recovery | heart & sole

While I was at FitBloggin’13 in Portland a few weeks ago I got to meet a couple reps from the got chocolate milk? and Team Refuel campaign! I’ve always loved chocolate milk and often used to have it after exercise just because it tasted great and was easy to drink after a tough workout. You might say I was pretty happy once the science started to come out that chocolate milk is actually a great recovery drink for athletes.

With so many great reasons to drink chocolate milk after exercise I’ve decided to take the 21 day TryChocoMilk challenge. Depending on the intensity and duration of my workouts I’ll be treating myself to 8-16 ounces of skim milk mixed with Hershey’s syrup as a recovery drink. You’ll see updates here on the blog, but also on my Twitter feed and Facebook page.

There are the challenges. I like to mix things up so I started today with #12 and had a nice tall glass of chocolate milk after a scorching hot track workout. I even drank out of my Marine Corps Marathon pint glass to remember what I’m working for!

Are you a chocolate milk fan? What’s your ideal recovery drink?

Compression sleeves and a foam roller are my go-to recovery gear. While the jury is still out on the science behind whether or not compression gear can really improve your performance, I’m a big fan. I wear Zensah calf sleeves during my runs and CEP calf sleeves after speed sessions and long runs to help aid recovery.

The Zensah sleeves aren’t quite as tight and I like to wear them while I run. Some believe they can increase blood flow and decrease lactate build up in your muscles improving your running efficiency and economy. I have no idea if they really make me faster, but I like how they feel and how they look. When I first started wearing them I was having issues with shin splints and since wearing them that has gone away completely.

Whether or not it was just mental, it seemed to work so I’m going to stick with them. The CEP sleeves I have are super tight and feel great after tough workouts. There is a bit more proof behind compression gear’s ability to help with recovery and reduce muscle soreness. I love these and think they really help speed up my recovery.

My foam roller is my new-found recovery helper and it has done wonders for me. It really helps loosen up my tight muscles. Right now I’m using it to recover from injury, but I will continue when I get back to training to make sure I take good care of my legs after making them carry me through tough runs.

How do you recover from tough workouts? What gear helps you recover?