Low Gear Endurance

I read a lot of training blogs and I like it when people talk about what they are eating and why. Nutrition plays such a key role in performance and recovery, I think it deserves to be discussed more. Plus I’m always looking for new and interesting and healthy foods.

One meal that Hannah and I have been eating a lot lately is grilled chicken with veggies and marinara. It is super easy and tastes great.

Ingredients (2 servings)

– 2 chicken breasts

– 1 zucchini and 1 yellow squash

– 1 large bunch of broccoli

– 2 cups marinara sauce

– Olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder

Step 1

I like to pound out the chicken breasts so they grill evenly. I then coat each side with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and olive oil. Slice the zucchini and squash in half length wise and apply olive oil on the cut side then salt and pepper.

The veggies take a little longer to grill than the meat, but I put everything on at the same time. After I take the chicken off and let it rest for a few minutes they are usually done.

I steam the broccoli, add butter, salt and pepper. Unfortunately the marinara sauce is store bought. It would be fun to make my own, but we found a great one with roasted artichokes that it is pretty good.

The last step is to cut up everything in to bite size chunks and pour the sauce on.

This was the second week of unstructured recovery. It was good, but I’m ready to get on a plan again. On Tuesday I participated in bike to work day with Andrew – which was made all the better by the fact that I am currently in transition and won’t officially start work until the 13th, so I rode in and then rode back home. It was great.

The ride in was good. We talked and dodged the other commuters. The ride back was great. A good portion of it is down hill, so I decided to hammer it all the way home. My legs burned, but it felt good to really push it on the bike for the fist time all year. I was so tired when I got home that I actually took a 20 minute nap.

I also had two runs with Cate this week. Monday morning was wet, and I wanted to get out there. I always like running in the rain, but I was watching Cate and I didn’t know how she would handle it. I bundled her up in some warm cloths, put her in the jogger, wrapped her legs in a blanket and then put a rain jacket over her. I wish I had a picture, but I didn’t think about it until after. I put on my VFF’s and we took off. She lasted about 30 minutes and then started to fuss a little. I looked down and she had pushed the blanked and rain jacket off her legs and she was soaked. The last 10 minutes were a bit tough, but over all she did really well – she has a little AK in her.

Friday morning, I took Cate down to Chatfield and we went for about 45 minutes. We mostly stayed on the gravel road, but got off a bit. The jogger was ok, but I would change a few things. I don’t like how it turns. The front wheel is fixed which is fine for roads, but stinks on trails. Cate loved being out in the sun and fell asleep on the way back. When she woke up, she was really happy to be outside. It was cute.

Next week I officially start training for Xterra Indian Peaks. My goal for the rest of the year is to get stronger on the bike (hills), faster on the run, and just survive the swim. Due to work, I’ve hardly spent any time in the pool and it shows. It will be interesting to see how things turn out. Anyway Indian Peaks and Xterra Lory will be my build races with Xterra Utah being my priority race. I can’t wait!