Greetings! How was your Cinco de Mayo? I started mine bright and early at the track, with Margarita shots:
I meant Margarita Shot Bloks, what did you think? And I didn’t even run on the track — I just “ran” the workout for our weekly Track Thursdays group. Lately, all the running I’ve been doing has been short and easy around the block, or longer but relaxed on the nearby trails.
I’m still very much in recovery mode from the Boston Marathon, which I’ll be honest, is taking a little longer than I expected. I know what they say about recovery from a hard race – it takes a day for every mile you ran – but given how long it took me to bounce back from past marathons (a few days to a week), I am surprised a bit at how stiff and “not there” my legs still feel.
(Part of this may have to do with the fact that I jumped back on the bike, after nearly three months off, and wasted no time cranking out a few 50-mile rides. The first of these was only on the Saturday after the marathon. But, I will say this: I missed my bike too much, triathlon season is now officially on, I have a race in a week and a half, and if riding my bike means my legs take longer to run fast again, I’ll take it!)
Back to recovery, though, because I have a giveaway that will make you want to work out hard, just so you can recover well with it. Anyone who is serious about running and racing knows that food is fuel and the foods we eat before and after a race have as much to do with performance and recovery as our training. In the past few weeks, I’ve been focusing on eating enough protein and inflammation-fighting foods (berries, avocados, salmon, dark leafy greens, to name a few).
A part of my near-daily routine has also been a new protein+greens shake by Amazing Grass:
A scoop of Amazing Grass Protein Superfood has:
- 20 grams of plant-based protein, a blend of pea, hemp, chia and quinoa.
- Seven alkalizing (read: anti-inflammatory) greens, including wheat grass, spirulina, chlorella, broccoli, and spinach. As you can see above, you absolutely cannot tell by the color of the smoothie that there are any greens in there.
- Two servings of fruits and veggies, including beets, carrots, sweet potatoes, goji, acai, banana, and more.
And the chocolate peanut butter flavor… all I can say is, when my seven-year-old gets his hands on my shake, there’s none left for me!
I experimented a bit with mix-ins, blending it into a smoothie with banana, frozen strawberries and kale (as you can see in the picture below, the result was a green smoothie – surprise!), or mixing it into my morning oatmeal instead of my usual tablespoon of sunbutter, but in the end, a simple shake with almond milk was my favorite. (I tried with coconut milk, too, but the consistency ended up a little too thick for my taste.)
For those who are on a weight loss plan: be careful with using this as a supplement or snack. One scoop of the protein powder has 190 calories, and you will invariably add more with the mix-ins. If you throw in a banana, some more fruits, and non-dairy milk, this might very well become a 400-500 calorie snack. (Then again, that would still be less than a venti Starbucks caramel macchiato, so there you go.)
For me, the Amazing Grass Protein Superfood has been the perfect post-run or ride snack. If you’d like to try it, enter the giveaway below — or use code SWEATPINKAleks16 for 30% off any Amazing Grass product on their website (but seriously, try the Chocolate Peanut Butter….). Coupon code is valid through 5/31/2016 and can be used once per customer only.
Disclosure: This post and giveaway were sponsored by Fit Approach and Amazing Grass. Reviews and opinions, as always, are honest and strictly my own.
