Tri Training and Perfect Overnight Oats

Posted on May 3, 2012 by runningthewindycity

Happy Thursday! You have no idea how happy I am that today is here

After I finished my assignment yesterday I looked at my summer schedulre and realized that I only have 7 weeks until my first triathlon. Ahh! How did that sneak up on me? I’m honestly not too concerned about the distance in each event: .5 mile swim, 13 mile bike, and 3.1 mile run but putting them all together? Terrifying!

As I know I’m quite capable of finishing the distances, my first thought was to not train for the event at all. I mean I’m coming back from a running injury and my main goal this summer is to properly heal and rebuild my mileage. So maybe I should just wing the triathlon?

Unfortunately, for me, training isn’t all about the physical – there’s a huge mental component to it as well and I know that if I don’t train I won’t be mentally ready for my race. Plus, even though I don’t have a time goal for my first tri, I want to be competitive! I don’t want the race to be miserable and I want to have fun.

I searched the internet for some training plans and found a wide variety. Many emphasize swimming but for a .5 mile swim I just don’t see the point. Especially when I swim a mile at least once a week.

So in typical Lindsay fashion I created my own training plan. It’s nothing fancy, I’m going to continue safely increasing my running distance while adding in two swims and two days of riding my bike each week. Both of my swims will be during the week along with one bike ride and I’ll save the other ride for Saturday so I can throw a few brick workouts into the mix. My goal is to keep up my running 5-6 days a week through all of this as well (I’m currently only running about 22 miles per week so this seems reasonable but I may have to change this when I get back up into the 40′s).

So, what do you guys think? Does this seem reasonable and will this prepare me for a sprint tri? I’m open to any advice or suggestions because I am a total newbie!

On a different subject, I think I’ve perfected my overnight oats

I realized about a month ago that I actually prefer my overnight oats on the runny side. So my new mix is 1/3 cup oats, 1/3 cup yogurt, 1/2-2/3 cup almond milk, 1-2 tsp ground flax, and 1/3 banana.

This mix used the Holly’s Oatmeal that I posted about the other morning. It tasted so much better as overnight oats than it did as oatmeal!

Alright time to get moving! Have a great one guys!

Oats in a Cookie Butter Jar

Posted on March 13, 2012 by runningthewindycity

This morning something amazing happened. After hitting the gym for a 45 minute elliptical + 15 minute bike session, I wasn’t sure what to have for breakfast. I wanted oatmeal but it’s warm outside (and incredibly warm in the apartment) and the ship had sailed on overnight oats. I also didn’t want cereal or a yogurt mess. What was I to do?

Well, after opening up my fridge and cupboards and staring in them aimlessly, I reached for the cookie butter jar and found it was ~~nearly~~ ~~practically~~ almost empty!

I figured it was a sign that I was in fact going to have oatmeal for breakfast, so I whipped up a serving using 1/2 cup oats, 1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup almond milk, 1/3 scoop protein powder, 1 tsp chia seeds, 1 small banana, 1/2 chopped medjool date, and cinnamon.

Poured gently into the cookie butter jar and served with TJ’s gluten-free granola.

It was amazing. SO amazing that I kind of want to go buy a new jar right now and eat it all just so I can have this breakfast again tomorrow!

Also, here’s an interesting article on pacing from Runner’s World. They suggest that runners ditch their Garmins and learn to pace themselves by effort and feel. Thoughts?

Baked Plum Cheesecake Oatmeal

Posted on February 21, 2012 by runningthewindycity

Last night Ian and I stayed up late finishing the Friday Night Lights series.

(source)

I’m really sad it’s over. By the end of the show I was really attached to the characters and almost felt like I was a student at East Dillon High (wait, you mean I’m not from Texas?) Obviously, I really enjoyed watching FNL and I highly recommend it to everyone, regardless of whether or not you like football!

Another thing I did last night was bake plums. Sound random? Well, for whatever reason, Ian and I picked up plums a week and a half ago at the grocery store. Yes we knew plums were out of season, but we took a gamble and hoped for the best. Unfortunately, the plums were incredibly bland and tasted like water. Ick! So rather than throw them all in the garbage, I cut them in half, sprinkled them with brown sugar and cinnamon, and baked them for 15 minutes at 350 degrees.

The result? Sweeter, somewhat more tasty plums that made a great addition to my breakfast this morning.

Baked Plum Cheesecake Oatmeal
1/3 cup oats
1/3 cup almond milk
1/3 cup water
1/2 baked plum (one side), chopped
~1/3 cup cottage cheese
1/2 scoop protein powder
cinnamon and vanilla to taste
drizzle of agave (or maple syrup)

Cook oats, almond milk, and water over medium heat until they start to thicken. Stir in plums, protein powder, cinnamon, and vanilla and turn down heat to medium-low. Cook for 3-5 minutes stirring frequently. When oats are almost at your desired consistency add cottage cheese. Cook another minute or so, taste, and add agave/maple syrup as needed.

The cottage cheese adds the cheesecake-like taste to oats. I promise it’s good, but if you’re still a little wary try mashing a banana in to the oatmeal as well. That will help cut some of the cheesey taste.

I topped mine with Cookie Butter and walnuts.

Served with coffee and an adora disc.

Workout
It was raining this morning so I hit the treadmill for a 5 miler. I warmed up at 7.5 mph for half a mile and then increased my mph by .1 every mile so that my last half mile was at a 8 mph. Increasing my speed kept me occupied and I never really got bored. It looks like it might rain/snow a lot this week, so I’m going to have to keep finding ways to make the treadmill enjoyable.

I have a super busy day ahead of me, enjoy your Tuesday!

Have you ever added cottage cheese to oatmeal? What did you think?

Boston Marathon: Cut-back Week 2 {13}

Posted on February 5, 2012 by runningthewindycity

Good morning and happy Sunday! This week was another training cut-back week so my schedule called for a 13 miler this morning.

Before I left I snacked on a small tortilla with sunflower seed butter, chia seeds, and raisins.

It wasn’t as tasty as toast with peanut butter but it sat a lot better in my stomach! Maybe I should switch my pre-run fuel?

The weather was perfect today, no ice or snow in sight, and despite my sore legs, I felt really speedy .

Splits

It felt so good to run fast. Especially since my last few long runs have been after (or during!) snow storms or I’ve had to deal with ice. It was so refreshing to not have to spend my entire run staring at the sidewalk looking for hazardous ice patches!

Breakfast
Breakfast was my best version of oat-less oats yet.

I whisked together 3 egg whites, 1/3 cup unsweetened almond milk, 1/3 cup pumpkin, 1/2 smashed banana, 1/2 tsp vanilla, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice, and 1 tsp maple syrup. I heated it on the stove and stirred in raisins.

I topped the oat-less oats with cashews and cookie butter. I even went back for more cookie butter, it just tasted so good!

Dinner last night
Ian had to run a late errand so we didn’t eat until after 8:30. It ended up working out nicely because he offered to order Thai and pick it up on his way home. Fine by me!

I ordered the Pad Ped Paak with tofu. It was supposed to have a lot of vegetables but mine came with some cabbage, a few pieces of broccoli, a couple baby corn and snap peas, and tomatoes. Not exactly what I was expecting.

It was also very tofu heavy. I ended up eating all of the veggies and saving some of the tofu, it was just way too much!

Dessert was the Sprinkles we picked up earlier in the day.

Salty Caramel on the left and Raspberry Chocolate Chip on the right.

A sugar coma quickly ensued.

I’m off to bake some cookies for a Superbowl party and then get some homework done. Have a great Sunday!

Do you have any Superbowl plans?

I’m an Outdoor Runner

Posted on January 24, 2012 by runningthewindycity

Running tights?

Check.

Underarmor + Garmin?

Check.

Warm running gloves?

Check.

Can you guess what all this means? I RAN OUTSIDE! Yes it was cold and windy and yes it was dark for the first four miles of my five mile run, but I could care less about all of those things. The important thing is that I didn’t run on the treadmill

I ran 5 miles in 38 minutes and change and I loved every second of it! I really respect those of you who can tolerate the treadmill, but I am truly an outdoor runner!

Breakfast this morning was a take on Kath’s Dough Boy Smoothie.

Last night I put 1/3 cut oats, 1/3 cup greek yogurt, 1/2 cup almond milk, 1/2 a sliced banana, 1 tsp chia seeds, and cinnamon into my blender and stirred with a spoon. I then set it in the fridge overnight. This morning I added about 1/4 cup of almond milk to loosen everything up and blended it all together.