As a rule, I prefer to finish workouts and have a proper recovery meal. But sometimes, I’m just trying to quickly get some recovery going and get moving on with my day. This weekend, for example, I was trying to quickly go between finishing my long run and getting to the finish of Peter’s gravel race. So, a quick whey protein shake was going to have to tide me over until we could eat a real meal. I’ve recently realized two easy ways to up my protein situation:
Shaken, Not Stirred
I’ll start by saying I find blender bottles extremely annoying. They’re huge, they’re messy, they take up pantry space, and I feel silly walking around with one when a regular cycling water bottle will do the trick. But at the same time, I really, really hate clumpy whey protein.
While occasionally, I’ll do a smoothie, I generally stick to just whey + water and keep it simple. But as anyone who’s tried to shake a water bottle with whey in it knows, it tends to clump and stick to the bottom, which is why those damn blender bottles are so popular. As I quickly prepped my bottle and took my first sip, I realized the water I had used was a bit warm, so I grabbed a couple ice cubes to cool it down. Shake-shake-shake… and boom, suddenly, my blender bottle woes were solved!
Sure, the ice cubes weren’t quite as optimal for getting every last bit of powder mixed up, compared to a blender bottle. But they’re free, they take up no space, and they work about 95% as well… and bonus, they made the whey protein taste infinitely better by cooling it down.
This seems so elementary, but I would never add ice to my whey unless I was blending a smoothie. So, if you’re looking for an easy way to shake up your whey, don’t both shopping for the blender bottle, just drop a couple ice cubes in and shake it like a polaroid picture.
Add Espresso (or Coffee)
On the heels of that ice tip comes the other easy idea: Instant mocha. I was feeling the need to caffeinate a bit in order to be perky at the race finish, but I didn’t feel like having a travel mug plus a bottle. So, I dumped what was left from the coffee pot in with my chocolate whey protein. Boom—instant mocha flavor! And it’s nice because it covers up some of the ‘hey, this isn’t chocolate milk’ vibe that I usually have after sipping my protein shake. I’ve since learned that it’s even better—obviously—with a proper shot of espresso dumped in, but even a couple ounces of coffee is enough to change the flavor to something a bit more complex and less chalky.
Protein Powder Favorites
And if you need a whey recommendation, one we really like is Kaizen Naturals in vanilla or chocolate. (Get it in Canada too.) Super tasty on its own, and mixes in water really well. Add a splash of almond milk in with the water for extra creamy texture and I swear, it’s basically like drinking chocolate milk. And we only get protein/supplements that are NSF certified, so we were stoked that this one has that designation. Good protein powder isn’t super cheap, but it’s worth the spend to know you’re getting third-party tested, decent ingredients… and it’s not that pricey at $30-40 for a big tub!
Trying to stick to vegan options? I do like Vega’s Sport Protein as well, and it’s also NSF-certifed. (Canadian link here.)
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