Muesli

As I've mentioned several times, I REALLY trying to focus on my nutrition for my upcoming Marathon in April. You know I'm serious because it has been 6 days since I've had a glass of wine! That's how dedicated I am.

One of my new, "athlete friendly" cookbooks is this one:

It's full of flavorful recipes that are easy to make and don't require many ingredients. I love that it's broken down into different sections based on how athletes workout. There is a section for pre-work out food, another for take-along or handheld dishes and a ton of post-workout recipes to aid in your recovery. Most of the recipes are high in calories, fat and carbs, but anyone who is an endurance athlete needs those types of meals. Those not in training could easily cut down the portion size and have a great, healthy meal.

The first recipe I tried was Muesli. I had never heard of it, but I liked that I could make it the night before and pop it in the fridge. It's all ready to go the next day. Perfect for those early morning long runs. It makes two servings so there's some leftover for a post-run recovery snack. It's high in calories and fat, but omitting the walnuts would decrease both considerably and I don't think you'd miss them. I was surprised that the apples stayed crispy, and by how much I liked it. Lo loved it too and just like that, my other serving had disappeared! I tried it for breakfast one morning before a 6 mile run (I gave it a full 2 hours to digest) and I had no issues while running. No nausea or cramping or feeling of heaviness in my stomach. So much better for me than my usual pre-run Diet Coke!

Muesli

Servings: 2

Time: 10 minutes, store overnight.

Ingredients

• 1 cup "old-fashioned" rolled oats
• 1 cup milk
• 1/4 yogurt (I used plain greek yogurt, but whatever you have would work)
• 1 small apple, diced
• 1/4 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
• sprinkle of ground cinnamon

Additional additions* (*these are not included in the nutritional information)

• 2T honey or maple syrup
• 1 mashed ripe banana
• 1/4 cup applesauce
• fresh fruit

Combine all ingredients (including any optional additions) in a medium bowl. Mix thoroughly. Cover the bowl and store in the fridge overnight. 

Per serving:

Energy 479cal 

Fat 15g

Sodium 79mg

Carbs 76g

Fiber 10g

Protein 19g

Grease Is The Word

I don't know if there really is anything more wonderful than bacon. It truly may be the most amazing thing in the world. Seriously, what doesn't taste better with bacon?!?! Um nothing, that's what...

Due to it's high status on the unhealthy list we don't have it very often around here and when we do it, doesn't last long. I have a few new recipes to try that require a little bit of cooked bacon so I indulged and bought two pound and got frying. Check in next week to see the new recipes. I'm really excited about them and REALLY hope they turn out as delicious as they sound. 

As you can imagine, two pounds of bacon lead to A LOT of bacon grease. I found this cool trick to dispose of the grease awhile back and wanted to share. It's one of those "why didn't I think of that" ideas and now I no longer have glass jars full of bacon grease sitting under my sink!

First take a small bowl or dish and line it with foil.

Carefully pour the hot grease into the foil. I recommend doing this over the sink.

Let it sit overnight until the grease solidifies.

Fold the foil into a ball (or swan if you're fancy)...

...and toss it into the garbage.

Easy. Peasy.

Gnocchi Mac n' Cheese

I L-O-V-E, love ooey, gooey mac n' cheese. There really is no better comfort food. Hands down my favorite mac n' cheese is Erin Mac n' Cheese, but this comes in a close second and is great for when you're feeling fancy. After all is has Gruyere in it! 

Ingredients

• 1 pound of Gnocchi
• 2T Butter
• 1t Garlic, minced
• 1T All-purpose flour
• 3/4c Milk
• 1t Dijon mustard
• 1/4c Shredded Gruyere cheese
• 1/4c Shredded Fontina cheese
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1/3c Shredded Parmigiano-Reggiano
• Basil leaves for garnish

Directions

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Prepare Gnocchi according to package directions. Drain and place Gnocchi in a single layer in a 1-1/2 quart shallow baking dish that has been sprayed with non-stick spray.
• Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Whisk in flour until it thickens and bubbles, then whisk in milk and Dijon. Continue to whisk mixture and cook until slightly thickened, about 3-5 minutes.
• Combine Gruyere and Fontina, then add by the handful to milk mixture, stirring until melted before adding the next handful. Once all cheese is melted, season sauce with salt and pepper.
• Pour sauce over Gnocchi and sprinkle with Parmigiano-Reggiano over top. Bake Gnocchi until they puff and cheese is golden and bubbly, about 25 minutes. Let Gnocchi rest for 5 minutes before serving.

ENJOY!

The Long Run Diaries - Week 4

I'm well into week 4 of my marathon training and so far it's going pretty well. I'm feeling strong and I can feel myself getting faster. Sundays are my "long run" days. Yesterday was an 11 mile run and I was so happy with how I felt after. For the first time since I started my journey to 26.2 I felt "I CAN DO THIS!" Such a wonderful feeling!

As I mentioned before, I'm working on finding the right balance of food and nutrition. It's all really trial and error and just finding what's right for you and your body. Normally I would roll out of bed, throw on my running gear and head out the door. Yesterday I gave myself and full two hours to get ready. I ate a small breakfast and gave myself plenty of time to use the restroom (very important on long run days). Another change I made was my fuel while on my run. Normally I wouldn't bring anything, but I decided to follow some advice from some of the training books and I brought 2 GUs. I really think they made a HUGE difference on my performance and I'm going to continue replenishing my energy more frequently and hope it'll help me avoid hitting "The Wall," giving me more enjoyable runs. 

I do need to work on my recovery meals and hydration. Despite my great run, I felt pretty crappy and exhausted the rest of the day, especially after dinner. My stomach was in knots and I could barely keep my eyes open. I'm sure the glass of wine and ooey gooey mac n' cheese I had for dinner did not help things! There's always room for improvement!

A total of 24 miles for me last week and feeling good! Have a great Monday!

Flying Photo School-Week 1

I finished week 1 of my classes at Flying Photo School and so far I really like it! I wasn't really sure what to expect or how long it would take to watch the week's videos but I got everything done in one morning in about an hour and a half. Lucky for me GG was in a good mood and happy to play in his exersaucer while mommy went to "school."

The class I'm taking is Digital 101. It's for people like me who constantly use their big girl camera on the auto setting and have no idea how to use the other settings. My goal is to learn about a few of the other settings, take better pictures and understand what's wrong with my no-so-great photos.

Week 1's topics included:

• How to properly hold your camera
• Changing the lenses
• Focusing and Manuel Focus
• White Balance
• ISO

Most of the course work was videos, but there were a few work sheets to read and a quiz at the end.

Yay me!

Each week we have an assignment. We submit one picture to our instructor and then we'll receive feed back on our submission.

In this week's assignment we were supposed to put our camera in "Program" mode and adjust the White Balance and ISO accordingly.

This is the picture I submitted:

ISO 200, WB "cloudy"

I like the blurred background and Noa's coloring.

When you compare it to this one, taken with different settings, you can see how the coloring is a little different. My pale little NoJo has a greener tone (which isn't helped by the dress she picked out today). 

ISO 200, WB "shade"

I'm excited to start next week's class and hear the feedback from my professor. Already after one week it's totally worth the money! No more "auto" mode for me!

Have a great Sunday,

Yaktrax...a MUST for winter running!

We've had a weird winter here in Indy. One day we're getting tons of snow and the next it's melting because the sun is out and then it freezes and everything is icy. I can't keep up!

Two weeks ago we got a huge amount of snow and the temperature dropped to 2 degrees with the windchill (funny story...for my first two years living in Boston I thought it was called the "windshield factor" and NO ONE ever corrected me!). Of course it was a long run day and the roads and sidewalks were completely full of ice and snow. I had already slipped and fell on the ice the previous week (thinking that I broke my wrist at first) and I was determined not to have a repeat spill. I called our local running store, Blue Mile, and asked them if they had anything I could put on my shoes to prevent slipping on the ice and snow. They recommended Yaktax and they seriously are the best thing EVER!

They just slip over your running shoes (or any shoes for that matter) and you're good to go! I like that they are coiled. I feel like they won't wear down as much as spikes would. They have a few different "styles" to choose from. I went with the Pros. They also have ones made for running, but they said "they can be worn in temperatures as low as 41 degrees" and I'm going to be running in temps much colder than that!

So far I've run in them three times and haven't had any problems. I can tell they are there but they don't seem to effect my stride or pace. You do have to be careful on slick surfaces, like if you put them on inside where there's tile or on a slippery garage floor, but other than that they are AWE-SOME!

With all the miles ahead of me this winter I know I'm going to be so glad that I have them!

*These are just my thoughts and opinions. Yaktrax has never heard of me and didn't not pay or compensate me in anyway. I was just happy to find a great product and wanted to share!*

The quest to 26.2

In a moment of insanity in mid-December I decided to run my first* marathon...even as I type this I can tell that I'm going to be hooked...I didn't say "a marathon"...I said "first"...implying that there will be more...

The notion of running 26.2 miles was always a fleeting thought that would quickly disappear. It's a big commitment, it's more than just running far. It requires discipline to stick to your training schedule. You need to rearrange your priorities. Schedules need to be adjusted. You need to alter your diet, no one is going to run 26.2 miles on Diet Coke and wine! You need a team of supporters. Not just people to cheer you on, but a hubby who is willing to give up sleeping in on Sundays so you can run 20 miles, a baby who will spend most of his winter mornings strapped into a jogging stroller, friends who understand why you have given up wine while training and a family who is willing to take on the marathon with you. It takes more than you, it takes a team!

After talking it over with the hubby and getting his support, I needed to find a training program that would fit into our lives. I've been a fan of the Hal Higdon training programs and had used several of them for my half-marathon training in the past. After checking them out I decided to go with Novice 2. It has me running 4 days a week, cross training1-2xs and resting 1-2days. It fits into my kids' schedules well and the mid-week runs don't get past 8 miles which is doable with a jogging stroller. I'm trying not to look too far ahead in the schedule. I'm just trying to take it one week at at time. I know if I focus too much on the huge milage ahead of me I'll just freak out. A marathon is so much more than being fit and running. Your mental health is equally important as your physical health. 

Yesterday GG and I had our first run with the jogging stroller. I think he liked it! He even took a nice long nap for most of the run. 

We only had to do 6, so it wasn't terrible. He's so light right now that maneuvering the stroller is pretty easy. The worse part was the headwind on the way home. There were times that I was sure even though my feet were moving, we weren't really going anywhere. It was nice not to have to carry everything. The stroller has lots of pockets for water, iPhones and other running necessities. 

You also may have noticed that I updated my Dailymile widget. Now there's a place for you to comment on my runs or leave encouragement. I REALLY hope you use it! I'm sure as it gets closer to race day I'm going to need lots of encouragement. I try not to think about how far 26.2 miles really is or how I'm going to be running for 5 hours, but sometimes (like right now) those thoughts creep in and I need to adjust how I look at it all. The next big step is working on proper nutrition both while in training and during the actual race. For my past races I never really thought about or care about my nutrition. Some days I would go out for a run on an empty stomach, other days I'd have a Diet Coke and go. There is such a science to finding the right fuel for your body. I'm not trying to be fast, but I want to enjoy the experience as much as possible.

My Bestie and running partner Traci is running the race and training with me (actually it's her fault we're running...she signed up first). This will be her second marathon (they really are addicting). I'm so thankful she agreed to run with me. There is NO way I'd get through all the training without her by my side. You need someone to support you and commiserate with you. I've given us the unofficial team name "Misery Loves Company." Let's be honest, there are going to be times in the next 4 months that it is going to be miserable. There are going to be bad runs, sore muscles and mental break downs, but there will be great days too. Days of strong runs and feelings of "I can do this!" I'm going to try really hard to focus on the good days, and when we cross the finish line, hand in hand, there will be no better feeling of accomplishment!

This Sunday is our 11 mile "long-run"...it'll be a walk in the park compared to what's coming!

Hee, hee, hee

Have a great Friday,