Hemp Protein Green Smoothie. Running recovery.

You know how this winter has been, right?  Forever. Unending.  Perpetually horrible.  Well finally we have been rejoicing and enjoying a brief respite from Mother Nature’s furor and soaking up the sunshine-filled days and warmer temperatures.  I don’t like running in the afternoon or evening, I like running on an empty stomach and because I eat all day long – I’m relegated to the darkness of the early morning 5am workout crew.  Last night I checked my weather app and it clearly had a 5 am temp of 40 degrees.  I opted to bag the gym and the treadmill, which I did over a 100 miles on last month, to finally get outside and work some hills and test my speed again.  I was worried.  My husband thought I was crazy but I didn’t know how my speed and cadence would be after running on the treadmill so long but I faced my fear and doing it.

I jumped out of bed, sans alarm, at 430 am.  I got up and dressed.  Ready for 40 degrees.  I normally don’t mind running in 20-30 degrees temps but since my hand surgery and developing Raynaud’s syndrome… I cannot take the cold/pain at that temp.  It’s going to be 40 – I can handle that!  So I run out the door and get started.  Seemed quite chilly but I kept moving.  I didn’t have the right gloves on (I normally layer to keep my hands from freezing) and I had a tank on under my coat and no hat.  Yep.  I was freezing… I wasn’t warming up… I kept going.  My plan was 10 but by 8 my fingers hurt so badly I knew I needed to be done.  I wasn’t paying attention to my speed but to taking each hill and dodging black ice (snow melt/refreeze) with stride.  I got home and could barely open my garage keypad with my fingers.  Got in and was flabbergasted at my time!  Best time ever – EVER!  Two years ago I was at a 930 minute mile and 32 lbs heaver.  What the world!!!  Craziness!  I’ll admit, I’m just elated.  Who knows if I can pull that off again but I was so happy with my effort.  And by the way – my husband ran separately and told me that the temp was 32.  No wonder I was freezing!

So how to refuel?  Well I’ve been limiting dairy over the past week or so because my stomach has been struggling with it in normal sized portions.  I wanted to incorporate a protein in my smoothie because I don’t eat meat.  So this is my latest and greatest creation.  Perfect for vegans. One side note, while eating any iron-rich food, always pair it up with a citrus fruit to help with the absorption of the iron in your body.  This helps if you suffer from anemia or are low in iron.

Ingredients:

1.5 cups of water
1/4 of a pineapple – cored/skin removed – I sliced into quarters and used one
1 inch piece of ginger (peeled)
2 tablespoons of Hemp protein powder (I used Bob’s Redmill)
1 banana
1 lemon, skin removed – can use any citrus
8 ice cubes

Directions:

Place all ingredients into your Vitamix or blender and blend until smooth.  Serve immediately or refrigerate until needed (keep up to 2 hours).  This makes 3 smoothies.

— Knead to Cook