Peanut Butter Protein Bars

During the River to River Relay we were basically stuck in a car (yes, 7 sweaty girls, since one was out running in a car) most of the day and didn't have access to real food. We all brought different things with us to share. Awesome Stacy brought these peanut butter protein bars she made at home. I haven't officially made any yet, I think I will make some tomorrow to take with us on our trip to Davenport for Easter weekend. They are pretty sweet, but great for long hard workouts. It really hit the spot Saturday. I might try it out with rolled oats and 2 scoops of protein powder... we'll see how it goes. Here it is, just how she gave it to me.

"Peanut Butter Protein Bars

1 C Natural peanut butter
3/4 C honey
1 scoop protein powder
3/4 C to 1 C granola of choice
1 C quick oats
In a sauce pan mix peanut butter and honey, hear until smooth. Mix peanut butter mixture with remaining ingredients. Press into an 8x8 pan. Mixture will be very soft. As it sits it firms up to cut into bars.

I double the mix to make a 9x13 pan. Also, I use chocolate protein powder and maple almond granola. That is our favorite granola to use. I get it at Walmart & I use the whole bag of granola to make the 9x13 pan. Be careful not to use too much of the quick oats or the bars will be very dry."

Well, Saturday was the River to River. I left Friday with my teammates to southern Illinois. It was a really fun trip, long, but fun. We settled in at the hotel and decided being the healthy young lasses we were we'd walk to the race packet pick-up place. About halfway there I started getting really nervous seeing the thunderclouds in the distance. We pressed forward though, talking occasionally about how we maybe should have driven. On our way back the clouds were looking thicker and thicker. Two other girls and I started power-walking it back to the hotel. Then we felt it start to sprinkle and started jogging. When we saw lightning strike, we ran. We made it to the hotel dry, but as a huge gust of wind blew in and rain came pouring down and turned to hail, we knew our teammates were not so lucky! The came in a few minutes later completely drenched. Soon there were a few people gathered in the hotel lobby. We saw a man we had met at a Subway on our way to the race stop in to take shelter from his run. As I turned to look at the storm track on the TV screen in the lobby I heard a loud bang behind me. I turned around and the man had passed out over the section between the two sets of doors where you wipe your feet. He was completely unconscious and was even snoring! Holly, who is trained medically rushed over to him when people started trying to get him up. She woke him and told him to stay still and explained what had happened.

I have never seen a more stubborn man. He got up despite her pleadings, went and sat down in a chair for a second and left in a bit of a huff and in denial about the whole thing. He had blood sliding down his head but was convinced that it was the hail pellets that had done it. He left the hotel room quickly. We worried about him for a while but were relieved to see him at the race and find out he got three sets of stiches and was okay. He was even running the race still... CRAZY!

We got up very very early 3:15 AM the next morning to make it to the start of the race at about 6 AM. We wanted to leave time in case we took a wrong turn or anything. And then the race began! I was the 5th leg runner. I was nervous sitting in the car as my turn got closer and closer. I honestly have never seen so many hills on a course in my life, not even maybe the bix... well, close I guess, but this was a lot longer of a race. It was a chilly race day, about 45 degrees most of the day. I only saw the sun for a few minutes during my third leg.

One of my awesome teammates let me borrow her watch so that I could push myself and pace myself to what I had been training at and I was able to run my second leg 3.41 miles in 29:01 minutes! woo hoo! That is great for me. There were a few hills that I seriously wanted to start walking on, but pressed on. Makes me want to invest in one of these watches. We'll see. I'm really enjoying running so much more than I ever have before and am anxious to prepare for the triathlon and various races that I may do this summer.

Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks...

I went to my first swimming lesson today... ay caray. That was interesting. Well, the best way to describe it is humbling. I consider myself an athlete. I excel at a lot of different sports. I picked up cycling and racquetball recently pretty easily and love them both immensely. (I had a dream last night that I was going to be a new cycling instructor at the Y.)I have never had a swimming lesson in my life. I know how to not drown and I could pass a test to swim in the deep end when I was a kid. In fact, and I don't admit this to very many people, but I can't even open my eyes under water. I couldn't even stick my face in the water without plugging my nose or wearing snorkeling goggles until I was about 14 or 15 maybe.
So that brings me to last night. Our YMCA has a Master's Swim Team/Class. I will be going every Tuesday and Thursday night. Last night was my first night and it was a doosy. I actually did pretty well I think considering I've learned everything I know from YouTube! The coach said my arms look great, unfortunately that was all he had to say :) Because I think so much about my arms and breathing... or gasping, whatever you want to call it. I sometimes forget to kick... minor detail. As a result my form get's pretty messed up by the end. I'm excited for next Tuesday, we don't have mutual so I'll be able to go for the entire lesson (usually I can just go the whole hour on Thursday and half an hour on Tuesday). He said that he will teach me how to flip turn to do laps.
I wanted to do a triathlon last year. I checked out a million books from the library last spring. Triathlete's Training Bible, Triathlons for Dummies... literally probably five or six books. Obviously I didn't do it though. I feel like swimming was holding me back. I am determined to learn how to swim properly and do my triathlon this summer!!! I'm excited, but it sure makes me feel like and old dog.

As for my running. I'm very excited to report that I ran a 5K TWICE last week in under 30 minutes!!! Woo hoo! I am going to keep working on my pace. I've just been running 5Ks but haven't tried out some of the workouts I found yet. My best time in 30 minutes right now is 3.29 miles. Trust me, that is great for me. I'm a sprinter, not a long distance girl. Now I just need to find some new running tunes, my list is starting to get repetative.