Truth be told…this morning, I just wasn’t that into running.
The alarm went off signaling that the BOY and I should become awake, and Cooper who has learned this sound, took the opportunity to raise his own alarm from the other side of our bedroom door. I let him in for a 7 minute snooze/cuddle before he began demanding his breakfast. The boy (kitten…there are two in the house now, so I am out numbered) is cute, but recently he has had a lot to say (when he is not getting himself into trouble…then he is rather quiet).
It was already 70 degrees and although I had a short 5 mile run scheduled, I just wasn’t feeling it. I ate some breakfast, read some emails, considered if I should go run indoors on the track instead of in the heat outside, read a few blogs (I still have a ton to catch up on after my weekend away), and finally climbed the stairs to change for my run.
Surprisingly, the weather was not too bad and I found a nice breeze on the way back. I decided to let my body pick the pace and not worry at all about time. My miles hovered right around 9:20 for the first 4 with a slower (9:37) last mile back to my house. My legs were tired throughout, so I figured that’s not too bad. I’d be thrilled to crank out some 9:20 miles during the last 5 miles of the race on marathon day.
Mostly this week, I am feeling tired. I have taken naps the past few weekends and although I sleep 8-9 hours a night, my body just wants more sleep. I had forgotten just how much sleep your body needs to log in long miles week after week. It brought me back to this fun post I wrote while training for my first marathon, titled Lessons Learned in Marathon Training. If you haven’t read it, you should definitely check it out my training words of wisdom : )
In honor of training season, I picked up some dark chocolate almond milk at the grocery store this weekend. There is some research to support that chocolate milk is one of the best recovery drinks out there and I just find it to be tasty and refreshing. The perfect treat during these tough, high mileage weeks.
After this morning’s run, I decided to turn my chocolate milk into a smoothie. I had tons of good ideas, but my problem was that Cooper kept photo bombing my smoothie photo!
I wanted to add some spinach for the extra greens and nutrients and kept my smoothie pretty simple. You could definitely add in flax, chia seeds, or some nut butter for more protein.
Or fresh berries and more ice cubes. This smoothie was the tastiest thing EVER. I love me some dark chocolate almond milk and can’t wait to create more smoothie combinations!
Chocolate Covered Berry
Green Purple Smoothie
Ingredients
1 cup chocolate milk of your choice (I used almond milk)
1 large handful of spinach
1 cup frozen mixed berries
4-6 ice cubes
Directions
Combine milk and spinach in blender and chop.
Add in mixed berries and ice cubes.
Blend on high until smooth.
Do you drink chocolate milk?
