Tips for Running in Ridiculous Heat

June 20th, 2013 | Posted by Erica House in Fitness | Health - (1 Comments)

My relationship with running has improved so much over the last few months. I’ve finally reached a point where I’ve been running injury free and *bam* summer comes and I have a whole new problem to deal with: 100% humidity and temperatures over 80 degrees at FIVE in the morning!

Sometimes I think about it and it makes me want to skip my run, crawl back into bed, and weep softly as I remember running in cooler temperatures.

DB

It’s so hot and humid out now that I’ll leave the house with perfectly straight hair and come back looking like this:

post run hair

I’m certainly not an expert but I’ve learned quickly how to deal with running in high humidity and soaring temperatures. Here are a few of my favorite tips – some basic and some hopefully new to you!Running in the HeatThe #1 issue is definitely hydration. I’ve had to back off from running for a few days when I realized I was getting dehydrated. I also remember at least two occasions last summer where I didn’t even think I could make it home I started to get so light-headed and disoriented. When you know you will be going out running in hot weather start hydrating the day before .This has been one of the best things I’ve started to do this year and has helped significantly!

2013-04-11 09.55.05I absolutely love my Nathan water bottle for running. I’ve had it since last year and it’s still in perfect shape. The nuun tabs I just started using last week but judging by the cult following they have I’m confident I will notice a huge difference in my hydration level!

June2I spent hours searching online for advice on running in the heat. I’m not sure what I was really expecting to find. Some magic trick to make it suck less perhaps? Unfortunately, I know that’s not going to happen so I have two choices.

(1) Quit running until September

(2) Wo/man up and get out there and hustle

Guess which option I’m going to go with?

What are your best tips for running in the heat?

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Marathon Versus Triathlon

June 19th, 2013 | Posted by Erica House in Fitness | Health - (36 Comments)

The time has come for me to set a goal of completing something I once would have thought impossible.

Only problem is – I’m not sure which goal I want to set for myself! For the last few weeks I’ve been toying with the idea of training for a marathon or my first triathlon. Now that I can actually afford to do one I’m trying to decide which I’d like to work on first. A local running store/community has training programs for both that start in July and culminate this Fall. Of course I had to make up a pro/con list for each.

Marathon

This one definitely scares the crap out of me. 26.2 miles …. really? Scary goals can be good though. I cannot fathom how incredible it would feel to finish one and be able to say I’m a marathoner. I also feel like I’m not sure what the next few years in my life may hold for me and I’d love to get one done while I still can.

TriathlonHonestly, if it wasn’t for the cost I’d consider training for both. The Tri consists of a 600 yard swim, 18 mile bike and 3.1 mile run. The only real training I’d need to do for the Tri is swimming. The Tri is October 5th and the Marathon is about 6 weeks later and I think I would be okay to do both. 

Option C: Register for the marathon training program and train for the Tri on my own. That would bring the cost of the Tri down to about $300. A student of mine has a Tri bike she’s offering to sell to me for dirt cheap (or I may just pick up a bike from Walmart) If I didn’t sign up for the Tri training I’d have to find a pool to use somewhere though which would add on extra money, but likely come with a gym membership I’ve been thinking of getting anyways.

Decisions, decisions!

What would you do?

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Low Sugar Peanut Butter Oatmeal Protein Bars

June 18th, 2013 | Posted by Erica House in Health | Life | Recipes - (32 Comments)

It’s been a while since my last recipe! I finally had some time this weekend to play around in the kitchen and I set out to make some high protein snacks to bring to work. I wanted a sweet low sugar treat and spent the morning looking up protein bar recipes online. These definitely turned out more like granola bars but they are still high protein, low calorie and 100% delicious!

Oatmeal Protein Bars1

Ingredients:

1 c. Quick Oats

1/2 c. Protein Powder – I used Vi-Shape Sweet Cream flavor

2 T Flax seed (can omit)

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

4 packets Truvia or other zero calorie sweetener

1/2 c. PB2 (can use real peanut butter but adjust the nutritional info accordingly!)

2 containers apple sauce (about 1 cup)

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 cup egg whites

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Directions:

- Combine the first 6 ingredients (all the dry stuff) in a large bowl.

- Combine the last 4 ingredients in a smaller bowl. Mix well. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix well again.

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- Pour batter into a greased baking dish (mine was 9×9) and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before cutting.

The hardest part of the entire recipe is not eating all of the batter raw. Seriously. I made the mistake of licking the spoon after I put the batter into the pan and I actually had to spoon some of the batter out just to have a few more bites before it went in the oven. Then, right after I put it in the oven, I debated on taking it out and just eating it raw. Thankfully I showed some self-restraint and let it bake.

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If you cut yours into 8 bars like I did the nutritional stats look like this:

Calories 106, Fat 2, Sugar 4 and Protein 8

You could also cut them into 4 large squares and double the nutritional stats above. 206 calories and 16 grams of protein rivals most store bough protein bars! As for the taste of the protein powder I used – I accidently spilled some on the counter as I was working and I had to lick my finger to ‘clean’ it up … into my mouth. It is delicious! I can’t wait to add some to my oatmeal in the mornings and make smoothies with it.

Oatmeal Protein Bars

Disclosure: ViSalus provided me with product to use and compensated me for my time to develop this recipe.

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