Race Recap & Protein Cookie Dough

Happy Monday Ya’ll!!

Yes, you read the title right, protein cookie dough. OMG it’s all the rave….okay maybe just in my house, but I guarantee you will love it as well. Before I get to the recipe though, I wanted to share my race recap from my half marathon on Saturday. Love it or hate it.

That sums up this race. I hate the course, because it is a flat out and back. It is always windy in one direction, it’s long and boring following the river, you can see for so far ahead of you, and you feel like you aren’t getting anywhere. Others love the course. It does have it’s beauty by the water and surrounding hills, but I like a little bit of hills in the course and a point to point or loop. Out and backs always play with me mentally. I guess just as the saying “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” I like to say “A race course is in the mind of the runner.” I have learned to each their own.

I am thinking on out and back courses, “okay we keep going further out and I know I have to cover this distance all over again.” With a sinus infection that started Thursday, and picked up steam on Friday morning, I wasn’t looking forward to racing. Also, a teething toodler and a teething baby. My body was tired and worn down, and my sciatic began to nag on me earlier in the week. Not sure why. So I was foam rolling more & doing some physical therapy moves more.

I woke up Friday with body aches as well, thinking wonderful. Saturday morning, I woke up feeling congested but no body aches. I decided it would be a go, not feeling motivated and tired from being up more with baby and not being able to breathe. I chose not to let it get to me mentally and not to use it as an excuse. Maybe it wasn’t smart to race, being my sinus infection, and being the weather, but I went for it.

I fed baby and did my pre-race warmup. It was a tailwind on the way out, headwind on the way back. Not the most ideal conditions, but it would have to do. Cloudy and foggy out before the start, but felt fine temperature wise, cooler. We came with no snow on the ground, and left with snow covering the ground.

I started out at a 6:30 pace, comfortable and not pushing it. The rain started right at the start, and as we got closer to mile 2 it was raining harder and then started to sleet. A side win came in with sleet. I was keeping pace with 2 other women I knew, but after 3 miles I broke from the two girls and decided it was time to get to a 6:20 pace. I wanted to push the pace a little more. It was feeling too easy. I felt relaxed.

Mile 1:6:27  Mile 2: 6:32 Mile 3: 6:22 Mile 4: 6:20

It was nice having the rain cover my snot though. You couldn’t tell if it was rain/sleet or snot rolling down my face. I had that going for me. I could see the third place women and was slowly gaining ground on her. At the turn around, I was feeling good, gaining more ground and knew first and second weren’t to far ahead either. I was beginning to feel numb though. My hands were so cold, my face and my legs. The headwind didn’t help. The rain really started to come down between mile 6-8.5. Mixed with the headwind it was miserable.

I caught the third place women right before mile 7, and felt a bit of a push. I think it was seeing the other runners and all the cheering they were doing. It is nice to hit the turn around and then see runners for the next few miles to help boost.

Mile 5: 6:20 Mile 6: 6:16 Mile 7: 6:13  Mile 8: 6:23

Slowly I was gaining ground on the second place female, closing the gap. I was going to draft behind her for a bit, but the pace felt to slow for me. I was expending more energy in the headwind it felt, so my speed slowed a bit, I know noticed, but at the time I didn’t feel it had decreased I was just working harder in the headwind. I only looked at my watch twice the entire race, more running on feel. This has been my MO for so long. I think it can be a good thing, but also a bad thing. I rarely use that feature on my watch.

I caught second place right before mile 10, and apparently I didn’t pick up my pace. I slowly pulled away from her and used the runners in front of me to pass time, trying to catch them. The last 4 miles were lonely and tough. It was so windy and my legs were numb. I couldn’t even tell if they were moving. I started focusing on arm swing to help activate the legs. My legs felt heavy, more from the cold.

Mile 9: 6:29 Mile 10: 6:29 Mile 11: 6:29 Mile 12: 6:31 Mile 13: 6:23  last .16 = 55 seconds.

I finally looked at my watch at 12.45 miles and saw that I could possibly PR. The finish line came in sight and I picked up the pace a little more. I finished in 1:24:14, a close to 30 second PR. I couldn’t believe it. It didn’t feel like I had pushed myself. Definitely wasn’t painful and I felt slow the last half of the race, probably because of the race conditions. Good to have a race under my belt.

I went into the race unmotivated, but after being in the race atmosphere, I feel more confident about my racing. It was fun to get out there again. It definitely was a miserable race though, and I was freezing afterwards, shaking uncontrollably. They even asked if I would like to warm up in the ambulance. Thank goodness for dry clothes and a warm baby to snuggle post race.

Chocolate Chip Protein Cookie Dough

This is 4 ingredients of pure heaven. I have never been a fan of chocolate chip cookie dough, mainly because I don’t like chocolate chips. I know weird, because I love dark chocolate. So I did mini chocolate chips from EnjoyLife. I do love this guilt free cookie dough though.

It is packed with protein, and I love to take a chunk after working out while getting breakfast ready or as a snack to curb some sweet cravings. There’s no added sugars!! All you need is peanut butter or other nut spread, vanilla protein powder, non-dairy milk & mini chocolate chips. It’s vegan, gluten free and completely tasty.

Did I mention it only takes 5 minutes to whip some up, having enough to munch on throughout the week, or a few days. It’s hard not to want to eat the whole bowl in one sitting. Wouldn’t be the worst thing to do, better than real cookie dough. R calls it “cookie bar.” She is in love with protein bites and bars as much as her mama. Added benefit is the protein!! It’s protein packed without losing taste and is the same texture as cookie dough.  So dive in…..

Hope you have a great start to the week!!

Until Next Time Be Whole and Be Fit