7 Miles

Yes, yes, yes! This is the longest I've run this year...and I'm so happy (and a little tired, lol). Because these next few days will be very busy and I'll be mostly away from home, I won't be able to do any runs for a while too...so I'm glad I got an extra good workout in.

Once it hit past the 6 mile point, that's when I start thinking of extra nutrition I need for running. During a 3-5 mile run, I don't need any water during or any form of sports snack...it doesn't take too long and I just drink up before and after...but once I'm past 7 miles...then I have to be a bit more prepared.

Right now, I'm reading Brendan Braizer's "Thrive" book (head on over to Rawdorable's site and check out her last two posts about Brendan Braizer and his books/recipes) and I'm really looking forward to trying some of his sports gels/bars...but today, since I don't have it all figured out yet...I just grabbed a couple Medjool dates and had one at the 5 mile mark and then one at the 6.

I've kind of fallen away from my green smoothies and been doing more protein/fruit based smoothies, so I'm trying to get back into it. This week I've committed to one every day. I fueled up after with a green smoothie for lunch. Here it is:

7 MILER SMOOTHIE

1/2 cup orange juice

1 peeled orange (with white pith)

1 cup or more of parsley

1/4 avocado

1/2 banana

4 ice cubes

BLEND. BLEND. and BLEND. I ate it with a 1/4 of an avocado with herb salt. An all green lunch...but I may go and get something else because I burned a lot of calories (like 828!) so I can afford to have something else, lol.

For those who workout, what's your favorite recipe/mid-workout snack or hydration drink?

Cinnamon Strageties

The other day we were out of cinnamon and my sister was making cinnamon buns...and as everyone knows, you can't make cinnamon buns without cinnamon. What to do? The rolls were already finished, save the spice.

I thought, cinnamon comes from...cinnamon sticks. Of course, so if we have the sticks...

Turns out, we did. So I broke them into as tiny pieces as my fingers could manage and stuck them in the coffee grinder. It worked...and I ground and ground until I got the powder as fine as I could.

Plus, I like the thought of freshly ground cinnamon...sounds fresher, doesn't it?

Next time you're out of the powder...maybe give this a try! Hint: Next time you make a banana shake add some freshly ground cinnamon...it's an amazing shake!

Cleanse Day 2 + 3

Wow, it's almost over...I'm sorry I didn't post yesterday. The computer was being used so I didn't have a chance at it.

My juicy cleanse definitely had it's tougher points, but I'm glad I stuck it out. I know I'll feel better for it. Right now I might feel on the weaker side, but tomorrow I won't, BECAUSE tomorrow I eat, lol!

Tonight I had the most amazing juice ever! Seriously, it tasted like grape pop. It was seriously the most delicious juice ever. So I'll share it with you.

MOST DELICIOUS JUICE EVER!

2 apples

small knob of ginger (keep it smaller)

1 cup red grapes

1/2 lemon

Juice it up! I added 1 TB. of white and black chia seeds because today I wanted to introduce a soft fibre into my diet, to help my body prepare for tomorrow. I did that for every "meal" I had. It was a beautiful juice that reminded me of cotton candy. Totally try it!

Another juice I really enjoyed during this fast, was a delightful concoction of grapefruit, orange, and lemon! Yup, that's it. Just squeeze 1 whole grapefruit and 1 orange, and then half of a lemon! Absolutely perfect for the morning. It looks like sunshine. I added raw, organic blue-green algae to mine for some added minerals, vitamins, and nutrients. Grapefruit and lemon especially, are know for their amazing detoxifying benefits. Some people even swear grapefruit will reduce cellulite. :)

Even if you aren't doing a cleanse, you can do a super easy, "mini" cleanse by swapping your daily breakfast with a fresh, raw juice. It's incredibly healing and cleansing after a good long night's sleep. Anyone can juice!

Mini Cleanse

I'm doing a mini cleanse! So I'm reading a book we recently purchased and after reading a few chapters of that, I was even more inspired to clean my body and give a break for a bit. So I'm doing half a juice fast and half a master cleanse. I'll do this for 3 days. Then I'll taper off for 2 days....and so goes it. SO far, going good. It sure makes you appreciate food more too...and not take it so for granted.

SO today I had:
5 "lemonades" (master cleanse recipe)
6 waters
2 organic, homegrown peppermint tea
1 electrolyte vitamin C supplement in water (after my workout)
1 carrot/celery/apple/ginger fresh juice
1 freshly squeezed grapefruit juice with superfood powder

FITNESS:
ran 5 miles (tomorrow I'm going to take it more easy... a little hard without food, lol)

a DVD workout

I think my favorite "recipe" of the day was the grapefruit juice I had at dinner. If any of you are familiar with raw food guru Sarma, this is one of her favorite recipes I got from her book. Simply mix freshly squeezed grapefruit juice with your raw, organic blue-green algae and guzzle away. I added a packet of Truvia to it, so it wouldn't be so sour. Mind you, it doesn't look pretty, BUT it tastes fantastic. You could do this with any green superfood powder if you don't have the algae powder.

Although I half-way enjoy these types of fasts, in an odd sort of way...I'm already looking forward to something that I can actually chew. Till tomorrow...