sports.
In this post, you will learn about the main components of recovery, specific nutrition and hydration guidelines for recovery, and how to apply these guidelines to real life as meals and snacks so that you know exactly what to eat after a long run or other endurance activity.
Here's the full breakdown of what I cover:
Recovery Basics: Nutrition, Rest, Sleep & Life Stress
It's common to have reduced appetite after a long run
Running is not a form of stress management
What to eat after a long run: Carbs and protein
Choose easy-to-digest carbs post-long run or race
What to eat after a long run: Healthy fats
The role of omega-3 fatty acids
What to eat after a long run: Fruits and vegetables
The role of polyphenols
Three strategies to hit your post-run refueling goals
Using liquid and/or solid food options
Athlete performance plates for recovery
Change up how you eat on different training days and phases
If you'd like to check out my other blog posts in this series:
Recovery Basics: Nutrition, Rest, Sleep & Life Stress
There is no magic bullet when it comes to recovery. You cannot simply throw back a protein shake and call it a day.
Recovery is a complex puzzle that involves nutrition, sleep, rest, and life stress. You may be crushing your nutrition plan, but if everything else in your life is out of whack (e.g. overtraining, not enough sleep, super stressed out etc), you're gonna feel like garbage.
It's also worth mentioning that even though we're focusing on what to eat after a long run, recovery nutrition applies to shorter runs and other workouts too. Context and the bigger picture of your nutrition goals matter.
Which Nutrients Do You Need to Recover?
After finishing a long run or any other type of endurance activity, you need to replace the fluids and salts that you lost to sweat. You also need to eat carbs to refill your stores that were lowered during exercise, and protein to repair and rebuild your muscle tissues that were partially broken down.
If you're building a recovery meal, then you should include healthy fats to help absorb all the nutrients you're eating, help meet increased energy needs, and reduce inflammation. You also want fruits and veggies (i.e. "color") to provide a variety of micronutrients and antioxidants, as well as fiber.
We'll get into WAY more detail on all of the above later in this post.
Recovery Nutrition Timing
Timing is very important when it comes to recovery nutrition. Here's the thing though - recovery is not just a box that you tick. Recovery is an ongoing process!
You can divide recovery nutrition into two phases:
Immediately after exercise (you've probably heard about this one the most)
The rest of the day and beyond (this one is equally important)
Typically, it's recommended that you refuel within 60 minutes of finishing exercise. Does the door to recovery slam shut if you don't eat within one hour? No.
But practically speaking, it makes sense to refuel within an hour, or as close to this time frame as possible, especially after a long run or race. Your body is well-primed for nutrition given you just depleted yourself, and it's ready to replenish, rehydrate, and repair.
Also, this first window of recovery is a great eating opportunity within the overall context of your day. For example, maybe you're heading to work after your run and won't have time to eat again for several hours. If you wait too long, you may fall behind in your eating for that day and pay for it later.
It's important to eat adequately each day and consistently throughout the day to meet your overall nutrition needs. Otherwise, you are not going to fully recover, and both your health and performance will suffer.
If you'd like to learn more about meeting everyday nutrition needs, I encourage you to read How much do I need to eat as an endurance athlete.
It's Common to Have Reduced Appetite After a Long Run
Do you struggle to eat after a long run or other hard workout? Don't worry, you're not alone.
Low appetite is common immediately after a long or challenging training session or race. That's because exercise impacts levels of certain hormones, which in turn affect your appetite. Dehydration or other fueling challenges during exercise can further reduce your desire or ability to eat.
Lack of hunger doesn't change the fact that you need to eat. Simply relying on your body's signals as a busy, active person will likely lead to underfueling. And that's no a fun destination, I promise.
Don't ignore how you feel, but do be more intentional with your meals and snacks. For example, instead of skipping a meal, change your fueling strategy (more on this soon).
Rest and Sleep Make the Magic Happen
You need adequate rest from exercise to give your body a chance to recover and adapt to the training that you're doing. I'm not just talking about rest days here.
Don't forget about the many other forms of movement in your daily life that may increase your total energy expenditure, and/or get in the way of recovering after a long run. I frequently work with busy athletes who, in addition to training, also:
Walk their dog multiple times a day
Bike or walk as forms of transportation
Stand on their feet or walk around as part of their job
Do hours of yard work
People think that these activities don't count, but they do! Having an active lifestyle on top of your training means you have to pay extra attention to eating enough, as well as carving out time to truly rest your body.
Speaking of rest, adequate sleep (ideally 7-8 hours a night) is where much of the recovery magic happens. It's also a huge challenge for many people, myself included.
Try to improve your sleep hygiene wherever you can, including setting appropriate boundaries for technology. Think about what helps you prepare for sleep (e.g. hot shower, reading, etc) and make time for those things.
Sometimes sleep is out of your control. Just do your best. If you're in a season of life where sleep is chronically bad (hello, fellow parents of young children), then you may need to adjust your performance expectations.
Running is Not a Form of Stress Management
Many people state that one reason they exercise is to relieve stress. I totally get it - I love to run, and exercise supports my overall health and well being. Also, life is really overwhelming and stressful at times, with two little kids, running a small biz, etc.
Here's the thing though - exercise is not a form of stress management. It's actually a form of stress on the body. And if you become overloaded with stress, whether physical or mental, your recovery, performance, and overall health will suffer.
That's why you can't rely on exercise as the main tool in your stress relief toolbox. Consider other things like music, creative hobbies, cooking, hanging out with a friend, reading, or whatever else.
What to Drink After a Long Run
After a long run or any other form of exercise, the very first thing you should do is begin the process of rehydration. You can do this by drinking a sports drink (i.e. fluid with carbs and electrolytes) or other electrolyte beverage, or you can have plain water / other fluids with food that contains sodium and other salts.
As a general starting point, try to drink 16-24oz of fluid after your run. Pleast note, however, that fluid and sodium targets for rehydration should be individualized because losses depend on sweat rate, sweat composition, weather, altitude, and exercise duration and intensity.
Once you test your sweat rate, aim to drink 125-150% of your losses, or 20-24oz per lb that you lose. Try to finish drinking this amount within 4 hours.
Some popular rehydration options include:
Sports drinks
Salty carb-rich foods with water
Chocolate milk plus sodium-containing foods/fluids
Recovery drinks (which typically contain protein, carbs and electrolytes)
Smoothies
Juicy fruits like watermelon plus sodium-containing foods/fluids
Broth-based soups (which typically contain sodium)
To be clear, as long as you are not continuing to exercise and sweat, you do not need to keep sipping electrolyte drinks all day long. Liberally salt your food (endurance athletes typically do not need to worry about sodium intake), and get other electrolytes (e.g. magnesium, potassium) in through a variety of plant foods as well as dairy or other calcium-rich foods.
Read Hydration for Endurance Athletes for a more thorough guide to hydration.
What to Eat After a Long Run: Carbs and Protein
Now let's talk about what to eat after a long run, in terms of carbs and protein. I've said it already, but it's worth repeating. Recovery nutrition is NOT just about protein! Carbs are crucial too.
You need enough carbs to refill muscle and liver glycogen tanks, and you need enough protein, specifically enough of the essential amino acids (i.e. the ones you can't make in the body), to support muscle protein synthesis. Muscle protein synthesis is just a fancy way of saying building new muscle, which is key to exercise recovery.
Additionally, you need to eat carbs AND protein at the same time, especially if you have less time to recover. That's because you can make glycogen more quickly when you add protein to your carbs, and adding carbs to your protein also helps to increase muscle protein synthesis rates. They work together beautifully in that way.
Carb and Protein Guidelines for Recovery
Nutrition guidelines for recovery differ based on what you just did and how much time you have until your next long or hard session. Essentially, the less time you have to recover, the more aggressive you need to be with your nutrition, especially with replenishing your carb stores.
If you just finished a long run or race and have at least 12 hours to recover before your next session, then you have a decent amount of time to refuel. As discussed earlier, it's still recommended to try to reach recovery recommendations within that first hour after your long run, if able.
If you'd like a general recommendation for carbs and protein, aim for:
50-90g+ carbs AND
20-40g+ protein
If you'd like to individualize these recommendations based on bodyweight, aim for:
1g/kg carbs AND
0.5g/kg protein
Your personal protein and carb needs depend on many different factors, including your weight, age, training volume, and performance and fitness goals. Also consider the overall context of what you need as an endurance athlete (~5-12g/kg carbs and ~1.4-2g/kg protein per day). But these recommendations give you a good starting point!
Along those lines, if you want to resupply your carb stores fully, you need to keep eating carbs! Here's the guideline to restock your carb stores within 24hr:
1g/kg/hr of carbs for 4-6 hours after your long run
This is especially important if you're doing back to back long or hard runs, or if you're doing a multi-day event. The message isn't that you must eat every single hour - you can consolidate your eating into meals and snacks. However, you can't eat your one recovery meal and think you're good to go.
Same with protein - you have to keep feeding the recovery machine! Try to have a protein rich meal or snack every 3-4 hours to keep the recovery process going and to meet your overall daily needs.
Choose Easy-to-Digest Carbs Post-Long Run or Race
Right after a long run or race, it's best to consume easy-to-digest, lower fiber carbs that can be absorbed quickly to help restock your glycogen stores faster. The less time you have to recover, the more important this becomes.
These types of carbs are less filling, which allows you to get a greater amount in and to meet your carb goals more easily. Then at your next meal, you can choose more fiber-rich foods like whole grains, beans, legumes, etc.
There are many liquids and solid foods that provide rapidly-absorbed carbs, such as:
For example, a shelf-stable chocolate milk is handy to have on the go. The Horizon one pictured above provides 8g of protein and 23g of carbs, which in itself doesn't provide enough nutrition, but you can combine it with other things or have it while on your way to your recovery meal.
You can also include things like yogurt (plain or flavored), rice, pasta, pancakes or waffles with syrup, a bagel or other bread products, or potatoes, among other things. These should all be part of a snack or meal with other components.
To clarify, I'm not saying that you can't have any whole wheat bread, brown rice or whatever else you enjoy as part of your recovery meal. However, after a demanding training session or race, it's easier to hit your nutrition targets including your increased energy needs with less food volume if you include some lower-fiber carb options.
The Role of Leucine
Leucine, a branch chain and essential amino acid, is particularly important for endurance athletes. It's an energy source during endurance exercise, and also plays a key role in building muscle.
But wait - don't rush off and waste your money on a branch chain amino acid supplement! Research shows that you'll get the biggest increase in muscle protein synthesis if you consume leucine along with adequate amounts of the other essential amino acids consistently and adequately throughout the day.
And guess what? You can do this by eating real food protein sources. Some leucine-rich foods include:
Steak
Chicken
Salmon
Tuna
Eggs
Yogurt
Tofu and tempeh
Edamame
Beans
Oats
As part of your recovery meal, you need 1-3g of leucine to stimulate muscle building. You'll hit this amount if you consume 20-40g of protein, as shown in the examples below:
As you can see, some of these serving sizes are not adequate to reach the recommended amount of protein. Also, some people may not want to have a larger portion of chicken, fish, beef, or tofu. This is where layering proteins is really useful!
For instance, you can combine a smaller serving of chicken with beans and rice, or you could have 2 eggs and bump up the protein by having a bowl of yogurt or cottage cheese. The takeaway is that there are many ways to hit protein goals, with animal and/or plant foods.
What to Eat After a Long Run: Healthy Fats
There are no specific weight-based guidelines for recovery when it comes to fats. Your needs depend on how much energy you require per day and other factors. However, fat is a very important macronutrient, and a key component of your recovery meals and snacks.
Aim for unsaturated fats like avocado, olives/olive oil, nuts/seeds, and fatty fish as part of what you eat to add much-needed energy, make your food tasty and filling, and help fight some of the inflammation that exercise causes. Omega-3 fatty acids in particular are considered anti-inflammatory, and are a critical component of your overall health.
EPA and DHA are the forms of omega-3's that you need to consume, and they come from marine sources like salmon, sardines, mackerel, anchovies, herring, trout and tuna. ALA is another type of omega-3, and is found in plant foods like walnuts, soybean and canola oils, and flax and chia seeds.
You can convert ALA into EPA and DHA, but not at an efficient rate, so it's hard to meet your needs with plants. Endurance sports like distance running put you in a higher state of inflammation, which makes it so important to meet your omega-3 needs.
You can get adequate omega-3's through the diet, but only if you consistently eat seafood ~2-4 times a week, depending on the serving size. You may wish to consider supplementation, either with fish oil or algal oil (vegan), if unable to get what you need through food.
What to Eat After a Long Run: Fruits and Vegetables
Fruits and vegetables (aka "color") are another critical part of your recovery meals and snacks. They contribute much-needed micronutrients, antioxidants, and fiber, all of which impacts recovery and general health.
Polyphenols are worth a special shout out here. They're a class of compounds naturally found in plant foods, and have high levels of antioxidants as well as anti-inflammatory qualities. Polyphenols may help reduce muscle soreness, improve performance, benefit gut health, and help with sleep.
Polyphenols are broken down into groups that include lignans, phenolic acids, stilbenes (e.g. resveratrol), and flavonoids. Brightly colored fruits, such as the ones included below are especially rich in these different polyphenols, and are a great addition to your recovery and/or overall nutrition.
It's worth noting that research on polyphenols has largely focused on tart cherries as well as New Zealand black currants. There are many products on the market (capsules, drinks, etc) that contain these specific fruits in concentrated amounts. Supplementation can be a good choice for some athletes, especially if you need a non-perishable, convenient option and/or training volume is extremely high.
However, you can also just focus on consuming whole fruits and veggies. For instance, the polyphenol amount in many research studies can be achieved by consuming 300g or about 2 cups of mixed berries or 125g or 1 small basket of blueberries, and you can eat these amounts throughout the day.
Variety is important when it comes to consuming fruits and veggies in the context of recovery and overall health, as you are of course trying to consume more than just polyphenols.
Lastly, do not take antioxidant supplements (e.g. Vit E, Vit C etc) after exercise. Excessive amounts of antioxidants in supplemental form (versus getting these nutrients in foods) can interfere with the training adapatations that you are trying to accomplish. Rememember, not ALL inflammation is bad.
Three Strategies to Hit Your Post-Run Refueling Goals
I often talk about how there's no one "right" way to do things when it comes to nutrition. Recovery nutrition is no exception.
There are two fueling strategies you can use to hit your post-run carb and protein goals:
Have a full meal hitting your nutrition targets within 1 hour
Have a shake or snack immediately after exercise, followed by a balanced meal 60-90min later
Have a nutrition-packed smoothie plus carb-rich solid food within 1 hour
If you're not sure which strategy is best for you, consider your running and eating schedule, access to solid food, appetite, and food preferences. The second strategy using liquid nutrition first is very useful if you struggle to eat right after exercise or you have to travel back home and need something quick and easy.
If you want to go straight to a full meal, here an example of what this could look like:
You can easily hit your protein target with a 4-6 oz piece of salmon, or you can eat chicken, meat, or tofu/beans instead. Try to include some veggies and/or fruits, and get simple carbs in with white rice or whatever else you enjoy.
Obviously you do not need to have dessert, and if you do have one, you can certainly have more than two squares of chocolate! This is just an example, and the options for a recovery meal are truly endless.
If you want to have a smoothie/shake followed by a solid meal, here are some tips:
Aim for 20-30g of protein and 30-60g of carbs in your liquid nutrition
Include additional protein and carbs along with fruits/veg and fats in your solid meal
Together, you may go above the targets outlined in the guidelines, and that's ok
Here's an example of what this approach could look like:
In the above example, you can either buy a ready to drink protein shake (and add additional carbs, as needed) or you can make your own smoothie. The latter gives you the option to add all kinds of foods like nut butter, ground flax, greens, etc, and you can still add protein powder if desired.
Depending on how big or small this shake was for you, you have your meal 60-90min later. If you only had a ready to drink protein beverage, you'll need a more substantial meal. If you had a smoothie packed with tons of stuff, you may not need quite as much.
Lastly, if you want your liquid nutrition but can handle some solid food, you can combine these first two strategies. For instance, within an hour or so of finishing your run, you can have a packed protein shake that provides 20-40g of protein plus fruits/veg/fats, and add solid carb-rich food on the side, like a bagel with cream cheese or PB&J.
As always, there's no one right way to do any of this! What works best is what works for you.
Protein Supplements
No one truly "needs" protein supplements, which include powders, ready-to-drink shakes, and bars. You can easily make smoothies with protein sources like greek yogurt, soy milk, nuts and seeds, and you can also eat protein-rich solid foods.
That said, protein supplements in all of their forms are extremely popular and convenient. For some athletes in particular, like vegans and vegetarians or people who are frequently on-the-go, these products can be very helpful in meeting protein goals. I, personally, regularly use protein supplements and often recommend them to my athletes, when needed.
Protein Powders: Things to Know
If you decide to use a protein powder for as part of your recovery nutrition plan, please keep the following things in mind:
Choose a powder that provides at least 20g of protein per serving, and if the amino acid profile is provided, at least 2g of leucine per serving.
Whey protein is considered the gold standard because it's absorbed quickly and digested well, and it has a great amino acid profile including high leucine content. Pick a product that uses whey isolates or a combo of isolates and concentrates to ensure you are getting mostly protein.
Plant based protein powders are also a good choice. Some may have enzymes added to them to increase their digestibility. Try to get a blend of different plant sources like pea plus rice or soy versus a single protein source to provide an adequate amino acid profile.
Pay attention to what else is in your powder. Sugar alcohols (words that end in "ol" on the ingredient list like sorbitol) can cause GI issues, and some people don't like the taste of other sweetners like stevia or monkfruit. Personally, I like to keep things simple and get unflavored whey isolate products that are literally just that (brands like NOW, Momentous, and Klean Athlete sell this).
Most protein powders are fairly if not very low in carbs (recovery drink powders are different, and contain carbs and usually fewer grams of protein). This is fine, as it a protein-focused product, but it does mean that you have to ADD your own carbs to make it appropriate for recovery. You can do this by adding fruit, honey, milk, juice, or oats to your shake, or solid food carbs on the side.
Try to choose a product that is third party tested, such as NSF certified for Sport or Informed Choice. Supplements have very little regulation and it's good to know what you're putting in your body. Protein powder brands that are reputable and also third party tested include Garden of Life Sport, Momentous, Klean Athlete, NOW Sports, Thorne, and Vega Sport, among others.
Do not use collagen as a protein powder. Collagen is a poor quality protein and not a good source of leucine so this is NOT a good protein source. I see people throwing collagen in their post-run shake all the time, and this is not a correct use of this supplement. If you wish to use collagen to help with arthritis or other injuries, the protocol is 15g of collagen along with Vit C 60min BEFORE exercise, not after.
Athlete Performance Plates for Recovery
Now let's put this all together and discuss how to build a recovery meal using the athlete performance plate method, which I discuss in detail in How Much Do I Need to Eat as an Endurance Athlete. This is a great tool that I love to use with clients, and especially for my visual learners.
Even though this post is focused on what to eat after a long run, it's helpful to put recovery into context by showing how meals change on different training days and in different phases of the training cycle. The thing to note is that protein stays constant, while carbs and fruits/veg change.
Here is an easy day plate, which is appropriate after a run <30min or during the off season when training volume isn't very high (<20 miles per week or <4 hours).
As you can see, 25% of the plate is made up of carbs. You don't need to worry as much about fast absorbing carbs because your session was easy.
Half the plate is made up of fruits and veggies, which add more carbs and provide polyphenols as well as key micronutrients. The remaining 25% is lean protein, which is where the leucine comes in, as well as omega 3's if you are eating fish.
You also include fats, as discussed previously, as well as hydration. Both of these things are very indiviudalized to your own needs.
A moderate day plate is appropriate after a 45-60min session, especially in the context of higher levels of training (20-40 miles or 4-8 hours a week). It's also a good choice on a rest day when you're still in recovery mode because you're in the middle of a high volume training period (>40 miles or >8 hours a week).
In this case, you increase carbs to about 1/3 of the plate and decrease fruits and veg to that same amount because you need more carbs to support a greater level of activity. If the session was higher intensity, incorporate some of those easy-to-digest carbs shown previously for faster absorption.
Finally, after a long run or race, or if you're doing two workouts within a day, that's where hard day plate comes in. The hard day plate is also appropriate for recovery after an easy session in the context of high volume training (>40 miles or >8 hours a week).
Carbs increase to 50%, with fruit and especially veg dropping to 25%, which makes sense since you need to replenish your carbs and focus less on fiber-rich, lower calorie and lower carb fruits and veggies (most veggies, as fruits provide carbs still). This plate is appropriate not just for post-exercise, but for all meals on your long-run day.
Don't Forget to Snack for Recovery
Meals are important, but you won't reach your recovery goals without strategic snacks too! Snacks will help you stay on track with all your nutrition goals for the day, allowing you to fully restock your carb stores and meet your daily protein and energy needs. As a general rule of thumb, try not to go more than 3-4 hours without eating a meal or snack.
If appetite is low, drink a snack! As already discussed, things like chocolate milk, kefir, and smoothies are easy ways to add both carbs and protein for example.
I highly recommend that you add a protein and carb-rich snack after dinner. This is crucial if you eat dinner early. An evening snack will help with muscle recovery and set you up for a good night's sleep. Don't eat right before bed - allow yourself an hour or two to digest, if able.
Popular options include yogurt with granola and/or fruit (top with some chocolate chips if you want to make it more fun), smoothies, cereal with milk, or whatever else you enjoy.
Wrapping Up Recovery Nutrition
Long runs and other hard sessions and races require that you pay extra careful attention to your nutrition, but recovery is something that you should always focus on to feel your best. I hope that this post inspires you to dial in your own recovery nutrition, and has given you some meal and snack ideas for after your next long run.
If you found this post helpful, you'll love my Recovery Nutrition Mini Guide PDF, as well as my self-paced comprehensive nutrition course, Peak Performance for Endurance Athletes (Recovery Nutrition is an entire module). I also offer FREE downloads on a variety of topics, including what to eat before exercise.
Want more individualized nutrition support?
You can book a free 10-min call to see if we'd be a good fit
I also offer a library full of FREE and low-cost digital nutrition resources
Questions? Feedback? Topic requests? I'd love to hear from you - email me at claire@eatforendurance.com.
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