Chia surprise!

Today has been a really rainy and generally "blah" day overall so I spent almost all of it inside studying and working. I did go to the gym earlier today though for chest and tricep day continuing with my workout plan.

Something tasty that I often eat is chia. Chia could be called a "superfood"- whatever that means these days. And yes, it's the same stuff you sprout on chia pets. As a seed, it's extremely nutritious. From Wikipedia:

"In a one ounce (28 g) sample, dried chia seeds contain 9% of the Daily Value for protein (4g), 13% fat (9g) (57% of which is ALA) and 42% dietary fiber (11g), based on a daily intake of 2000 calories.[8] The seeds also contain the essential minerals phosphorus, manganese, calcium, potassium and sodium[8] in amounts comparable to other edible seeds, such as flax[9] or sesame.[10]"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvia_hispanica#Nutrient_content_and_potential_health_benefits

Chia is full of healthy fats and other nutrients. I often eat it by mixing it in with cocoa and granola, then adding water. The chia is good at binding water and it will form a sort of thick paste. It sounds weird but it tastes good and the consistency is great. It can replace eggs in some recipes- vegans like this.

Mmm! Jer and I call it "Chia suprise". There is a cereal that you can buy for a lot of $$ in health food stores called Chia Goodness which is basically the same thing. Try putting almonds, pumpkin seeds or other nuts in too. It's a great, healthy snack.

Pool's closed! & Triathlete appetite

I hit up the gym for an intense 40 minute spin class around noon. I was hoping to swim tonight for 30 mins or so but the pool is still being cleaned. I am disappointed, I was looking forward to getting a good swim in tonight.

Anyway, it opens at 5:00am tomorrow so I'll likely swim and run tomorrow. No CrossFit for me this week due to switching shifts and the tri.

It's coming... 6 days!

I am really happily surprised that I am not sore at all today either. Knee feels fine, feet feel fine, no shin splints, calves fine too. I was expecting at the very least some shin splints from that 8k in my fivefingers but nothing! Amazing!

I have noticed a pretty big increase in my appetite with all of this cardio I have been doing to train for the tri. I am a pretty good eater most of the time anyway, but with all of these extra "kcals" being burned I feel like I could eat almost all day long. I'd like to hear about what others eat when they ramp up their training but I have been eating a lot of "snack foods" but healthy ones, like nuts (macadamia, brazil, almonds), fruit (usually post-training), shakes (vega or whey), and the normal things in my diet like eggs almost every morning for breakfast with extra veggies and toast or flatbread with cashew butter. I feel like I need to snack more in between meals and I usually carry around Kashi bars, Lara bars and fruitsource + veggie bars. After the tri training is finished I would like to carry on with my muscle mass increase plan, by eating small meals every 3 hours or so and ramp up my weight training. I have to admit though I am not hating this cardio stuff, I just like the results of weight training better. :)