Friday Favorites

I got up early this morning solely for the purpose of going out for a jog to see how my legs are feeling. Just as I suspect. Still sore. So I went on a leisurely 3 mile walk. I don't know why I don't do that more often. It was pretty awesome. I think I'll give it a few more days before trying again. I'm very excited to start training again. My next race isn't for another 3 months so I get to ramp up at a more reasonable rate. I'm already plotting my next training cycle. Which reminds me, I need new running shoes.

Friday! Why has this 4-day work week seem like the longest ever? I'm about to jump out the window. TGIF! I'm heading to Vegas this weekend. It looks like it is going to be about a billion degrees. Not sure what's on tap but I'll be back on Monday to share.

So this post was started yesterday but I never got around to finishing it so it is morphing from a Three Things Thursday post to a Friday Favorites post. That's some fancy finagling on my part. Plus, I only had 2 things to talk about so it all worked out. Have a great weekend!

1) Bananas - I can't stand bananas but I started eating one everyday as a snack or for breakfast. I did this the entire month leading into my recent marathon. For some reason, I felt like I was low on potassium levels but maybe that was all in my head but it couldn't hurt I reasoned. Some days I ate them straight up, other days covered in chocolate/nuts/PB. I have to admit that I liked them the best when they are covered in chocolate...and even more when they are also covered in nuts. I even blended it up in smoothies. There were even days when I would eat two just for good measure. I like my bananas when they are still showing a little tiny bit of green but I've been known to eat the yellow ones and even the ones with some black dots on them. So I guess they are not so bad and I feel like they are somehow helping me with my running. Maybe that's all in my head as well.

2) Protein powder - There was a time when protein powder was a part of my everyday routine. Primarily when I was lifting more in the weight room but then one day I just stopped using it. Mostly because I didn't like the way protein powder tasted. Any of them. Then one day after a week of hard workouts, I felt so beat up that I didn't think that I would be able to do my long run that weekend. That night at dinner, my husband and I exchanged our usual "sore" stories, which basically starts out with tales of our workouts and end with where and how sore we were. So I was telling him about how much more sore I was feeling lately and he told me that I probably needed to start taking protein powder again after my workouts. Blah! But then I remembered that awhile back I had purchased a giant jar of BSN's Syntha-6 Chocolate PB protein powder and it was just sitting there on my kitchen counter unused. I've forgotten how yummy it was. Yeah I said it, it's yummy! It's like chocolate milk or a milkshake if you blend it up with some ice. I normally mix it with some soy milk and a little bit of water because I don't like it too thick. I also have the Vanilla Ice Cream one and that one is also very good. Protein powder has been essential this past month with helping me recover quickly so that I can conquer the next workout. I'm glad I found one that I actually like the taste of.