Tips for recovering from a run

Post-workout and race recovery can be a confusing topic. There seems to be alot of conflicting advice out there about it. As I come across various articles, I'm going to start posting them so that hopefully over time I can begin to get a clearer picture of how I should be eating/drinking post-workout to improve my ability to recover without over-indulging.

Here's a link to a recovery-related article that I'm summarizing and personalizing below:
Recovery Eating: Don't Let Your Energy Reserves Run Low | Active.com

The rest of this post summarizes that article and personalizes some of the advice for my situation.

Fluids

Weigh yourself periodically before and after a hard workout to estimate how much fluid you need to replace. 

My result: (reminder to self to weight before and after my next big run)

Every one pound lost during a workout reflects two cups of water loss. 

Options:

- Sports drinks (also provide carbohydrates and sodium)

- Fruit juices, low-fat milkshakes, and smoothies (provide both liquid and carbs)

- Plain water, unless your workout has been over an hour, in which case you'll need to consume some electrolytes and sodium as well.

Eat or drink carbs + protein quickly after workout

About half a gram of carbohydrate per pound of body weight within the first 15 to 30 minutes after a long race or workout. It's also good to ingest protein in combination with carbohydrate at this time. The results of one study suggest using one gram of protein per three grams of carbohydrate.

Following this article's advice, this would mean that I should consume about 90 grams of carbs + 30 grams of protein, which is about 3 times what I thought was about right.

Some Options suggested by the article:

- Sports drinks contain 14 to 20 grams per cup

- Fruit juices contain about 25 to 40 grams per cup

- yogurt, fresh fruit, an energy bar, or a bagel

Eat (or drink) an additional 50 to 100 grams of carbohydrates every two hours until your next full meal. 

Options include whole grains, fresh fruits, dried fruits, pretzels, whole-grain cereal and non-fat or low-fat dairy.