Protien=Recovery at Mariano's!

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Mariano's is a sponsor of The Chicago Marathon. That means they will be providing food for the 45,000-ish runners at the finish line. Instead of just fueling us for the finish, they are also having seminars to help us distance addicts better fuel our training. Which I desperately need.

If you remember correctly, when I ran St. George Marathon, I thought all the pieces of the puzzle were there. I cross trained, I ran with a really fast group of runners, I put in my miles, and I thought I had done enough. Between you, me and the door, I've never paid enough attention to the foods I eat, so I was happy to attend a nutrition seminar after a run and learn a bit about running, my body, and how it all fits together.

Before I get into some tidbits of what I learned, can I just say Oh. My. View. Batman!

This is the view from Mariano's Lakeshore East's patio! It is absolutely lovely. I have never been to this Mariano's, and it makes me wish I lived in a high rise downtown. (Yes, it was a dreary day for a run, and it killed me not to pop these pics up in Photoshop, but I didn't, and forgive me but after my run, all I had was my phone for pics.) Anyways, I'm off on a tangent. Mariano's Lakeshore East=super cool urban shopping experience. Moving on...

After putting down 8 miles on Saturday Morning (with CARA, check them out...excellent programs for running) Mariano's hosted this seminar.

There was a really good turn out of runners, and we all listened up, as we chowed down. First, Katie Marchetti from Chicago Diabetes Project spoke to us. ( They are Mariano's charity team partner, and I believe you can still sign up for the Marathon through them)

Then, it was on to nutrition. The topic of the day was recovery foods. Proteins help your body recover faster from exercise. That means eating something like peanut butter on a bagel, or yogurt with fruit, trail mix with nuts...the old standard banana, helps your muscles recover faster.

The thing to keep in mind with this is to consume your protein within 30-60 minutes after your long run. There is nifty handout that was provided, and if you want to check it out, it's on the Mariano's Facebook Page. All the seminar tips are in it, as well as some really great recipes like California Strawberry Coconut Pick Me Up (YUM), and Sugar and Spice Trail Mix (AGAIN YUM).

Mariano's will be hosting more of these seminars as training season moves along, and I'll be there. I am really looking forward to hearing about foods that can help you through "the wall", and they will have all kinds of great recipes to share! If there is a food that can get me past mile 20, I'm in! The other seminars are 7/13 (8:30 a.m.), 8/3 (9a.m.) and 9/7 (10 a.m.) and all events are at Mariano's Lakeshore East.

If you want to keep up with all things Mariano's and the Marathon, be sure to follow them on Facebook and Twitter. You can also check out my Google+ gallery for more pictures of the event.