Summer Break Recap

Hello my dear readers. It's been a couple of months and life has not been dull. I took a break from writing this summer to work on some personal projects; however with school starting again in less than two weeks I believe that it's time to get back into the blogging arena. This post is just going to be a basic recap of what I've been up to during my summer hiatus, with as many pictures as I could find of the fruit I've been enjoying and the places I've gone.

First off, I wasn't able to find an affordable apartment in Lincoln when I was visiting in June. Fortunately I was able to visit Union College Campus and reserve I single room at a very reasonable price, so at least I'll have a room completely to myself in the dorms this year. =) After that was taken care of I decided it wasn't worth the gas money and the effort to drive my car all the way back to Georgia, so I left my car in Nebraska and hitched a ride back with my mom, and I have been borrowing my brother's truck to get around town. Visiting Lincoln was still good for me and my mom. Seeing a community that was more physical-outdoor-activity-friendly really lifted out spirits.

Holmes Lake in Lincoln:

People were kayaking. . .

 walking and running. . .

and cycling on Lincoln's 120 miles worth of bike trails.

The Dekalb Farmer's Market fruit quality and variety was pretty good this season. The only qualms I had with them was their tendency to try and sell mass quantities of severely bruised and over-ripe fruit every few weeks, so at least once a month I was limited on my choices of good fruit to buy. Nevertheless, I have been eating very well this summer consuming massive quantities of Mangoes, Cherries, Dragon Fruit, Black Mission Figs, Oranges, Melon (mostly Watermelon), Papaya, Grape & Heirloom Tomatoes, Lettuce, Green Peas, Cucumber, and Okra.

                                      

I spent the better part of July training for my upcoming marathon in September, and helping my mom with some home improvement projects. One of those said projects was painting my room a neutral cover, which meant that the tree I had painted on one of my walls when I was in high school had to go. I was kind of sad, but I took a picture to remember it by, so I didn't feel to bad. There will be other walls to paint trees on in my future, and they will probably be better since my drawing/painting has improved  since I was 16. =)

There was also a lot of yard work this summer. My mom's house has the largest partial of land in the subdivision, so by the time one of us finishes mowing both the back and the front lawn, we've pushed the mower approximately 5 miles (I checked this out with my mediocre pedometer, so I'm not sure how accurate I'm being). Yard work is usually more fun because almost every year we plant a vegetable garden, but since we weren't sure about what was going to be going on this summer we chose not to plant one this year. I've missed working on the garden and eating fresh heirloom tomatoes right from the plant. Oh well, maybe next year. On the bright side, our apple tree has finally matured enough to produce an eatable crop so we were able to have our first apple harvest. We have no idea what variety the apples are, but they taste very much like granny apples.

In August my mom treated me to a very special early birthday present. We drove to Savannah, GA where we stayed at the fanciest hotel that I've ever been to in my life: The Westin Savannah Golf Resort & Spa! We only were there for a couple days, but I had an awesome time having an all girls relaxation and pampering trip, something my mom and I have never been able to do.

We arrived in Savannah mid-afternoon, and after checking into our room we spent the rest of the day just driving and walking around to get a feel for the area before stopping off at Olive Garden to get something to eat. Yes I did eat at a restaurant. LOL! It's actually a lot easier for someone who eats a raw plant-based diet to eat out than a lot of people think. Any restaurant that serves salads, vegetables, and fruits is a possibility for me. All I did was ask for a large bowl of their classic salad without the croutons, salad dressing, and cheese, and I asked for extra vegetables. It also helps to bring some extra salad fixings with you in your purse. Hehe. I brought a couple of heirloom tomatoes with me that I had already chopped up and mixed with basil. When the salad came, I simple added it to the salad and tossed. It made for a very delicious meal, and I had to ask the waiter had to refill my salad bowl, AND it only cost $3!! 

The view from our room. I would swim laps in the mornings 

and then soak in the hot tub with my mom in the evenings.

Yummy salad dinner: tomatoes, iceberg, shredded carrots, 

peppers, red onion, black olives, and basil.

 The second day was spent walking around city market, taking in the sites, discovering a few health shops with a nice fruit stash, and enjoying a massage at the hotel spa.

During this pre-birthday vacation I decided to keep my training very low key, choosing to focus on rest, relaxation, rejuvenation, and de-stressing before having to go back to school and ramping up my training. Instead of running or cycling I swam and walked, I slept longer, and I had a large amount of knots that I didn't know I had worked out of my back, neck, and shoulders. I've been back for a few days now and I already see the positive results in training sessions. I'm running faster, and my endurance is higher.

I had fruit meal photos from the trip on my iPhone 4, but sadly the unthinkable happened when I got home, I lost my iPhone!! I'm hoping it's somewhere in my mom's house, but until it's found I'm stuck with my old iPhone 3G because there is no way I'm paying $600 to get a replacement iPhone 4. So a lot of the photos I took for this post are gone.

On the brighter side I celebrated my 20th birthday last Monday, I'm all registered for my next semester at Union College, and I'm hoping to have my new website up and running before winter. My brother is quite adept at graphical art, web design, and computers in general, and he's been kind enough to work with me on this project. I'm hoping to use this webpage to expand upon this blog and a raw plant based lifestyle. I plan on having video recipes and tutorials, e-books, articles, reviews, ect., so stay tuned! =)

My "Chocolate" Pudding Three Day Weekend

     I just love weekends, particularly the ones that last three days instead of two. I spent all day Saturday relaxing. I slept in, laid in bed and read, took our family dog, Charlie, for a walk with my mom, and went crazy with my Chocolate (Black) Sapote. 

You remember this decadent fruit from my last post?

     I had bought quite a few sapote from jourdansbeautifulfood.com. However, unlike the last batch, these sapote ripened all at once. Yikes! Now don't get me wrong, I love eating massive amounts of sapote mono meal style, but after a while I was ready for a new spin on this scrumptious fruit. So I turned on my culinary creativity, went to work, and came up with this luscious meal that I dubbed. . .

Chocolate Silk Breakfast Pudding

     Despite its name, I love this meal so much that I have it for more than just breakfast. I often enjoy this pudding 2-3 times a day and as a result, I'm almost out of sapote. Oh no! I better go order some more. Chocolate Sapote only comes around once a year and I want to have my fill of it before the season ends.

Yum yum. . . eat em up! LOL 

Another meal that I have been enjoying 1-2 times a day lately is this tropical thirst quencher. . .

Punchy Pineapple Smoothie

     I just love how rich the color is because it gives the food the aesthetic appeal we humans often need to enjoy our meal. 

     The ingredients and prep work is really simple: take one ripe pineapple, chop it up, put pineapple pieces in the blender, add enough water to blend (I just use a splash of coconut water), and blend until frothy. That's it, your all done! Now just pour yourself a glass and enjoy. =D

     The rest of the weekend went well. By Sunday it was time to stock up on food, so the entire morning was spent making the Whole Foods and Farmer's Market rounds with my mom. I was really lucky that all my favorite fruits for the season were ripe (or almost ripe) and were being sold in bulk (it really saves me money). I ended up buying a box of large pineapple (6 pineapple), 2 boxes of persimmon (28), 2 lbs. of red grapes, 4 Organic red mango, 15 lbs, Organic bananas, and 2 Organic Hawaii Papaya (score!). I also got a bunch of greens and un-sweet fruit (e.g. tomato, bell pepper, cucumber) for giant dinner salads.

     Today(Monday) went less smoothly then the rest of the weekend. My college classes are supposed to start tomorrow and this morning all the classes I had registered for have somehow managed to unregister themselves and I can't seem to get them back. Hopefully someone in the administration office can help me get that sorted out tomorrow morning. 

     Then this afternoon I accidentally drove all the way to the gym and back with my emergency brakes on. I feel like such an idiot about that. I'm just praying that I didn't total the emergency break. *sigh* I guess I'll find out when I have the car checked out later in the week. *chuckles* The things that life throws at you huh? I just do what the penguins did.

     Well, it's getting late and I have a full day tomorrow, but before I wrap this post up, my weekend workouts:

Saturday

• Day off - 20 minutes walking dog and 20 push-ups

Sunday

• 8 miles cycling - avg. 16 mph pace
• 1 hour of yoga (my 2nd class and my arms are still feeling it!)
• 20 push-ups

Monday

• 1 hour run - 6 miles - avg. 6 mph pace

Running for Beginners: Getting Started & How To Keep Going Pt. 2

Amanda's How To Start Running Guide Continued. . .

Part Five: Variety = Better Preformance

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     Once you've gotten into the swing of things in your running routine, you might be tempted to run every single day, however, I don't recommed that you do this. When you're running you're putting stress upon your knee joints that can cause a lot of wear and tear over a period of time. TO avoid this it's a good idea to give your knee joints a rest every now and then. Go for a bike ride, swim, do some strength training, practice yoga. Any one of these things are a good source of movement without putting a lot, if any,  stress on the joints.
     
     Another good reason for doing other types of exercises in between running days is that you are toning other muscles and shedding fat around other areas of the body. The leaner your body, the faster you can run, so using other muscles in your body other than you legs and you will be on your way to becoming a lean running machine!


Part Six: Recovery
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     When you do any sort of high impact workouts, the muscles you use are broken down. It's during time after a workout that the body begins to rebuild those muscles and they will either become stronger or weaker depending on what sort of nutrients the muscle has at its disposal to use as building block for the new muscle.


     I have found personally that the best kind of recovery meal is some sort of smoothie. The nutrients in the food are already "chewed up" making for quicker digestion and nutrient absorbtion, which is good what you want so that you can get the nutrient building blocks into your body as soon as possible to build stronger muscles.


Some smoothie combonation ideas:

• banana/mango/spinach
• banan/date/coconut water
• banana/pineapple/spinach
• banana/grape/spinach
• banana/spinach/apple juice

Note: Raw fruits and leafy greens will provide you with the correct carb/protein/fat ration needed for your body to rebuild and repair itself. If you want to know a more about the protein myth that has been spread across the nation by medical propganda, then I recommen reading "The 80/10/10 Diet" by Dr. Douglas N. Graham, "The China Study" by T. Colin Cambell and a previous blogpost that I wrote here. 

     It's also very important - especially if you are participating in high impact workouts everyday - to take a full day off from high impact workouts. Doing so gives your body a break from contantly breaking down and rebuilding muscles on a daily bases. This doesn't mean that you have to be a lie around all day, it just means to obstain from any really strenuous activities. For example, on your rest day you could do go for a walk or do some housework, ect.

Part Eight: Keep Up Your Health

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     The key to having an energy filled run and still having strong energy levels through out the day is to make sure that you are keeping the 7 steps of health: NEWSTART

1. Nutrition - Keeps you fueled for your runs and keeps you from getting sick so you can workout. Eat plenty of carbs from fresh, raw, sweet juicy fruit! Eat some raw leafy greens, vegetables, nuts, and seeds as well and you have yourself a nutrient and water rich diet! 
2. Exercise - e.g. running
3. Water - When you sleep you aren't drinking water, when you exercise you sweat out water, and your body is approx. 75% water. If you don't replenish your water body's water supply you won't be running anywhere.
4. Sunshine - Allows you body to make vitamin D which is used in the absorbtion of calcium (which strengthens your bones so you can run without bone problems) and vitmain D gives you a boost of positive energy (will keep you energized and motivated to run).
5. Temperance - Alcohol will dehydrate you body and kills irreplacable brain cells, not good!
6. Air - Fresh air keeps your blood cells running and can give you body a pleasent, relaxing sensation, getting rid of stress.
7. Rest - When you run you have broken down muscles in your body and released free radicals into your system due to the stress put on your body during ecercise. Your body need to shut down for a minimum of 6 hours while 7 hours is prefered, and 8 to 10 hours would be the best.  Whatever the number of hours you choose, the most crucial hours of sleep that you body needs to regenerate is between 10pm and 2am (has to do with specific hormones that are secreted at this time of night). Miss these four hours and you've dprived your body of muscle repairing time and you will most likely find your energy during your run and throughout the rest of the day will take a nose dive. 
8. Trust in the Creator - Spiritual peace is important for your emotional well being. Trust in the Creator brings emotional stability to cope with life, which leaves your body free to function positively for your running and anything else in your life.

Part Nine: The Conclusion
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     I hope that all the information, suggestions, and ideas that I have provided in this two part article for you, will help you reach your running goal(s). There is so much more information I would have loved to write and share with you, but if I did that I know it would turn into a book!  So I leave instead with this basic synopsis that will steer you in the right direction, and I am sure that over time as you become a better, more seasoned runner, that you will discover many tips and tricks that will benefit your preformance along the way. Good luck!