it's been awhile

I'm still here! Still alive, still running. Last week was a really busy week as I was taking a shorten course from 8-3 every day. And to balance things out this week I have tons of free time! Feels great.

I just finished a re-do of week 10. I ran 11km on Sunday morning and it KILLED my knees. While I was running I felt some discomfort, but I pushed on. I got home, stretched, and went about my day. In the evening it was very painful to bend my knees. I iced my knees which seemed to help. Thankfully the pain was mostly gone yesterday and I went for an easy hike with no problems.

This week is week 11 of my running program:
M - 3km 
T - 6km
W - off
T - 5km
F - 3km
S - 13km

I am going to tweak the program a bit. Overtime I have realized that this isn't the best program for me. I don't like running two days in a row. And as the Maritime Race Weekend is only 10 days away I want to be cautious of my knees so I don't get injured!

So instead I already took Monday off. I'm going to run 6km today, 5km Thursday and 13km on Saturday. On Friday I will do some walking to keep my muscles loose.

Lately I have tried two different oatmeal recipes. Oatmeal is fantastically cheap and reminds me of fall and winter. The last week has been really chilly and oatmeal is a healthy way to warm your belly! That being said, one recipe I tried was www.peanutbutterrunner.com's Overnight Oats, which is actually for cold oatmeal:

It consists of cooking oats overnight in the fridge with Greek yogurt, milk, and fruit. I added some peanut butter on top. I wasn't a big fan! I thought it was a little chalky tasting. It could be my discount oats that did it. Either way I suggest you try it as it's a great alternative option to eat oats! Maybe you will be a fan.

After my 11km yesterday I sat around in my running clothes for awhile (bad idea I know) and was feeling super cold. I thought a great way to warm up and to get some recovery food would be oatmeal (again!):

This time I made hot oats with cinnamon, nutmeg, flaxseed and half a banana. I topped it off with some peanut butter. It was delicious and warmed up me instantly.

I'm also going to make this oatmeal based recipe soon as a replacement for granola bars: Banana Oatmeal Cups

What are your favorite ways to enjoy oatmeal?