Relax and Refuel

Let's see, where did I leave off?  That's right, I was dragging myself across the finish line at the Stumpy Creek Triathlon after battling hills on both bike and foot for more than two hours.

Before I tell you about the rest of my much more peaceful and relaxing weekend, let me back up and show you how I fueled up the night before the race.  I don't have a standard pre-race meal, but in general it's something simple that I know will sit well on my stomach and not leave me feeling overly full.  Dinner was another plate of the "knock your socks off" balsamic roasted vegetable marinara over pasta and a salad.

Post-race, I spent the majority of the day being a complete bum.  After a shower to wash away the sweat and grime, making a smoothie was priority number one.  After, of course, I swaddled my legs in my Zoot compression socks!  My smoothie included a blueberry mix1, whey protein powder, frozen banana, frozen raspberries and strawberries, frozen spinach, and chia seeds.  It made so much that it filled my glass twice.  I then proceeded to plant myself on the couch, watch Olympics, and take a nap.

Later in the evening, I made the big move from the couch to the leather chair, analyzed race data, and continued to watch the Olympics.  There were some thrilling finishes to several races yesterday, including the women's triathlon (American Sarah Groff nearly captures a medal) and men's 10,000 meters (Farah and Rupp capture gold and silver - both coached by Alberto Salazar).
 

This morning started as any other "perfect" Sunday - sleeping in, enjoying a cup of coffee, lounging in pjs,  watching the news, and making a hearty breakfast.  Sadly, there was no Today Show and I settled for coverage of the women's marathon instead.  Those women are incredible!  26.2 miles in 2:27.  That's a pace of 5 minutes and 27 seconds per mile.  I couldn't hold onto that pace for two miles, nonetheless 26.2.

Breakfast item number one was a whole wheat cranberry orange scone that was inspired by the frozen cranberries that I found hidden in the back of my freezer.  It was pretty good, but the recipe still needs a bit more tweaking.

Alongside the scone I enjoyed freshly sliced athena cantaloupe and scrambled eggs.  To pump up the flavor of the eggs, I stirred in a tablespoon of hummus as I whisked them.  Have you tried this before?  If not, give it a try the next time you're scrambling eggs.  The burst of flavor really kicked them up a notch.

This afternoon I hit the pool to shake out some of the post-race soreness.  It was a sunny afternoon and I made it to the pool just as they opened and managed to snag a lap swim lane in the outdoor pool.  Between the easy nature of the recovery swim and the sun shining, it was a great hour.

Dinner tonight was a trio of sides and sauces.  Roasted sweet potatoes with barbecue sauce, roasted cornmeal crusted okra with ketchup, and a veggie dog with mustard.  Some might consider it an odd assortment, but it made my belly happy!

And that wraps up another successful and enjoyable weekend.  Back to spine surgery in the morning . . .