Off to the Naturopath

Ain't no germies gonna get me down!  After work today I had an appointment with my naturopath to get an immune booster shot, and will get monthly shots leading up to the marathon.  Last year I got sick about six weeks before the race, and was so horribly run down that I missed a few key runs.  Turned out in the end that I didn't run it anyways, but I am doing my darndest to stay really healthy through this training cycle. 

As I was getting my shot (ow, this one really hurt today!), I started asking her about supplements in particular the amino acid, L-glutamine.  One of my coworkers who just started personal training has been taking it, and said that even though she is busting some serious ass in her sessions, she's not that sore after as she was taking this stuff.  It's supposed to help with muscle recovery, so I was interested in finding out more.  The naturopath confirmed that it'd be a good thing for me to take, particularly since the majority of my workouts are longer than an hour.  She actually gives talks at the Running Room, which I didn't know...so she gave me a summary sheet that talked about optimal food choices, nutrient ratios and hydration.  Cool!

One thing that I've been suspecting is that my protein intake was a bit low...I'd read so many different things on the interweb, so was interested to hear something directly from someone who knows the goods.  Endurance athletes are supposed to be getting 1.2 - 1.4 grams of protein per kilo of body weight, putting me in the range of 66 - 77 grams per day.  Based on what I've been logging into my fitness pal, I've been getting maybe around 45 grams.  Protein is too low, so I've got to work on getting a bit more into me...again, no problem for lunch and dinner, but not enough at breakfast so I'm going to whip up some protein shakes for breakfast I think. 

The other interesting tidbit that I didn't know about was that after strenuous exercise, we're supposed to eat something high sugar/high glycemic, to replace the body's glycogen stores...I knew about eating protein and some carbs within 30 - 45 minutes afterwards for muscle recovery, but she said to eat something really high sugar.  After a long exercise session, the body is depleted of glycogen and searching it out.  When you eat something high sugar right after, the body and liver more readily absorb it (and less likely to turn into fat) and there's a two hour window to top up.  In the first 30 minutes, we supposed to take 15 - 30 grams of a high glycemic carb, and an hour afterwards eat something that is a 2:1 ratio of carb to protein.  If we don't top up our glycogen stores, the next time we run or work out we're only working with maybe 75% of a full tank.  Not good! 

I never stop learning about nutrition...so interesting!  I'll try out the high sugar thing after my next long run and I'm going to start taking the L-glutamine, so will do a short review in about two weeks on how its working.  I wonder if it comes in chocolate flavour?  Heh.