I posted this to the FitFeat FB page this morning but the mobile app thinks I was posting as a fan of the page and not as the admin, so it won’t hit your news feeds. Hopefully the WordPress mobile app I’m trying now for the first time works a little better!

I came across this article for treadmill workouts and the tips were almost identical to how I keep myself from getting bored when I have to do indoor cardio, so I thought I’d share it. Another trick I utilize is when I am watching recorded TV programs on the treadmill, I’ll walk on a high incline during the show to keep my heart rate high but then kick it up to running or sprint intervals during the commercial breaks.

Treadmill workouts

Have a great Monday & a FIT week!

– Shari B. =)

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Is it just me or does it feel like today should be FRIDAY not WEDNESDAY?  The weather here is dreary and a little on the chilly side (high of 58 today).  My internal solar battery is running low already today.  I feel like I need a nap or some caffeine.  One or the other.

Hope you guys aren’t getting too sick of me, what with all this daily posting again during the ‘challenge‘ days!  It’ll be over in a couple of days and then I will be back in ‘travel mode’ again so you’ll get a breather! 

So yesterday’s exercise was an EARLY hilly interval running session with some extra-intense intervals on a steep long hill tacked on at the end.  I was feeling pretty beat when it was done.  I’ve been running on an empty stomach again because I noticed I felt less sluggish.  However on this particular day, I wish I’d had something prior because I could have used the extra oomph!

My post-workout meal was a smoothie made with kale, cucumber, frozen pineapple, mint, pepitas and some raw plant protein powder.

Some other highlights of the day included leftover fajita veggies for lunch, this time in a “Southwest” tortilla that I picked up at Whole Foods.

Times two, because it was delicious.  The red, yellow and orange peppers were so sweet and flavorful on their own, the only ‘condiment’ I added was smear of garlic that I’d roasted when I made the veggies.  No need for standard fajita fare here (meaning cheese or sour cream) – it would just detract from the natural flavors of the good stuff!

And a wonderful treat that I split up throughout the day into 2 servings.  A bubbly!!  Mmmmm kombucha!

I was looking forward to cooking dinner because I recently found some tomatoes packaged in an aseptic box rather than in a can!

Love the ingredients list:

Nothing but tomatoes!

I made kind of a pumpkin-infused vegetable ragu.  I’ll call it Autumn Ragu with Pumpkin, Sage & Fennel.  In last month’s Good Housekeeping, there was a recipe for Linguine with Carrot Turkey Ragu that sparked the idea.  But I totally revamped it and did my own thing.  Here’s my take on it:  I sauteed some onion, carrot and fennel, then added fresh garlic, a little cinnamon and some rubbed sage (dried).  I deglazed the pot with red wine then added the tomatoes and a cup of pureed pumpkin.  I let it all simmer for about an hour and then I added some Eden (BPA free) lentils, a pinch of red pepper flakes and some fresh basil. The idea with the lentils was to provide texture (and a little protein) that a meat normally would have.

I spiralized some carrot and zucchini into ribbons to serve along with spaghetti noodles (you can add them to the pasta water with the noodles for the last minute of cooking to take the cold edge off the spiralized veggies).  Whenever I use pasta, I almost always try to cut it down by at least half using some sort of vegetable (like these ribbons, or spaghetti squash or kelp/tofu noodles).

And dinner was served!  (There I go doing something with some Italian influence again.  It looks like a marinara based meat sauce, but taste-wise  you get the pumpkin and fennel undertones with a hint of the cinnamon).

This was another meatless dinner that Cory and I were able to enjoy together.  His review was that the sauce was very “meaty” for not having any meat in it and that the only thing missing was “garlic bread on the side”.  

Late evening I had a little Teecino with almond milk and a bit of dry cereal.

So today’s question (which maybe someday should be a whole post topic and discussion):  do you find that you actually USE cookbooks or recipes?  I don’t write out the meals I make “recipe style” very often here, because my hope is that something I make will just spark your creativity with whatever you happen to have in your own kitchen at the time.  I love to READ cookbooks (and I own a bunch of them too) but truth be told I just don’t use them very often.  I have also read through the recipes on a zillion blogs, but have probably only tried a handful over the course of 3-1/2 years of blog reading.  Usually I’ll try a recipe from a cookbook checked out from the library or I’ll adapt one from an online source, like Epicurious.com.

Have a fabulous Friday friends!  (Ha, just kidding:  make that Wednesday!)

– Shari B. =)

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How was your Sunday?  Did any of you try making your workouts a little tougher by balancing on a rolled up yoga mat?  Our morning started with a refreshing 4 mile run.  It’s been a while since we’ve done a steady pace run.  Mostly I’ve been doing shorter, hilly, interval-type runs weekly with a client, but that’s been the extent of my running career as of late.  But on this particular day, something about the cooler morning made me want to get outside all of a sudden because I just KNOW that winter is right around the corner.  Some of the leaves on the lower levels of our trees are already starting to yellow.  Two years ago, we had crazy chilly temps in September and snow flurries.  You just never know in Colorado.  It could snow tomorrow!

It was a great run but I admit it wasn’t ‘easy’.  It’s amazing how quickly I get out of mental running shape when I’m not doing it regularly.  What’s funny is that prior to this outing, I’d been thinking to myself I should find an event like a 10 miler that maybe Cory and I could train for together (IF I could talk him into it, that is!) but then DURING the run I found myself thinking, “nope, I’m still not itching to get back to distance runs yet.”  I ruined myself back when I thought I wanted to do a marathon.  Running hasn’t been the same for me since.

Other than my morning coffee, I ran on an empty stomach.  Then when we got home I did some stretching and foam rolling.  My post-workout breakfast was a shake made with the last of my Vega Chocolate Whole Food Health Optimizer and a couple of frozen banana chunks.

Lunch was a big salad at Sweet Tomatoes (where I had neither my camera nor my iPhone).  We had pita chips and hummus for our afternoon snack along with GREAT intentions for a grilled dinner.  But when dinnertime rolled around, we were zapped.  We’d watched a few 9/11 documentaries as well as Dr. Sanjay Gupta’s “Terror in the Dust” on CNN.  At which point, we didn’t feel in the mood to be jovial on the back patio.  I shed a number of tears yesterday, as I do every year on 9/11.  I spend a lot of time each year on that day talking about it and watching coverage of it.  I think the new memorial at Ground Zero with the water features in the footprints of the buildings is beautiful and hope to make it there someday to pay my respects to those who lost their lives.

As it turned out, we ended up on the patio after dark to check out the beautiful full moon.  It was so bright out there that there were SHADOWS from it!  So gorgeous.  I tried to get a good picture, but you know how well my camera works in the dark.   These were the best two, and they don’t do justice to the beauty of the evening.  The crickets were chirping, the weather was mild – it was the perfect ending to the weekend.

See you next time friends!

–Shari B. =)

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It’s been a fun day so far!   We got up this morning and did a Tabata workout.  Cory did his regular Tabata leg workout (smith squats, leg extensions, deadlifts, machine curls, lunges and abs).  I of course had to tweak my workout (just like I do with recipes, because I get bored so easily I guess!) so I did my Tabata routine with these:

• standing kickbacks with banding
• smith squats with a narrow stance
• kettlebell windmills (alternating sides each set)
• single straight leg deadlifts – balanced on a yoga mat**
• hamstring curls on fitball
• plank mashup (some straight, some with hip twist, side planks)

** I don’t have a cool balancing disk or a Bosu so when I want to ramp up the intensity of an exercise a bit, I add a bit of balance to it by folding up a yoga mat.  Looks simple, but it really does throw your body just a bit off kilter when you are doing single leg exercises.  Like this:

After our workout, I had a big green juice with kale, a green apple, a little lemon, some ginger, celery, cucumber, and broccoli stalks.

Then we took the crazy beasts out for a walk.  They got their greens with breakfast too (my dogs go nuts for kale stalks) – look closely and you’ll see him licking his lips!  His little tongue is poking out:

When it was time for some real breakfast food, I made buckwheat pancakes (with some extra protein powder and greek yogurt mixed into the batter) topped with some blueberry goat cheese and a little organic maple syrup:

I can’t tell you the last time I made pancakes – it’s been a long time!  Granted when you are using buckwheat they aren’t the same “cake-y” delightful ones you might get at IHOP, but these sure are better for you!

For lunch I made a spinach and pesto quesadilla.  Don’t mind the bite out of the tortilla.  I was trying a new sprouted grain tortilla and wanted to make sure I liked it first before I actually made my lunch.

A good trick when you are using cheese is to grate it with a super fine microplane.  You get the “visual effect” of a good amount of cheese, but by weight you hardly have any because it’s so light.  Here I’m using my favorite Mt. Sterling raw goat cheese.

Pile on a bunch of baby spinach, fold in half and cook on your Foreman grill for a few minutes until the cheese is melted and sizzling.

I was planning to have these baby carrots on the side:

But unfortunately they were frozen solid.  On to plan B:

Who doesn’t love the Pampered Chef crinkle cutter? 

My afternoon snack was a SUPERGREEN smoothie (and this one even tasted a little greener than usual).  Frozen mango, kale, spinach, greens powder and egg protein.

I’ve definitely had my fair share of greens today!

How about you?  Did you get a lot of greens in?  Or do you need to include a leafy green salad with your dinner? 

Before I go I have two more pics to share.  One I took on the way to meet my client for our run yesterday.  Look at how dark it is now in the morning!  This was at 6:15 AM.

I don’t mind cooler days, but I already miss the extra daylight!

And this other pic I took when Rascal saw a squirrel from our window – this was too cute NOT to get a snapshot…

My two *men* 

Hope you are having a GREAT weekend so far!

– Shari B. =)

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It’s going to be a gorgeous weekend here.  The high heat of summer is gone and in its place we have nice cool mornings and mild days with blue skies.  Perfect Colorado weather.

The downside to summer being on its way out is that my garden is WAY behind.  For those of you who might be new to FitFeat, this is a first attempt at gardening in our house.  My ability with house plants SHOULD have clued me in to the fact that I have no business trying to grow FOOD. 

The plants themselves have grown, so that’s promising.

This is what it looked like in May when we planted:

Here it is today:

But outside of a thriving MINT plant (which from my understanding you can’t kill a mint plant if you tried!) and a few scallions, not much else is going on.

I have kale, but they aren’t the darker green I’m accustomed to seeing and the leaves are pretty small.

We have the beginnings of cucumbers…

…so we were hopeful that they’d grow into something, but they seem permanently stuck at this size.

And just last week we were so excited to see our very first zucchini just starting to grow (at a time when we are hearing how most gardens are overflowing with zucchini already) but today when I went out to see how much its grown, it looks like a bird beat us to the table:

I’ve had two teeny tiny peppers and one miniscule heirloom tomato.

I am holding out hope for the Brussels sprouts since I’ve read they are a fall harvest and actually like the cooler weather.  If not, then I’m going to pluck all the leaves and just juice them!

I’m not sure how we could have gone SO wrong on ALL of the plants.  I’m more than a little bummed about it and feeling like it’s all been a waste of money, water and definitely time.  I told Cory that next year I’d rather just do herbs and kale and leave it at that.  I think it might be best to leave the veggies to the pros and just continue picking up my produce at the market!

How has your veggie garden done this year?  Let me live vicariously through your bountiful harvest!  Please share!

***

Feats & Eats recap:

After 2 days of an ‘on and off’ headache, feeling zapped of energy, and not finding my regular food to be remotely appetizing (no I am NOT pregnant!!), today I feel brand new!  I had the hilly trail run this morning with my early client and it was a BRISK 49 degrees out at 6:10 AM.  Brrrr!  But it was a very nice start to the day.  After I got back, Cory and I went to Panera and I got a post-run bagel, since it’s FRIDAY!  Not something I eat very often, but a fun way to kick off the day.  But due to its pretty dense caloric value, there won’t be a mid-morning snack.  This will hold me over until lunchtime for sure!

I’ve got some work to do and some recipe testing on tap for this afternoon!  Hope you have a FANTASTIC Friday!

See you next time!

– Shari B. =)

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Are you excited it’s Friday?  I love long holiday weekends.  They feel like little vacations. We have so much planned for the weekend in addition to that hike I mentioned yesterday.  We’ll be going to the wedding of my good friends Beth and Jason (very excited about that!), hopefully dropping in on the Taste of Colorado to try some interesting eats, and I’m sure we’ll see a movie at some point because that’s just how we roll.  There’s another wedding happening this weekend as well – my cousin Carrie is getting married in California.  Unfortunately I don’t get to go to that one, but I’m thinking I should probably eat TWO pieces of wedding cake at Beth’s reception, in order to honor Carrie’s, right?  

Congrats to BOTH sets of the soon-to-be newlyweds!

I’m excited for all of you!

***

Let’s talk about yesterday!

Thursday’s workout was an intense run at my favorite hilly spot.  Hike up the first steep big hill, then run fast on the downhills and “sprint” intervals on the uphills.  I put “sprint” in quotations because it’s an attempt to sprint for sure, but when going uphill you feel like one of those cartoon characters whose feet are moving so fast they are all a blur, but the rest of the body’s not moving at all. 

It was a gorgeous morning for it – getting outside for a run as the sun comes up is always a great way to start the day, even if I do grumble a little while I’m getting ready to go. 

Before I left for the run I had my half-caff coffee and a little serving of Mom’s Best Naturals Toasty O’s for some fuel.

When I got back I felt the need for some GREEN but not of the smoothie variety because I just wasn’t too hungry.  This would my lazy version of a green smoothie – dried greens powder mixed with water:

Morning snack was cucumber cups filled with hummus and topped with leftover tempeh strips:

When lunchtime rolled around, I took a peek in the fridge and realized I had a lot of Italian-ish items (shocker right?    Somehow I always have Italian goods…. they are my FAVORITE!):

So I made a little sauté of mushrooms, zucchini and shallots in balsamic, then tossed in cannellini beans and arugula toward the end.

I also made some whole wheat penne pasta which was tossed with pesto.  The veggies were served alongside and then topped off with a few flakes of raw goat cheese and a chopped heirloom tomato from my garden:

It was a TINY tomato…

But it was sweet and succulent, almost like you could taste all the nurturing that’s gone into the plant over the summer.

I’m glad it was good, because so far it’s been the only one we’ve gotten out of the garden this year.

After lunch I was craving a little chocolate, so I mixed up some almond butter, protein powder, carob powder and agave, pressed it together into a ball shape then tossed it around in hemp seeds.

I’m guessing the are somewhat similar to Gina’s protein balls, but I didn’t measure anything so I have no clue if they taste the same or not.

It was a delicious little bite and shut down the “craving monster”.

In the afternoon I had a few slices of raw goat cheese along with some unpictured Mary’s Gone Crackers flax crackers.

By dinnertime, I was feeling a little how Riley looked… which is to say TUCKERED OUT:

For dinner I made some brown rice with some shallot gravy (made with minced shallots, olive oil, spelt flour and vegetable stock) to serve with the last of the meatless loaf from earlier in the week.  But I just couldn’t bring myself to eat ANY MORE of that loaf.  As much as I loved it, I’d eaten it too many times this week.  So I just had a few ramekins of the rice and gravy while Cory cleaned up the loaf.

Then later a protein shake and piece of toasted Ezekial.

Mmmm it was a yummy day!

I hit up Vitamin Cottage Natural Grocer’s today to gather some goods to make a fun dinner tonight in honor of Labor Day weekend.  I’m crossing my fingers it turns out.  I’m trying a product I’ve never worked with before so I have no idea what to expect!  But I’ll share the results with you tomorrow!

Have a beautiful evening and a LOVELY start to your Labor Day weekend!  See ya tomorrow!

– Shari B. =)

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Happy Wednesday – hope the first half of your week has been great!  If not, now’s your chance to turn it around for the second half of the week, right? 

Look what’s in the stores now:

Tiny pumpkins!!! I love these!  So I had a get a few to ‘autumn up’ my table:

Well, today’s the big day.  Time to bottle my first successful batch of the kombucha homebrew.  I may have let the culture grow longer than it needed to, but I’d read that it can take up to a month when you are starting a batch without the culture.  I wanted to be sure mine was GOOD and READY.  Judging from the size of my culture, I’d say it was beyond ready!

I removed the culture and placed it in a ceramic bowl:

Boiled my ‘recycled’ bottles for 20 minutes (no directions I read said to do that but I remember when my mom would can things, the glass jars were sterilized by boiling, and I figured it couldn’t hurt!)

Juice for two of the bottles that I plan on flavoring (using açai):

I’m adding 1 oz of juice to a 16 oz bottle of the tea – these funnels I picked up shopping with MSP’s mom this weekend came in handy today!

Stir up the ‘sediment’ in the tea before pouring in a bottle.

The finished product:

I left a little room at the top of the bottles because I’m not sure how much it expands (if any) while it continues to ferment.  The non-flavored bottle in the middle is a little short because I needed some of the remainder to add to my next batch.

I’ll let them sit at room temperature for 2 days, then I can refrigerate from there for up to 30 days.  Hoping to try my first one on Friday!

But I did sneak a little sip before bottling.  I won’t lie – I was a little scared.  BOTTOMS UP!

It had a pretty strong vinegar taste – we’ll see if that goes away a little as the fizz builds.  But I did like it!  And I’m so excited!

So now I have my next batch getting ready (the tea has to cool to room temperature before I can add the culture).  But since this last batch only made 2.5 bottles I’m graduating to a gallon jar this time.

I’ll be up to my eyeballs in the ‘booch soon!  Wahoo!

Are any of you going to join me in the homemade kombucha endeavor?

***

Did you know that September is National YOGA month?  Click here for more info on getting a free week of yoga at 1,500+ participating locations.  Or you can try some yoga at home.  My three favorite yoga DVDs are:

• Iron Yoga by Anthony Carillo
• Biggest Loser Weight Loss Yoga with Bob Harper
• Power Yoga with Rodney Yee

(BTW: These are not affiliate links – I just really like and recommend these DVDs.)

I really want to try Bethenny Frankel’s yoga DVD.  I’m on the waiting list at the library, because I’d prefer to try before I buy.  If I love it, I’ll let you know!

I don’t practice yoga daily because I also like to lift weights, run, hike and walk.  I’d love to do it daily, but there just aren’t enough hours in the day to do it all, since I still want to do those other things I love.  I’ve read of people who say they have reshaped their bodies with only yoga.  But for me personally, I add it in for flexibility, stress reduction and core/balance work.  Weight training and cardio are where I find the most change to my body.

OK, friends – I’m off to get the next batch of kombucha moved into its new jar!  Have a GREAT day!  FEED you body with nourishing foods and MOVE it a little as well!

– Shari B. =)

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I hope your week is off to a fantastic start!  Mine is going great!   It’s been a “rain sandwich” kind of day.  Meaning that we started off with sunshine this morning, then thunderstorms and now sunshine again!  I’m hoping the sunshine lasts into the evening so that we can get the crazies out this evening for a walk.  And the dogs too… ha ha!

Did you try putting BEETS or some other fun veggie into your smoothie yet?

It was a perfect morning for an outdoor run with one of my clients – we did 3.61 miles of hills and valleys including 8 sets of hill repeats at the end (and I got to take my Vibram FiveFingers for a good spin too).  Yesterday I did a good old fashioned upper body strength workout:  no Tabata timer, no Insanity.

• Smith Machine Bench Press – 5 sets
• BB Bent Row – 5 sets
• Pike Shoulder Presses – 2 sets
• Overhead 1-Arm DB Presses – 2 sets
• KB Side Lateral Swings – 1 set

It felt FAN-TAS-TIC!

***

So today was DENTAL DAY in the FitFeat household.  Rascal and I both had our teeth cleaned (fortunately mine was at the dentist!)    I take our dogs to an anesthesia-free practitioner so that they don’t have to be put under.  I know how terrible I feel after anesthesia so I don’t like the idea of the dogs having to do that unless it is for some sort of life-saving surgery.

You know your dogs need their teeth cleaned when they are riding in the back of an SUV and when they have a barking fit you can smell their breath all the way up in the front seat!

Now Rascal has fresh breath and is once again eligible to receive mommy-kisses.

While trying to snap a pic of these kisses, Rascal turned his head and I was left looking as if I am howling at the moon!

This was a little better…

Riley has her turn on the 27th.  I learned early on not to take them both at the same time.  If you want to see a visual representation of mass mayhem, that would be it.

And the great news of the day is NO CAVITIES for me!  Wahoo!

Back in 2005 in the middle of my high protein and competing days, I went from having great healthy teeth to a dental visit where I was told I had 5 cavities.  Three of which each took a downhill turn one at a time shortly after the fillings, resulting in 2 abscesses, 3 root canals and 3 (crazy expensive) crowns.   I truly believe that the high intake of protein (and low intake of fruits/veggies) leeched minerals from my teeth, resulting in their disintegration.  For a lot of my ‘dieting’ years I ate between 40% and 55% protein which came solely from animal sources.  Since switching to a primarily plant-based diet, I have had no cavities.

If you’ve followed FitFeat for any length of time,  you know I feel strongly about health from the INSIDE out.  Getting a “good grade” from the dentist deepens my resolve that I’ve been doing a good job of taking care of the inside of me!

How about you?  Have you found any changes to your diet that affect your teeth? Did you start/stop soda and see a difference?  Switch to more raw foods?  Cut back on sweets?

Also, does your dentist take your blood pressure before your cleaning?  This is something new at my dentist over the course of the last year.  I love that they do this, because I geek out on knowing my numbers like resting heart rate, blood pressure, triglycerides, cholesterol, TSH, etc.   I was tickled today to see my blood pressure at 93/67.  Excellent!

Have a FIT and HEALTHY day, blog buds!

– Shari B. =)

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I especially love when they start with a 4+ mile run outside in the sunshine.  It feels like FOREVER since I’ve gone for a sunny run!

Yesterday morning we were indoors doing an Insanity session, which left me red-faced and panting.

A little like this:

(Image Source)

I’d like to say I was kidding about that, but that’s pretty much how I look and feel during those workouts! 

***

In my previous blog post, The BEET of My Own Drum, I mentioned that one of my clients asked me if I had ever tried putting beets in my smoothies.  Which I hadn’t.  But I told you all that I would consider it.

Consider it done!

Into the blender went the following items:

• 8 oz water + 4 small ice cubes
• 2 cutie clementines
• 3/4 roasted beet (without skin)
• 1/2 small banana
• large handful of spinach
• 1 large kale leaf (stalk removed)
• 1/2 cucumber
• small handful of alfalfa sprouts
• a squeeze of flaxseed oil (approx 1/2 TBS)

You just can’t BEET the color of this beautiful veggie!  Ha ha!  (Sorry, that was bad.  Couldn’t resist!)

Into the glass for taste testing (I must admit, I was a little nervous that it would taste like dirt and I’d have wasted all those veggies):

The verdict:  Actually quite good!  I could definitely taste the ‘earthiness’ of the beet from it being a root vegetable, but I get that same effect sometimes from the celery and sprouts in my regular green smoothies.

Probably the only downside to beet smoothies?  Teeth like Angela’s….

(Image Source)

I’m just kidding, it didn’t stain my teeth!  But if you didn’t catch The Office this week, click HERE and scroll to the 4:58 mark.  I thought it was funny that I’d just been talking about beets in smoothies earlier that day!

So your challenge is to throw something new into your next smoothie!  I dare you!   Then come back and let me know how it was!

– Shari B. =)

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Hope you had a fantastic weekend – Monday came quickly, didn’t it?  We had a warmer springlike day on Sunday finally so it was great to get out and enjoy it a bit.  And extra bonus: it’s a short week, since we have Good Friday off at my office!  (Wahooo!)

In case you were out enjoying the spring weather this weekend and weren’t online, check out my post about the crazy Cadbury DREAM eggs!  As well as updates to the Spring Slimdown.

Sunday morning was amazing.  We finally got to get outside for a wonderful run in our FiveFinger unshoes.

It was 35 degrees and very sunny.  35 with no snow right now feels like a tropical vacation! 

And things were melting down on the dirt trail.  Our “bare feet” were pretty dirty by the end.

We ran 6 miles at just over a 10 min mile pace and the slow-down I’ve been doing over the previous weeks seems to be working  – my average heart rate for the full run was only 161 this time.   It felt great.  I had ZERO KNEE PAIN.  I felt energized at the end and ready to tackle the day.  Which is exactly how I want to feel after a run, rather than completely spent.  I am LOVING these Vibram FiveFingers and very excited about continuing to add distance in them.  If I can keep adding distance without knee pain, then maybe I can get back on track with some race goals!

My calves are lightly sore today but nothing like they’ve been on past VFF runs, so I’m hoping that my lower legs are finally conditioned for barefoot running.

The best part is you can hose these shoes off and then pop them in the washing machine!  Now they are clean and ready for the next run.

Off to start Monday at the office!  Have a wonderful day everyone!

– Shari B. =)

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