Running

All About Running & Recovery – What’s Important and What’s Not So Much

September 17, 2019 by APRÉS RUN

Stress + rest = growth. That’s the formula for getting better. Most people only focus on the first part and neglect the second part, while some people overemphasize the second part but aren’t doing the day-to-day work they need to do to get better. Hence, recovery can be a very polarizing topic.

What a lot of people focus on today when they talk about recovery: all the ‘tools’ and gadgets they think they need to recover effectively. Cryotherapy chambers, Normatec boots, ice baths, contrast baths, vibrating foam rollers, Theraguns. These things can have a place in your recovery toolbox, but they can only do so much if you’re not aiding your recovery in much larger, more important ways. These things are the so-called ‘2%’ of recovery.

But what is actually going to move the needle the most when it comes to recovery? (AKA, the 98%) Four things: sleep, diet, proper training, and mobility work.

Sleep – If you were to understand all of the incredible processes your body carries out while you’re sleeping, you would never think of sleep as a ‘luxury’ again. Sleep = work. Sleep = training. This is when your body releases human growth hormones and when your muscles are healed and repaired. If you have a lifestyle that prevents you from getting 7-9 hours of uninterrupted sleep per night (whether you have young kids or a job that forces you to work late), your recovery will be impaired and you should make sure you’re adjusting your training appropriately. See #3.
Diet – Food = fuel, and food heals. With running, you get what you give. If you’re putting a ton of refined, processed, and nutrient-poor food into your body, OR if you’re undereating and in an energy deficit, your body isn’t going to be able to perform optimally. On this blog I share lots of whole-food, anti-inflammatory recipes that support your training and help your body recover and adapt to training naturally. The body is amazingly sophisticated and complex. It is really terrific at healing itself naturally, IF you give it the tools (sleep + plentiful, varied, and nutritious food) it needs. But shortchange any of these things and watch your recovery become impaired.
Proper training – Every body is different, and every body responds differently to training. We know this already, right? But how about how everyone’s lifestyle is different? I wish I could record the number of conversations I have with my athletes about why can’t they run x miles per week, or how come they’re not already running 20 milers every weekend? It would at least make people feel less alone and crazy. With the prevalence of social media (and the rise of the ‘Instagram running community’), we’re now getting a ton of data about what everyone from world-record marathoners to sub-3:00 ‘local elites’ are doing on a daily basis. If you want to break 3:00 like the woman you follow on Instagram, shouldn’t you be doing the same training she is? No. Because you don’t know what her ‘behind the scenes’ lifestyle looks like (Instagram doesn’t show everything), or her training history, or injury history. Maybe she’s able to get 8-10 hours of sleep a night, and that’s just not possible for you. Maybe she’s actually training unsustainably and is a month away from a year-long series of stress fractures. You have no idea. Training SMART and in a way that is right for YOU is a huge way we can prevent injury. What does this mean? Taking the proper number of rest days that allow you to recover effectively, building your mileage and intensity gradually, and proactively adjusting the plan when unexpected aches and pains creep up. Most people struggle to do this on their own, which is why hiring a coach can be so helpful.
Mobility work – Research has shown runners don’t necessarily need to be flexible and loose all the time to run fast and prevent injury. In fact, some stiffness in the muscle actually helps you perform better, and overstretched muscles might be just as prone to injury as overly tight muscles. Therefore, instead of trying to learn the splits or achieve an impressive level of hamstring flexibility, we just want to make sure the muscles have adequate mobility and can go through proper range-of-motion. What impairs mobility and range of motion? Sitting all day. Also spending hours per week moving in the same plane of motion (AKA run training). Also hard workouts – which create adhesions and microscopic tears in your muscles. If you run and then immediately jump in the shower, get in your car, or sit on the couch, you’re letting everything tighten right up. You want to spend at least 5 minutes doing some kind of mobility drills or range-of-motion exercises to jumpstart the natural recovery process and prevent harmful stiffness and tightness from building up.

The ‘extras’ or ‘2%’ — ice baths, epsom salt baths, contrast baths, cryotherapy, compression socks, Normatec boots, and all the recovery gadgets (Theraguns, vibrating foam rollers, Roll Recovery wheels) are AWESOME and great to have. I personally use several of these and have found they work really well for me and many of my athletes. BUT, it’s all about giving them their proper time and place. If you’re religious about your post-workout ice baths but skipping meals or not sleeping, you’re wasting your time. Also, your Normatec boots can help you feel better and maybe less sore from big workouts, but they’re not going to be what gives you the big PR you’re looking for. SMART, hard training does that. And giving your body the ‘big’ tools it needs to recover properly.

Bonus: For those who love their recovery gadgets and are afraid of being sore, there might be such a thing as ‘recovery addiction.’ Steve Magness has wrote about this really well and in-depth. Check out his blog post here.

What are your thoughts on run training and recovery? For those who have been running for a long time, what are the biggest recovery lessons you’ve learned, and what has made the biggest differences for you personally?

How I Became a Morning Runner + How to Build Effective Habits

January 24, 2019 by APRÉS RUN

Good things about being an adult: Your own house, your own rules. You make your own money. You can drink wine whenever you want.

Bad things about being an adult: More responsibilities. Less time. Less tolerance for drinking as much wine as you want…

Being an adult runner means you’re choosing to make running a priority when you have a million other things you could be doing instead. The laundry won’t do itself, the dishes aren’t going to get washed on their own, kids (if you have them) need constant attention. But still, you carve an hour or two out of each day for something that others might consider “frivolous” and “unimportant” — because it’s important to YOU.

The biggest way I’ve been able to carve out time to running, which is important to me, is to switch to morning workouts.

Why I switched to running in the morning:

The morning is my time. Getting it done first thing, before the day has started, gives me the least chance of interruptions, distractions, or things “coming up” at the last minute.
Running in the morning gives me more energy and makes me less stressed for the day ahead. I notice a HUGE difference in my energy levels, concentration, and mood on mornings I run, vs. mornings I don’t. I am a much happier, nicer, and more productive person with a boost of endorphins — and also just having invested time in ME before I’ve had a chance to give to anyone else.
Running in the morning helps me make better decisions later in the day. When your first choice of the day is a good one, it creates positive momentum for the rest of the day. When I run first thing in the morning, I am more motivated to make a healthy breakfast, keep my house clean, be more ambitious and proactive at work. And even if nothing else goes well that day, I can take comfort in knowing I did at least one good thing.

My best tips for becoming a morning runner:

Success happens the night before. When you run early in the morning, you set yourself up for success or failure by what you do and don’t do the night before. The night before I always lay out everything I need to get out the door — from my Garmin, to my phone pouch, to my house keys, full outfit, socks, and sneakers. I put everything in my bathroom so I don’t wake my fiancé as I’m stumbling around getting dressed. When I wake up, I don’t have to think about anything — I’m just on autopilot.
Set your alarm on the other side of the room. This helps eliminate the delirious snooze hit. Once you get up to turn off your alarm, you’re already out of bed (the hardest part!).
Get enough sleep the night before. Obvious — yes. But it can be a struggle getting to bed at the time you need to in order to wake up early. Especially initially. Here is my best tip for making that happen: Almost everyone has a smart phone today — and your smartphone has alarm apps! Use them to their full potential! Think about what an alarm does — it disrupts you from your current state. I like to set a couple of alarms the night before (on auto-repeat for each weeknight, so that there’s no excuses) as check-ins for where I should be in my nightly routine. It’s a great way to pull yourself off the couch if you’re struggling to get up and get moving. And it’s a great way to pull yourself away from any task you’re in the middle of. I usually set one alarm to start my “wind down” routine at night (AKA, disconnect from social media, or finish doing the dishes, and start getting ready for the next day). Then, I’ll set an alarm at the time I actually want to be in bed by. That’s my hard stop. Lights out.
Halfway dressed, and you’re halfway there. A tip I had heard when I first started experimenting with morning running was to wear your workout clothes to bed. To me, sleeping in a tight sports bra is very uncomfortable. And I do love wearing real pajamas. So I compromise. I’ll wear my running bottoms to bed, and a comfy pajama top. It’s only one less step I have to do in the morning, but oddly, having that one layer already on seems to make such a difference.
Build a practice. Create a routine, and cues. Take inspiration from yogis who don’t call their yoga a “workout routine”, but rather a “practice.” Develop a morning routine that can become your own form of practice. Once you go through a routine enough, it almost becomes meditative. You should have a super specific item-by-item list of what each step in your routine looks like. This takes a little work upfront, but the payoff is always having a plan and never having to wonder what you need to do next to get yourself out the door. Throughout your routine, set external “cues” for yourself — which are key for building habits. The act of brewing your coffee. Lacing up your shoes after putting on your clothes. Maybe you read the newspaper, or a book, while you drink your coffee. Maybe you spend a few minutes jotting down your goals for the day. All of these are tangible experiences that, once repeated day in and day out, will signal to your brain that it’s time to go running.
Consistency is everything. Nothing works unless you’re consistent with it. The same thing goes with building habits. If you fall off the wagon, get right back on it the next day. No guilt. No overthinking. No deep-seated feelings of anger or shame. Don’t allow yourself to get into the mindset that you need to wait until next Monday, or next month, or the start of the next year, to “start over”. There is no starting over, really. Keep putting in the work, forcing consistency when necessary, and know that over time it will become so ingrained that not running in the morning will feel like forgetting to brush your teeth!

Pumpkin Pecan Oat Scones with Maple-Almond Butter Glaze (gf, df, v)

November 1, 2018 by APRÉS RUN

I will preface this by saying I was not a scone person (before making these). I think I liked the idea of scones more than I actually liked scones — which I used to associate with being super dry, flaky, and not all that flavorful. If I was going to have something sweet, a scone was not going to be my first choice.

But the idea of scones…

Am I the only one who feels like when you’re eating a scone, you need to also be sipping coffee in one of those well-lit, white-washed “Instagram kitchens”, curled up in a chunky knit sweater with perfectly “I-didn’t-just-wake-up-like-this” hair? Or maybe you’re a fashionable upper-class woman who stops at the cafe every morning to sip espresso and eat a ~scone~ before work.

Scones are definitely the cool-girls of pastries.

I decided to give them a fair try, and tweaked and played with a few existing scone recipes to create this one — which is inspired by My New Roots and Cookie & Kate. My scone recipe is gluten- and dairy-free, as well as vegan. And I can confidently say it is the complete opposite of everything I used to hate about scones, plus everything I had hoped they would be.

These scones are crispy on the outside, but are wonderfully moist and soft on the inside. When you take a bite, you immediately get a great, creamy, pumpkin middle. The glaze, as well, is to-die-for, and I think a huge part of what makes this dish. I created my own glaze recipe from scratch, because I didn’t like that most scone glazes are primarily powdered sugar. Mine is refined-sugar-free, and just the right amount of sweetness. The trick is to pour the glaze over the scones while they’re only a few minutes out of the oven. They will soak it right up, and the glaze will fill every wonderful nook and crack in the scones.

Also – be generous. You’ll have excess glaze that will spill off the scones and onto the pan, but that’s ok. It lets the glaze seep into all sides of the scone, which makes it really delicious and fun to eat!

Pumpkin Pecan Oat Scones

1 cup raw pecans
2 cups oat flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
¼ cup coconut sugar
1 tbsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. ginger
¼ tsp. nutmeg
¼ tsp. cloves
½ teaspoon salt
⅓ cup solid coconut oil
¾ cup pumpkin puree
¼ cup unsweetened almond milk
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Maple-Almond Butter Glaze

1/4 cup natural almond butter (drippy is best)
1/4 cup real maple syrup
2 tbsp. unsweetened almond milk
1 tsp. vanilla

Instructions:

Preheat your oven to 425º F.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, spread your 1 cup of pecans on top, and toast in the oven for 3-5 minutes. Keep a careful eye on them, as nuts do burn quickly. Once slightly cooled, chop the nuts into fine pieces.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the oat flour, 3/4 of the chopped nuts, baking powder, coconut sugar, and spices. Whisk together.
Next, use either a pastry cutter or a fork to “cut” your solid coconut oil into your dry ingredients. Mix well.
Stir in your pumpkin puree, almond milk, and vanilla extract. It should take a while to get everything incorporated, and your dough should be fairly dense and stiff. Don’t be afraid to use your hands to knead the last bits of the dough together.
Form your dough into a circle that is about an inch tall all the way around. Cut into 8 even slices (like a pizza), and then place on your parchment-lined baking sheet.
Bake for 15-17 minutes, or until lightly browned on the outside.
While the scones are in the oven, prepare your glaze by whisking all ingredients in a small mixing bowl.
After you take the scones out of the oven, let them cool for a few minutes, and then generously pour your glaze on top. Really let the glaze seep into all sides and cracks of the scone. While the glaze is still wet, sprinkle your remaining pecan pieces on top.

The BEST Gluten Free Buckwheat Banana Bread

October 6, 2018 by APRÉS RUN

A couple of years ago, I started testing and tweaking banana bread recipes to create a gluten-free loaf I could pack as a daily work snack. My criteria: I wanted a really tasty banana bread recipe that is low in sugar, used whole grain flours as a BASE (not just an additive), and was something I could feel good about eating on a daily basis. This recipe was the result, which I kept track of in a Word document titled “The BEST Gluten-Free Buckwheat Banana Bread.”

Since then, I’ve made amazing banana breads with oat, almond, even chickpea flour, but when I want the nutty, hearty taste of buckwheat, I always go back to this recipe. Give it a try, and let me know what you think!

INGREDIENTS

2 cups buckwheat flour
1/4 cup coconut sugar
1 tbsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
4 very ripe bananas, mashed
1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat your oven to 350 F.
Melt your coconut oil, and set aside to cool slightly.
In a large bowl, combine all your dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, combine all your wet ingredients (including the coconut oil). Fold the wet ingredients into the dry until just combined. Do not over-mix!
Grease a loaf pan, and pour in your banana bread mixture.
Place into the oven, and bake for 45-50 minutes. Keep an eye on the loaf, and be careful not to overcook. The bread should keep some of its moisture when fully baked.

A Week of Meals: Buffalo Chicken, Loaded Nachos, Waffles, and More

September 17, 2018 by APRÉS RUN

I always tell my fiancé — anyone who thinks healthy eating is boring should come spend a week with me. I firmly believe the best thing you can do for your health (and your running and/or fitness routine…) is learn how to cook. Cooking opens you up to so many fun, creative ways to combine foods, and trust me – there are SO many ways to eat healthy outside of just steamed veggies and chicken (AKA what most people think of when they think of eating healthy).

This week I wanted to share a week’s worth of meals for Ryan and I. We have gotten really smart about the way we plan our dinners, how we cook once to eat twice (or sometimes three times). We have been enjoying our food way more than ever before, saving money and wasting way less food, and feeling better than ever (in our workouts and daily life in general).

The trick to making all of this happen is just a little planning and prep work. I’ll start brainstorming meals and looking at recipes on Saturday of the week before, and on Sunday we’ll write our grocery list for the week and go to Trader Joe’s for one big grocery haul. But going into shopping, I always know exactly what our lunches and dinners are going to look like for each day.

I LOVE getting creative in the kitchen, so we have fun mixing it up and trying new recipes each week. The recipes I choose always: (1) are low in refined sugar, (2) use real, whole foods (100% corn chips are about as refined as we get), and (3) have some kind of veggie and healthy protein. We love to treat ourselves once or twice a week, but I make sure our main meals are always packed with nourishing, good-for-you ingredients.

For breakfast, I tend to eat the same thing every morning. I go through cycles depending on what I’ve been feeling lately. For a while I was doing oatmeal every morning. Lately, my go-to breakfast has been two slices of avocado toast with two fried eggs, and two slices of turkey bacon on the side.

What a Full Week of Eats Looks Like for Us

Sunday was the start of the NFL season (my fiancé is a huge football fan), so I made Paleomg’s Buffalo Chicken Casserole for us with corn chips and homemade Chili Sweet Potato Wedges. The casserole serves four, and I purposefully made a big batch of sweet potato wedges so we wouldn’t have to worry about lunch the next day. The Buffalo Chicken Casserole was out of this world, and we both agreed if you placed it in front of someone without saying anything, they wouldn’t believe it was healthy. In reality, though, it is packed with veggies — onions, red peppers, and a base made out of spaghetti squash! The ground chicken also gives it lots of filling protein.

Monday lunch: Leftover Buffalo Chicken Casserole + Chili Sweet Potatoes

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Monday dinner: A Fall-Themed Power Salad

Trader Joe’s mixed greens blend, grilled chicken breast, quinoa, dried cherries (unsweetened), and pecans, tossed in a homemade Maple-Dijon Dressing

To make, all we had to do was cut a few chicken breasts into bite sized pieces, roast them on a baking sheet for ~20 minutes at 400°. While that was in the oven, we made a BIG batch of quinoa (enough for a big salad + quinoa bowls tomorrow night). Quinoa cooks up in 15 minutes. We combined the dressing ingredients in a mason jar, shook it up, tossed all the salad ingredients together, and poured the dressing over the salad. Voila… a little over half an hour start to finish. Again, we made way more than we needed for two people… this gave us four large, meal-sized salads (two for dinner tonight, two for lunch tomorrow).

Tuesday lunch: Leftover Fall Power Salad

Tuesday dinner: Deliciously Ella’s Mexican Quinoa Bowls (from her cookbook, but you can also find the recipe online here)

I put a pound or two of chicken breasts and a little chicken stock in the crock pot in the morning. They slow-cooked for eight hours, until they were super tender, and when Ryan got home from work we shredded them with a fork. The quinoa was already made the night before, and Ryan and I tag-teamed the rest of the ingredients – the cashew cream which blended up in <5 minutes, the guacamole which came together in <5 minutes, and the tomato salsa which also came together in <5 minutes. The recipe serves four people, which meant we had extras of all the ingredients (except the quinoa) for the next day.

Wednesday lunch: Mexican Chicken Salad

We made salads out of the leftover ingredients from last night.

Wednesday dinner: Take-out from a Thai restaurant around the corner. I got the stir-fried broccoli, carrot, garlic, and chicken in one of their lighter, healthier sauces. Served over rice.

Thursday lunch: Big green smoothie bowl – Mint Matcha Chip (recipe coming soon). I used protein powder in it to make it more satiating.

Thursday dinner: Homemade turkey burgers (unpictured). I ate mine as sliders, and Ryan ate his on Trader Joes’ whole-wheat buns.

Friday lunch: A big “kitchen sink” salad, with mixed greens, extra chicken from the week, and pre-cut veggies I had bought for exactly these kinds of days.

Friday dinner: Dinner at my future in-laws’ house

Saturday lunch: Take-out from By Chloe… a healthy vegan “fast food” restaurant and one of my all-time favorite places.

I got their Kale Caesar salad with shredded kale, chopped romaine, shiitake bacon, avocado, almond parmesan, sunflower seeds, and caesar dressing. Air-fried sweet potato fries, and coconut water (straight out of the coconut) on the side.

Saturday dinner: Loaded Vegan Nachos and Homemade Salted Watermelon Margaritas

Perfect for Saturday date-night-in (AKA movie night). The Loaded Nachos are made with corn chips, black beans, a homemade vegan queso sauce (which was out of this world), pico de gallo, sliced black olives, homemade guacamole, and fresh cilantro. The recipe is from the Minimalist Baker cookbook… my newest obsession. (Every recipe in there is gold.)

Sunday brunch: Gluten-Free Double Chocolate Waffles from Minimalist Baker (recipe is also from her cookbook)

The stats:

I went grocery shopping once. (Because I had a plan… this is key!)
I cooked only six times for twelve lunches and dinners, and one brunch.
I ate out twice.
I saved a lot of money.
I had no cravings. (Because the food I eat satisfies me, and I genuinely love what I’m eating!)
And health and happiness are both very high.