On the Road: On Eating Out-

Des Moines, Iowa- the NCAA Track and Field National meet is upon us! It feels like we were just up in Eugene, Oregon! But it is time to hit the road and lace up the spikes again!
With all this travel a friend asked the question,

“So, like do you guys always have to eat out?”

She knew- eating out is not always an endurance runner’s preference. Heavily dressed salads and oil-shinned food are often the things found at restaurants.

“We generally stay away from chain restaurants,” I told her, “ Chain restaurants always seem to be a little more greasy than locally owned ones. Plus it lets us experience the town we’re staying in too- which is really fun!”

Last night we went to the Raccoon River Brewing Company, right by the Raccoon River- notorious for flooding the city of Des Moines. There, Joe made the claim that he could look over the two page menu and in three chances, guess what Emma was going to order. He got in two.

So maybe we become a little predictable when it comes to ordering- but that's not a bad thing. We know what works in our bodies, and the night before race day, we don't want to chance ANYTHING. But also endurance runners learn to read the language of menus. What heavy cream-cheese sauce might sound appealing, a runner crossed off the menu and skims down to the next item.

"But doesn't that get pricey?" My friend asked

"Yeah, but the Coaches are pretty good about taking us to grocery stores to stock up on provisions. I normally get sandwich fixings to build sandwiches for lunch; crackers and pretzels too."  

I filled my shopping carte with my regular items this afternoon. Granola cereal (good for snacking), Oatmeal (good for breakfast), crackers, salsa, milk and avocados- things to get me through the weekend.  

Now that my stomach is fed, and body happy, it's time to get ready for the races ahead!

Prelims tomorrow! 

  

Picnics and Pasta Salads

After arriving home late Sunday night from our Regional track meet in Eugene Oregon, the Boulder Creek Festival greeted me.

Memorial Day in Boulder, Colorado is celebrated by the infamous Boulder-Boulder 10K race. Over 50,000 runners hit the street creating a thick flow of all imaginable (and unimaginable) types of runners. Costumes, wheelchairs, baby-strollers, elite athletes, enlarged athletes- the Boulder-Boulder sees it all!  If Historic Hayward Field gives Eugene, Oregon the title Track Town USA, then the Boulder-Boulder is what makes Boulder, Colorado the Mecca of distance and trail running.

The race is sandwiched between days of carnival rides, arts & crafts booths, sample tents, live music and a duck race!

After the few last remaining runners trickled through, a bunch of us headed up to the Festival and laid out picnic blankets. We made sure to have front row seats in order to cheer on our rubber ducks that we’d entered in the race. Prior to heading up, Cameron and I had thrown together a Salmon Orzo Pasta Salad to pack along.

 Salmon Orzo Pasta Salad:

1 cup uncooked orzo (rice-shaped pasta)

1 (1 1/4-pound) skinless salmon fillet (If you’re short on time, canned salmon works fine)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Cooking spray

1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion

1 pound asparagus, steamed and cut into 2-inch pieces

         Lemon-Dill Vinaigrette


1/3 cup (1.3 ounces) crumbled feta cheese

1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill


3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice


2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil


1/4 teaspoon salt


1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper


Combine all lemon-dill dressing ingredients in a small bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Set vinaigrette aside


Boil and cook Orzo pasta like any other type of pasta
Drain and add other ingredients


Dress with vinaigrette (pour and toss)

Good Chilled or Warm. (I personally like chilled better)

Sounds easy, huh? Well that’s probably because it is! And it made a great bring-along-salad as well!
Unfortunately it wasn't our lucky duck day. None of our ducks won, but I don't think anyone really cared. It was hanging out and making jokes with friends that mattered that day. 

Too Many Cows in the Kitchen!

Any six-year-old can the name element 20 on the periodic table that runners use to fight and prevent the evils of stress fractures (aka build strong bones). However, be cautioned that the most common way to consume this mineral might result in a white mustache above your upper lip.  Milk! (calcium) 

In a house with seven runners, cartons and gallon jugs of milk can clog up our refrigerator. But I’m not complaining.  Why? Because I like to bake! And whenever milk is called for I’m certain I can find some expired milk hiding in the back corner of the fridge. This morning as luck would have it I was able to find two cup of milk that expired the first of May! Perfect for my waffles!

Wunners Waffles:
2 eggs

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 3/4 cups milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 tablespoon white sugar

4 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract








Steve enjoying a generous helping of peanut-butter-granola waffles!

  

What kind of room has no windows?

A handful of my teammates and I- about a dozen of us- hit our alarm clocks this morning in order to be ready to hit the track at eight this morning.  Next on target is the Regional Meet in Eugene Oregon- what does this mean? Now that it’s summer Time to start living the runners life style. “Run. Sleep. Run.” might be a funny slogan printed on t-shirts found at Boulder Running Company, but the truth is, this is the what the running life style comes downs to. Running and Recovering and Repeating- of course where this blog plays a roll is in the recovering. What we eat enhances or inhibits recovery.

Today after spiking up on the track and spending some time in the weight room , Steve and I hobbled our way three quarters of a mile up the Boulder Creek Path to the Farmer’s Market. 

Any fatigue that was being felt was submerged as the bright colors and energy of the Farmer’s Market washed over us. We sampled cheeses, granola, yogurt and nuts, before making it over to a Vietnamese food tent and devouring up a bowl of noodles.

At the Market I got some fresh mushrooms for tonight’s dinner plate-

Stuffed mushrooms with mozzarella, basil and tomato:

Food that's extremely simple, filling, and your body will appreciate. Portabella mushrooms, the kind I bought  today, can even beat bananas in a potassium battle! Yep that little fun guy (uh fungi) can have more potassium than your rich yellow bananas! (medium sized portabella mushroom verse a medium sized banana)

The little herb garden I started from seed this spring break had just enough basil to fuel this dish! Can you get any more fresh than this!

 Stuffed mushrooms with mozzarella and a little basil....

Toped with a tomato, add some grated cheese, and sprinkle a basil....

 Bake at 350 F for about 20 min.

 Enjoy!

Summer Reminiscing

Coffee stained shirts, baggies under our eyes, the kitchen littered with gum wrappers- but smiles on our faces- we have survived finals week. Welcome summer!

It feels unreal that a year has been pulled out from under us. We are all free from the textbooks (at least for a short while). Boxes are being packed, as some move out and others go home for a visit. As for myself, I will be here to monitor the kitchen. There is still training and races to be had for some of us. 

Sitting at the kitchen table on what is marked as my third day of summer I reminisce of all chaos, laughs, and stress that has been had in this house:

From the day we all moved into this house, feeling like we were going to be swallowed by the house that still felt foreign and unfamiliar.

Celebrating Birthdays with still no more than a couch and a few chairs as items of furniture to fill empty rooms-

To fall jack-o-lantern carving and toasted pumpkin seeds-

   

To making holiday gingerbread cookies with my engineering roommate:

(Diana won the "prettiest cookies" award in an Engineering competition with these cookies.

This year has flown by and I have no regrets about any of it. I look forward to another year full of adventure, messes, and of course good food!
New roommates will come into the picture and this time we're branching out from just the distance runner. Sprinting, throwing, jumping will be added to this up coming year!
   

Sunday's Bounty of Protein!

Easter- A day for biblical remembrance, has some how mortified itself into a day where many children hope that a mysterious rabbit will come in the middle of the night and hide bright pastel eggs for them. Maybe it's the nice weather and the spring season, that makes people focus on cute baby creatures, and soft, perfumed flowers and some how this led to the strange rabbit theory. But whatever you choose to observe or believe on this day, the resurrection, the season of new life, or the brightly-colored, sugar-covered marshmallows on sale, if you are a runner take advantage of the bounty of protein! EGGS!

Eggs are packed with protein, plus you can pick up varying amounts of Vitamins A, D, E, and K. Mine a little deeper and you'll hit some minerals, particularly iron. Plus eggs contain essential amino acids the body can’t manufacture. I could ramble on.

So how'd we celebrate? By dying about 2 dozen hard boiled eggs Saturday night! I'm sure when you think "snack", Easter eggs don't jump to mind, but really, they make for a fantastic snack! And at 70 callories a pop, who can complain?

Home Meets and Home Dinners

Saturday, April 9th was the Potts Invitational, our home track meet! The first time this season that many of us laced up our spikes and turn on the race mode mindset. And what better way to prepare for a six hour meet in the sun then by carboloading! (I probably shouldn't throw around the term carboloading like that- to really carboloading you must first deplete your cells of carbs, a process that takes about a week, then consume a large amount of carbs-we merrily had a team pasta dinner.)
Pasta, meat sauce,a varriety of bread, salads, some ice tea and cookies covered our kitchen tables. Everyoneone on the track and field team was invited, as long as they possessed two X chromosomes.

As the hosting house, I began the meat sauce 3 hours before the feasting began. Why so early? Because the vine ripe tomatoes needed that much time to boil down and simmer with the fresh oregano and basil.
I colored it up too- yellow squash, orange bell pepper, zucchini, and red onion.

About 25 of us in total devoured the feast! And by looking at the results, I think it paid off!
Bon Appetit Buffalos!