My friend Brittney is training for her first half marathon and it just so happens that we are celebrating both our birthdays tonight. Mine was the 28th and hers was the 30th. One of the most difficult things I find about training for any race is finding the perfect amount of food to go in your belly to fuel your run without making you feel like you have overeaten. Another issue I have is eating a lot of over-processed bars. I love bars, but I know I shouldn’t eat them all the time. So, every once in a while I make my own homemade bars. As part of Britt’s birthday present, I decided to make her a Fuel your Run package including homemade protein bars, energy bars (truffles), and a cute coffee mug.
I decided to go with someone who would not lead me astray, instead of making up my own on the fly. I did my own twist on Tina’s Refuel Bars. This is basically her exact recipe except I added 1 cap of organic almond extract, used dried cranberries instead of raisins, and used about 1/4 of a cup of trail mix, which included more dried cranberries, macadamia nuts, and almonds. I also used hemp protein powder instead of the Vega.
Tina is right when she says these are not too sweet, which is good for not spiking your blood sugar or leaving you with a craving for more sugar.
Of course, I also threw in a four of my Date Truffles (round homemade Lara bar), because I told her the other week I would make her some. And these are so scrumptious, they’re really meant for sharing. 🙂 I might re-name these Energy Truffles because with all those dates, that’s exactly what they are.
I also whipped up my own concoction. I’m really interested in developing a protein bar that uses tofu. I’ve tried Alton Brown’s version and thought it was just okay. My tofu bars were not good enough to give to friends, but I think I’m on to something. I think there is a delicious tofu bar in my future, I just need to keep working at it.
In Brittney’s “Fuel Your Run” birthday package, I also gave her the infamous Anthropologie Monogrammed Mug. Each of my friends are going to have one of these before I die. I just love them (let’s hope they all love them too, since they’re all obviously getting one at some point in time). I actually decided the other day to replace all of our old mugs with Anthropolgie mugs, so each time I go to the mall, I’m gong to buy a new cute mug and one of our Tale of the Sanddollar-type mugs are going to be placed in the Goodwill pile.
I think this gift was very appropriate since we had just had the conversation the day before about drinking coffee before a race to help you flush out your system. I always have one cup of coffee before any race, but at least 2 hours before hand, to give it plenty of time to be digested. For more information on the benefits of drinking coffee prior to a run or a race, see this article in Runners World.
Brittney, I hope you had a wonderful birthday and that you enjoy your Fuel your Run package!