I mentioned earlier this week that I’ve been trying to do things a little differently. After warning signs began to arise last week of a burnout, I’ve been so focused on getting my “groove back.”

While I will get into full details at a later time, one of the key areas I’ve been focused on is nutrition. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know how important nutrition is to success as a runner. I’m sure for some it is simple but for me it’s not easy.

I’ve come leaps and bounds when it comes to my relationship with food, but over the past several months I’ve gone away from tracking anything and just ate what I felt like. That combined with vacation eating has left me pretty frustrated. I was getting enough; I just wasn’t getting the right things.

I’ve been tracking my food over the past week. The main purposes for this have been: to make sure I am getting the appropriate amount of calories and to look more in depth at nutrient timing.

Running and proper food intake relies a lot not only on what you eat but when you eat it. While I still am playing around with timing there is one change I’ve made that I think helps a lot.

One large area I have always struggled with is eating after my workout. I have never been one to finish a workout or run and be ready to eat. It takes a while for me to get my appetite. Since I run first thing in the morning, I’ve also found that I tend to get home, do my strength work, fix my meals for the day, shower and then I’m end up eating breakfast almost 2 hours post-run.

In order to help take advantage of my post-run recovery window I’ve found a solution that works. Right after my run I fill up a shaker with a protein/carbohydrate mix and drink it while I am getting ready. That way my body is getting what it needs. The once I get to work I eat my breakfast.

I recently tried a new protein by Bowflex Body. Bowflex makes protein? Yes, that was the first thought that crossed through my head when I heard about it.

I’m usually a chocolate girl but decided to give vanilla a go.

Bowflex Body was created to be not only delicious, but to provide an exclusive blend of premium ingredients combined with antioxidants, nutrients, and immune enhancing ingredients to help burn fat, build muscle and protect your body. While burning fat might not be everyone’s goal, there are very few runners in particular who don’t want to build muscle and protect their body.

You can see a video about the product here.

Enough of the product info, let’s get down to what everyone really wants to know – how does it taste and work?

Taste

The vanilla was actually really delicious. In the past I’ve found that most vanilla flavors tend to be watered down or way too extreme. This one provided a nice blend.

Performance

In terms of how it performed, let’s look at the ingredients. When looking for a post-run shake I am looking for a good combination of carbs and protein. I don’t need a full on breakfast, but I need something to help my body to recover.

The nutrient breakdown for their fitness shake is:

Calories – 125
Total Fat – 2 g
Protein – 15 g
Carbohydrates – 11 g

It also contains: Vitamin A, C, D, E, K, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, Vitamin B6, Folate, Vitamin B12, Biotin, Calcium, Phosphorus, Magnesium, and Zinc to name a few.

I’ve used this every morning for the past week and I really do believe it has made a great difference in my training and recovery.

On top of the fitness shake, Bowflex also makes boosts you can add in:

  • Rich Chocolate Fat Burner – to help boost metabolism and fat burn
  • Peanut Butter Protein – additional protein to refuel your body and support muscle growth
  • Mixed Berry Antioxidant – enhanced antioxidant support

The mixed berry is a great add-in for a post-workout fruit smoothie and the peanut butter and chocolate make excellent additions when added in with the vanilla fitness shake.

Nutrition is always a tricky thing when it comes to runners. While whole foods are your primary focus, using these fitness shakes post-run have enabled me to take advantage of my recovery window.

Want to try Bowflex Body for yourself? Use the discount code BOWFLEXSHAKE and get 20% off plust free shipping and handling!

Do you use protein shakes for recovery?

What do you eat/drink post-workout?

This post is sponsored by FitFluential on behalf of Bowflex Body.

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