Quinoa Energy Balls

This past weekend featured another long run in the mountains! On Saturday I joined two girl friends for a long run throughout the Pandapas trail system. Not even 5 minutes into the run I tripped over my own feet and fell right into a mud puddle

It was a great run nonetheless and I really enjoyed the company and camaraderie. Thanks ladies!

On Sunday I participated in what is now being called "Oldfarmathon." The goal was to cover 26.2 miles worth of hill repeats up one of Blacksburg's hardest climbs (Old Farm). Each lap was approximately 3 miles, 1.5 miles uphill at ~9.6% grade (~765ft elevation gain), then back down to the start. While my husband set out to complete the entire thing (9 laps), I opted to join for just a few laps. My goal was 5 laps, but I ended up joining the hubby for his last one to make for a total of 4,900 ft climbed. Seeing that I normally avoid this climb, I'm pretty proud of myself for toughing it out!

I'm happy to say after this run I'm past the hardest part of this training block. Up next, Terrapin Mountain 50k in a little less than 3 weeks!

Subject A, "The Husband," Tested & Approved :D

I posted earlier about the homemade fuel I experimented during last weekend's long run. Well this past weekend I gave the recipe another go and it worked out great, so now I want to go ahead and share it with you!
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Ingredients

1/2 c. whole wheat flour
1 cup cooked quinoa
1 cup oats
1/2 cup almonds, chopped
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp chia seeds
2 tbsp maple syrup (agave nectar works too)
1/2 cup applesauce
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 ripe banana, mashed
1/2 cup dried cranberries
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Directions

Combine the applesauce, maple syrup, banana, and vanilla and mix thoroughly. In a seperate bowl, combine remaining dry ingredients. Mix dry into wet until thoroughly combined. Form into balls and bake at 375 F for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown.

What I love about this recipe is that it's versatile and easily adapted to your needs or taste. I cut out the eggs to make mine vegan and dropped the PB since I was using them for running and wanting to focus on the carbohydrate. I feel like the almonds, oatmeal and quinoa help to give these a nice nutty flavor! I made a batch of these to leave at the turnaround of the Oldfarmathon run and there were none left by the time we all finished. Even in the frigid temperatures (high of 30 with a windchill of 15) these held up nicely and were still soft (and much more appealing than a hard, sticky, half-frozen gel).