Category Archives: Training Food

The Ultimate Energy Bar Formula

Three different bars made with Christine's formula. Do they look like they have beans in them?

Recipes are great.  But formulas are where it's at. Recipes allow even brand new cooks to produce something that's really good, or at least something that doesn't entirely suck. You can take a recipe that an expert chef created and reproduce in your home exactly the same dish, without the years of training. Score. The…

Perfect Snacks for Kids Who Play Sports (and How to Convince Them to Eat the Healthy Stuff)

Danielle with cousin Frankie.

Note: This is a guest post from Danielle Elliot, who writes the blog That Normal Vegan. When I hang out with my younger cousins, I cringe as Isabella, 11, tells me she ate PopTarts before her soccer game.  Or when Frankie, 10, says he had a burger in the middle of his little league doubleheader….

Chocolate Strawberry Banana Smoothie from BlendHappy

[powerhouse smoothie ingredients image]

When I met Nick Reese in Austin at SXSW a few weeks ago, I was pretty pumped about that.  Nick is a guy I've learned a lot from and look up to for the way he ignores the supposed "limits" and is committed to standing out from the crowd. So when he told me that…

Make Your Own Energy Gel (With Chia Seeds!)

[chia seeds image]

This is a guest post from Tim Woodbury, who writes at MidpackRunner.com. This post started with a challenge, when Doug from TheHaySay.com fired a shot across my bow. At issue: The question of whether we could create an inexpensive, wholesome, homemade energy gel incorporating chia seeds. Homemade energy gels are particularly difficult to get right,…

The Perfect Smoothie Formula

[strawberry smoothie image]

"Give a man a smoothie recipe and he'll be healthy for a week, teach a man the Perfect Smoothie Formula and he'll be healthy for a lifetime." – Me The way I see it, you only need to eat healthy twice during the day.  While you'll certainly eat more than twice a day, just two…

The Chocolate Quinoa Protein Bars that Cured My Pop-Tart Addiction

[chocolate bars photo 1]

My name is Christine, and I have a Pop-Tart problem. Ever since I discovered these accidentally-vegan goodies in the vending machine at law school, I can't seem to get my dollar in the slot fast enough.  That wouldn't be a big deal every once in awhile, but the vending machine seems to call out my…

Is There Such a Thing as a 'Good Kind' of Caffeine?

[green tea image]

We hear a lot these days about how caffeine boosts endurance and energy levels.  I can't say for sure if it works that way for me, but I can certainly attest to the fact that mentally, I feel more pumped up for a workout if I've consumed caffeine a few minutes prior to exercising. But…

The Vegetarian Athlete Diet

Vegan beans and rice

It's time to put an end to the idea that eating a vegetarian or vegan diet and running well are mutually exclusive. I became a much stronger runner almost immediately after switching to a vegetarian diet.  But you don't have to take my word for it: There are plenty of world-class athletes (and not just…

Pre-Race Pinole & Chia Waffles

[pinole chia waffle photo]

Hello again!  This is Christine, and this week I have a batch of vegan waffles to satisfy your sweet tooth!  But these aren't just any waffles: They're based on the diet of the Tarahumara, a Mexican tribe of superathlete ultramarathoners. Ok, I'll admit it, long after Matt's post on Tarahumara pinole and chia, I'm only…

Spicy Cacao-Banana Raw Energy Bars

[christine running photo]

What do you know, another Monday. But this Monday is special, for lots of reasons, not the least of which are that I'm on spring break and my second-ever 50K is on Saturday.  It's also the start of the last full week of my first year of blogging, seeing as I started this blog on…