Brrr! It was another freezing day here in sunny California! At 4:00 pm, there was still frost at the boathouse from this morning! That is absolutely unheard of here. Crazy! I guess I’ll dive right in to today’s eats!

Before my morning workout, I drank some milk and ate a piece of oat bread (thawed).

The recipe is from Haute Box, and can be found here. I found this recipe on stumbleupon and had been meaning to make it for the longest time. I always wondered what a non-sweet quick bread would be like. The answer? Delicious! Try this! It is soft and moist, yet it still maintains that great bread-y flavor like a normal loaf of bread.

Also, this morning I learned that the dining hall milk really isn’t all that good. It tastes really metal-y. The milk I brought from home was 1000x better. Who knew?

My morning workout was weights. I am starting to like this version of weights a little more. I just need to try and make the most out of my workout. I haven’t really been that sore from these workouts. I want to try to lift a little bit on my own just for my own enjoyment and sanity (Sore? Yes please!) but it is super difficult to find the time. There are certain hours that the gym is completely busy, and I have no hope of getting on a bar. Last quarter my classes started later than most, so I could go when everyone was in class. This quarter, not so much. I guess I just need to try and find a new less busy time. I wonder if I will be sore tomorrow from today. We had 3×50 squats with a bar. I wasn’t sore after 2×40 last time so we shall see. If I’m not, I definitely need to add some weight.

After weights, they provide us with protein shakes (if we want them). People always grab them, so today I decided to try one, with the full intention of drinking a few sips and throwing it away (I had bigger and better plans for my post workout recovery drink!).

My evaluation? It was…weird. Very unnatural. It only had 4g of sugar, yet it was very sweet. Which means fake sugar. And fake sugar almost always has a weird taste. So I tossed it. Yes, I know, very wasteful. I have interesting views on protein shakes. In theory, I like the idea of a homemade (the store bought ones are weird in my opinion) protein shake because it makes me feel like an athlete. On the other hand, I’ve learned from various nutrition experts that we really don’t need that much more protein after a workout, so I usually just drink milk, eat yogurt, or eat my normal meal. However, I am dying to try my new chocolate protein powder. It was literally the only kind I could find without Stevia, just because I really don’t like the flavor of Stevia. It’s not whey protein though, I think it’s hemp and flax. Plus it has added greens for antioxidants or something but I doubt that whatever dried and ground up vegetable will really help me that much. My plans for it? Milk+protein powder+frozen banana+peanut butter. I have a banana I need to freeze too. I’m thinking maybe this Thursday after our hard erg workout.

ANYWAY, back to my day. Normally after weights we have a timed run (roughly 4 miles). It was cancelled today. I planned on doing it anyway, but it was freezing this morning (actually, it was 31) and that is just too cold for me, so I decided to compromise and go on an easy 2 miler. My legs were so numb! My timed runs are going to be so much faster when it warms up! So what was my recovery drink of choice?

Homemade hot chocolate! This is the perfect post workout recovery drink. What’s in it?

Post-Workout Recovery Drink (Chocolate)

Fill a mug with about a cup of milk, and stir in 2 spoonfuls of unsweetened cocoa powder. Microwave on high for 1 minute. Stir well, until cocoa is blended. If not hot enough, microwave for additional time to reach your desired temperature. Then, stir in a spoonful of brown rice syrup, or other glucose source (corn syrup, dextrose). Add honey to taste.

This is definitely not sweet. I added a dash of honey to give it a little sweetness, but not very much. This drink is very basic and easy to make, and contains protein and glucose (see why this is important here) to refuel your body. This doubles as chocolate milk. I used to make a big saucepan of it, and then just refrigerate it to drink on other days. However, today was freezing, and I wanted something hot!

I also snacked on some pistachios.

As I got ready for the day, my exercise high wore off and I realized how tired I was. I didn’t think I’d be able to make it through an OChem lecture without a little help….But here’s the thing. I am definitely not a coffee drinker. I really don’t like it. Call me crazy. It’s certainly an acquired taste, and after a full quarter of 5:45 am practices every morning, I adjusted well enough to it. But it’s been a while. Some people sip their coffee. I prefer the chugging method.

As you may notice, the portion size is pretty small. I dumped an entire pack of instant coffee into a small amount of heated unsweetened vanilla almond milk. I figure if I don’t like it anyway, might as well make it go down faster. It also doesn’t take a lot of coffee to wake me up since I hardly ever drink it. Normally I would only have half a cup at most, but the instant coffee isn’t very strong. Some may suggest, oh, why don’t you add sweetener to you coffee? You’d probably like it better. Well, you, I almost certainly would like it better. But I still won’t like it, so why waste the sugar? Ok, enough on my coffee tangent. It got the job done.

Lunch was a salad with cheese, strawberries, and apple, a cold brussels sprout and tomato salad (so good!), a few carrots, teriyaki chicken, plus a bean and grain mixture. I tried to hit all my main food groups: cooked veggies (more available nutrients), raw veggies (slows digestion), protein, slow digesting carbs (the beans), and healthy fat (olive oil in the salad dressing). I’m trying to be better about this! I also had a few pieces of fruit.

After an afternoon of classes, I ate and apple and then headed out to the water to enjoy a freezing practice. Seriously. I had 4 layers on my arms, plus insulated spandex pants. The problem was, as my body started warming up, the temperature kept dropping. I had so many layers on I could barely move! Finally towards the end I dropped my outer jacket, but still! I hope it warms up soon! These have definitely been multiple jacket days.

For dinner, I brought my leftover half avocado to the dining hall and added it on top of this salad:

Greens, tomato, olives, mushrooms, and italian dressing. I also had a little of the prepared salad, which was spinach and onions in a sweet-ish dressing. The dining hall is pretty dependable in always having decent grilled chicken, but the line takes forever, and it was just too long today for me to deal with, so I topped my salad with Thai barbecue chicken. It’s fattier, but definitely faster! I also had a piece of a breadstick because they looked amazing, and polenta. Dessert? Half a whole wheat english muffin.

This no sugar challenge hasn’t actually been all that hard for me. I’ve gone off sugar a few times before, and now this is by far the easiest it has been. Normally the cravings are terrible for the first 3 or 4 days, and here I am on day 3! Partly, I’m not at home where there is a ridiculous amount of sweets, but I think this blog definitely has helped! When I know sweets aren’t even an option, I don’t really think about eating them. WHen people offer me sweets, I just say no without thinking twice. I am confident I can finish out this challenge! Who’s with me?

I really need to go to bed early tonight. I am seriously dreading tomorrow morning. And it really is my fault. I have to leave at 5:45 to do my morning erg (it’s an on my own erg) because I want to finish it in time to make a 7 am spin class. This is really one of the only times I can go to spin in the week, so I want to make it. The problem? We also have a 30 minute run (SO COLD. But still better than the treadmill…), so I get to get my butt out of bed super early, then erg, spin, and run. Yayy. Hopefully you guys can get a good night’s sleep for me!

How do you feel about morning workouts?