Apple & Pumpkin Season!

Even as the weather continues to hover in the 90s in Fort Collins, the growing season ticks on. Peaches are ripening, the transition from summer squashes to fall squashes is in full swing, and pumpkin beers are dominating the shelves at beer stores. Fall is tangibly working itself into the air - I couldn't be more excited for chilly nights, frost-tipped grass to run through in the mornings, hoodies, hot tea, fleecy blankets, and good books. Most importantly though, pumpkin spice lattes have hit the coffee bars at Starbucks all over the country.

Although I spend a lot of my time running, food and nutrition pretty much top the lists of my other passions. Fall foods are hands down my favorites too.

The pumpkin spice latte at Starbucks is my favorite guilty indulgence. But since I'm still not running much in my post-Leadville recovery, I'm delaying my first PSL of the season. To quell my cravings though, I opened a can of pumpkin puree the other day to make my own (slightly healthier) version of a pumpkin spice latte. Combine 1/2 C almond milk (or whatever your milk of choice is), 1 tsp of sugar, and 1.5 TBSP pumpkin puree in a 16 oz coffee mug, heat it up, and top it off with 10 oz of dark roast coffee. A sprinkle of pumpkin pie spices to top it off, and you basically have heaven in a (ceramic) glass.

Then last night I had dinner with a friend. I had a pound of pork loin in the freezer, and couldn't decide what to make with it. So I went to trusty ol' Google for some answers and found, and slightly modified, a recipe for Pork & Apple Curry with Coconut Rice. I don't love coconut, or coconut milk, in general but coconut rice is one of my favorite ways to cook rice. The coconut flavoring is just subtle and creamy enough that I can totally get on board. Prepare yourself for some pure awesome.

Pork & Apple Curry (serves 4)

• 1 pound boneless pork loin
• 1 apple, peeled and diced
• 1/4 C OJ
• 1/4 C chicken stock
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 3/4 small onion, chopped
• 1 TBSP curry powder
• 1/2 tsp ginger powder
• 1/2 tsp  cinnamon powder
• optional post-cooking addition: toasted coconut flakes

Throw it all in the slow-cooker on low for 5-6 hours. Prep time of roughly 5 minutes - so easy!

Coconut Rice

• 2 C rice
• 1 3/4 C water
• 1 C coconut milk

Either mix all in a rice cooker (easiest way!) or bring water to a boil in a small pot, then add the rice and coconut milk, cover, and let cook approximately 20 minutes, or until all liquid has evaporated and the rice is tender. 

I ended up with extra pumpkin (though my pup has been enjoying a spoonful in her chow every morning this week) and extra coconut milk. I decided to make a really simple pudding-like dish for dessert this evening. I combined 3/4 C coconut milk, 1 C pumpkin puree, 1 TBSP sugar, 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder, & 1/4 tsp nutmeg (serves 2). Boil until it thickened, and enjoy! This might be my new fave fall dessert. 

Hooray for Fall!

Maroon Bells & Leadville Packing

Looking down at Snowmass Lake from the 10 mile mark

Last weekend, I drove out to Aspen for a weekend of camping and running fun with some great friends, and plans for a final long run before Leadville around the Maroon Bells 4 Passes Loop. With a handful of last-minute cancellations by friends who were planning on watching children and wonder-dog Vera, Kristel and I made the call that running the whole 28 mile loop would have us out on the trails for an unfairly long time to the friend who was dog/child-sitting for us all morning. Instead, we abbreviated our run to a 20 mile out-and-back over Buckskin Pass, u-turning on a part of the trail overlooking Snowmass Lake.

On the ascent up Buckskin Pass from the TH (CCW direction)

The route is absolutely gorgeous! High mountain passes, sparkling lakes, thin oxygenless air. Pretty much a perfect day on the trails. I felt horrible the entire time we were running. Headachey, light-headed. Legs had no lift at all. Chest felt tight and breathing was labored. Basically, one of the crappier runs I've had. I attributed it all at first to altitude - we were hovering between 9580 ft and 12,500 ft at the summit of Buckskin Pass. However, it took another week before I started to feel normal again, so I probably was just fighting off some kind of a bug.

Snowmass Lak

I'm now less than 5 days out from Pb100 - yikes!!! I spent the past couple of days over the weekend figuring out what is going to go into my drop bags, what I'm going to eat and drink during the race, and then actually packing it all up. Let me tell you, that's been pretty stressful - like nightmare-inducing panics that I'll have forgotten to pack warm enough clothes or energy gels or something else. But some extensive list-making and stressed-out conversations with my 100-miler-veteran friends, and I feel a whole lot better about the whole thing.

Little Vera, bringing back the 80s

The dietitian in me has demanded extensive thoughts on the food aspect of running 100 miles. Although I typically eat a diet pretty heavy in vegetables, whole foods, whole grains, limited bread products, and limited processed "junk foods," running an ultra is a whole other ball game. Starting today, I'll be cutting out all dairy leading up to the race (I'm a mild lactard and don't want any risk of lactose-related GI issues). Over the course of the week, I'll also be transitioning from my usual diet to a lower-fiber diet (no kale salads on Friday for me!). 100 miles is brand new distance to me, and I'm going to have to figure out how to eat consistently for almost 30 hours straight. Luckily, I pretty much eat non-stop anyway. But in this case, I'll have to not only find a way to eat a little bit consistently throughout the race, but to also consume foods that will deliver glucose straight to my muscles while sitting easily in my stomach, requiring minimal digestive energy, and being neutral enough that I won't be repulsed by the food after a few hours of consistent consumption. I'll be aiming to consume between 100-200 kcals per hour, likely more on the front end and less towards the end.

So the line-up looks as such (and reads like every 8 year old's dream diet, except maybe the coffee, Vfuel, and broth):

• Gel flasks of Vfuel - about 50 kcals per hour 
• Crust-less Nutella sandwiches on white bread
• Vfuel oat balls (see below for the recipe)
• Coca cola 
• Starbucks Via instant coffee with vanilla vfuel 
• Lemon-lime Skratch
• Boiled potatoes
• Potato chips
• M&Ms and Snickers, as needed
• S-caps (for electrolytes)

But of course that's just a general plan. And I really have no idea how it will go. However, the oatballs are delicious right now, and below is the recipe:

VFuel Oatballs

2.5 C dry oatmeal

2/3 C Vfuel (pick your favorite flavor)

1/3 C honey

1.5 tsp vanilla

2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 C almond butter

1/2 C chocolate chips

Mix together, cover and refrigerate for an hour. Form into balls and store in the fridge or freezer until ready for consumption.

An Ode to Vera

One year ago today, I was scrolling around Facebook during a break between classes (there's a good chance it was in the middle of a class...) and the local favorite animal shelter Animal House had just posted a picture of a brand new puppy - Eden. I jogged over to the shelter over lunch and met this little 18 pound mini-lab look-alike. She was so shy! She just stared at me from across the room while I sat on the floor. After a few minutes of this, she tentatively creeped over towards me, sniffed my hand and crawled into my lap. That was about it for me. I was dating this guy at the time, and things were getting pretty serious between us - serious enough that I had to wait for little Eden, soon to become Vera, to meet his dog, Abbeygale, before making any decisions. But I knew right away that I was going to take her. I adopted her 3 days later, and I have never looked back.

I can always count on her to want to be over-top excited for a run, and her least favorite thing is when she sees me lacing up my trail shoes at 5AM, because that usually means she doesn't get to come along. She seriously has the Stoke. Within days of her adoption, she'd already summited Horsetooth Rock twice and hiked/ran a few miles on Towers (a true FCTR dog from the start).

She ran her first, well only, race on Halloween this year, and even let me dress her up as a bumble bee for the event. And she kicked butt (we won our - my - age group). I've been taking it slow'ish with her in terms of building up her running mileage, but she's gone as far as 11.5 miles with me in a single clip. I have high hopes for her being a true ultra-runner dog one day.

And she is the ultimate road trip companion. Except she doesn't hold up her end of the conversation all that well and prefers to sit on the plastic center console instead of the big front seat that's usually open to her (well that part is just weird). She listens great though! But in our year together so far, she has been all over the state of CO, through Arizona and Utah, and back and forth to NJ for Christmas. She's been from the Grand Canyon to the Appalachian Trail and back. There aren't even all that many people who can brag about that!

Vera loves to road trip in very uncomfortable looking positions

She also is a great camper. Her first camping trip was a mini-backpacking foray around Grey Rock, where we camped in pretty darn cold temperatures. She was quite the trooper, and cuddled up warmly against my then boyfriend to keep him warm (his sleeping bag was wayyyy too light-weight for an early spring camping trip). Since then, she's become quite the pro, though she gets a bit iffy on actually eating food when we're out in the woods. Trying to dig chipmunks out of their holes, as seen below, occupies a much more prominent spot in her mind than hunger.

Anyway, I guess what I'm saying here, is a Happy Vera Day to my favorite puppy Vera!

Back on The Wall

And no I don't mean the Pink Floyd album (although my dog is named after a Pink Floyd song, and by way of the transient property, also after the singer Vera Lynn). I got home from my 10 hour day at school (14 hour working day by the time 7PM rolled around - Mondays are brutal for me) and, for a change, didn't really want to run. I wanted to climb. I haven't touched a climbing wall in any real capacity since August. The last time I went, I was climbing at a reasonably non-embarrassing level and bouldering at a non-embarrassing level. I suck, but at least I used to suck at not-quite-beginner climbs with a semblance of grace.

But since all I've done in the past few months has been running, with an occasional day when I remember that maybe a few push-ups wouldn't be a terrible idea, I've lost any and all upper body strength I once possessed, and with it so went any semblance of that feeling of oneness and smooth muscle control one might theoretically experience on a well-executed climbing route.

Instead, I felt like one of those gawky and spazzy teenagers who shoot up 6 inches overnight and forget how to coordinatedly utilize their limbs. There was nothing sexy, or talented or smooth in my climbing last night. And sure, it'll come back in part if I can manage to climb consistently. But I also don't really care a whole lot. In a world of go-go-go, where I literally have a 3 month calendar spread of to-do note sticky notes up on my bedroom wall (2 jobs, volunteer work, 5 grad level classes, research, and 2 undergrad level classes necessitate that type of organization), climbing is an outlet where those concerns cease to exist. When my feet and hands cling tenuously to the pitiful jugs that I need to use in order to grip the wall these days, my mind blanks out entirely, except for the thought of what my next climbing move is. For me at least, climbing is an entirely brain-consuming activity that allows no room or space to think of other commitments. And I think that's something that we all could use a bit more of in our hectic and crazy lives.