Tags
Chocolate chip, Chocolate chip cookie, Chocolate chunks, Cookies, Dublin Marathon, long run, marathon, marathon training, Recipe, Running, running plan, running schedule, training plan
Yesterday was long run Friday – and I’m up to 2 hours and 40 minutes according to my marathon training plan. I’m using a pretty basic plan that goes by time instead of distance – I actually didn’t really put much research into choosing a plan. The main reasons I chose this one were because it’s easier for me to track time than distance, it’s very simple, it’s only 8 weeks, and it has cross-training days. Up to this point, I have really only been making sure I keep up with the one long run per week – the rest of my week is a mix of cycling to work (50 minutes each way) and trying to get a run in on days where I’m not cycling. Here’s a snapshot of weeks 3 & 4: (I downloaded it from this website.)
Yesterday’s run was HARD. I’m finding these long runs to be a lot more challenging than I anticipated. I started experimenting with taking in some calories while running today to keep my energy levels up. I took along an energy bar called Half-Time Boost that I got in the race package from my recent 10 mile race. It seemed to really help – I took a few bites at the 1 hour and 20 minute mark, 1h40min mark and 2h mark. I was surprised to find that it even helped psychologically – it felt good to be eating something. It wasn’t quite enough though – at about 2 hours and 15 minutes I stopped in a shop to buy an energy juice drink. This gave me the boost I needed to get home, but in the future I would like to try and avoid the sugary chemical drinks and try to come up with something a bit healthier. I found a great website with lots of interesting articles about nutrition for athletes and I also found this Runner’s World article that has recipes for DIY mid-race snacks. I might look into getting some kind of running belt to carry water and snacks for future runs.
Next week I’m supposed to be up to 3 hours! I’m already not really looking forward to it but something in me wants to keep going. I thought about skipping my run yesterday but I just couldn’t. So onward with the training! Moving along to the famous chocolate chip cookies…
This is my go-to cookie recipe – it’s not a very healthy recipe – but it’s what my dad taught me when I first learned how to make chocolate chip cookies. It’s the first recipe that I ever memorized and they never disappoint.
Famous Chocolate Chip Cookies
by Emily Ratzlaff
Prep Time: 15 min
Cook Time: 8-10 min
Ingredients (16-18 cookies)
- 1/2 cup of butter/margarine (I used a dairy-free butter substitute)
- 1/2 cup of brown sugar
- 1/4 cup of white sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla
- 1.5 cups of all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon of baking soda
- 0.25 teaspoon of salt
- 70 grams of dark chocolate, chopped (or 1/2 cup of chocolate chips)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line cookie tray with parchment paper or grease with non-stick spray.
- Cream together butter, brown sugar and white sugar with a hand mixer or a wooden spoon. Beat in egg and vanilla extract.
- Add flour, baking soda, and salt and mix well. Fold in chocolate.
- Roll into balls and place on prepared cookie sheet. Slightly flatten balls with your hand.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes – I always slightly under-bake them so they stay softer.
These always satisfy my cookie cravings. Last night, Matt and I went to Gourmet Burger kitchen for a couple of gourmet burgers! Actually, I won a free burger on twitter so that was the main reason we went. Hope you have a nice weekend!
