Post-Run Meal Prep on a Time Budget
If you’re anything like me, after a long run, I am not in the mood to cook. I love to cook just about any other time of the day, week, month, or year. However, spending the time to make a nutritious, delicious meal after just having run twelve miles is not necessarily at the top of my docket. This is why meal prepping is a big part of my life and I’d recommend it to anyone who is short on time (or energy) throughout their busy week. In this blog post, I’m going to focus on meal prepping with your post-run in mind, but keep in mind that you can meal prep for all meals of the day to help support your running at all stages.
What to Include in Your Meal Prep
If you read my previous post about the importance of eating protein after a run, you’ll understand why protein is an important nutrient I include in all my post-run meals. Protein is an essential component in muscle repair and recovery. A lot of the protein I eat comes from meat, whether chicken, turkey, or beef. If you’re a vegetarian, don’t overlook the threefold nutritional benefit of beans: “Beans are an easy source of protein, carbohydrates, and fiber” (Irvine, 2021).
Another important nutrient to include in your meal prep is carbohydrates. If you remember my blog post about carbs, , you’ll recall that carbs in the form of glycogen are responsible for the energy in your body. After a long run, your muscles will be low on glycogen, meaning you’ll be low on energy. My favorite form of carbs is pasta: “These carbohydrates […] can help restock glycogen stores that have been depleted when running long distances (especially more than two hours)” (Heins, 2022).
Meal Prep in Practice
With these two nutrients in mind, you can begin planning to meal prep. You can pick out your favorite protein and carbs and experiment. One of my favorite things to meal prep is penne pasta and tomato sauce with ground beef. I’ve found it’s easy to freeze in small portions; sometimes I’ll do a double batch and it will carry me through two weeks (I’m not a picky eater—I’ll eat the same meal repeatedly). I don’t have an exact recipe for what I do (I prefer experimenting over following recipes), but this one pot spaghetti and meat sauce recipe looks fairly similar to what I make. Experiment like me—choose your favorite type of pasta, try a different protein source, and if you’re lazy like me, don’t be afraid to use a pre-made can of spaghetti sauce (I won’t tell anyone).
