Wednesday night I drove to 4 soccer fields in hopes of some marked space to do my sprint work. Instead I found many little children kicking each others shins and having a generally good time of it (all while missing the soccer ball). Sweet, but not useful on this particular night!
Finally I found my field. The breeze carried over the familiar scent of awkwardness, glasses and training bras, bad haircuts and fresh cut grass. Ok I cheated, those first four things don't really smell. Well, they do. Ok, fine they don't.
That's right, I ran at the soccer field of my childhood elementary schoool; Knoxdale Public School!
Although being there did nothing to enhance my perfomance, it had a particular kind of magic that enhanced my sense of well-being. I should add that this sense of well-being was rapidly attacked by the lactic acid and fatigue accumulating in my legs, but nonetheless it was a pretty rockin session.
I got schooled by this week's sprint work!
3 x (5x100m)
50m walk between 100's
100m walk between sets
According to my heart rate monitor, leisurely jogging and picking my nose seem to elicit a more mighty heart rate reading than fiercely anaerobic work. Hmm. Don't tell my heart, my achy beaky heart rate monitor that it sucks sometimes.
Went home, made forgot-the-feta salad, tandoori chicken and some wheatberry salad with dried fruit and toasted almonds. Mmmmhmmm!
This morning I rocked the casbah with a pumpkin pie smoothie:
Ingredients:
1/2c canned pumpkin (just plain, straight up pumpkin puree)
1/4c plain yogurt
1/2c cottage cheese (I used fat free)
1/2c fresh blueberries (totally optional!)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
a whisper of nutmeg
a whisper (imagine you're a bourgeois princess in communist Russia type-whisper) of fresh ground clove
1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
modest (note that the standard of "modest" is taking a rapid shift as the norm for low rise jeans falls lower) drizzle of maple syrup. I used a few drops of stevia and just a shiver of no sugar added maple. Try out your sweetheart of choice :)
Method:
Throw ingredients down like an estranged lover in to the magic bullet, food processor, washing machine or your blending mechanism of choice, take 3 sips of your liquid intelligence, turn off noisy companion and let the pumpkin take over...
I also think that the leaves in the garden turned greener with envy as they watched me enjoy my breakfast. Meanwhile, Mom is scratching her head, wondering why it is that I can use the force to enhance the greenery, but not to take out the right recycle bin. But back to pumpkin and flowers; that's my real recipe for excellent mornings.
Tomorrow AM will be Day 2 upper body
PM is long slow run and watching my buddy Antoine the tennis superstar rock his skills!
2 comments:
Have you ever tried using Agave Nectar as a sweetener? You could use it in place of the maple syrup. Agave nectar is much sweeter than white sugar but has the same caloric value and a low glycemic index value. You can get it at health food shops.
Janet, yes I *love* agave nectar and think it's brilliant! Funny thing is that when I wrote "sweetener" I was imagining a sexy stream of agave nectar being drizzled over some lucky treat! I also think that blackstrap molasses (though a bit aggressive for some dishes) is seriously underrated!
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