Vegan MoFo 19: MacGyver Smoothie

As I was approaching my office building this morning, it occurred to me that I had no idea what I would blog about for MoFo today.  Then, as I was climbing the stairs to my floor, I realized with a panic that I had forgotten to pack my pre-run smoothie.  Last night, I made a double batch, so I'd have one for last night's speedwork run and another for my noon "easy" run today.  But when I packed up my lunch for today, I failed to pack my smoothie.  ::sob::

We have a little newsstand/convenience store in my building, so I devised a plan for a replacement smoothie.  I keep soymilk in our shared office fridge, and we have a blender in our kitchen.  So I thought I'd buy a banana and also a trail mix so I could mine some dates for the smoothie.  Then, a terrible thought as I approached the store:  it's Friday!  More often than not, they are out of bananas come Friday.  And sure enough:  As I entered the store, I saw there were no bananas.  My next thought was that maybe I could find a replacement ingredient that would allow me to MacGyver a smoothie.

The shelves and the drink case were not promising.  But then I thought of the frozen-dessert case.  FrozFruit!  Some flavors are vegan and some are not, so I hoped for the best and had a look.  Luckily, there were strawberry FrozFruits.  I checked the ingredients to be extra sure, and while it passed the "vegan" test, unfortunately it did contain HFCS.  But the only other possible option was strawberry Italian ice--and that didn't even contain any strawberry or other actual fruit.  So I decided to go with the less-than-optimal FrozFruit.  Next, I picked up a tropical trail mix. Not only did it have dates, but it also had dried, shredded coconut--a partial replacement to my usual coconut oil.

So I mined some dates, coconut flakes, a few pineapple pieces, and sunflower seeds from the trail mix.  I put them in a container and soaked them in my usual mix of soymilk and water (.5 cup of each).  I tucked that away in the fridge and allowed the FrozFruit to thaw for a little over an hour and then stashed it in the fridge to avoid total liquefication.

Smoothie-making time arrived about 2.5 hours later.  I assembled the ingredients in the blender, mixed them up, then added my usual four ice cubes and ground them in, as well.

The smoothie ended up tasting pretty good, though sweeter than what I'm used to.  I did find that I was getting a bit of an odd aftertaste/repeating-on-me effect for maybe 15 minutes after having the smoothie, but that didn't last, fortunately.  And my run went well, too.

That was more drama than I'd prefer to have surrounding my pre-run fuel, but the upside is that my smoothie for Sunday's long run is already made.  Plus, I had something to blog about today.  :)

Vegan MoFo Day 11: Smoothie Fail

Since I'm off from work today, I was able to run whenver I felt like it--which today turned out to be around three this afternoon.  I couldn't make my usual pre-run smoothie because we're out of bananas.  We have several mangoes, though, so I thought subbing mango for banana in my smoothie would be a good use.
You know when you peel a mango, and it's got that beautiful shade of orange, along with a silky texture and sweet smell that tells you you're about to have one of the best foods in the world?  Well, this mango turned out to be almost the exact opposite of that.  I don't know if I'm just no good at judging mango ripeness from the "give" of its skin or whether this was just destined to be a disappointing mango, but it was a stringy, pastel yellow with little flavor.  Boo.

But I was not to be daunted.  I followed the same basic recipe I usually do, but used 1 cup sliced mango instead of the banana, then increased the number of dates from 3 to 4 and the amount of agave from .5 T to 1 T, hoping to compensate for the blandness of the mango.  It didn't work.  It just tasted kind of--like nothing.  I was originally planning to include of picture of it here, but it looked so pale and sad, I thought it would depress people.  ;)

In any event, my run was not disappointing, so all was not lost.  And if I can't get ahold of a banana for tomorrow's run, I'll use some of the frozen mixed berries I have in the freezer.

Edit:  I forgot to mention that I also left the carob out from the smoothie, as I figured it wouldn't be compatible with the mango.

Vegan MoFo Day 8: Food as Fuel

Something rattling in my head right now is the idea of viewing food as fuel.  It's something that's inevitably come out of my training for distance runs/races, and I'm contemplating the difference in mindset from dieting/weight loss/calorie burn.  Thinking of food as fuel leads me to consider what purpose different foods serve and how my body actually uses them.  On the other hand, I'm still interested in dropping a bit of weight--a combination of "vanity" and "performance" motives.  Objectively, I'm already slim--my usual clothing sizes are 4/6, depending on the cut.  The "vanity" angle has me thinking my upper thighs still have something to give up.  My butt could be slightly smaller, etc.  The "performance" angle is simply that for each pound lost, I can at least theoretically shave two seconds off of each mile (at least as long as I don't drop into underweight, at which point losing more weight leads to weakness and slowness). Two seconds per mile per pound might not sound like a lot, but losing ten pounds = an almost nine-minute faster marathon time.

Sometimes when I'm creating my pre-run, during-run, and recovery drinks/foods, I have a nagging voice in the back of my mind wondering if I'm blowing through all of the calories I'm burning.  Because I want it all:  improved performance AND slimmer thighs.

Contemplating the fuel vs. calorie perspective, it occurs to me that when I focus on the "fuel" model, that can reinforce making the best, most nutritious choices throughout my day.  The balance I want to strike is, of course, to make nutritious choices that are also delicious and satisfying.  This is not to say I'd want to banish treats such as vegan cupcakes and cookies from my life, but that's not going to be my mainstay (not that it typically is, anyway).  There are times when I'm so focused on the nutrition AND calorie angles that part of my mind rebels and it's like BREAK GLASS! ADMINISTER VEGAN CHOCOLATE!  I think the trick is to satisfy the need for treats in a judicious way so I don't feel the need to rebel.  All of which reminds me that my veganning is always a work in progress.

Vegan MoFo Day 7: Brief Update on Accidental Experimental Gu

So, with my 15K today, I test drove the home-made Gu I accidentally made yesterday (instead of the intended Brendan Brazieresque Direct Fuel Bites).  I'd say they were semi-successful.  The makeshift Gu flutes I'd fashioned out of foil didn't work too badly, though I didn't completely avoid finger goop.

As my sports drink, I did the "basic" sports drink Brazier recommends if you're short on time--two parts juice to one part water, with salt to taste.  I wasn't so much short on time as feeling somewhat lazy.  (Only somewhat--I did do my smoothie and the aforementioned Gu.)  For my juice, I used organic grape juice, only because we happened to have some in the house.

I finished in just over 1:24.  I was a bit disappointed, because I was hoping for closer to 1:22.  However, it was, for me, a course PR as well as a distance PR, so I'm not despondent.  :)

Fortunately, I didn't have any "pain" issues during the race.  My IT band, which occasionally likes to flare up, completely behaved itself today.  Energy wise, I didn't do badly, but I wish I'd had more "kick" in my legs at the very end.  I can't help thinking I need to tweak my fuelling.  Meanwhile, I've generated a training schedule to prepare me for another 15K, five weeks from today.

Vegan MoFo Day 4: Pre-run Smoothie

When I get home from work today, I am planning to do a five-mile tempo run on the ol' treadmill.  I typically use the treadmill for tempo and interval runs because I suck at judging my pace and do not have a Garmin watch.  Also, it's raining and yucky today, so I'd probably be using the 'mill anyway.

Before doing my run, I'll have a delicious smoothie.  Here's what I'll use:

1 banana
3 dates
1 T ground flaxseed
.5 T white chia seeds
1 T carob powder
1 T brown rice, cooked
.5 T coconut oil
.5 T agave syrup
.5 c organic soymilk
.5 c water
4 ice cubes (added after the previous ingredients are well blended)

I'll whip this up in my blender and then enjoy the deliciousness.  I started making these in the summer after reading an article about how drinking a slushie before a run helps fight off overheating during hot-weather runs.  I really cranked up the ice for those summer smoothies, using 8-10 cubes for a super-thick, icy drink.  Now, of course, overheating is not an issue (it's currently 43 degrees and raining--yuck!).  However, I've really come to enjoy having a nice thick smoothie before a run, so I still include some cubes.

Another variation I sometimes use is to include a tablespoon of either hemp protein powder or raw hemp.  Need to restock at the co-op!

Update:  Here's a close-up--taken via webcam.  :)

I love you, Brendan Brazier!

I haven't tried that many of Brendan Brazier's recipes yet, but I have been making and using his recipes for energy pudding, recovery pudding, direct fuel bites, sports drinks, and recovery drinks.  The puddings have bananas as their base, so of course I'm sold.  The drinks I've been using are the lemon-lime (though I've skipped the lime only because I didn't have any).  The fuel bites are made from dates, coconut oil, and a little bit of lemon juice and salt.  They are mostly geared for what Brazier calls "Level I" activities--those that last an hour or less.

Why do I love Brendan Brazier?  Because I really notice a difference in my performance and recovery.  I can go faster for longer and I bounce back--most notably from my long runs--faster than I ever have before. So lots of <3 <3 <3 to you, Brendan!