Natural Energy Bar Recipe!

Here is the energy bar recipe that I mentioned in my last post.  I have come to greatly enjoy these lovely little energy bars. They are great for either pre or post workout. Although, I would take heed to having before a workout unless you know your body will be fine with them, and if you're not sure, might as well give it a try and see what happens!

This recipe is easy to manipulate. If you don't like some of the nuts or fruits I put in mine, feel free to put whatever you want. I'm sure they will taste just as good!

These are the main ingredients: Rolled oats, bananas, almond or peanut butter, almonds, 3 different dried fruits, 2 other types of nuts.

 

To start with grab 2 - 2 1/2 ripe bananas, mash them and throw them into a sauce pan along with a heaping 1/2 cup of almond or peanut butter. Cook over medium heat until the contents are combined and look somewhat disgusting. Set aside to cool.

Next chop up 1/4 cup of each 3 different dried fruits. Total of 3/4 cup. I used cranberries, medjool dates, and apricots. Throw them into a bowl along with 1 cup of oats, 1/2 cup chopped almonds, and a 1/4 cup of other nuts/seeds. I used pumpkin seeds and soy nuts. I also like to add in chia seeds, but I was, unfortunately, out the last time I made them.

Next, combine the mushy ingredients with the dry.

You're almost done now! Throw the whole thing onto a 13" baking sheet pressing the ingredients evenly throughout the pan. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 20-25 minutes.

I added some chocolate chips to half them :)

Be sure to let them cool before you start to chop them into bars, or not, if you are super excited to try them...like I was when I first made them :D

Hope you enjoy the bars! Since this recipe can be changed easily I would love to read anybody's revisions or suggestions on making them better or a completely different bar!

Natural Energy Bars - No More Of That Processed Stuff!

I am so picky when it comes to food. For instance, when I was a youngster I use to hate yogurt, beans, eggs (I believed they use to give me headaches), peanut butter, nuts, raisins (I still dislike them), cottage cheese, peppers, onion, garlic, tomatoes, radishes, oatmeal, and I'm sure there are many others but this is all I could remember right now. As I have grown older I have expanded my palate to many of the above listed foods. I think one reason for my ever expanding palate is due to my love of cooking. Also, being an athlete many of the foods I use to hate I need in my diet, and now I love them. Plus, I love all the colors. Making colorful dishes is my favorite! And I've gotta have variety.

The last couple months I have been trying to think of foods that I can consume while on the bike. Foods that are more natural and still give me everything I need without upsetting my stomach. Of course, it's not as convenient as getting some gus or other "energy" bars from the store. Here anymore, it actually really creeps me out to think of some of those "foods" of how processed they are and how long their expiration date is. I know this isn't the case for all energy bars/foods out there but I would prefer to have something that will spoil within a week or less. 

I would like to share one story of foods that don't seem to spoil. A few months back we had some hamburger buns and we ate most of them but there was still a couple left that needed to be consumed. Therefore, into the bread box they went for later consumption. We didn't make anything that required the use of a bun for weeks, and eventually we forgot about them. I think it was about a month and a half to two months until we took them out.(Long time, I know) We examined them and to our surprise they looked exactly the same as the day we bought them. So into the trash they went! Creepy huh? Now I make all of our breads from scratch, and let me tell ya, they taste SOOO much better than the store bought, never molding, creepy bread!

Now back to the energy bars. I found a natural energy bar recipe online and tweaked it a little, and so far I love them! They have either peanut or almond butter (I prefer the almond butter), a variety of different nuts and seeds- almonds, soy nuts, pumpkin seeds, chia seeds, etc - banana, dried fruit and sometimes I add chocolate chips.
So far, I have only tried them on the bike once. This is mostly due to weather and that I haven't done any really long rides that would require me to take some nutrition with me. Plus, I prefer liquid over solids, but that's for another time. Right now I have mostly been eating them as a post workout food.
Here they are. Aren't they pretty? :)

Yum Yum!

If anyone is interested in the recipe, let me know and I would be happy to send it your way!

I'm really itching to try my hand at making an energy bar with pumpkin. Considering my pumpkin craze through the holidays. I don't have any more pumpkin from scratch but I have plenty of canned pumpkin that needs using. I will be sure to write a post about it once I create them!

Monotonous Counting!

Counting is inevitable when it comes to training. Whether it comes in the form of counting seconds, minutes, hours, or laps! For the majority of my life I have been a runner. So having to count laps was never too bad, considering I never had to count over 4 laps at one time. If I wasn't running on the track I had my watch to keep track of the time for me. Now that I have become a multi-sport athlete I now have to count for biking and swimming.

So far I have not had a problem keeping track of time or number of intervals on my bike workouts. When on the road I mostly just have to keep track of time, a few intervals with recovery and at what time I need to turn around at, since most of my rides are out and back. These are starting to become quite monotonous as well.....probably about time I route out some loops around here! As far as indoor bike rides, these can sometimes be hard to keep track of since there are more intervals. But I shouldn't have to worry too much about that now since I just started TrainerRoad. I have yet to use it (just set it up today), but it looks awesome! All I needed in order to use this program is a Garmin ANT+ stick and a Garmin speed/cadence sensor (this is a lot cheaper than having to buy a power meter!). So double awesome!!

Now here is where the true problem lies with for me and monotonous counting...swimming! Swimming and keeping track of laps through an interval can sometimes be quite challenging. Most of the time I don't have a problem keeping my mind focused on the current interval I am on, but then there are those long intervals, such as a 400, 500 etc, that are occasionally hard to count since my mind will sometimes wander. And even if it doesn't I sometimes over think the counting (if that makes any sense). Come to think of it, I even sometimes have a hard time counting for a 200, which would be counting only 4 laps! (This is rare, but it does happen) So what should I do to make counting laps easier on myself?

I thought of having someone count my laps for me during a workout, but I don't think that is very realistic. First, it would be incredibly boring for the person counting. Second, they may even lose track because they are so bored! Third, where would I find this person? I guess I could always try and guilt one of my sisters to do it. Seeing that I have three to choose from :) However, the more realistic option would be a watch that interacts with you. I have been looking into watches that are specific to swimming and gathering data. The one that I like the best is the Garmin 910 xt. It is a bit of a spendy watch, but well worth it. Considering that it is THE multi-sport watch to have! It collects data for swimming, biking and running! I've never owned a multi-sport watch before but am hoping to in the near future. Now if I could just get Garmin to sponsor me and let me try out all of their amazing products! :D

I was looking at pools that would be marvelous to swim at and perhaps make swimming laps not so monotonous. But I'm sure after awhile it would come to that again. So I guess to avoid that, I just need to travel all over the world and change pools every month!

Eugene Holiday Hustle 5k and More!

This post is a tad late but nevertheless, here it is.

On the weekend of the 22nd I ran the Eugene Holiday Hustle 5k. At this race they also had the half marathon and 10k. I didn't have high expectations for this race considering the week I had leading up to it.

Early in the week I had a muscle flair up that inhibited me from some of my training sessions. This, of course, really upset me because I already had a different muscle that has been giving me a little grief but have been able to work around it. I did not want to have another issue, since this one hurt even when I swam! Thankfully, after taking a little time off it was fine, but I knew I still had to be mindful of it, as not to have it flair up again!

On Thursday, me and a couple other members in my family had to drive down to San Jose to pick up my sister and her things from school. The drive is approximately 10.5 hours one way. We didn't want to have the hassle of finding a hotel while pulling a trailer so we decided to do this trip in one day. To San Jose and back home. We left at 2:00 am and made it to our destination at about 12:30ish. We had a little break there as we loaded up her stuff, stretched, and ate some food. Then it was time to hit the road again and try to get home at a decent time.

I was the one requested to drive through traffic since I, apparently, handle the vehicle well under "stress". I must say I made pretty good time to Redding. However, we were unable to go any further that night. They closed the pass down due to the severe winter storm. I learned later that it was closed mostly due to how many accidents there were. So that night we slept in the vehicle. It was quite uncomfortable and got increasingly cold as the night went on. I didn't sleep much cause I was desperately hoping the pass would open back up, but to my dismay it didn't open until the following morning around 9:00am, and they were only letting cars go. Which I was very thankful for because there were hundreds of semi trucks waiting to get over the pass.

Snow on the pass! I so badly wanted to disrupt the perfect snow!

Playing in the snow at the rest stop. It was probably about 3 ft deep.

When we started to enter the pass we had to put on chains. Although, I must say that we didn't really need them since the roads were actually quite clear. There was another check point about half way through the pass and then from there it was a straight shot home! Well, we did stop a couple times for bathroom breaks and to change drivers. At one rest stop there was lots of snow. So, of course, I had to play in it a little! We made it home around 4ish I think. Ah, it's always so nice to be at my final destination! 

Still in the car!

It was now race day! I had to get up at a decently early hour. I was still a bit tired from the previous days adventure, but not as tired as I thought I would have been. Which is good! But I must admit, I was looking forward to being done and getting back home to relax. 

One of the only reasons I decided to race this particular race is because a friend of mine suggested it and said that his friend, Bridget Franek (who went to the Olympics in the steeple chase), was going to be racing the 10k and that he would introduce us. This would, however, have to wait until after the race.

There isn't much to say about the race. There wasn't a very big field, considering that this was the first year it was being put on. Both the 5k and 10k started at the same time and ran the same course. They had us start off the grass and it was very muddy. When the gun went off, I went to bolt out. But instead of going forward I went down... I slipped! I didn't stay down long. I probably got up in less than a second. It made me laugh for a bit, and my sister caught it all on film!

The start of the race. Kind of hard to see...

The 10k runners had to complete the loop twice. Throughout the race there was only 3 people in front of me, one of whom was Bridget. The other two were men. The one in the lead was running the 10k as well and the other was behind Bridget and running the 5k. During the majority of the race I was by myself. I felt like I was running about a 20 minute pace, but to my surprise as I crossed the finish line I ran quite a bit faster. I ran an 18:30! This is the fastest 5k I've ran in a long time, and I was very pleased.

Just finished and pleased with my time!

Got a medal and a holiday mug

After both Bridget and I were finished racing and cooling down we met each other. She was very pleasant to talk with, and I was so happy that she was still a humble person after achieving such great things!

Me and Bridget showing our first place prizes. Me with a mug
and Bridget with a reindeer ornament.

The rest of the day went as I had hoped. Just relaxing and recovering from the long week!

Gingerbread House Madness!!!

There are so many fun festivities this time of year! One of those that is now becoming a tradition at my family's home is a gingerbread decorating party. We make all of the gingerbread houses from scratch. This can be quite a process and can take a fair amount of time depending on how many we have to make. This year wasn't too bad. We ended up making 27 houses and out of those 25 survived and were worthy of being decorated.Here is how the week went with creating these lovely little gingerbread houses.

We started baking them on Wednesday. It only took a few hours to get them all (or most of them) rolled out, cut, and baked, but we ran out of one of the key ingredients and were unable to finish right then. Luckily, I had a swim that day and was already planning on going into town after we finished baking them. I didn't return home until about 9:30pm and we wanted to have all the houses baked and done so we could start setting them up the following day. Hence we didn't finish till about 11:00pm.

Now the real fun begins...putting them together. This part of the process has to be done in two steps. The first part is placing all the walls together with royal icing. And the key is to make sure the icing is not too runny or too thick, because in either case the walls will not stick together. After they are successfully place together you have to let them sit for a day to harden up. The following day, which would now be Friday, is time to put the roofs on. As we were putting them on most of the houses became complete with a few difficulties, such as sliding off. However, there were a couple houses that could not handle the weight of the roofs or they were too soft, therefore they collapsed! At least it was only two that did not survive (which is why we made sure to make a couple extras in case that was to happen!).

Saturday was now here and it was time to complete the gingerbread houses, which is to put them on a board and we always add an ice cream cone for a tree. We had four tables set up and each of them was covered with our cute little gingerbread houses. All we had left to do was make the icing for everyone and that is always easy. All you need is 3 ingredients and a mixer!

We also had a huge roaster full of stew and fresh baked bread for everyone to enjoy. Or perhaps to fill everyone up so they don't eat so much candy and make themselves sick! I must comment on our bread. My mom and I have been making bread for quite some time but the batch we made that night came out absolutely amazing!!! Usually we have left over bread but that certainly wasn't the case here. Everyone else must of thought it was amazing too since all five loaves were devoured!

All in all, our gingerbread house party went very well and was a lot of fun! It's always fun to see people's creativeness with decorating. Especially with young kids and adults. Here are some pictures. Enjoy!

How to find motivation!

Sometimes it is almost impossible to find motivation to get yourself out the door to do a workout. This was the case for me this last Sunday. I was to do a 1.5-2 hour bike ride followed by a 20 minute run. Usually I don't have a problem getting outside unless I'm really tired, which I guess may have been the reason this last weekend. Friday and Saturday my family and I spent all day moving furniture. I don't know if you've ever had to move furniture but it can be quite taxing. Plus, you end up getting sore, especially your back! The weather also wasn't very inviting. It was overcast and a bit misty with no signs of sun and around 48 degrees.

I actually don't mind having to run in weather I just described, I usually rather enjoy it. But I do have a hard time wanting to ride in this weather because usually the roads are wet and I'm always freezing when I start on my ride. However, I could've taken the option of riding indoors. But I did not want to have to do my long ride inside and deal with being absolutely bored and soaked in sweat! So since the weather was at least decent enough to ride in and not pouring, outside I went. I have actually been lucky enough that all my long rides as of yet I have been able to do outside, but there's still many more months of rain to come! So I'm sure I will end up inside for a few of them. Ok, enough of the excuses for me not wanting to go for my bike ride. The question is how did I find the motivation to finally get out and do it!?

Well, to be honest my family was a big help in pushing me to go do my ride. They kept saying I'll feel better once I do it or if I don't I will feel guilty (I had these same thoughts going through my head). And that is the truth! I'm sure if I had decided to take the day off I would have been fine (fitness wise) but would not have been psychologically. I did not want to have to deal with that so I finally got up and starting on the motions of putting on my bike shoes...helmet...glasses...gloves... etc. Now I was finally outside and ready to mount my bike and take off. As said earlier, I was rather cold as I started on my ride, but I knew I would get warmed up pretty fast because after a mile I had about a 1.4 mile hill climb.

I ended up finding another hill to climb later on in the ride. I had never ridden it before but am glad I did. I feel it made the ride worthwhile and fulfilling. Especially since it was tucked in a forest. Nature always makes me feel good and in a way rejuvenates me. I'm so glad I decided to ride outside and wasn't a pansy by riding indoors or just completely taking the day off.
However, since it took me so long to get going on my ride my run ended up being in the dark. I guess this will serve as a reminder for me that even if I don't feel like doing my workout I should try and find the motivation a little earlier in the day! Or maybe that will be my motivation :)  That is one thing I love about summer....the long days where it doesn't get dark until 9pm!

Water, Water, Everywhere

As most people know there is no shortage of water here in the Willamette Valley of Oregon. For instance, this morning it was pouring from the sky. As I went for my run it was fun to watch the water dance around on the asphalt to the musical sway of the wind. Instead of the water moving down the road it swayed up. As the wind died down it went back to the natural movement of flowing in steady ripples like a brook. It is quite a peaceful and relaxing thing to watch. Of course, I was not in a standstill but rather running as I was taking this in.

However, this is not the entire point of this post but rather the lack of pools in my area. Yes, we get a lot of water here! And perhaps this is the reason for not having many pools. Come summer time everyone either goes to the numerous rivers or to the few lakes around here. So if you can do that, why would you want to go to a pool! I know I really enjoy playing in the river and swimming in the lake, but it is hard at times to get in a good workout. First off, you don't know how far you've swam, second, the water often is quite cold and takes awhile till warm enough to swim in, third, there is often too many boats and people that it can be unsafe to swim, fourth, you shouldn't ever go swim by yourself, and fifth, sometimes you can creep yourself out by letting your mind wander about from the many movies that have been watched. Therefore, by all these reasons, it is often best to get the majority of your swim workouts in at a pool.

The closest pool that I live to and can swim at any time is in Corvallis, which is about a 45 minute drive one way. Or I have the option of swimming at the local high school pools, that have only a few designated lap swim times a few times a week. Here lately, they have cut back the lap swim time because of the high school swim team. So this makes it a bit more difficult especially since I do not swim the same days every week.

Therefore, this is my dilemma of not having enough pools to swim at. But perhaps, one of these days I will just build my own pool and be able to swim anytime I want, day or night! Anyone got a shovel?