Archives for February 2017

Fitness Update Feb 23rd

February 23, 2017 by Zucchini Runner in Main Dish | Comments Off on Fitness Update Feb 23rd

Race day is almost here! Ahhhhhhhhh. For some of you, you may know exactly what this feels like… for others maybe not. Here’s a quick explanation: the week before a half marathon I decrease my workouts to almost nothing. This is called a taper, because you are tapering your workout to less and less distance and intensity. This allows your muscles to repair, preparing you to be at peak performance come race day. It can also lead you to the “taper crazies” as some call it, because you are suddenly burning less calories, expending less energy and as your muscles recover and repair, you feel twinges and tightness causing you to freak out a little bit.

Below are the workouts I did over the past week:

Friday
LONG RUN day; last long run before the race – 8 miles with first half easy paced, second half pushing a bit

Saturday
FroYo 5k Run/Walk with my #FitFam

Sunday
REST DAY

Monday
Leisurely 11 mile bike ride with my #FitFam at sunset

Tuesday
Yoga in a.m. and hike + some running in p.m. with, you guessed it, my #FitFam

Wednesday
25 minutes of dancing around to my race day playlist like a fool. It was awesome. I just needed to get the heart rate up and the blood pumping.

Thursday
Yoga and mediation to start the day!

Here are the previous week’s workouts for comparison.

Feb. 16th

Feb. 9th

Feb. 2nd

Jan. 25th

Below is the snapshot of my Strava calendar to hold me accountable!

Here is a sample of my Be Well Fitness Log, still plugging away at it! 🙂

What do you change in your workouts when you taper for a race? Do you think you will try tapering before your next big event, if you haven’t already?

Until next week!

Sleep hard.
Get moving.
Trust Your Gut.

Chocolate Banana Bread

February 22, 2017 by Zucchini Runner in Dessert | Comments Off on Chocolate Banana Bread

When I say the word family, do you cringe or does your heart melt? If we’re all honest, maybe a little of both… If you follow me on social media, it’s no secret I’m big on family.

Recently, my niece has moved to Arizona from Illinois and without getting too misty-eyed, I just have to say how incredibly proud I am of the grown person she has become. And just so I don’t upset any of the others — you know who you are — I am proud of every single one of you as well. (We really have quite the family.) I think all of my family knows the way to my heart… sharing healthy vegan recipes with me… or Snapping me a picture of their healthy lunch… or their shopping cart full of healthy groceries… but I digress. <3 Today’s recipe is one that Eva shared with me saying… well, here see for yourself…

Aaaaaand later that night… BOOM, we did! We don’t mess around.

Yes, you read that right, gluten-free AND vegan.

Of course I didn’t follow the recipe EXACTLY, because come on, it called for ONE WHOLE CUP of sugar. Are ya kiddin’ me?! Not on my watch. So below is what the third loaf looked like, after I had my way with it. Now, let’s get to this recipe, shall we?!

Wait… one more luscious pic.

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Chocolate Banana Bread
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Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 35 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

Yield: 1 - 5" x 9" loaf

Chocolate Banana Bread

Ingredients

2 bananas, smashed

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tsp. apple cider vinegar

1/3 c. melted coconut oil

1/2 c. warm or room temp water

1/2 c. raw cacao powder

1/2 c. sugar blend (we used maple sugar, coconut sugar, date sugar; white is fine too)

1/2 tsp. Real salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 c. gluten-free all-purpose flour

1/4 c. almond flour (if you don't have this, just use the gluten-free flour

1/4 c. semisweet mini chocolate chips

1/4 c. almond butter + 1 tsp. coconut oil melted together (optional, for filling)

parchment paper

large loaf pan 5" x 9"

Instructions

    Preheat oven to 350°F

    • Line a small loaf pan with parchment paper and set aside.

    • In a large bowl, mash two peeled bananas with a fork, until almost no lumps remain.

    • Add vanilla, apple cider vinegar, melted coconut oil and room temperature water. Mix well with fork. NOTE: The room temperature water is important, so the coconut oil doesn't harden. Cold water will make it clumpy.

    • Add cacao powder and stir well.

    • Add sugar blend/white sugar and stir well.

    • Add salt, baking soda and baking powder and stir well.

    • Add gluten-free flour and almond flour, stir well to ensure no dry ingredients remain.

    • Dump in mini chips and stir well.

    • Pour batter into pan and bake. If you'd like to try the almond butter filling, just pour half the batter into the pan, drizzle or spread the almond butter on batter (depending on consistency), pour the remaining batter on top and then bake.

    • Bake at 350°F for 35-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into center of loaf comes out clean.

    • After the loaf has cooled about 10 minutes, you can remove it from the pan using the parchment paper. Place on a wire cooling rack. You can sprinkle a little more mini chips on top if you'd like.

    • You can cut into it right away if you'd like or wait until it cools. It is delicious either way!

    • If the whole loaf isn't gone in one day, store in the fridge overnight. Ours has never lasted more than 24 hours.

Notes

For the visual learners, there is a slideshow below, showing some of the step-by-step instructions.

Recipe Management Powered by Zip Recipes Plugin
https://www.zucchinirunner.com/2017/02/22/chocolate-banana-bread/

As always, here is a little slideshow to help along with the step-by-step process as well.

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