Rest Days

Woke up this morning with my calves so tight I could barely walk. I took it as a sign and designated today a rest day as I didn't actually take one last week. I don't believe in working out seven days a week. Generally speaking I exercise six days and take one full-stop rest day. I'm not completely inactive, I walk (I walk to work, so most days include at least 30 or so minutes of walking), sometimes take the boy's dog for a walk, etc, but I don't do any high-intensity, sweat inducing activities. Considering that I got through my first half marathon without any injuries, I see it as a sign that my one-day-off per week system works.

So, back to this morning, I shuffled painfully into the kitchen, and threw together some Greek yogurt with a bit of honey and peanut butter granola, along with a piece of toast topped with coconut butter. We were out of bananas so no oatmeal for me, which was sad, because all I really wanted was a big bowl of oats, but the yogurt and toast were good.

I then went to work, where I snacked on a nature's valley peanut butter granola bar, during one of my breaks, and then had the other half of the vegan macaroni and cheese I made last night. I followed this recipe from Fat Free Vegan Kitchen, it was so so so good. I used whole wheat macaroni, so the fiber content was high, and it was fat free (except for what occurs naturally in tahini) and jam-packed with protein which was perfect considering the fact that I had just completed a ten mile run. It filled me right up for lunch too.

After work I drove over to whole foods and picked up some more bananas (oatmeal will make a return tomorrow!), rainbow chard, kale, carrots, garlic, cucumber, red and orange bell peppers... basically a giant produce run with some yogurt and sandwich thins thrown in. Along with some cliff-shots and cliff-blocks. Now that I'm running long distances again they're necessary, and I like that they have 70% organic ingredients, and I find they work. When my energy is waning around half-way through, they perk me back up and give my legs an extra kick.

Tonight for dinner I plan to make grilled tahini chicken (We don't have a barbecue, but I'm thinking a panini grill might work, either that or the broiler) over quinoa for me, and pasta for the boy. The recipe is out of Food to Live By which we got for Christmas and has yet to disappoint us. Seriously, if you are looking for a good 'slow foods' cookbook, this one is fantastic! Its by the same people who run Earthbound Farm Organics - you know all the pre-washed packaged salad, and the recipes are the kind that always, always, always turn out great. They even have one halibut recipe that the boy actually LIKED and he is not a seafood fan.

Catch ya' later!