Jamie Brown

By Jamie Brown

My favorite thing to eat is "Pizza" however pizza not being the healthiest food choice before a race. So I have spent many hours looking for a healthy alternative before many of my races. The one I settled on for my National Championships run over memorial day is the great:

Summer Grilled Vegetable Pizza

Ingredients

1 pound refrigerated fresh pizza dough

1 red bell pepper, seeded and quartered

1 (4-ounce) zucchini, cut into 1/4-inch-thick diagonal slices

1 (4-ounce) yellow squash, cut into 1/4-inch-thick diagonal slices

1 small red onion (about 7 ounces), cut into 12 wedges

2 tablespoons olive oil, divided

Cooking spray

1 tablespoon yellow cornmeal

1/2 cup lower-sodium marinara sauce (such as McCutcheon's)

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper

6 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced and torn into pieces

Preparation

1. Preheat grill to medium-high heat.

2. Remove dough from refrigerator. Let stand at room temperature, covered, for 30 minutes.

3. Place a pizza stone or heavy baking sheet in oven. Preheat oven to 500° (keep pizza stone or baking sheet in oven as it preheats).

4. Flatten bell pepper pieces with hand. Arrange all the vegetables in a single layer on a large cutting board or baking sheet; brush both

sides with 1 1/2 tablespoons oil. Arrange onion wedges on skewers, if desired. Arrange vegetables on grill rack coated with cooking spray,

and grill for 3 minutes on each side or until crisp-tender and grill marks appear. Remove from grill. Coarsely chop bell pepper.

5. Roll dough into a 14-inch circle on a lightly floured surface, and pierce entire surface liberally with a fork. Carefully remove pizza

stone from oven. Sprinkle cornmeal over pizza stone; place dough on pizza stone. Bake at 500° for 5 minutes. Remove the partially baked

crust from oven. Spread sauce over crust, leaving a 1/2-inch border.

Arrange the vegetables over dough, and sprinkle evenly with salt and crushed red pepper. Top evenly with cheese. Carefully return pizza to

pizza stone. Bake at 500° for an additional 12 minutes or until the crust and cheese are browned. Brush edge of dough with remaining 1

1/2 teaspoons olive oil. Cut into 6 large slices.

Learning to be an endurance athlete with diabetes has always been tough.

Constantly checking blood sugar has always made me think of an appropriate sports cliché: "NEVER GETTING TOO HIGH OR TOO LOW" will help you be successful. Well, I really have to live that lifestyle.

Over the past year since I started my journey in this sport, I have been constantly looking for easy hydration and in race products to keep my training strong and races stronger. Since I started using Vitalyte products, I really have seen an increase in my ability to push my own limits... and I'm not just saying that.

I'm currently training for 2 major races in May. The ITU triathlon in San Diego May 12 and The Paratriathlon National Championships in Austin Texas MAY 29. I have been using Tri-phase endurance, which has totally amped up my energy levels over all. I've been training in Escondido, CA in an attempt to replicate the heat I may encounter in some of my races. On my longer runs, I've been loving Chia-Surge to keep my calories up without feeling full at all. Beyond that,  the electrolyte replacement sticks have kept me hydrated and cool on some of the hotter (90+) days, allowing me to go for over an hour on hilly terrain! I'm more than excited to be a Vitalyte Brand Ambassador so keep an eye out for my blog posts in the months to come! Thank you to Vitalyte for your amazing products!!