Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Back From the Dead

After four long weeks of no running...tonight I RAN!  Just 2 easy miles on the trails.  My foot felt good..no pain.  I'm icing it now and going to baby it tomorrow then do another 2 miles Thursday.  Hallelujah! 
To stay in shape, I joined a boot camp class at my gym and have been doing that 3 times a week during the past month.  I'm definitely building some muscle (which I needed) but I sure felt out of shape cardio-wise this afternoon.  Looking forward to building up my mileage again! Going to do it very very verrrrrrrrrrrrry slowly though. Or try to anyway.  : )

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Sidelined

Sooooo....after my run with the trail group last Saturday it became apparent that some time off was needed.  The plantar fascitis was worse, my arch was killing me and now my big toe was numb.  Eek!  I haven't been to the doctor but believe I have P.F. and a strained hallux tendon.  Definitely time to take time off from running.  I have 3 races I'm signed up for in February but nothing on the schedule until then.  So the plan is, no running for me in December but LOTS of cross training.  I signed up for a boot camp class and went mountain biking yesterday.  I had forgot HOW MUCH freakin' fun mountain biking is! I guess that is the plus side to taking a running break is I rediscover other things.  :)  I'm going to a yoga class today.   Daily I'm doing lots and lots of stretching, foam rolling my calves, using the Footlog for my PF, sleeping in a Strassburg sock, icing my foot 3 times a day and massaging the arch with Arnica.  Cross your fingers for me that all this works and I'm doing the right things! 

Happy running out there, friends!

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Protein Pancakes



I found the best recipe while browsing through Oxygen magazine and thought I'd share it on here.  I'm a vegetarian runner and struggle sometimes to meet my protein needs.  These tasty little pancakes are 42 grams of protein per serving and about 380 calories and 6 grams of fat. 
They are very tweakable!  I've added blueberries before flipping the pancake.  Cottage cheese was running low one time and I added less than called for and they still came out great.  I've added three egg whites instead of two and still yummy.  I think you can take this base recipe and customize to what works for you.  And they are DEEE-lish!  I don't use syrup, just make them the night before and take them to work with me the next morning.  Love portable breakfasts like this! I heat them up and eat them plain while drinking coffee.  Or, I slice a banana lengthwise and wrap a pancake around the banana and eat it, pig in a blanket style.

The recipe:

1/2 cup old fashioned rolled oats
2 egg whites
1 tbsp ground flaxseeds
1/3 cup low-fat cottage cheese
1 scoop vanilla protein powder

Blend all ingredients until you have a smooth and fluffy batter.  I use a Magic Bullet (love, love, love my Magic Bullet) but a blender would work just fine. 
I start heating my skillet over medium heat before blending the ingredients, that way it's nice and hot by the time my batter is ready.  I lightly spray my skillet with olive oil.  Pour batter on skillet and flip once.  This recipe is one serving and makes 3-4 pancakes depending on how large you like 'em.


 Oats just make everything better!


 Some vanilla protein powder..





 Ready to blend.