As an athlete and a health enthusiast I have experimented with a variety of diets, supplements, and foods.  After being a meat eater, a white-meat-only eater (is there a name for that?  those that don’t eat red meat), vegan for 2 years, and now a pescetarian, I have definitely played around with my diet.  But no matter what limitations I put on my nutrition intake, one thing I know for sure is that as an athlete I NEED PROTEIN.  Even if you aren’t an athlete and just a modest exerciser you still need a good amount of protein, fiber and healthy fats.  I have always loved hummus (I love to dip carrots and celery along with pita in it) so when I came across this edamame hummus recipe my mouth was watering.  And now I am passing it along. ENJOY!  Oh and I like to pair this with my Lemon or Citrus flavored Vitalyte.

HUNGER SATISFYING RECIPE: Edamame Hummus
Beans are an awesome source of protein, but to change up this dish typically made with chickpeas (aka Garbanzo beans) try using the superpower of the bean world – soybeans.  Soybeans are the only bean that contains complete proteins by themselves and edamame (green soybeans which are picked before full maturity) have a whopping 22 grams of protein in every cooked serving.  Chickpeas have only around 14 grams per serving.  This dish also has a great amount of fiber; so really it’s a win-win.

1 cup frozen shelled edamame
1 tsp chopped garlic
1 Tbsp tahini
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
3 Tbsp water
1/4 tsp salt
1 Tbsp olive oil

Boil frozen edamame 4 to 6 minutes; drain. Combine edamame in a food processor with garlic, tahini, lemon juice, water, and salt; blend well. Drizzle in olive oil. (If the texture is too thick, add another tablespoon of water).  For a zesty kick, stir in 1/2 tsp sriracha, a Thai hot sauce found in your grocery store’s condiment aisle.

As an athlete and a health enthusiast, I have experimented with a variety of diets, supplements, and foods. I have been a meat eater, a white-meat-only eater (is there a name for that?), vegan (for 2 years), and now a pescetarian. Let’s just say I have definitely experimented with my diet. But no matter what limitations I put on my nutritional intake, one thing I know for sure is that as an athlete, I NEED PROTEIN. Even if you are just a modest exerciser and don’t consider yourself an athlete, you still need a good amount of protein, fiber, healthy fats—and an electrolyte replacement drink, of course. I have always loved hummus (I love to dip carrots, celery and pita in it!), so when I came across this edamame hummus recipe my mouth was watering! I had to pass it along. ENJOY!

SUMMER HUNGER-SATISFYING RECIPE: Edamame Hummus
Beans are an awesome source of protein, but to change up hummus, which is typically made with chickpeas (aka Garbanzo beans) try using the superpower of the bean world: soybeans. Soybeans are the only beans that contain complete proteins by themselves and edamame (green soybeans which are picked before full maturity) have a whopping 22 grams of protein per cooked serving. Chickpeas have just 14 grams per serving. This dish also has a great amount of fiber; so really it’s a win-win.

1 cup frozen shelled edamame
1 tsp chopped garlic
1 tbsp. tahini
1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
3 tbsp. water
1/4 tsp salt
1 Tbsp olive oil

Boil frozen edamame 4 to 6 minutes; drain. Combine edamame in a food processor with garlic, tahini, lemon juice, water, and salt; blend well. Drizzle in olive oil. (If the texture is too thick, add another tablespoon of water.) For a zesty kick, stir in 1/2 tsp sriracha, a Thai hot sauce found in your grocery store’s condiment aisle. Wash it down with a Vitalyte drink and it’s the perfect summer snack!

By Jenna Novotny, Brand Ambassador

It seems like common knowledge that training, typically for any athletic endeavor, is easier and more effective in groups. I mean, that’s why so many triathlon clubs, running clubs, cycling clubs, masters swimming groups and the like now exist and continue to pop up, right? But I recently realized that I wasn’t the only person who claimed and believed, “I train better solo.” Up until about three months ago I was a “solo trainer” and I had a whole list of reasons of why I thought ditching the pack was more effective for me.

- I’m limited on time so I fit workouts in when I can, which means they are usually spur of the moment.
- I don’t want to have to plan my day that far out in advance. Do I want to do a 50 mile bike ride at 7am a week from Wednesday? I don’t know!!??
- I hate wasting the time commuting to the group meeting point.
- I don’t like talking while I work out.
- What if people are slower than me and bring down my pace rather than up.

And I’m sure on some level (OK I’ll admit it on a definite level) I was intimidated. I was especially nervous joining in on group rides due to my lack of experience on the road. Until recently, most of my bike training was on a trainer and the HUGE herds of seemingly professional bikers on HWY 101 scared the $@#% out of me! I just knew I was going to fall or crash, cut someone off, or make a fool of myself. Fortunately, a friend wouldn’t give up on me and bugged me until I joined him on group track session.

After some speed work that left me feeling like a snail, I realized my limited solo training was lacking in more areas than one. Before I delve into my solo training shortcomings, let me say that I officially joined that training team, Breakaway Training, and now train with them about four days a week. I have become such good friends with many of the athletes in this group that we often end up hanging out outside of training. In addition to meeting some great new friends with common interests, I highly recommend getting over the group fear and joining a training team because:

- No matter how many Bostons, Tours, or Konas you’ve run or won you will never know EVERYTHING about your sport. Hearing the mistakes or successes other athletes have made will help you make fewer mistakes and discover great training secrets earlier.
- You can discover new products and tools and learn which ones on the market are best. Which GPS watch should you buy? Best running shoes? Ask around in your group.
- Training with a group of fellow athletes can be close to having a doctor, therapist, and coach video-tapping you all in one. They get to know your pace and progress and can provide positive reinforcement—or on some days can tell that you’re dragging and check in with you, asking “Hey you’re looking a little drained, what’s going on?”
- You can discover new routes. I have found so many great new running and biking routes from joining others in my training group.
- SAVE MONEY! Now that I am in the running group, when I pick an out of town race I usually have someone else doing the same race. Can you say “travel buddy?” Carpool to the event + share a hotel room = spending less money!
- No one likes being alone on race day! I hate those early morning races when you don’t have a race buddy to help ease any pre-race nerves. And what’s even better than having someone with you before the race…having someone there at the finish line with you!

Oh and in case you were wondering, I have had a few close calls on my first bike rides on the road that I’m sure drew some attention, but I haven’t eaten pavement yet!

Jenna

By Jenna Novotny, Brand Ambassador

So here I am, Friday morning, two days out from race day. I will be racing in the San Diego International Triathlon -and it’s on Sunday. The miles have been logged, the ice baths endured, the neapolitan tan fashionably sported (neapolitan tan is what happens when you wear 2-3 different length bike shorts on separate rides and wind up with a progressive tan up your thigh- hot) and now it’s time to think about my pre-race routine. Every athlete takes a different approach to the pre-race routine; and some can take years refining what works best for them. And just as I tell every friend venturing into their first competitive race, I will once again emphasize that what “works best” is different for everyone. I have a good friend who literally eats a pint of Hagen Daz the night before her longer distance races. Now me personally, even if I wasn’t lactose intolerant, that much dairy pre-race would probably have me spending more time in the porta potty than on the road. But I digress…

My pre-race routine typically starts two days before a race. I start to taper my workout routine and spend some extra time using my foam roller and stick to working out my tight muscles. I personally do not like to work out the day before a race aside from some active stretching; and I will do a short, easy run and bike two days out.

For nutrition I start making sure I’m drinking more fluids than usual two days out. When I first started racing, I wasn’t very good at monitoring how much I was drinking.  I would count out how many 12oz water bottles I wanted to drink throughout the day and take them to work with me to make sure I drank them all. Now that I’ve gotten better, I can be greener and continually fill up my water bottle at work and add my only electrolyte replacement drink, Vitalyte, which is conveniently stored in my drawer. After competing in a good amount of half marathons and triathlons I noticed two post-race symptoms that I consistently experience. I either get a splitting headache (alluding to dehydration) or my stomach would get the gurgles and I would be running to the bathroom the rest of the day (meaning I didn’t have enough sodium to retain the water I was drinking, and instead the water was flushing out of me). I have practiced Bikram yoga for 4 years, so I sweat A LOT while exercising. So I need to remember that because I sweat more, I need to replenish more. You don’t just lose water when you sweat, so why would you only replenish with water? Drinking Vitalyte before a race has really helped me in two ways – 1) It tastes great so it’s easier to drink my goal amount of fluids, and 2) it provides the perfect amount of minerals and sodium so I’m not suffering after a race.

And with that (raising my Fruit Punch Vitalyte filled water bottle) here is to race day; I’ll let you know how it goes!

Jenna