Nutrition Nightmares, Triumphs, and some other stuff!

This week closed out on a great note.  After a brutal indoor trainer class at Concept Cyclery on Tuesday, a crazy hard workout on Weds and some intense lactate intervals later that day, I was not looking forward to my Friday afternoon training date with the hills of Rancho San Antonio Park with my training buddy Sean. 

My right quad had been bothering me for 2 days, so I was worried that the hill workout would strain it, but to my delight, It was quite the opposite.  After running the first 1.5 miles on the flat trail (past the farm with lots of piggies!!), my leg loosened up and I didn't notice it for the rest of the run.  Plus on the way down, we ran right past 2 deer, maybe 10 feet away.  I wore my new FNS tri shorts so that I could test them out before actually racing in them.  I'm incredibly surprise by how comfortable they are to run in!!  I thought the padding would be annoying, and get in my way, but I didn't notice my shorts at all!! Which is truly the test :)  The next step is to get my butt into a wetsuit with my whole tri kit and get myself out of the pool and into the open water...yikes!

Now, on to today!  I am definitely a morning workout kind of girl.  I like to get up and at'em, and if I put off my workout until the afternoon, I'm sluggish and not at my best.  Plus, it's pretty easy for me to find a million other things to do to put off my run, swim, etc.  This morning I planned on doing my 80 minute run after a FNS workout and recovery flow session, but after an hour of stretching and trigger point, the last thing I wanted to do was run.  So I made my way home and made one of my new favorite smoothies:  Put 2 handfuls spinach, 1 banana, 1 apple, 1 cup yogurt, 1/2 orange, 5-7 strawberries, and 1 scoop vanilla protein powder in a blender and ENJOY!  And enjoy I did.  The BF and I did a bunch of house chores and cleaning, I did some catch up paperwork, and when 3 pm rolled around, I decided I would venture out for my run.  

I never run with a bottle,
but since I'm working on my nutrition,
I decided to dust off my Nathan bottle,
instead of the oh so fashionable Fuel Belt 

When I run or do an endurance workout in the morning and before all my races, I eat a multi-grain waffle with peanut butter, honey, and a banana (I'll use a whole wheat english muffin or bread if necessary).  This is my never fail breakfast...I know that it works with my stomach and it gives me plenty of energy on my runs.  I know that leafy greens are NOT a good idea, and would never consider drinking a smoothie before a race, but today I thought that 4 hours was enough time between my lunch time, and my run.  Boy was I wrong!  All I can say is thank goodness I ran along the Los Gatos Creek Trail with ample bathrooms along the way.  

Everything that I have read stresses that you should test your nutrition before race day - Absolutely no smoothies for me...I'll stick to my waffles and peanut butter, thank you very much!  And I have been using the Nuun that I bought last week...it seems to be working out just fine, although I had only used it on the bike until today.  I am pretty certain that the smoothie was the culprit for my less than stellar tummy, but I will test out the drink on my next long run with proper pre-run nutrition to be sure Nuun is safe.  The Strawberry-lemonade flavor is just ok...I'm not totally sold on it, so I got the Kona Cola flavor when I made my weekly Sports Basement run today ;)  I'll also be testing out the Bonk Breaker bars this week too.

Although my nutrition on the run wasn't up to snuff, it was nice to see that my legs and my cardio felt great for the 9.5 miles I was able to put in.  I will be running the Nike Women's 1/2 marathon in Washington DC on 4/28.  Normally, for a 1/2 marathon, I generally follow a plan outlined on the Runner's World iphone app.  And by generally, I mean that I am pretty consistent in getting the long runs in, but I am horrible about doing the mid week runs as designated (tempo runs, at a certain pace, intervals, etc.).  Since starting my tri training plan, I have been very dedicated to doing the workouts as designated.  I will make sure to put in at least 11 miles one of these next few weekends, and hopefully the multi sport training will help me pull out a PR in DC!

If I've tried any new or noteworthy recipes, I'll try to close out my posts with yumminess for the kitchen.  Tonight I checked a box off my to-do recipe list with some baked kale chips, fresh organic Kale courtesy of my produce box from Bounty of the Valley!  Easy Peasy!

Kale Chips (courtesy of allrecipes.com)

1 bunch Kale

1 tbsp. Olive Oil

Any of the following: Salt, Pepper, Garlic Salt, Seasoned Salt, Curry powder

1. Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a non insulated cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. With a knife or kitchen shears carefully remove the leaves from the thick stems and tear into bite size pieces. Wash and thoroughly dry kale with a salad spinner. Drizzle kale with olive oil and sprinkle with seasoning salt.
3. Bake until the edges brown but are not burnt, 10 to 15 minutes.

Have a Hoppy Easter!!