Mini Oatmeal Cake Recipe & Weekly Review

RUNS: Lets talk about my runs this week. They have been AWESOME! And when I say awesome I dont mean that I ran the fastest times or the most miles. Im not comparing myself to anyone else. No sir. It has been all me and I have not felt this STRONG in my running in a very long time.

Every single run this week has been a good run. My breathing still sucks but not quite as bad as it has been. No pain of any kind. Just all good stuff. I have not had a week like this in probably about a year. I dont know what is different about this week but I am digging it. I do have several possible ideas but I am just going to keep a watch on things and see what happens.

Speaking of fast runs...I did have two runs that were about 10mm paced runs. I have not had runs that fast in  about a year also. And two in one week?! Woohoo! Check out the run I did on Friday morning. I even got three miles in at a sub 10mm! Of course, once I realized it my body totally slowed down! But I was okay with it.

Fastest 5k in umm...forever.

Saturday I did my long run for the week with some friends around the lakes. It was a good time and I totally felt good the whole time. Sue was a total badass as usual and ran the whole thing with me! I love it. She never has excuses. She just RUNS. Kinda sounds familiar, huh!

How could I almost forget the only non-awesome part of that run. I ended up with two small blisters. One on each big toe. I felt a hot spot on the one around mile 10ish and ended up with two. Nice.

Usually when I run the whole lake loop or a long run like that I am pretty wiped out and cant/dont run the next day. But I actually felt good so I went and ran 10 miles. I couldnt believe how good I felt. I really wanted to cry but I was even to happy for that. Everything was great except that those two little blisters now turned into big blisters. Ouch! Thankfully they didnt bother me while I was running though.

Trust me. I am analyzing the crap out of all my runs and food intake over the past week or two to see if I can narrow down what it is that I seem to be doing "right" to be feeling so good. So strong. A few of the ideas I am looking at...

-took the pressure off of myself by claiming that I am not doing a spring 50 miler (even though I am still thinking about it)
-claimed that I was going to cut back my mileage (even though I am still running ~40mpw/44 miles this week)
-only long runs in January have been 16milers x2 (no 20+ mile runs)
-yoga is making me a kickass runner (just as I had suspected ;))
-I am eating better (but really, am I?!)
-I have lost a couple of pounds (couple meaning 6 = not enought to make a difference)
-I took max dose of Ibuprofen x4 days for the whole whiplash/neck pain thing (thinking same idea as when I am on Prednisone and have awesome runs....thinking something to do with inflammation in my body but just dont know enough to know what...looking more into this one)
-no meds at all for 6 weeks (other then above mentioned Ibuprofen) (no asthma, allergy, reflux, non allergy whatever its called nose spray)

So there you go. Thats just a few off the top of my head. What happened to the just have fun and run stuff?! Im having a blast and I want it to stay this way. I need to find out what is going on that is "right" with me right now.

EATS: Now lets talk breakfast again. I knew I was headed for an oatmeal cycle and indeed here it is. How about some Oatmeal Pancakes with maple syrup?! I like to rip them apart with my fingers, dip and eat. No utensils required.

Oatmeal Pancakes w/ maple syrup

And then I have also been eating Mini Oatmeal Cakes. It finally occurred to me that these might be a good replacement for the pre-race poptarts that I feel like I just have to have. So I ate one before my 16M on Saturday and the belly totally loved them. I am seriously going to try it pre-race now!

Mini Oatmeal Cake

Mini Oatmeal Cakes
12 muffins

2 1/2 cups rolled oats
1/2 tsp salt
2 over ripe bananas, mashed
2 Tbs agave, maple syrup, or honey
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup water
2 Tbs applesauce
1/4 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup diced walnuts

Mix dry ingredients in one bowl and wet ingredients in another bowl.
Then combine the two bowls.
Pour evenly into greased 12 muffin tin pan.
Press mixture firmly into tins to pack it.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.
Enjoy them warm or at room temperature!

Even better with Peanut Butter smeared on top!

This week was also my dads birthday and my sons. My dad turned 60 and Colton 20!

Cookie Cake!

I was oh so good and only had one piece of that sucker!

Have you ever had an unexpected good run that make you feel on top of the world?!
Have you ever had cookie cake?! If not, you just dont know what you are missing ;)

Peace.