Post Race Paleo…

Nell,

How do you recover from Ironman… and do you just eat whatever you want for days after the race?

Yes, BUT, keep in mind that what I want is still foods that are those that are part of the #PaleoDiet.  The main difference is that I need to eat even more frequently as caloric expenditure during an Iron distance race can be thousands of calories.  After a long day out on the course, and 10-something hours of nothing but sweet, sweet, sweet from the gels I eat, I want something savory after the finish.   

I often crave MEAT and fat, which I have no problem eating as that's what we as humans are meant to be eating!

Chris and I went out last night, for example, and I had a delicious lean buffalo burger (NO BUN!) with all the (Paleo) fixin's- lettuce, tomato, red onion, avocado, which I absolutely doused with salt & olive oil, along with the usual salad and steamed broccoli.    

Salty paleo yam fries (or locally, the purple sweet potatoes I mentioned) are also a great thing to eat post IM.

Physically, the body needs time to rest as well, but how long depends on many factors including how fit the athlete is, how their training volume and intensity has been, how rested (or not!) they were going into the race and when they are next racing.  

I don't believe in any rule-of-thumb mainstream comments instructing the population as a whole to take the same amount of time off after IM- it's really an individual thing!