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Showing posts from February 17, 2019

No-Bake Cran-Chocolate Energy Balls

Energy balls are a fantastic snack as they are satisfying (offering a combination of protein, carbs, and fats), are portable, and easy to eat. They tend to be less expensive than store-bought bars (and without some questionable ingredients) and contain basic ingredients that you may regularly have on hand in your pantry. They are also easily customizable with just a basic recipe (for example, change up the dried fruit and/or nut butter for variety). Another positive, they are quick and easy to make and freeze well for later use!                        Cran-Chocolate Energy Balls                                                       By Joey Mock, RD, LD, CLT Ingredients 1 ¼ cups quick cooking oats ¼ cup finely shredded unsweetened coconut flakes ¼ cup ground flaxseed m...

Swim training - to fuel or not to fuel?

During our 3.5 day train-cation in Clermont, Florida we were spoiled by swimming in NTC pool - perfect water temp, lots of open swim lanes, surrounded by swimmers/triathletes and most importantly, swimming outside! Because the pool is my happy place, I was super happy to see so much swimming on my training plan. In four swims (over 5 days), I completed 17,600 yards of following the black line and I never stopped smiling. Two of our workouts went by extremely fast, even though they were 4000+ yards. Not always do Karel and I have the same swim workouts (or on the same days) but for camp we swam the same sets but had different cycles for the main set. Here were my two favorite swim sessions from camp: Tuesday (4000 yards) WU: 800 choice Pre-set: 100 drill 3 x 50's (kick/swim) 2 x 75's open turns 100 choice 4 x 25's build 3 x 50's head up free 2 x 75's kick/swim/kick 100 choice MS: All with paddles 18 x 100's as: #1: on 1:20 (cycle) #2: 1:30 #3-4: 1:20 #...

The truth about fad diets

Carbs. The dietary villain. It wasn't that long ago when Americans were afraid to eat fat due to a possible link with heart disease. In the midst of a low-fat, fat-free diet craze, a message got lost in translation. Instead of reducing unhealthy fats, American's heard: Fats are bad, carbs are good. As the food industry does best, they saw this as a great opportunity to make and promote low fat/fat-free products. What happened next? Take out the fat but add lots of sugar. Around this time, Americans started to eat more processed food (rich in refined grains and sugar), more fast food, more sodas and much less fiber and whole grains. Sadly, around this time there was a rise in obesity and diabetes. In addressing one problem (heart disease), dietary advice fueled another problem (obesity and diabetes). However, not all carbs are created equal (just like fats). Americans have a liking for sweet, refined and convenient foods - which contain a lot of carbs, sugar and energy ...

Lessons learned from our train-cation

I'd say that was a productive and successful train-cation. Travel went smoothly, we remained in great health and we were able to accomplish all of our planned workouts. The warm weather and change of scenery was exactly what we needed to recharge. Although this felt far from a vacation as every day included several hours of computer work, it was a nice escape from the daily grind. After our 3.5 day "camp" in Clermont, FL. concluded on Thurs afternoon, we drove to Jacksonville, FL to finish out the rest of our trip - Karel had four bike fits for some of our FL athletes scheduled over the next two days. We stayed with our assistant coach Joe, and his wife Erica, son Weston and dog Reagan. After spending 6 years in Jacksonville, it was nice to be back and to train on familiar roads. Although much more car-filled/busy for my liking, it was a nice change to train on roads that were flat! To finish off our week of training: Friday AM: 4250 yard swim (for me, Karel had...