Green Monster

I've been a blog slacker.  I've been busy with my training schedule and the weather is beautiful these days so I pretty much forgot that I have a blog. 

For those that don't know...I am running my first marathon in June.  26.2 miles of pure craziness.  I love running- and I feel the most fit when I run, plus it's a great time to unwind.  The training has been good so far, but this week I'm starting to feel the fatigue of increasing mileage.  And my weekly mileage is only going to keep getting higher.  Right now I'm running 4 days a week, cross training 2 times a week and my beloved rest day (Sundays).  My mileage is around 25-30 miles per week right now, and it will be increasing up to 40 miles a week.  Here's what this upcoming week's schedule looks like--starting with today:

Thursday-  Strength Training + Turbo Kick
Friday- 4 miles + yoga
Saturday- 14 miles
Sunday- REST!
Monday- 4 mile run
Tuesday - Strength Training + Turbo Kick
Wednesday- 6 miles tempo (aka-- hard, fast run)


The hard part is that while I'm training, I'm also trying to get fit and hopefully tone up/lose weight.  I'm not a girl who's totally focused on the scale, but I want my body to look toned and tight.   Why would this be hard?  Marathon training requires a lot of fuel.  To run 26 miles, you need to be properly fueled, otherwise your body could completely give up on you.  So, I'm eating more calories and food--but I'm trying SO SO hard to eat good, clean foods.  So far, so good.  I'm feeilng more fit and looking more toned (at least to me, and that's all that matters really).   My biggest hurdle is my eating at night.  For a while I ended up feeling starved at 8-9pm, and then I end up eating too much and feel gross afterwards.  So, what I've done to eliminate this is to eat more calories throughout the day (healthy snacks & smaller meals), eat more fiber in my diet, and have a healthy shake after dinner to satisfy my "sweet tooth" and to get me some healthy nutrients.  My friend gave me this recipe, and I love it.  I'm sure there are many variations out there, but I'm in love with the creamy-not-too-sweet taste.

Any shake that looks green and has lots of nutrients I call a Green Monster.  So, here's my Green Monster...

My husband thinks the color is disgusting, so he won't eat it.  And that is OK by me....it's yummy, cool looking and I LOVE IT!

Green Monster:

1 frozen banana

1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk

2 cups spinach-raw
1 TBSP peanut butter

Use blender and blend banana, milk & spinach until creamy.  Add peanut butter & blend well.  Wa-lah.  Yummyness. 

Nutrient Facts:
220 calories

30g carbs

8g protein

9g fat

 210mg sodium

14g sugar

811mg potassium

7g fiber

16% iron

147% Vitamin A

50% Vitamin C