Where’s the Fitness?
If you’re new to this blog, you may be scratching your head. A food and fitness blog, it’s been about a whole lot of food for two months. Sure, I could say it’s because of Vegan MoFo but, honestly, it’s because I haven’t been focusing much on fitness.
I spent January through September training for three half-marathons. I ran two half-marathons: the MORE Magazine half in April
and the Fairfield Half in June. The week before the third planned half-marathon I ran 12 miles and my right IT band felt awful. I tried to do some short runs leading up to the race but on race day I bagged it.
So in October my race season was over. And I simply Did. Not. Want. To. Work. Out. I started to choose sleep over the gym after a summer of waking up at 4:30 a.m. to train. The more days I didn’t work out, the easier it was to….not workout.
So, as the weeks progressed, I realized that I had settled into thinking of myself as lazy. Funny how that happens. When I was on vacation I worked out a few times but on the days I didn’t I thought “I’ll just be lazy today.” Hello?! It was vacation. It’s not lazy, it’s called resting!
Lazy? In addition to working full time, August through November I took a 3 credit graduate course on Tuesday nights. October through November I taught a class on Monday nights. In November I blogged every single day of the moth. Lazy? No. Shifted priorities? Perhaps.
This week I woke up on Monday and wanted to go to the gym. So I did. I had a solid, non-goal oriented workout. I ran the next morning. The next day I rested and the following day I went back to the gym. Today my shoes are laced up and I’ll run after I hit publish on this post. I am finally into the “downtime” workout routine I thought I would take up in October: light running base, weights, working out four to five times a week. Turns out that now I am ready to resume a workout schedule. I am rested.
Two months of laziness? I worked out 24 out of 61 days, no more than 30 – 40 minute workouts, compared to working out 6 days a week for nine months during race season. I’d call that two months of rest, not laziness. I need to remember to trust myself. My mind might have been telling me “you’re lazy” but my body is now telling me “thank you, a thousand times, thank you for trusting your gut.”
Tofu & Kale Chips without a Recipe
I woke up at 3:30 in the morning one day this week.. Wide awake. So I caved and had my first cup of coffee at 3:45 and I was up for the day. So, obviously, I decided to marinade tofu at 5:30 before going to the gym. I was up, after all.
JL’s Way Too Early in the Morning Tofu Marinade
Serves 2
- 2 cloves garlic
- sesame oil
- brown rice vinegar
- date syrup
- cayenne pepper
- Bragg’s Liquid Aminos
- Black pepper
I didn’t measure. I just started pouring, dashing and pinching things over half a block of pressed tofu. I trusted myself. So, grab the ingredients and use what feels right to you. Really, you know what you like. Trust your gut.
The tofu marinated all day.
When I got home I was craving kale chips. I preheated the oven to 425. I placed foil on a baking sheet and sprayed it with olive oil. I tore the kale in to small pieces — 2, maybe 3 cups?—and placed the kale on the baking sheet. I poured olive oil over the kale, pressed 2 cloves of garlic, added coconut water vinegar, onion powder, cayenne pepper and black pepper. Again, I didn’t measure. I tossed everything together on the baking sheet and baked for 12 minutes.
They were perfect.
While the kale chips were baking I tossed some maitake mushrooms and red onion in Bragg’s Liquid Aminos (to pull together the flavor of the tofu) and grilled the tofu and mushrooms for about 10 minutes.
I served the tofu and mushrooms over quinoa
and it was delicious!
This was such a simple meal. No recipes, just grabbing things that make me happy, that make sense to me.
When I first started reading food blogs my mind was boggled. How did these geniuses come up with these recipes?! Of course, I consider some of my favorite food blogger geniuses, but I did realize that you don’t have to be a genius in the kitchen. We all know what we like and what we don’t like. Sometimes you just need to trust your gut in the kitchen. Sometimes you fail. Sometimes you make something good not great.
And sometimes you make that dish that makes your soul sing (like my Asian-Azuki Bean Crockpot Chili) because you think that maybe you are, in fact, a genius.
- Do you give yourself a break on your workout routine? What does ‘downtime’ from exercise look like for you?
- Do you remember the first recipe you created? What did you make?
