A few months back I had a heavy run in with injury. Tendinitis in my right foot, a strained Achilles in my left ankle, and two inflamed IT bands had me resting up for a good month. I’ve been strengthening/stretching my feet, and doing all the crazy exercises that come with IT band recovery. Everything seems to be working, but all of this running has me deeply interested in how to maintain a solid base which will help prevent injury. Through all of this, I’ve learned that there are two critical paths to take towards injury prevention: prehabilitation and post-workout nutrition.

Runnersworld online has a whole archive of prehabilitation techniques and many of them are documented in videos. One of my favorites is the Myrtl Workout:

This workout strengthens while stretching some of the essential muscles around a runners waist and hips. It also sets you up nicely for a quality run. I’ve been enjoying being able to move my hips around in a way that over-mimics the runner’s motion, it relieves some of the monotony that comes with the repetitive leg motion that happens on a long run.

The other part of recovery that I’ve been enjoying are some new and some old nutrition techniques. I recently read an article about which elite training methods recreation or competitive runners should adopt. One that really hit home was how an elite employs post run nutrition. After every workout, top runners replenish burned calories with a high carbohydrate snack within the first 20 minutes of ending their workout. Some easy snacks are a banana and a protein bar, an energy drink that’s heavy on carbs, some fig newtons, or a quick smoothie. I shouldn’t jinx it, but I’ve been lucky enough to be able to take down a variety of carb forms after a run, and recently my favorite is the smoothie. Here’s a recipe I found which has some great ingredients for post-run nutrition: antioxidants like green tea and blueberries to help fight free-radicals (blueberries are also for flavor), and banana for quickly absorbed carbohydrates. Delicious at 125.1 Calories!

Green Tea, Blueberry, and Banana Smoothies

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons water
• 1 bag green tea
• 2 teaspoons honey
• 1 1/2 cups frozen blueberries
• 1/2 medium banana
• 3/4 cup calcium-fortified lowfat milk with whey protein

Directions

• In a small glass measuring cup or bowl, microwave water on high until steaming hot. Add the tea bag and allow to brew for 3 minutes. Remove the tea bag. Stir the honey into the tea until it dissolves.
• In a blender with ice-crushing ability, combine the berries, banana, and milk with added whey protein.
• Add the tea to the blender. Blend ingredients on ice crush or the highest setting until smooth. (Some blenders may require additional water to process the mixture.) Pour the smoothie into tall glasses and serve.

Tips: Since it’s easier to prepare 2 at one time, just store the extra in a closed glass jar in the refrigerator. You can transport this smoothie to work with you to enjoy for a snack. If stored several hours in a thermos, shake vigorously before pouring. The smoothie will be tasty but thinner than when freshly made.
Recipe found at prevention.com